REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1916. 11 



motives of mankind, there is no room for any such hypothesis in 

 respect to a star catalogue or in respect to the principles of 

 microscopic-petrography. 



Numerous references have been made in preceding reports to 

 the growing realization of the world at large that the methods 

 of science are the most effective methods thus 

 ^"of'reseS'^'' ^^r developed for the advancement of learning 

 and for the mitigation of the consequences of the 

 inexorable '4aws of nature" which condition existence on our 

 planet. Reference has been made likewise to the contemporary 

 rise and progress of other research estabhshments and to the 

 introduction of investigation as an economic adjunct to industrial 

 enterprises. These manifestations of popular approval and 

 confidence continue to be among the most noteworthy signs of 

 the times. Indeed, it is plain that we are now witnessing a 

 remarkably rapid evolution of pubUc understanding of the mean- 

 ing and the value of research. This has been greatly intensified 

 and accelerated by the European war, whose sinister aspects 

 appear to be relieved in some degree by the prospects of an 

 awakened realization of the availability of better methods than 

 those of warfare for settUng international disputes, of better 

 methods than those now commonly applied in the government of 

 states, and of better methods in education, in sanitation, in 

 industry, and in biological economy generally. The European 

 war has emphasized to a degree not hitherto attained in the 

 world's history the perils of ignorance, of government by assumed 

 divine right, and of that sort of diplomacy which shades off by 

 insensible degrees into duplicity; and it has emphasized equally 

 clearly the necessity for rational investigation of and progressive 

 reforms in all national affairs. 



How the details of this evolution, in which the Institution 

 must participate, will w^ork themselves out is impossible to pre- 

 dict except in general terms. It may be safely inferred, however, 

 from the historj^ of similar developments, that this one will 

 proceed much more slowly and with much more difficulty than 

 many enthusiastic optimists anticipate. Evolution is, in general, 

 a secular process and goes on with a leisurely disregard of individ- 

 uals. It may be safely inferred also that many of the numerous 



