14 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



The most striking characteristic of the Institution is found in 

 its departments of research. These are absorbing the bulk of 



Departments of ^^® Institution's income. They are devoted to 

 Research. fields of inquiry in which continuity of effort over 

 long periods of time is a prime requisite. Their problems, like 

 many of the phenomena under investigation, are of a secular 

 nature and their progress may not be measured adequately in 

 terms of an interval shorter than a decade. They are centers of 

 activity which, if properly sustained, should continue to con- 

 tribute additions to knowledge whose fuller fruition can be 

 appreciated only by our successors. 



In preceding reports brief summaries have been presented of 

 the annual proceedings of these departments, but it appears more 

 appropriate on this occasion to devote the space here avail- 

 able to some general observations in respect to departmental 

 aims, needs, and attainable ideals. Herein, as in the preceding 

 paragraphs, it seems worth while to register the impressions 

 formed by a decade of experience with the affairs of these depart- 

 ments. They are extensive, highly technical, and in many 

 respects highly complex establishments. They should be per- 

 mitted, therefore, to report progress in their own ways and be 

 required to assume due responsibilities therefor. 



The questions most frequently raised with respect to these 

 departments are (1) ''What practical results are expected from 

 them?" ; (2) "Assuming them attainable, will the expected results 

 justify the costs entailed?"; (3) "When will the work of any 

 department be completed?" 



(1) An essential preliminary in answering the first question 

 is removal of the obscurity which commonly attaches to the word 

 "practical." Those who use this word freely are rarely com- 

 petent judges of research or of the accessions to learning secured 

 thereby. What is practical to them is usually confined within 

 the limits of personal experience instead of being permitted to 

 fall within the far wider hmits of the experience of our race. 

 He who would venture an off-hand opinion concerning the prac- 

 tical, or directly realizable utihtarian, value of any proposed 

 investigation must needs be uncommonly wise or possess a 

 temerity not derived from an acquaintance with the history of 

 science. This history demonstrates in the clearest manner that 



