16 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



RESEARCHES OF THE YEAR. 



Although, for the reasons alluded to in the preceding section, 

 it will probably be years before the Institution can realize in its 

 affairs anything like a near return to pre-war conditions, ten- 

 dencies toward such a return are manifested alike in the activities 

 of the departments of research and in those of the individual 

 Associates. Departmental staffs, so much disorganized and 

 deflected during the war, have undergone substantial recon- 

 struction, while Associates and their collaborators, who were 

 similarly disorganized, are likewise returning to their suspended 

 work. Except for the elements of cost, it would be easy in most 

 respects to return to the pre-war status, since competent investi- 

 gators, along with the rest of the world, appreciate the fact that 

 the need for and the stimulus to research have never been so 

 great as at present. But how this element of increased expense 

 is to be met is a question asked by all members of the Institution 

 and remains as yet unanswered. 



In the meantime, the productivities of the Institution and its 

 capacities therefor are increasing. What has been accomplished 

 up to date should be regarded as an earnest of what can be done 

 rather than as a manifestation of normal efficiency. In many, 

 if not most, of the fields of research under cultivation progress is 

 necessarily of a secular character; individuals may come and go, 

 but the phenomena to be investigated abide or proceed indefin- 

 itely with ever increasing entanglements as knowledge enlarges. 

 In general, therefore, it appears irrelevant to inquire when the 

 work of a department of research, or of the Institution as a 

 whole, will be finished. In the nature of things this is a question 

 which we must refer to our successors, who may be expected to 

 be better qualified than we to give an appropriate answer, even 

 if they observe with us that "the stars are still shining young 

 and clear as when the shepherds first noted them on the plains 

 of Shinar." 



By reason of the secular nature of the work of the Institution 

 just referred to, and by reason of the impetus acquired before 

 the war, the intellectual output, as measured by contributions 

 to journals and to the proceedings of learned societies and as 

 measured by investigations in progress, has not been seriously 



