As soon as the enlightened monarchs of Europe felt
the importance of making their capitals great centres of learning,
they began to invite eminent men of other countries to their own.
Lagrange was an Italian transplanted to Paris, as a member of the
Academy of Sciences, after he had shown his powers in his native
country. His great contemporary, Euler, was a Swiss, transplanted
first to St. Petersburg, then invited by Frederick the Great to
become a member of the Berlin Academy, then again attracted to St.
Petersburg. Huyghens was transplanted from his native country to
Paris. Agassiz was an exotic, brought among us from Switzerland,
whose activity during the generation he passed among us was as
great and effective as at any time of his life. On the Continent,
outside of France, the most eminent professors in the universities
have been and still are brought from distant points. So numerous
are the cases of which these are examples that it would be more in
accord with the facts to claim that it is only by transplanting a
genius that we stimulate him to his best work.
Having shown that the best results can be expected only by
bringing into contact as many scientific investigators as
possible, the next question which arises is that of their
relations to one another.
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