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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Big Science and Big Business. 



Big Money is made by Big Men in 

 Big Business. When some of these 

 Big Men stop to patronize Big Science, 

 they make the mistake of supposing 

 that science can be pursued as the fac- 

 tory is managed, or as a mine is ex- 

 ploited by the rules of Big Business. 

 It should not be forgotten that science 

 is more closely akin to poetry, to mis- 

 sionary work, to education, to religion, 

 than to the rolling of steel, or the 

 selling of oil. Good work may be done 

 in science, wholly for the sake of 

 money, but, as in religious matters, the 

 best work is actuated, not for money, 

 not for any personal reward, but by 

 the devoted, self-sacrificing, faithful 

 love of Mother Nature. 



A few years ago Andrew Carnegie 

 decided to cultivate Big Science on the 

 principle of Big Business. He estab- 

 lished the Carnegie Institution at 

 Washington, and there was put at the 

 head of that Institution President 

 Woodward, who is generally regarded 

 as good a man as could have been se- 

 lected for the place. President Wood- 

 ward has had an extensive experience 

 in things educational, and he knows 

 the requirements of technical science. 

 That Institution has done great and 

 good work. President Woodward has 

 shown himself to be the right man for 

 the place, but in the estimation of 

 many people the results have been 

 ridiculously disproportionate to the 

 amount of wealth placed at the Insti- 

 tution's disposal, and this is through 

 no fault of President Woodward or his 

 staff, but is a necessary principle of the 

 proposition. 



"The Popular Science Monthly," in 

 a recent editorial, in which the work 

 of this great Carnegie Institution was 

 criticised and commended, pointed out 

 what every one knows, that the re- 

 sults in behalf of mankind in a knowl- 

 edge and love of nature have not been 

 commensurate with the expenditure 

 of the millions placed at the disposal of 

 the authorities. This is no reflection 

 on the great philanthropist, nor on the 

 Executive Board, certainly not on 

 President Woodward. All have lab- 

 ored with best intentions. They have 

 been faithful in their work ; they have 

 done many great and good things ; this 

 is undeniable, but "The Popular 

 Science Monthly" is right when, in 



commending the work, it laments the 

 fact, that although it possesses tre- 

 mendous facilities, the Institution has 

 not produced tremendous results. The 

 editor writes as follows : 



"1 he most desirable institutions for 

 scientific work would probably be com- 

 paratively small laboratories con- 

 ducted by the scientific men who work 

 in them. ... It would be well if 

 such institutions were endowed by the 

 rich, still better if they were sup- 

 ported by a state or a community." 



This opinion has been expressed by 

 many correspondents, and by promi- 

 nent scientific men who have carefully 

 watched the work of The Agassiz As- 

 sociation. A letter just arrived at our 

 desk speaks thus : 



"It looks to me as if the real scien- 

 tific work, or the greater part of it, 

 must in the future be done not for a 

 living, but for love. Big sums of 

 money seem not to procure the genu- 

 ine article." 



We are perfectly willing to have 

 compared, after the fullest investiga- 

 tion, the great and astonishing results 

 that have been accomplished by The 

 Agassiz Association with small finan- 

 cial aid, with the results accomplished 

 by the Carnegie Institution. The Car- 

 negie Institution has a great field to it- 

 self — so have we, but when one has 

 nearly thirty millions in about ten 

 years, and the other not half that num- 

 ber of thousands in about forty years, 

 we cannot refrain, in watching the on- 

 ward course of finances, from stopping 

 and weighing each in the balance, and 

 saying to Big Men of Big Business, 

 Science is largely a matter of heart as 

 well as of head ; it should be pursued 

 by all together, on the principles of Big 

 Business. Scattered throughout this 

 land are hundreds of devoted, faithful 

 workers that need a little help. I am 

 personally familiar with several scien- 

 tific men who, by a gift of even a few 

 books or a small microscope, would be 

 enabled to do as devoted, faithful 

 work as is ever done by a salaried of- 

 ficial, though he have from five to eight 

 thousand dollars a year for doing it. 

 There are only about 4,000 good scien- 

 tific workers in the United States. 

 Probably not over one-fourth of these 

 are especially desirious of original re- 

 search work or need help. Give 1,000 

 workers $1,000 each and that would be 



