sivelv in such research. It seems de- 

 sirable, therefore, for the Government 

 to arrange for work of this sort, either 

 in its own laboratories or in outside 

 institutions, and to make the results 

 of this research generally available in 

 a systematic manner. 



3. Applied Research and Devel- 

 opment 



Applied research and development 

 differs in several important respects 

 from pure science. Since the objec- 

 tive can often be definitelv mapped 

 out beforehand, the work lends itself 

 to organized effort. If successful, the 

 results of applied research are of a 

 definitely practical or commercial 

 value. The very heavy expenses of 

 such work are, therefore, undertaken 

 by private organizations onlv in the 

 hope of ultimately recovering the 

 funds in\'ested. 



In several fields, admittedly, such 

 as agriculture and in various special 

 industries where the individual pro- 

 ducing units are small and widely 

 dispersed, the presence of a profit 

 motive does not ensure the existence 

 of adequate research and develop- 

 ment. The substantial research work 

 initiated by the Department of Agri- 

 culture has developed in response to 

 these special needs. 



The distinction between applied 

 and pure research is not a hard and 

 fast one, and industrial scientists may 

 tackle specific problems from broad 

 fundamental \'iewpoints. But it is 

 important to emphasize that there is 

 a perverse law governing research: 

 Under the pressure for immediate re- 

 sults, and unless deliberate policies 

 are set up to guard against this, ap- 

 plied research invariably drives out 

 pure. 



The moral is clear: It is pure re- 

 search which deserves and requires 



special protection and specially as 

 sured support. 



B. Development of Scientific Re- 

 search in the United States 



During the colonial period of 

 American history, scientific work was 

 carried on in random, sporadic fash- 

 ion, and for the most part outside the 

 universities. Franklin and Jefferson 

 are outstanding examples of the type 

 of gifted amateur whose influence 

 upon American science continued to 

 be felt well into the nineteenth cen- 

 tury. In the first decades of the Re- 

 public, the older American colleges 

 began to gi\'e science increased at- 

 tention in the curriculum. But de- 

 spite the presence on their faculties 

 of such outstanding individuals as 

 the Sillimans, Louis Agassiz, and 

 Joseph Henry, it cannot be concluded 

 that the colleges were active centers 

 of research, or that science received 

 much emphasis in institutions which, 

 if they were not so exclusively con- 

 cerned with religious instruction as 

 heretofore, were still devoted to the 

 ideals of a liberal education along 

 the lines of strict classical and liter- 

 ary tradition. 



With the college environment in- 

 imical or at least cool toward the 

 growth of scientific research, neither 

 Government support nor private en- 

 dowment was available in the United 

 States for the promotion of pure re- 

 search until late in the nineteenth 

 century. This is in marked contrast 

 to the principal European countries 

 where, almost without exception, 

 science was directly supported by the 

 governments. Gradually in response 

 to a steadily increasing need, the 

 Federal Government established the 

 scientific bureaus that it needed to 

 fulfill its obligations to the public. 



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