THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 33 



To clear our minds, let us separate the two issues, that of the 

 power to hold property and that of a permanent domicile. Each 

 academy knows from its own experience that though individual 

 research may often be carried out at a small cost an organized 

 investigation demands funds which become considerable when 

 its range is wide. It is therefore just the type of work that an 

 international organization is best fitted to undertake which 

 demands the greatest amount of assistance. 



The question to be faced is this: 



Shall our International Association be forever content to 

 exercise a purely platonic patronage, or shall it take an active 

 part in promoting research? If it chooses the latter course it 

 seems to me to be indispensable that it should have funds at its 

 disposal. 



I advocate the bolder policy on two grounds: Firstly, inter- 

 national research is most logically administered and paid for 

 by international funds and, secondly, it seems to me that a purely 

 moral support can not in the long run remain effective. The 

 existing special associations, as I have already stated, must retain 

 their complete independence, and it is not likely that it will ever 

 be desirable that the Association of Academies should under- 

 take any work in which financial support is expected to extend 

 over a considerable period; but when promising enterprises are 

 in their experimental stages, funds are often most urgently re- 

 quired and most difficult to obtain. 



It is here that an international body, having an independent 

 income, could most efficiently step in to support meritorious 

 enterprises during the few critical years until they can be either 

 established on a permanent basis or have completed their work. 



I recognize of course the weight of certain objections which 

 have been raised, but I think we must run the risk all the same, 

 for my experience teaches me that there is seldom any vitality 

 without antagonism; and the main ground of objection is that 

 we are going on so nicely, we never disagree and therefore we 

 had better remain as we are. But after all, our progress is only 

 obtained by those having differences of opinion coming together 

 and adjusting their differences. 



