APPENDIX A LUI 



case the activities of a large body of research workers, whose investiga- 

 tions were co-ordinated by the master mind, but the workers were 

 largely self-directed and the co-operation was a purely voluntary 

 one. 



Problems calling for the application of several branches of science, 

 e.g., Physics, Biology, Chemistry, etc., are especially adapted for 

 co-operative effort, but this co-operation should be voluntary and 

 democratic. Such mass attacks on problems are undertaken, for 

 example, in the National Physical Laboratory, in the Bureau of 

 Standards, in the Mellon Institute, and will form an important part 

 of the activities of the new Canadian Research Institute. Co-opera- 

 tion of this kind has been found to develop rather than suppress 

 individuality among the investigators. 



The standard by which the world has come to measure the value 

 of science is its capacity to aid in the production of wealth and power. 

 The public recognition of science as a profitable investment is, to many 

 the silver lining of the great war cloud. Among the recent articles 

 in scientific journals, which are eloquent in the glorification of utility, 

 we find a leader of manufacturers speak of science as "the handmaid 

 of industry," and an astronomer quoting with approval "without the 

 aid of science, the arts would be contemptible; without practical 

 application, science would consist only of barren theories which men 

 would have no motive to pursue." It is obviously true that a scien- 

 tific discovery has its value enhanced when it admits of practical 

 application, but this surely cannot be regarded as the sole criterion of 

 its importance. The theory of evolution, the electron theory of atomic 

 structure dealing with the infinitely small, or the Copernican theory 

 of the heavens, to take an example from astronomy, cannot be 

 classified as having utility in the ordinary acceptation of that word, 

 nevertheless, these conceptions "have revolutionized our habits of 

 thought and our outlook upon the world in which we live." 



It may be generally stated that utilitarian motives, arising from 

 war experiences and accentuated by the requirements of a period of 

 reconstruction, largely dominate the scientific life of the world to-day. 

 We must recognize, however, that researches along these funda- 

 mental lines of sciences suffered during the war, particularly in the 

 universities, from the withdrawal of support and from the trans- 

 ference of attention to more urgent needs. Professor Sumner asks, 

 "To what extent is this shifting of emphasis irreversible ? The 

 investigator who continues along the newer paths will doubtless be 

 following the lines of least resistance and he will have behind him all 

 the force of public approval." The investigator may, to use the 



