The Frontiers of the Sciences 



sciences is one of the most marked symptoms 

 of the situation to which we call attention. And 

 yet two physicists or two naturalists may 

 frequent!}/ be seen uniting their forces towards 

 a common end. This association leads, as a 

 rule, to excellent results. An isolated worker 

 is often hampered by a preconceived idea which 

 would disappear before the united efforts of 

 two diverse minds which, striving with the 

 same end in view, would act as a stimulus 

 and a check on one another. 



On the other hand, the great industries are 

 showing us every day that certain complex 

 problems (and most problems are complex) can 

 only be solved by a methodical organisation 

 of the work. In metallurgical works the same 

 steel is studied from the physical, the chemical 

 and the micrographic point of view. The most 

 important companies for the construction of 

 electrical machinery employ sets of specialised 

 engineers, who devote their attention to the 

 several terms of the same problem. Germany 

 leads all other countries in this methodical work. 

 The great institution in Berlin, the Reichsanstalt, 

 investigates methodically the properties of bodies 



