18 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



The larger departments of research of the Institution are 



now so well established and so distinctive in their several fields 



Re rts of ^^^^^ ^^^^^ might be regarded as so many separate 



Departments, organizations except for their dependence on the 

 Institution for financial support. They are not uncommonly 

 considered, in fact, as independent organizations, while several of 

 them have been mistaken for the Institution as a whole. Such 

 misapprehensions are inevitable, but their existence suggests a 

 question well worthy of reflection, namely, whether it may not be 

 well, in the course of time, for some, or all, of these departments 

 to sever connections with the Institution if they should have the 

 good fortune to receive adequate separate endowments. The 

 only concern the Institution need have in such circumstances is 

 that of securing to these departments the most favorable condi- 

 tions for effective work. If this object may be best attained by 

 independent foundations, or by aflfiliation wdth other organiza- 

 tions, no obstacle should be raised against such action. 



But quite apart from these hypothetical considerations, the 

 existing relations of these departments to one another and to the 

 Institution as a whole secure to them a degree of autonomy which 

 could hardly be surpassed under other auspices. The liberties of 

 action, thus designedly and freely conceded, imply correspond- 

 ing responsibiUties not only in departmental administration but 

 also in departmental exposition, whether by summary annual 

 reports or by elaborate monographs. Accordingly, and in con- 

 formity wuth other reasons referred to in previous reports, the 

 following paragraphs aim to give brief indications only of depart- 

 mental progress, reference being made for instructive details to 

 the reports of the several directors in the current Year Book. 



In connection with the subject of departmental researches 

 particularly, the question is often asked ''How can the 'practical 

 results' attained be popularized and thus rendered available to 

 the masses of mankind?" This is a question too large and 

 too difficult for adequate discussion here, but it is one meriting 

 studious contemplation in the interests of our successors. It 

 may be recalled that a hopeful paragraph was devoted to this 

 topic in my first annual report, of 1905, but subsequent experi- 



