JOURNAL 



OF THE 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Vol. U February 19, 1921 No. 4 



GENERAL SCIENCE. — The distribution of scientific information 

 in the United States.'^ Robert B. Sosman, Geophysical Labora- 

 tory, Carnegie Institution of Washington. 



Of making many books there is no end. — EcclESIastes xii, 12. 

 But easy writing's curst hard reading. — SheRIDAN, Clio's Protest. 



My two texts represent only two facets of a many-sided subject, 

 about which much has been written and on which many opinions 

 have been held. In this brief address I can hope only to sketch 

 an outline of the subject as it appears from the standpoint of the 

 scientific investigator, and illustrate the sketch with a few data 

 drawn from observation and experiment. 



For a subject so much more closely allied to applied sociology 

 than to philosophy or "natural science," I cannot do better than 

 make use of that excellent outline for any sociological discussion 

 made familiar to the public by Professor Irving Fisher.- Any socio- 

 logical problem may be considered under the following four heads: 

 (I) What is it? (II) Why' is it? (Ill) What of it? (IV) What 

 are you going to do about it? 



I. THE PROBLEM OF DISTRIBUTION 



It was much in fashion before 1914 to argue about the relative 

 merits of different systems of production. Most of our interest 

 seemed to be directed toward the problem of producing commodities 

 for human needs, and relatively little to the problem of distributing 



' Address of the retiring president, Philosophical Society of Washington, presented 

 at the meeting on January 15, 1921. Received January 22, 1921. 

 ^ American problems of reconstruction (New York, 1919), p. 362. 



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