﻿78 
  JOURNAL 
  OF 
  THE 
  WASHINGTON 
  ACADEMY 
  OF 
  SCIENCES 
  VOL. 
  12, 
  NO. 
  4 
  

  

  organization, 
  its 
  membership 
  increased 
  to 
  only 
  about 
  200. 
  It 
  is 
  

   probable 
  that 
  during 
  its 
  early 
  years 
  the 
  Philosophical 
  Society 
  included 
  

   in 
  its 
  membership 
  all 
  the 
  scientists 
  in 
  Washington, 
  and 
  that 
  most 
  of 
  

   these 
  were 
  in 
  the 
  Government 
  service. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  time 
  available 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  unable 
  to 
  learn 
  accurately 
  the 
  

   number 
  of 
  scientists 
  now 
  in 
  the 
  Federal 
  service. 
  There 
  are 
  some 
  

   forty-odd 
  Government 
  institutions 
  devoted 
  in 
  whole 
  or 
  in 
  part 
  to 
  

   scientific 
  work, 
  and 
  their 
  employees 
  number 
  many 
  thousands. 
  That 
  

   only 
  a 
  small 
  number 
  of 
  these 
  should 
  be 
  classed 
  as 
  scientists 
  goes 
  with- 
  

   out 
  saying, 
  but 
  the 
  attempt 
  at 
  classification 
  would 
  not 
  only 
  necessitate 
  

   a 
  close 
  scrutiny 
  of 
  the 
  duties 
  of 
  many 
  individuals, 
  but 
  even 
  then 
  

   the 
  result 
  reached 
  would 
  be 
  a 
  matter 
  of 
  personal 
  opinion. 
  By 
  actual 
  

   count 
  in 
  the 
  directories 
  of 
  the 
  Washington 
  Academy 
  of 
  Science, 
  I 
  

   venture 
  the 
  opinion 
  that 
  the 
  local 
  societies 
  included 
  600 
  Federal 
  scien- 
  

   tists 
  in 
  1910 
  and 
  770 
  in 
  1920. 
  On 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  I 
  am 
  informed 
  by 
  

   Dr. 
  Robert 
  M. 
  Yerkes 
  that 
  in 
  1919 
  there 
  was 
  a 
  total 
  of 
  4,888 
  scientific 
  

   and 
  technical 
  employees 
  in 
  the 
  Federal 
  service. 
  It 
  is 
  probably 
  safe 
  

   to 
  estimate 
  that 
  there 
  are 
  in 
  all 
  a 
  thousand 
  scientific 
  investigators 
  

   in 
  the 
  Federal 
  service 
  at 
  Washington. 
  Some 
  of 
  the 
  scientific 
  bureaus 
  

   have 
  much 
  the 
  larger 
  part 
  of 
  their 
  personnel 
  stationed 
  away 
  from 
  

   Washington. 
  It 
  is 
  therefore 
  estimated 
  that 
  the 
  Federal 
  employees 
  

   who 
  are 
  making 
  at 
  least 
  some 
  contribution 
  to 
  science 
  number 
  about 
  

   fifteen 
  hundred. 
  

  

  Though 
  these 
  figures 
  are 
  only 
  approximations, 
  they 
  give 
  a 
  measure 
  

   of 
  the 
  enormous 
  growth 
  of 
  the 
  scientific 
  service 
  during 
  the 
  last 
  fifty 
  

   years. 
  This 
  increase 
  has 
  indeed 
  taken 
  place 
  chiefly 
  during 
  the 
  present 
  

   generation. 
  Before 
  tracing 
  the 
  circumstances 
  leading 
  to 
  the 
  present 
  

   huge 
  Federal 
  scientific 
  service, 
  I 
  wish 
  to 
  picture 
  Washington 
  as 
  a 
  

   scientific 
  center 
  at 
  a 
  time 
  antedating 
  its 
  enormous 
  expansion. 
  

  

  The 
  typical 
  scientific 
  bureau 
  of 
  a 
  generation 
  ago 
  consisted 
  of 
  a 
  

   group 
  of 
  independent 
  investigators 
  studying 
  problems 
  chiefly 
  of 
  their 
  

   own 
  choice 
  and 
  by 
  their 
  own 
  methods. 
  Organizations 
  then 
  centered 
  

   on 
  the 
  individual 
  scientist, 
  in 
  contrast 
  to 
  the 
  present 
  practice, 
  by 
  which 
  

   the 
  problem 
  or 
  the 
  special 
  field 
  determines 
  the 
  administrative 
  unit. 
  

   Devotion 
  to 
  science 
  was 
  the 
  ideal, 
  often 
  to 
  the 
  exclusion 
  of 
  any 
  thought 
  

   of 
  public 
  welfare, 
  now 
  accepted 
  as 
  the 
  important 
  duty 
  of 
  Federal 
  

   investigators. 
  Indeed, 
  there 
  were 
  some 
  who 
  boasted 
  that 
  the 
  results 
  

   of 
  their 
  research 
  could 
  have 
  no 
  useful 
  purpose. 
  Applied 
  science 
  was 
  

   then 
  so 
  rudimentary 
  that 
  an 
  investigator 
  was 
  perhaps 
  justified 
  in 
  

   holding 
  that 
  by 
  advancing 
  knowledge 
  he 
  was 
  fully 
  meeting 
  his 
  obliga- 
  

  

  