210 THE PATH OF SCIENCE 



gaged on fundamental research is frequently called upon to 

 deal Tvith plant problems, the more fundamental work is 

 subject to interruption and disrupted efficiency. At the same 

 time, the study of plant problems suggests many important 

 lines of work to the laboratory staff. Nothing is more stimu- 

 lating to the co-operation of manufacturing departments Tvith 

 the laboratory than the successful solution by the laboratory 

 of problems submitted by the plant departments. It is some- 

 times difficult for the laboratory to solve such problems. \^ery 

 often the practical solution depends upon minute knowledge 

 of the working process; and a laboratory is expected in some 

 supernatural way to solve problems that have baffled men 

 thoroughly acquainted with all aspects of the process. But 

 even if the laboratory fails to solve a given problem to the 

 satisfaction of the department concerned, the study of the 

 process itself is quite likely to result in suggestions which may 

 be of more value than the solution of the problem submitted. 

 If the manufacturing organization is of sufficient size, a sepa- 

 rate laboratory for the more fundamental problems may be 

 desirable, leaving special departments of the laboratory better 

 acquainted with manufacture to undertake those from the 

 plant. Thus a link is formed between the purely scientific 

 research and the manufacturing departments.* 



While a large laboratory fully equipped for fundamental 

 research represents the most effective means of prosecuting 

 industrial research, such a laboratory can be maintained only 

 by large manufacturing companies, as the cost of maintenance 

 is very heavy and only a large company can afford such an 

 expenditure. On the other hand, national industry is not 

 carried on principally by large manufacturing companies, 

 either in the United States or in Great Britain. In Britain, 

 98 per cent of the factories are said to employ less than a 

 thousand workers, and 80 per cent less than a hundred. Prob- 

 ably the situation is the same in the United States. The chief 



* P. G. Nutting, "Research and the Industries," Scientific Monthly, 

 7, 149 (1918). 



