THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



475 



appointing. So far from recommend- 

 ing that the National Museum and the 

 Bureau of Ethnology should be given 

 greater autonomy, he proposes to ad- 

 minister at the expense of the govern- 

 ment a national gallery of art and has 

 abolished the office of director of the 

 Bureau of Ethnology. The researches 

 done by the institution proper are 

 described in four lines. One memoir 

 of an outsider and three compilations 

 have been published. The only at- 

 tempt to do anything for the diffusion 

 of science is the reprinting (at the 

 cost of the government) in the annual 

 report of scientific articles from this 

 and other journals, the sales of which 

 in the preceding year amounted to 

 $16.41. The international exchanges 

 are supported by the government to 

 the profit of the institution and, so far 

 as they concern science at all, belong 

 to the age of barter. It is of course 

 easier to criticize than to outline a 

 constructive policy. The regents will 

 hold an adjourned meeting on March 

 11, when there will be opportunity for 

 discussion of the administration of the 

 institution. Most men of science would 

 agree, if invited to give their opinion, 

 that the National Museum and the 

 Bureau of Ethnology should be given 

 greater autonomy and that the Smith- 

 sonian Institution should be brought 

 into closer touch with the scientific in- 

 terests of the country. 



Appreciation is far pleasanter than 

 criticism, but we can not express un- 

 qualified admiration for the work of 

 the Carnegie Institution as related in 

 its first year-book. The trustees passed 

 a resolution requesting the executive 

 committee to prepare a report on the 

 work that should be undertaken by the 

 institution, but apparently no definite 

 policy has been adopted. Advisory 

 committees of scientific men were ap- 

 pointed, and their reports, as published 

 in the year-book, give interesting sug- 

 gestions as to the needs of science. 



The members of these committees were, 

 we understand, paid from $100 to $200 

 and then discharged. Were eminent 

 lawyers, engineers or physicians re- 

 tained for services so important, their 

 fees would be from $1,000 to $10,000. 

 Under these circumstances it is not 

 surprising that the reports are some- 

 what unequal, and no attempt seems to 

 have been made to coordinate them. 

 There were no general meetings to con- 

 sider the policy of the institution. 

 Thus the committees on physics and on 

 geophysics recommended an annual ex- 

 penditure of $400,000, apart from 

 buildings, publications, etc.; yet they 

 probably do not expect the entire in- 

 come of the institution to be spent as 

 they recommend. If there is any one 

 point on which the various committees 

 tend to agree it is that the scientific 

 work and policy of the institution 

 should be directed by experts, but no 

 provision has been made for such direc- 

 tion. In place of any large plans for 

 the advancement of science, the trus- 

 tees have appropriated $200,000 for 

 subsidies which have been allotted by 

 the executive committee. The details 

 of these subsidies have not been pub- 

 lished, but, in so far as they have be- 

 come known, they appear to be rather 

 obvious. Grants for the Harvard, Lick 

 and Yerkes Observatories are safe in- 

 vestments, but do not appeal to the 

 imagination. The revival of the Index 

 Medians is a worthy undertaking, but 

 such a drag-net of medical literature 

 should be supported by the physicians 

 whose cases it further advertises. 

 Fortunately the institution has avoid- 

 ed any serious errors such as the 

 assumption of ownership of the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory on which an op- 

 tion was purchased by the executive 

 committee. The well-meaning but 

 rather colorless policy of the institu- 

 tion is adequately shown by the re- 

 port of the president which we re- 

 produce. 



