REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1915. 13 



these distinct stages there is endless diversity of detail and 

 hence the widest latitude for amateurism, dilettantism, and 

 even pseudo-science. Thus it happens not infrequently that 

 inquiry is made whether the Institution undertakes any other 

 than "scientific investigations," whether its work is limited to 

 science, or whether it seeks to enter the domains of philosophy, 

 metaphysics, etc. Concerning these matters it may be said 

 that the attitude of the Institution is at once liberal and critical, 

 liberal in recognizing all branches of demonstrable knowledge and 

 critical in respect to all unverified and unverifiable representations. 

 No attempt has been made to limit recognition to the domain 

 of mathematico-physical science or to the quite unhappily desig- 

 nated domain of "natural science." It should be said, however^ 

 that complete equality in application of the Institution's income 

 has not only not been attained, but that such equality is in the 

 nature of things unattainable. 



It would be rash to assert that the methods and the inductions 

 of science, which have cost more than twenty centuries of labori- 

 ous effort in their evolution, are not still susceptible of many 

 or even endless improvements. But these methods are now so 

 well defined and so well known by all acquainted with the history 

 of human progress that it is no longer essential to use the adjec- 

 tive "scientific" in qualification of the words investigation and 

 research. One may safely assume, for administrative purposes 

 at any rate, that investigations which purport to be unscien- 

 tific or superscientific do not fall within the scope of a research 

 organization. And in conformity with this view the term science 

 may be no longer limited advantageously to designation of the 

 mathematico-physical sciences (including the biological and the 

 so-called natural sciences), which for certain obvious reasons 

 have thus far helped most to fix its meaning. But while the 

 term science should be interpreted in the most comprehensive 

 and liberal manner, experience teaches that its criteria should be 

 strictly observed and impartially applied. Liberality of inclu- 

 sion and consideration may not be construed as implying leniency 

 of judgment in matters scientific. Science furnishes no royal 

 road to learning. It will undertake to blaze trails, to set up 

 constructions conformable to the laws of the universe, and to 

 test ideas, hypotheses, and theories; but it is unable to work in 

 regions from which its methods and criteria are excluded. 



