THE SCIENCES, 1850-1900, A NORTH ATLANTIC PERSPECTIVE

¹ Henry Papers, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560

For an overview of the sciences in the last half of the nineteenth century, a series of tables are presented on the official support of the sciences for Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States at ten-year intervals plus a set of tables with a similar but more detailed breakdown for the United States. The limitations of the data are discussed and certain subdivisions of the tables are analyzed in terms of both national characteristics and indications of later trends. A review of the United States situation at the turn of the century follows, particularly stressing a few relative differences from the other two nations. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of similarities disclosed by the data.