﻿FEB. 
  19, 
  1922 
  brooks: 
  the 
  scientist 
  in 
  the 
  federal 
  service 
  83 
  

  

  mote 
  from 
  science. 
  Even 
  as 
  late 
  as 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  this 
  century 
  

   opportunities 
  to 
  the 
  scientist 
  for 
  professional 
  employment 
  were 
  by 
  

   no 
  means 
  alluring. 
  In 
  contrast 
  to 
  this, 
  not 
  only 
  are 
  there 
  now 
  thou- 
  

   sands 
  who, 
  under 
  public 
  or 
  private 
  auspices, 
  find 
  a 
  means 
  of 
  livelihood 
  

   in 
  scientific 
  work, 
  but 
  the 
  demand 
  for 
  scientists 
  exceeds 
  the 
  supply. 
  

   Every 
  branch 
  of 
  investigation 
  offers 
  a 
  career 
  to 
  the 
  earnest 
  student. 
  

   Scores 
  of 
  examinations 
  are 
  held 
  for 
  positions 
  in 
  the 
  Federal 
  scientific 
  

   service, 
  and 
  many 
  others 
  are 
  offered 
  by 
  the 
  States 
  and 
  the 
  industries. 
  

   The 
  student 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  day 
  on 
  choosing 
  his 
  career 
  can 
  weigh 
  care- 
  

   fully 
  the 
  financial 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  the 
  professional 
  opportunities 
  offered. 
  

   His 
  predecessor 
  had 
  no 
  financial 
  motives, 
  for 
  the 
  best 
  he 
  could 
  expect 
  

   was 
  only 
  a 
  bare 
  living. 
  In 
  1846, 
  when 
  Spencer 
  Baird 
  found 
  his 
  salary 
  

   had 
  reached 
  the 
  dazzling 
  sum 
  of 
  $400 
  a 
  year, 
  he 
  felt 
  that 
  he 
  could 
  

   well 
  afford 
  to 
  get 
  married. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  old 
  days 
  a 
  few 
  great 
  teachers 
  passed 
  their 
  knowledge 
  along 
  to 
  

   small 
  groups 
  of 
  enthusiastic 
  disciples. 
  Now 
  the 
  universities 
  are 
  

   annually 
  graduating 
  scores 
  of 
  highly 
  trained 
  specialists, 
  who 
  are 
  by 
  

   education 
  far 
  better 
  fitted 
  to 
  advance 
  science 
  than 
  those 
  of 
  a 
  genera- 
  

   tion 
  ago 
  and 
  who 
  after 
  a 
  short 
  apprenticeship 
  can 
  be 
  trusted 
  with 
  

   independent 
  research. 
  They 
  supply 
  the 
  highly 
  trained 
  and 
  brilliant 
  

   investigators 
  that 
  are 
  so 
  typical 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  era. 
  On 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  

   some 
  of 
  the 
  products 
  of 
  the 
  graduate 
  schools 
  bear 
  the 
  stamp 
  of 
  being 
  

   machine 
  made. 
  It 
  sometimes 
  happens 
  that 
  the 
  new 
  investigator 
  is 
  

   the 
  result 
  of 
  opportunities 
  offered 
  by 
  a 
  university, 
  rather 
  than 
  of 
  an 
  

   inspiration 
  for 
  a 
  scientific 
  career. 
  A 
  man's 
  exhaustive 
  knowledge 
  of 
  

   the 
  facts 
  relating 
  to 
  some 
  specialty 
  is 
  no 
  measure 
  of 
  his 
  ability 
  as 
  a 
  

   constructive 
  thinker. 
  A 
  student 
  may 
  believe 
  he 
  has 
  a 
  call 
  to 
  science 
  

   when 
  actually 
  what 
  appeals 
  to 
  him 
  is 
  simply 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  science 
  is 
  

   an 
  honored 
  profession 
  and 
  a 
  career 
  giving 
  promise 
  of 
  employment. 
  

   At 
  the 
  time 
  when 
  the 
  profession 
  of 
  the 
  scientist 
  was 
  hardly 
  existent, 
  

   the 
  investigator 
  was 
  a 
  product 
  of 
  natural 
  selection 
  and 
  must 
  have 
  had 
  

   that 
  God-given 
  love 
  of 
  his 
  subject 
  for 
  which 
  no 
  training 
  can 
  be 
  sub- 
  

   stituted. 
  Science 
  was 
  then 
  not 
  a 
  profession 
  but 
  an 
  obsession. 
  

  

  Berzelius 
  is 
  credited 
  with 
  the 
  statement 
  that 
  he 
  would 
  probably 
  

   be 
  the 
  last 
  man 
  who 
  could 
  know 
  all 
  chemistry, 
  meaning 
  thereby 
  that 
  

   the 
  science 
  had 
  grown 
  so 
  large 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  becoming 
  beyond 
  the 
  

   grasp 
  of 
  a 
  single 
  mind. 
  Since 
  his 
  day 
  the 
  naturalist 
  has 
  been 
  sup- 
  

   planted 
  by 
  the 
  botanist, 
  zoologist, 
  and 
  geologist. 
  These 
  have 
  given 
  

   way 
  to 
  the 
  taxonomist, 
  pathologist, 
  ecologist, 
  glaciologist, 
  and 
  paleon- 
  

   tologist, 
  to 
  name 
  only 
  a 
  few 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  subdivisions 
  of 
  the 
  older 
  

  

  