18 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



decades. Almost all of the investigations of Research Associates 

 call, likewise, for sustained support. The popular theory of the 

 efficacy of initial impulses and spectacular discontinuity has 

 failed here as well as elsewhere in the inexorable experience 

 of the Institution. 



But when a reckoning by decades is conceded, when the pro- 

 verbial difficulties of first steps are taken into account, and when 

 an inventory of work already accomplished is contemplated, 

 there appear to be no important reasons for regret in respect to 

 this division of the Institution's work. Indeed, regret may be 

 entertained rather that it is now impracticable, by reason of 

 insufficient income, for the Institution to enlarge this division. 

 It would be especially advantageous, if it w^ere possible, to add a 

 considerable number of associates who might be expected to 

 devote their entire time to research. There is needed in the 

 Institution, in order to secure a more favorable balance between 

 observational and experimental science on the one hand and theo- 

 retical science on the other, a number of theorists in the better 

 sense of the word. Quite naturally, if not inevitably, a large 

 preponderance of the work of the Institution is on the observa- 

 tional-experimental side. Some steps have been taken already 

 to correct this preponderance, particularly by the temporary 

 assignment of Research Associates, eminent in their respective 

 lines, to the departments of research; but these steps, while 

 productive of highly satisfactory results, generally fall short of 

 attainable ideals. 



In connection with the present and with the preceding section 

 of this report, it is fitting to remark that the productive capacity 

 of the Institution could be greatly increased by a corresponding 

 addition to its endowment without involving any important 

 increase in the costs of administration. The preliminary experi- 

 ments and investigations requisite to the development of stability 

 in a novel organization have been made; and it is now time for 

 the Trustees and the friends of the Institution to consider how 

 its activities may be not only maintained but gradually extended 

 along lines of carefully determined practicabihty. 



