518 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



not assured as it is in Europe. Research work is comparatively new in 

 our iuii\ersities as yet. Men have been connnonly selected for teaching- 

 niainlv because of their ability as instructors, rather than as investi- 

 oators in science. The commercial tield holds out such financial induce- 

 ments that it attracts many of the most brilliant men, and unfortunately 

 it is not always the brightest men who take up advanced work in our 

 universities. These influences, together with an impatience for recog- 

 nition and a restlessness which often leads to superficial work, militate 

 against the highest development of research in this country. The 

 remedy for this is the spread of education and a more general apprecia- 

 tion and understanding of research. 



Prof. Asaph Hall, the president of the association, expressed senti- 

 ments in line with these thoughts in his retiring address. He said: 

 "The great steps of progress in science have come from the efforts of 

 individuals. Schools and universities help forward knowledge by 

 giving to many students opportunities to learn the present conditions, 

 and from them some genius like Lagrange or Gauss may come forth 

 to solve hard questions and to break the paths for future progress. 

 This is al)out all the schools can do. We need a body of men who can 

 give their lives to quiet and continuous study." 



This need is not confined to an}^ particular branch of science. The 

 genius and acumen required for investigation find a no mean field for 

 the exercise of their full faculties in the realm of applied and economic 

 science. Special qualifications and training seem necessary to apply- 

 ing the results of investigation in pure science to practical everyday 

 life. The high plane of this work and its value to mankind were well 

 expressed in Dr. flordan's address before the Society for the Promo- 

 tion of Agricultural Science, which will be printed in the next number. 



The advantages of institutions designed esj^ecially for research were 

 emphasized by several of the speakers in this discussion; and this, it 

 may be noted, is one of the greatest initial advantages of the agricul- 

 tural experiment stations. 



With reference to cooperation in research it was held, at least b}^ 

 one of the speakers, to be a mistake to strive too much after coordina- 

 tion. Cooperation, it was pointed out, often means subordination, 

 which is usually stifling in its effects; and the best plan was thought to 

 ])e for each institution to go on in its own way in research, rather 

 independently, and work out its own plan, whether it lead to success or 

 failure. 



W hile it is not unusual to encounter this feeling, or something akin 

 to it, among investigators, the growing complexity of science and the 

 increase in specialization seem to make a certain amount of cooperation 

 very desirable. This is especially the case in investigating problems 

 in applied science. There is greater need than ever for a considerable 



