SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 135 



rather than of a desire for larger intellectual vision, when the 

 imaginations of ambitious men are dazzled by the opportunities 

 for financial gain, we need a renaissance of the spirit which in- 

 spired and upheld the fathers of science in the classic researches 

 that have laid the foundations of modern knowledge. Until 

 this comes in a greater measure than we now have it, we may 

 not reasonably hope for the solution of many of the great un- 

 solved problems of agriculture. 



In the third place, research efforts take color and value from 

 the environment in which they are carried on. No investigator 

 is likely to be immune to the influences that surround him, and 

 there are modifying conditions, the presence of which must be 

 regarded as essential to the highest type of inquiry. If, as is 

 obviously true, science is an individual product, the initiative 

 and liberty of the individual should be safeguarded. The re- 

 search worker must be allowed, within reasonable limits, to 

 follow his inspirations and enthusiasms in his own way. Inves- 

 tigation that is too highly organized into a mechanical system, 

 so that duties are assigned as in the routine of an administrative 

 department, is infertile. It is a station worker's inspirations 

 rather than his director's commands that are fruitful. Science 

 that is worth anything will never be ground out by machinery, 

 however costly and elaborate the mechanism may be. Neither 

 should the investigating mind be subject to the coercion of public 

 sentiment or the demands of expediency. Its operation should 

 be carefully guarded in an atmosphere of quiet and unbiased 

 reflection. This should also be an atmosphere of deliberation and 

 not of haste. New knowledge that is reliable is reached with ex- 

 ceeding slowness for it is wrought out only by immense labor and 

 with untiring patience. Perhaps what I have said concerning the 

 authority of science may be summarized and made more specific 

 by the statement that the knowledge most trustworthy is that 

 which proceeds from the domain of conservative scholarship — 

 such scholarship, if you please, as is bred in the atmosphere of 



