THE PRODUCTION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 187 



Standing in the laboratory, each of them responsible only 

 to the director, and each of them engaged upon some 

 specific research. Each such investigator, of course, may 

 be provided with assistants as may be necessary. 



Each of these systems has advantages and disadvantages. 

 Under the departmental system, the advantages are strict 

 organization, good co-operation throughout the depart- 

 ments, a plentiful supply of assistants for the abler men 

 who form the heads of departments or sections of the de- 

 partments. The chief disad\'antage is that the system tends 

 to stifle initiative in the younger men. While it is true 

 that research men require to serve a considerable appren- 

 ticeship to older investigators, there comes a time when 

 every man wishes to try to develop his oun line of research 

 on his own initiative and to carry out work by himself, and 

 while it is quite possible to provide for such men in a de- 

 partmental organization, there is some danger that men 

 who are really capable of original work may not get the 

 opportunity to carry it out. 



The cell system, on the other hand, provides a good ar- 

 rans^ement for men of orio^inal initiative and of the self- 

 reliant type; it enables a man to continue a single line of 

 work by himself for a long time and patiently to bring to 

 a conclusion work that in a departmental organization 

 might have been abandoned because of its apparently un- 

 remunerative character. On the other hand, the cell sys- 

 tem tends to exaggerate the vices of such men. They tend 

 to become secreti^'e, to refuse co-operation, to be even re- 

 sentful if their work is inquired into; ^vhile if a man who 

 has developed a line of work for himself in a cell leaves the 

 laboratory, it may be very difficult for anybody else to take 

 up the work, in ^vhich case a great deal of time and money 

 is lost, and w^ork that should have been carried forward is 

 left unfinished. Another objection to the cell system is 

 that men who are good organizers and who are of the type 

 that can carry on work requiring many assistants do not 

 easily find a place in it. 



In practice, a balance between these t^vo systems of or- 

 ganization is essential and will develop in any laboratory. 

 It is not possible to work a rigid departmental system, and, 

 on the other hand, no cell system in its most definite forai 

 could be effective. The form of orsfanization ^vhich is the 

 easiest in administration is undoubtedly some modification 

 of the departmental system, since only by this means can 



