LU THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



been made, we are really only touching the fringe of opportunity in 

 this field of endeavour, but, as Dr. Coulter has pointed out, "we must 

 remember that to bring into effective co-operation great numbers of 

 isolated, scattered and sometimes conflicting units, takes time and a 

 great controUing motive." 



I have endeavoured to show that co-operation and co-ordination 

 are fundamental principles in so vast a project as a world-wide union 

 of science, where we are dealing with groups or regiments of specialists 

 whose common efforts are to be adjusted and correlated by mutual 

 agreement. Further, the direction, in an advisory capacity, of the 

 economic forces of each separate nationality, by bringing about an 

 alignment between production and the scientific principles underlying 

 industries, is based upon co-operation. There are many plans involv- 

 ing the application of this doctrine, by which certain scientific activities 

 of the universities may be linked up with each other and with those of 

 government bureaus and industries to their mutual advantage and for 

 the development of national wealth. Plainly stated, it has come to be 

 generally recognized that co-operation and organization are the most 

 efficient means of capitalizing science, of making it useful. 



Permit me to sound a note of warning. There seems a danger 

 of being carried away by the convincing examples of the success of 

 co-operative science to such an extent as to lose sight of the significance 

 of the individual in research, and to exaggerate the utilitarian motive 

 in scientific investigation. 



The advocacy of individualism in scientific investigation is re- 

 garded today, especially on this continent, as reactionary, but, as 

 Prof. M. P. Armsby states, "It is just as true today as it ever was that 

 the permanent and significant advances in science depend, in the last 

 analysis, on the initiative and originality of individuals." Nothing 

 can alter this fundamental fact, and again, "usually the best thing 

 that can be done for a man of scientific vision, who is capable of the 

 most fundamental kind of research, is to supply him with the necessary 

 equipment and facilities and then let him alone. Committees and 

 co-operators are in danger of being hindrances rather than helps." 



While there is much truth in this statement, we must remember 

 that many of the advances of the last century, with which are asso- 

 ciated some of the greatest names in science, were in part co-operative. 

 There was the directing mind of the master inspiring a group of scien- 

 tific workers in association, who in turn stimulated and directed the 

 master. The chemical work of Emil Fischer on the molecular struc- 

 ture of Protein, Purins and Sugars, that of Kekule on the Benzene 

 ring, of Sir Joseph Thompson on Atomic Structure, represent in each 



