404 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.40 



has said, "the noble side of the subject and realizes that it is not 

 merely a way of making money but of getting all the best out of life. 

 When he does that he becomes an enthusiast, and to make an en- 

 thusiast is emphatically a great achievement." 



It is conceivable that to those who have been away working under 

 the stress of emergency the station work may appear easy-going in 

 seme respects, and lacking in the urge of necessity. They may note a 

 not infrequent failure of dependent parts of an investigation to keep 

 in step, due to defect of organization or miscalculation : and they may 

 be impressed at times with a lack of force in the attack, or a failure 

 to bring to conclusion long continued studies which are essentially 

 finished as far as actual progres- is concerned. The contrast with 

 their recent experiences may bring these thing- out more vividly than 

 formerly. Doubtless they will see opportunity for improvement in 

 certain respects, even in their own work— for concent ration on a 

 smaller number of subjects, more energetic attack, keeping of parts 

 of an undertaking up to date, and studying the trend of result- so 

 that the work may be live and actually progressive, and not mainly a 

 series of repetition-. 



And finally, they may carry back a quickened sense of their rela- 

 tions to the organization of which they are constituent parts and in 

 whose success as a whole they should lie vitally concerned. Occa- 

 sionally a man has seemed more concerned over his "reputation a- ;i 

 scientist " than he is over the reputation of the station he is associated 

 with, or its measure of success in solving the problems of agriculture. 

 The efficiency of ;i -tat ion is the sum of the efficiency of it- workers, 

 measured by the product and its relation.- to matters which are vital. 



As to the -tations themselves, what may be expected of the effect - 

 of this new experience? Nearly all of them have shared in it. Will 

 they carry the influence of these things into the future) 



A research institution is thought of a- a particularly stable type 

 having its fixed purposes and lines of endeavor, and hence le.-s sub- 

 ject to change or influence from current affairs than >ome other 

 classes of institutions. Rut practically every class of research enter- 

 prises, even such as are removed from direct responsibility to the 

 public, and every branch of pure as well as applied science, was 

 drawn under the influence of the great conflict. The desire to serve 

 in a practical way pervaded them. There are indications that all 

 science has been more than temporarily affected. It has itself been 

 stimulated and humanized. It has been said that research must mean 

 a different thing hereafter, and that the search for truth for truth's 

 sake must now be raised "to an inspiration with a very pas-ion for 

 truth for humanity's sake." Science for service must continue t" be a 

 watchword. 



