EXPERIMENT STATION KIT OKI). 



Vol. XVII. November, L905, No. 



The statement has recently been made that scientists often retard 

 the progress of general and industrial science by their impractical 

 views of practical affairs. The idea was aot thai investigation should 

 l>c confined to utilitarian Lines, or thai research in pure science should 

 be restricted for what i> pure science in one connection becomes 

 applied science in another, but rather that in various lines of research 

 more rapid and surer progress would be made if investigators brought 

 to their work more practical knowledge of its economic relations. 

 This appears to be a reasonable deduction, and there is much evidence 

 to bear it out. Granting that all knowledge is useful, its useful aspects 

 must be brought out, and there must be intelligence in it- application. 



In olden times men of science recognized that to secure support for 

 their investigations they must "disguise their work under a utilitarian 

 cloak." As time has irone on the world has become more sympathetic 

 toward science and less exacting in its demands to he assured of it- 

 immediate application. This is a result of education and its broadening 

 influence, which has spread by contact to people of all classes: hut 

 nevertheless a large body of people continue to distinguish between 

 what to them is theoretical or pure science, and \\ hat is applied science. 

 To such, Doctor Jordan's estimate of the value of science that it "lies 

 in its relation to human conduct." and the value of knowledge that it 

 "lies in the use we can make of it." will come as a vindication of a 

 possibly unformulated conviction. A.s a matter of fact, institutions of 

 research supported by public funds have gained popular support 

 largely because they succeeded in devising helps in economic and utili- 

 tarian affairs. 



The public expectations of practical results vary somewhat with 

 the character of the investigation and of the institution. In the case 

 of agricultural investigation the expectations have come to run very 

 high, largely as a result of past experience and the confidence which 

 has been inspired in this line of work. The experiment station is an 

 institution for investigation in science as applied to agriculture. It i> 

 regarded as a utilitarian institution. Its purpose i- the attainment of 



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