The World's Fair at ChicagoAuthor(s): Maurice HollandSource: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jul., 1930), pp. 92-94Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/14894 .

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92 THE SCIENTIFIC MON=THLY

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THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 93

THE WORLD'S FAIR AT CHICAGO

SCIENCE as the symbol of human prog- ress and the inspiration of industrial achievement will unloose her cloak of "mystery" and reproduce for the first time in history the whole drama of the " miracles" which began with the ad- vent of the industrial revolution and which, in the present so-called mecha- nistic age, have given to mankind bene- fits beyond the fondest dreams of the savants of a hundred years ago.

The scene of the drama will be the next Chicago World's Fair, scheduled to open in 1933, and the philosophy will be provided by the science advisory com- mittee of the National Research Council which, at the request of the Chicago fair trustees, has already enlisted the volun- teer services of more than four hundred of our ablest scientists, engineers and mathematicians for the presentation.

Just what pattern this new exposition phi.losophy will be given has not yet finally been determined, but it will illus- trate man's highest achievements in the interpretation of the forces of nature and their adaptation to his every-day uses, in a dynamic and spectacular manner. It is not proposed by the men who have given this problem their un- selfish attention for the past eight months to sensationalize the advances

made in the realm of science; it is hoped to dramatize them with the aid of the showman's devices so that the average visitor at the fair will go home with a broader conception of what the scientist is doing for mankind.

The outline of this dramatization, as it has been drawn at this stage of the science advisory committee 's delibera- tions, contemplates the separation of the pure and applied sciences, the latter to be traced back to their pure science sources wherever possible.. A central temple of science would house the pure science exhibits. It is planned to shiow here the transition from ignoraTee, su- perstition and tradition as existing in the period before the scientific method was generally accepted. In the realm of the pure sciences major discoveries will be represented by striking exhibits.

The applications of science will be presented in a series of industrial ex- hibits which show their dependence on some scientific phenomenon or law. It has been recommended by the science advisory committee that the applied sciences be divided into three groups- physical, biological and the so-called earth sciences.

The contributions of pure and ap- plied science, as they will be nresented

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94 THIE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

at the Chicago fair, will be a dominat- ing note of the entire exposition. Through a cooperative effort of the national scientific societies and the American industries it is planned to show how, from a few single discoveries in pure science through the creative in- agination of practically minded men, these scientific principles were applied for the betterment and increasing com- fort of the human race.

Against the alleged evils that have attended the mechanization of industry, bringing mass produetion and power machinery to do manual work, it is planned to show how science is solving the problem of readjustment and how higher standards of living are now at- tainable as a result of this progress.

To me the scientific discoveries which connect the world of knowledge-ac- quired for its own sake-with the world of man 's daily existence are like the connecting links of an intricate chain network. From one side radiate chains, long and short, simple and complex- frequently cross-connected but all ex- tending into the region where the forg- ing of each link had back of it the motive of increasing the sum of human knowl- edge.

From the other side stretch out other ehains, also long and short, simple and complex, and likewise frequently cross- connected, but all extending into the region where the forging of each link had back of it the motive of some prac- tical application or the gain to be de-

rived from adding to the world's tools. The investigations on the eonduetion

of electricity through gases, the produe- tion of electrons and the structure of matter are the links forming a chain leading to telephone service, the whole radio art and a host of other useful things. On the other hand, a study of every industry shows chains which lead far back to the original discoveries in pure science.

The cross-connecting links unite the chain of any one partienlar industry with the neighboring one, forming a network of whole modern industrial strnettre. So extensive are the inter- relationships between our industries that alternating times of repression or prosperity pass over practically all of them at the same time. If each in- dustry went its coLrse independently of the others, sLch a condition coLld hardly ocecr.

The spirit of cooperation will prevail in the temple of science. But supple- mentary to this spirit of cooperation there exists also among the industries the spirit of competition.

It is our wish to create an exposition philosophy that will be quite different from anything ever undertaken before. It will have running throngh it a thread of unifornmity in the manner of presen- tation and in the objective of that presentation which has never heretofore been present in any large exposition.

MAIURICE HOLLAND

THE CENTENARY OF ABRAHAM JACOBI

IT seems only the other day that a medical meeting was incomplete without Dr. Jacobi in the chair; his vivid per- sonality is so contemporaneous that at first it is difficult to realize his cente- nary. Even the "younger men in the profession" remember so well that low voice with the interesting accent which often made us lean forward in our seats, those deep-set and penetrating eyes, the bronzed face, the splen-did head and

magnificent shock of hair crownirng the smnall, trim figure, that we need a chronology to remind us he was cradled a century ago. It was long our habit to group him with his friends Osler and Welch, with whom he was frequently as- sociated on committees and campaigns, and yet he was old enough to be the father of either, and was in fact the teacher of the latter. In his long life, Jacobi knew Valentine IMott - the

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