182 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1935 



spirit of the investigator impels him to search after the truth and to 

 do so by experiment and measurement. His interest is objective and 

 is centered chiefly in the overcoming of difficulties incident to the 

 pioneer work of advancing knowledge. For the most part he is the 

 expert workman, operating through his fingers, using tools of his 

 own design and adding his bit to the fund of knowledge. In the 

 case of a problem like that of the moon, he does not inquire too close- 

 ly into the immediate usefulness of the results obtained; his first 

 desire and task is to devise methods and apparatus adequate for the 

 attack. The routine measurements needed to obtain the results are 

 a necessary step toward the solution. That these methods and de- 

 vices will have application to other problems of similar nature is to 

 him a satisfaction; but the real incentive is the game of overcoming 

 the difficulties inherent in the problem. 



Experience has shown that scientific research work does yield 

 returns, even when the research problem is in the field of astron- 

 omy. The several fields of science are so intimately related that 

 advance in the one field commonly means advance in another. The 

 practical applications of the results of science and of its method 

 of approach have meant much to us in a physical and materialistic 

 sense; but equally important is the training in attitude of mind 

 toward nature, its constancy and reliability. We research workers 

 fail in our task if we do not pass on some of the inspiration we 

 derive from close contact with nature, its forces, and factors which 

 are quite beyond our comprehension. We glimpse these elements 

 from afar and realize with humility how limited is our under- 

 standing of even simple things. But we do sense a goal which, 

 if it were more generally realized, would add stability and proper 

 placing of emphasis on the things that count and tend to bring us 

 into accord with the principles of life which endure and have stood 

 the test of time and human experience. 



