We should have wished to see in a more leisurely manner, and to make acquaintance with the attractions without number with which the Exposition literally swarms (men of letters and men of science love at times to disport themselves) and to study the exhibits classified in a method so exact in the palaces of an architecture so original and so impressive. But Monsieur Newcomb has not permitted this. The Congress of which he is the illustrious President offers so much in the way of attractions,—of a kind a little rigorous it is true,—and so much of work to be accomplished, that to our very great regret we have had to refuse many invitations which it would have been most agreeable to accept. The Americans will pardon us for this, I am sure; they know better than any one else the value of time, but they know also that human strength has some limits, especially among us poor Europeans, for I doubt whether an American ever knows the meaning of fatigue.
Messieurs, the Congress which is about to terminate to-morrow has been truly a very great event. It is the first time, I believe, that there has been seen assembled in one grand international reunion that which our great minister, Colbert, had in mind, and that which we have realized for the first time in our Institut de France,—the union of letters, science, and arts. That this union shall maintain itself in the future is the dearest wish of my heart.
Science is a unit, even as the Universe. The aspects which it presents know neither boundaries of states nor the political divisions established between peoples. In all civilized countries they calculate with the same figures, they measure with the same instruments, they employ the same classifications, they study the same historic facts, economics, and morals. If there exists among the different nations some differences in methods, these difference are slight. They are a benefit at the same time as well as a necessity. For the doing of the immense amount of work of research imposed on that part of humanity which thinks, it is necessary that the subjects of study should not be identically the same, or better, if they are identical, that the difference between the points of view from which they are considered in the different countries contribute to our better knowledge of their nature, their results, and their applications. It is necessary then that each people preserve their distinctive genius, their particular methods which they use to develop the qualities they have inherited. In exactly the same way that it is important in an orchestra that each instrument play in the most perfect manner, and with the timbre which accords with its nature, the part which is given to it, so in science as in music, the harmony between the players is a necessary condition, which each one ought to exert himself to realize. Let us endeavor then in scientific research to execute in the most perfect manner that part of the task which fate has devolved upon us, but let us endeavor also to maintain that accord which is a necessary condition to the harmony which will alone be able in the future to assure the progress of humanity.
Gentlemen, in this international reunion it would not be fitting that I dwell upon the services which my country has been able to render to science; and on the other hand it would be difficult for me to say to you exactly what part America is called upon to take in this concert of civilized nations; but I am certain that the part will be worthy of the great nation which has given to itself a constitution so liberal and which in so short a space of time has known how to conquer, and measure in value, a territory so immense that it extends from ocean to ocean. I lift my glass to the honor of American science; I drink to the future of that great nation, for which we, as well as all other Frenchmen, hold so much of common remembrance, so much of close and living sympathy, and so much of profound admiration. I am the more happy to do this in this most beautiful territory of Louisiana, which France in a former age ceded freely to America.
Perhaps the treat of the evening was the response made in behalf of the Empire of Japan by Professor Hozumi, of the Faculty of Law of the University of Tokio.
Unfortunately this response was not preserved in full, but Professor Hozumi dwelt with much feeling on the world-wide significance of the Congress and the common plane upon which all nations might meet in the pursuit of science and the manifold applications of scientific principles. He paid a beautiful tribute to the educational system of the United States and to the great debt which Japan owed to American scholars and to American teachers for their aid in establishing modern educational principles and methods in the Empire of Japan. The impetus given to scientific study in Japan by the Japanese students trained in American universities was also earnestly dwelt upon, and the close relations which had always existed between Japanese and American students and instructors feelingly described. In the field of science Japan was yet young, but she had shown herself a close and apt pupil, and her period of initiative and original research was at hand. In bacteriology, in medicine, in seismology, oceanography, and other fields, Japan has made valuable contributions to science and established the right to recognition in an international gathering of this nature. It was with peculiar and grateful pride and pleasure that the Japanese Government had sent its delegation to this Congress of selected experts in response to the invitation of the American Government. Near the close of his address Professor Hozumi made a gracious and happy allusion, based upon the conflict with Russia, in which he said that of all places where men meet, and of all places sunned by the light of heaven, this great Congress, built on the high plane of the brotherhood of science and the fellowship of scholars, was the only place where a Japanese and a Russian could meet in mutual accord, with a common purpose, and clasp hands in unity of thought. This chivalrous and beautiful idea, given here so imperfectly from memory, brought the great assembly to its feet in rounds of cheers. In closing, Professor Hozumi expressed the earnest belief that the benefits of science from a gathering of this nature would quickly be felt, by a closer coöperation in the application of theory and practical principles and a simultaneous advance in all parts of the world.
The closing response of the evening for the foreign members was made for Italy by Signor Attilio Brunialti, whose brilliant eloquence at many times during the week had won the admiration of the members of the Congress. Under the inspiration of this assemblage he fairly surpassed himself, and the following translation of his remarks but poorly indicates the grace and brilliant diction of the original:—
I have had the good fortune to be present in this wonderful country at three international Congresses, that of science, the peace parliament, and the geographic. I wish to record the impression they have excited in my mind, already so favorably inclined by your never-to-be-forgotten and gracious reception. You must, please, allow me to address you in my own language, because the Latin tongue inspires me, because I wish to affirm more solemnly my nationality, and also, because I cannot express my feelings well in a language not familiar to me. My country, the land of Columbus, of Galileo, the nation that more than all others in Europe is an element of peace, is already in itself the synthesis of the three Congresses. And I can call to mind that this land is indebted to geography for the fact of its being made known to the world, because the immortal Genoese pointed it out to people fighting in the old world for a small territory, and opened to mortals new and extensive countries destined to receive the valiant and the audacious of the entire world and to rise like yours to immortal glory.
Thus the poet can sing,—
L'avanza, l'avanza
Divino straniero,
Conosci la stanza
Che i fati ti diero;
Se lutti, se lagrime
Ancora rinterra
L'giovin la terra.