Notes

Abstract

IN honour of M. Berthelot, and as a demonstration of the power and progress of science in France, a banquet was held at Paris a few days ago. Nearly eight hundred guests were present, among them being M. Brisson, President of the Chamber of Deputies, and M. Poincaré, Minister of Public Instruction. Upon the invitation cards were printed the words: “Hommage à la science, source de l'affranchissement de la pensée.” M. Poincaré made an elpquent speech in praise of the work done by the eminent Secretary of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and M. Berthelot, in his reply, dwelt, at some length, upon the beneficial influence of science on social and moral, as well as material, progress. Science, he said, had for its only guide the love of truth, and confidence in its final triumph. Proved under all circumstances, and strengthened every day by success, the scientific method had become the principal source of the moral and material progress of society. In fact, science was the source of all progress accomplished by the human race. Every one knew that, during this century science had conferred great benefits upon civilised peoples by the application of its results and laws to mechanical, chemical, and electrical industries. But M. Berthelot held that material progress was the least of the fruits of scientific work; he claimed for science the more extensive domains of the moral and social world, and vindicated the position taken up by him in his article on “Science et la Morale,” which appeared in the Revue de Paris. The speech and the banquet may be taken as an effectual reply to those who question the benefits of scientific investigation in France.