burgess: science and after- war period 59 



United States, the effect of the war will not have been detri- 

 mental to scientific production as our losses in young men of 

 scientific attainments have been relatively insignificant, and 

 also, I firmly trust, the country has in part learned the lesson 

 of the advantage to the nation of generously supporting research. 



For a country such as France, which has borne the brunt of 

 the fighting for four years — and not until after the first battle 

 of the Marne was any effort made to conserve her scientific 

 men — the matter appears to be much more serious; but who 

 dares to predict that the United States with nearly three times 

 her population will lead France as a producer of original ideas 

 in science a generation hence ? It is well to remember that many 

 of the master minds in science of the nineteenth century were 

 born during the Napoleonic wars, and that it is quality and not 

 quantity that counts in scientific progress. 



Finally one may ask, is the after-war period to be one of 

 great scientific activity or one of relative quiet, and what will 

 be the lines along which development will take place? This 

 brings us to a consideration of the nature and permanence of 

 war activities in science. Never before have science and scientific 

 men been used to such an extent both relatively and absolutely 

 as the servants of war, both in the mihtary estabUshments proper 

 and in the not less important industrial supports. It is evident 

 that what is beneficial in these relations should be maintained. 

 In addition to the advancement in scientific knowledge, much of 

 which is not yet generally available, brought into being by the 

 war, there has also been worked out for war purposes, in a more 

 or less satisfactory way, schemes of cooperation of scientific men 

 with each other, with the state, with industry, and with the 

 military establishment. Some of these are transitory in character, 

 others are serviceable for both peace and war, and some have 

 been devised especially for the after- war period. 



One might perhaps expect a certain relaxation of effort, even 

 among scientific workers, following the strenuous eft'orts of the 

 war, but one must not forget the natural zest of the scientific 

 man to get back to his chosen field which he will want to culti- 



