136 



the Office of Experiment Stations. From 1897 to 1903 there was an increase 

 in the nonteachers of per cent anfl in the teachers of 32 per cent. 



H. J. Wheeler, of Rhode Island. It seems to me there is perhaps some con- 

 fusion in tlie Diinds of those wlio lia^e spoken as to what is strictly investiga- 

 tion. If a man i)lants some potatoes and observes their form and shape and 

 writes up the result, he can perhai)S do some teaching and do that sort of work, 

 too; but if he has to deal with some difficult problem, which requires him to 

 make an exhaustive search of the literature of the subject, to conduct investi- 

 gations which perhai)s run over five or six years, and to thoroughly digest the 

 results, he can not do it to good advantage if during that time he is obliged to 

 go into the class room and teach at Irregular hours. There may be some so- 

 called investigation work which can lie combined with teaching without very 

 much loss. 



I know of no better practice that a man can get than l)y going out to a 

 farmers' institute, and I think it is a very good thing for the station worker to 

 get out and lecture half a dozen times a year. I believe, moreover, that it is a 

 good thing for a man to present the advanced work that he is doing to students. 

 I think, however, that the student derives a great deal more from it than the 

 investigator does, because there is no man who can lead a student right up to 

 the border between the known and unknown as the investigator can. I have 

 never .seen a man devoting more than half of his time to teaching who has done 

 work which was fully satisfactory to the experiment station. There may be 

 extreme instances in which a man has been able to do it. 



I have repeatedly heard it said that the German investigators, who are the 

 greatest in the world, do a large amount of teaching, but the German professors 

 who have won the greatest distiu'-tion are not teachers, but investigators who 

 have done very little teaching. So, if there is anything in example and prece- 

 dent to be won from the best scientific minds in the world, it is along that line. 

 It is not the man who spends three-fourths of his time, or six or seven hours a 

 week right along, in teaching who can be expected to win a reputation as an 

 investigator. 



H. P. Aemsby. The German ])rufessor, moreover, does not have to teach unless 

 he wishes to. 



Upon motion the section adjourned. 



