ENDOWMENT FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 625 



along the lines of knowledge, have been achieved by men who in the 

 main have devoted tlieir lives to the work, and have been su[))»oited 

 througli institutions or endowments which made this devotion possible. 

 Government ai)pointnu'nts, ])rol'essoriaI chairs, or salaried positions in 

 seientilic institutions ol' some kind, have been and must continue to l)e 

 our chief de[)cndcnce. And it is manifest that these can only be mam 

 tained by (iovernment aid, or by the bount,\ of [uivate individuals. 

 The former is mainly the European system; the latter, in the main, is 

 ours. There, universities are founded by the government; here, chiefly 

 by the ])eople. 



Ill Germany there arc twenty one universities maintained by the Gov- 

 ernment. In each of tbese, as Dr. Lancaster states, there are five in- 

 dependent establishments in the department of biology alone, viz, in 

 physiology, anatomy, pathology, zoology, and botany. At the head of 

 each of these establishments there is a professor, with two ])aid assist- 

 ants, making altogether about 300 for biological research in Germany; 

 and he estimates about oiie-(]uarter of that number in the same depart- 

 ment in England. In all the sciences, therefore, there would probably 

 be found in Germany from 800 to 1,000 persons of highscientiflc attain- 

 ments, supported by the Government in the universities, who are regu- 

 larly and systematically engaged in the discovery of new scientific trutk. 

 For it is there made both the object and the duty of the ])ro6essors of 

 natural science to carry on original investigations by work in flic lab- 

 oratory. Their positions are obtained througli previous distinction in 

 such investigations, and it is for this work that their small but fixed 

 stipend is paid by the Government. 



In the College de France, also maintained by the Government, there 

 is th(^- same requirement, though with a larger salary to the professors, 

 and with the added duty imi)osed on them to deliver to the students 

 aliout forty lectures yearly upon the subjects of the profess(n\s' re- 

 searches; while in Germany the professors also receive from each stu 

 dent who attends their lectures, a moderate fee, which serves to in- 

 crease their meager sti])end, as well as to stimulate their activity and 

 usefulness. lender this system, Germany has be(;ome the greatest 

 school of science, and the resort of the whole world. 



In this country the ojiposite system prevails. TIm' colleges and uni- 

 versities are mainly ])rivate fouii<lations, dependent on private gifts 

 and endowments. The colleges ar«' unwisely muti])lie(l. All are more 

 or less crampe(l for money. This limits the number of professors and 

 assistants appointed for instruction, and crowds them with routine 

 work. The result is that in all but a Jew colleges, and in these until 

 comparatively recently, the duties of instruction have left to the pro 

 fessors but little time or opportunit\ for the prosecution of original in- 

 vestigations; and tlioe with l)nt i)oor equiimient :ind inadeipiate 

 means. 



In not one of all our colleges and universities, so far as I luive been 

 H. Mis. 114 40 



