The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-11
Mr.. LESLEY'S Able PAPER
Read Before Institute Of History
and Science.
MANY VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS
Manner in Which TO Keep Live Intcrcs,
In the Iustitutc-Papcr Discussed
by Professor O. i. VIII.
iams and John Proud.

a monthly meeting Oh tiie l.uCkuWdH-
| ma Institute of History and Science was
held last evening in the board of trade
rooms. The feature of the meeting
was "a paper by j. Peter Lesley. Of Phil
adelphia. state geologist of the Second
Geological survey of Pennsylvania.
The paper was written on March IN.
1885, and was addressed to the late
Colonel j. A. Price. A few days ago
Curator Charles lie r. Wheeler in
searching through the dust covered
manuscripts unear.hed 1t. Prof. IL. l..
Burdick read the paper last night: II
was as follows;
An institute like yours is of more inn
portance than people commonly imagine.
| II II were merely clique or co;erie o! idl,
| gentlemen. dilettanti. men OF leisure an
| pleasure merely. bent on killing time be-
cause 1t annoyed them: men who took no
| Interest in the welfare OF the community
| but only cared to amuse themselves: and
who never learned 20 regard life seriously
or had never educated themselves to LOOK
| at things deeper than the outside sur
| face; men who We're fond of curiositi .s
and bric-a-brac. and took pride In old
| china and pictures merely because their
neighbors did not possess such things. and
because the sight of them on the wall ct
| the parlor table. furnished pleasant talk
| at an evening party-l should have little
| hope OF your Institutes success-it would
become a sort of laZymans club.
VERY EARNEST PLACE.
But Scranton is a tremendously earnest
place and the members OF your institute
must be all of them real live men. likely
| to take hold of the jug by the handle and
drink TO the bottom OF II, and see that
there should always be good. wholesome
liquor l imagine that they think twice
before they so into any opera ton or es-
| tablish any institutions: and that when
they have once resolved to have II, they
| make it 80. do not know a better place
IT,,tt afas, n sNf,
and honorable institute OF science and
| history. All sorts of excellent members
and enough OF them to keep up series
| of good stated neutrality-suspicious., en-
| gineers. doctors. clergymen. lawyers. s,i-
| perintendents of works and men. young
| graduates of scientific schools and col
leges, farmers. chemists. busy people who
| find their best recreation in telling what
they have discovered or proved, and in
getting from everybody around them
fresh hints for carrying on their special
or favorite trains OF thought. Such peo-
pie make the meetings OF society as use
| full to themselves and others as III intel
lectual exchange. and quite as useful TO
| the community as stock exchange, corn
| exchange, oil exchange, cattle market. or
any other business rendezvous.
| hope you will have as little red tape
as possible. The great risk run by such
| a society is the creeping In of II nasty per-
sonal ambition to be something more than
| a mere member, There are two excep-
| tons. The recording secretary ought to he
| kept as long as possible so that the rec
| ords and correspondence shall be in the
| same style for years; and the curator
ought to be IL wel-paid officer, that he
may be the soul of the institute. know
| ing how to put his fingers on everything In
| the building for the use OF every member.
| at all times, without delay or embar-
rassment.
ONE GOOD METHOD.
Don't tinker at your constitution and by
laws; one set IL as good as another II
| there be the right spirit in the member
| ship. OF a score or two of members at
| "a meeting, two or three will do all the
| talking. Ii has been found to work well
| for the chairman to call on the members
present in turn to express their opinions.
| The closer the meetings can be made to
approach in character to picnic party
with hilarity and freedom, the surer is
the society to become prosperous and use
| full. was immensely impressed with this
happy, witty. free, and kindly spirit at
| the meetings of the French Geological
society In Paris: one OF the Oldest most
| famous and useful In the world. IT was
In strong contrast to ihe awkward, stiff,
cold and unsympathetic. prosaic. timid
behavior of some other. also old and fam
Gus. societies of science at their meet
ings. mostly in this country where We are
oyerstrained to parliamentary usage.
You asked me some question about q
museum. Don't collect mere cliriosities
| for their own sake. Collect everything
| that can Illus strate any depart ment of hu-
man knowledge, anything that will bear
study and lead to 1t. Don't, for heaven )
sake and that of science put your money
| into fine set of show cases to please
the eyes of the fastidl0us members and
| the visiting nIblic instead. put 1t into
the salary of your curator and into cor
respondence and exchanges. Accept any
thing sent to you, even II you have To
throw II into the ashbarrel.
TIE THIRD GREAT RISK.
The third great risk that all societies
should avoid by the exercise of wise and
good feeling judgment Is the dreadful
boredom of members who exercise no taci
in the reading of their papers. Every .
ciety has its bores and they unconscious.
fnfict great injury upon 1t. They canno,
understand that subject may be OF the
highest interest and value to themselves
course. ii Is Il great question what lines
of usefulness your institute will be most
likely to follow. No pan at the outset
can provide for such contingencies. Bat
IL Is well to appreciate the subdivisions of
science They present themselves TO me
thus: % Mathematical science; (2J ply
steal science: G., biological science; ~
historical science; (5J social science: %,
metaphysical science. By arranging them
in that succession You get IA regular pro
gression of transcendental science.
Then under these heads you can con-
veriently place al the applied sciences in
tronomy, meteorology. navigation, geo
desy, geography. physics, chemistry, min
eraogy. mining engineers. biology, bota-
ny. zoology, medicine chronology. eth
nolcgy. archaeology. history. statistics.
manufactures. commerce, war. law, lam
guase, bellies letters, fine arts. logic edu-
cation and religion.
DISCUSSION OF PAPER
The paper was discussed by Profess
eor q Il Williams and Jphp pcpliu
Mr.. Wheeler read an extract from the
current number of the Colliery Engi-
neer which speaks highly of the work
of Mr.. Lesley and advocates that the
state should engage him permanently.
Attorney T.. Meriiield. Il. j. Foster f.
T.. Platt. Colonel l.. A. Watres. and t.
D. l.acoe were appointed "a committee
to wait upon the members of the legis
lature from this section in he interest
of having Mr.. Lesley honored by the
state. The institute passed Il vote Of
thanks to him for the paper.
MIR. Wheeler presented his own re-
port which was as follows:
Additions to the library during the
month past We're as follows: Hon
Frank II. Okell. | book; Chicago Acad-
emy Of Sciences. IL bulletins: Profess
sor q. Brown Goode. pamphlets: Hon.
G.. T.. OMalley. books and pamph-
lets: Hon. John X. Farr. . books:
Yonkers. n. v. Historical and Library
association, pamphlet; Wyoming His
torical and Geological society. . pamph
lets; James II. Torrey, esq. | book:
J. ID. williams. II numbers of Journal
Franklin society. Additions to the mu-
scum during the month were: w. S.
Strobe. NJ. d.. Lewiston, Me-. 43 species
Of shells. Mrs. r. d. Schinpff. speci-
mems of coral and specimen of shells.
.