14 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



will depend very largely on the status of contemporary public 

 opinion. No organization may be rationallj^ expected to rise 

 much above the level of the ideals of those who support and 

 direct it. The law of averages and the ''law of conservation of 

 ignorance" apply in the business of research no less rigorously 

 than in other affairs of human endeavor. The only difference is 

 that in research, from the nature of the case, we are held to 

 stricter accountability; it is incumbent on us to be alive to the 

 ideals and the theories which lead to regress as well as alive to the 

 ideals and the theories which lead to progress. 



Although popular opinion continues to look upon the Institu- 

 tion as an establishment of unhmited means, and hence of 

 unhmited capacities, it is an easily ascertained 

 ^f research.^ fact that such advances as have been attained are 

 due chiefly to concentration of effort in a few fields 

 of investigation, the number of these being necessarily limited 

 by the finiteness of income. Of the agencies which have con- 

 tributed most to these advances the departments of research 

 must be given first rank when quality and quantity of results 

 accomplished are taken into account. These departments have 

 supphed also a much needed verification of the axiom hitherto 

 admitted in all domains of activity except those of research, 

 namely, that if any good work is required the best waj^ to get it 

 done is to commit it to competent men not otherwise preoccupied. 

 They have verified, hkewise, the equally obvious truth that large 

 and difficult undertakings demand foresight and oversight, 

 prolonged effort, and a corresponding continuity of support. 

 The idea that discoveries and advances are of meteoric origin 

 and that they are due chiefly to abnormal minds has been rudely 

 shattered by the remorseless experience of the Institution. 



Along with these considerations special mention should be 

 made of another of vital importance to the departments of 

 research. This is their complete autonomy within the limits of 

 their annual appropriations. Allusion is made to this matter 

 here partly for the purpose of correcting public misapprehension 

 concerning the relations of these departments to the Institution 

 as a whole, and partly for the purpose of stating formally the 

 theory of administration followed by the Institution during the 

 past twelve years. Such a degree of freedom accorded to the 



