THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 429 



obligation will be recognized in the form of permanent annual 

 contributions to the institutions and individuals competent to 

 carry on fundamental research in pure science. For while 

 it is never possible to predict at just what point a discovery 

 in pure science may assume practical significance of a large 

 kind, it is abundantly demonstrated that only through such dis- 

 coveries are essential improvements in scientific technique to 

 be obtained, and no investment of financial resources is so likely 

 in the long run to be productive of fundamental improvement 

 in the conditions of human life. While such an investment 

 of money is in a certain sense philanthropic or often specula- 

 tive, it is in the long run an investment more certain than any 

 other to be productive of the highest values which can be ob- 

 tained by human ingenuity. 



6. Research Information Service. Despite the careful study 

 given in recent years to the general problems of bibliography, 

 it is still true that for many of the purposes of scientific research, 

 the present available resources for the prompt securing of essen- 

 tial information are lamentably defective. The intricacies of 

 modern science have produced a situation in which accurate 

 and exhaustive knowledge of the scientist's own special field 

 frequently is insufficient to serve his purposes. Again and 

 again it becomes necessary for him to secure quickly and accu- 

 rately information from other cognate fields of science, and in 

 such instances the present machinery for the speedy attainment 

 of reliable information is extremely unsatisfactory. 



This description, which applies conspicuously in the field of 

 pure science, is even more significant in the ranges of applied 

 science in the industries. Many of the industries have felt 

 this need, and have made sporadic efforts to meet it. The 

 engineering fraternity has also made a beginning at the main- 

 tenance of a bureau to supply certain types of information, but 

 all these efforts are thus far of a fragmentary and non-compre- 

 hensive character. The Germans had built up at Grosslichter- 

 felde a great organization to meet precisely these needs, and 

 had achieved signal success in their undertaking. It is our 



