THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA 13 



and finds time for research and further study. His efforts are 

 recognized and he is advanced. Just about the time when he 

 has mastered his subject, both as to theory and technique, he 

 is promoted to a full professorship and all hope of further 

 advancement ceases. With rising expenses at the age of thirty- 

 five what can he do? Obviously he must increase his income 

 by means of work lying outside his proper field. One of the 

 most common means is that of writing textbooks, or even trans- 

 lating them and not infrequently the latter course shows the 

 better judgment. If you will take the time to examine the situa- 

 tion carefully, you will find that, in America, productive scholar- 

 ship either ceases or is greatly curtailed between the ages of 

 thirty-five and forty, when activity should be greatest. Very 

 few American men of science continue productive scholarship 

 beyond the age of forty-five. This is the reason why we have 

 hundreds of textbooks all dealing with the same elementary 

 subject matter and scarcely a single scientific treatise. The 

 bookshelves of our libraries are packed with treatises by Eng- 

 lish, French, Dutch, and German writers while the works of 

 American writers are found catalogued under "Textbooks for 

 High Schools and Colleges." American writers have not time 

 to write treatises, which are unremunerative, they must devote 

 themselves to subjects in which the classes are large. Thus in 

 American universities young men sell their abilities for a mess 

 of pottage, and we wonder why American scholarship is unpro- 

 ductive. 



In the sciences, and particularly in chemistry, conditions are 

 even more serious than in other academic departments, for the 

 door is always open to the technical field, and not infrequently 

 the step into this field brings applause as well as financial re- 

 ward. It can all be carried out under the high guise of coopera- 

 tion between the university and the industries. More often, 

 however, matters do not progress so far. The professor merely 

 does "outside work," not infrequently analytical, which is also 

 the worst paid, much after the manner of the wife of the ne'er 

 do well, who takes in washing to make a living for the family. 

 Some few of the more enterprising enter the technical field 

 independently and devote their time to developing inventions 



