796 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



institutions of research and instruction to the utmost were the countries 

 that have shown the greatest progress and have derived the greatest 

 returns per acre. 



Thus it will be seen that the great nations of the earth have recog- 

 nized the value of agricultural research. It seems to me that the same 

 method of reasoning should be applied to forestry research. If science 

 and scientific research are going to determine the fitness or unfitness of 

 nations for eternal life, then forestry, along with other sciences funda- 

 mental to national existence, must realize that empirical facts and un- 

 proved theories are not a safe or sufificient basis for future development 

 and expansion. 



I have said that this was an age of "applied science." But we must 

 not lose sight of the fact that the fundamental facts must be developed 

 by "pure science" before they can be applied. If "applied science" has 

 made such progress it is because "pure science" made similar progress 

 in advance. Dr. Robert Kennedy Duncan in his "The Chemistry of 

 Commerce" has put this very succinctly: "The achievements of 'pure' 

 science in one generation constitute the formulae of the 'applied' science 

 of the next, and outside altogether of material application they have 

 their absolute justification." 



Therefore, in this age of "applied science" foresters must not lose 

 sight of the value of purely scientific research, for if "pure science" is 

 more fundamental, then the best way to advance "applied science" is 

 by means of purely scientific research. This is the source from which 

 most of our knowledge flows. If we divert or check the course of this 

 river at its source, then the river below will run dry. In other words, 

 if we neglect purely scientific research, in the long run "applied science" 

 is bound to suffer. 



II. Recognizing the Research Type oe Forester 



In Part I of this article I attempted to point out some elementary 

 notions regarding research work and the important place it has come 

 to occupy in the scientific life of the nation. I tried to show how the 

 present war has emphasized the need of research in all branches of 

 science, and how the present age of "applied science" in which we are 

 living must secure its facts and figures by means of "pure science," 

 which in turn is the result of research work. From this it followed 

 that forestry, which is "applied science" par excellence, in order to do 

 its share to fit our country for eternal life, must be continuously in- 

 creasing its stock of fundamental knowledge through research work in 

 silvics and silviculture. 



