April 13, 19 16] 



NATURE 



^5i 



marvellous, and hence to obscure the realities of the 

 torward movement now going on. Thus one might 

 infer from current literature that the doctrine of 

 Ltticicncy is altogether new and that it has sprung 

 Middenlv from a few Americans and from the general 



[ft of the German army. It is unnecessary to explain 



It this doctrine is not new, that it has undergone a 

 1 .ag course of development, and that it did not 

 originate as commonly supposed. What is new about 

 i; is a growing collective consciousness of its validity 



d a rapidly increasing apprehension of the advan- 

 iges it may bring in many, if not most, fields of 

 endeavour. But appreciation of this doctrine is neither 

 more nor less than a recognition of the scientific 

 method the beginning of which dates far back, prior 

 to the period of unwritten history of primitive man. 



A far-reaching effect of the determinate introduc- 

 tion of the principles of science in commercial and 

 industrial aftairs is seen in the resulting diffusion of 

 sound learning among the masses of men. Increase 

 in efficiency in such affairs requires, in general, appli- 

 cation of a wide range of demonstrable principles, all 

 of which must stand the tests of economic practic- 

 ability. The so-called labouring man, therefore, as 

 well as the manager, must become familiar with a 

 correspondingly wide range of facts, methods, and 

 appliances affording typical illustrations of those prin- 

 ciples. Thus many manufacturing plants are now- 

 great laboratories supplying instruction to operatives, 

 although nominally conducted with quite other objects 

 in view; while some individual machines, like the 

 internal-combustion engine, embody in their construc- 

 tion and operation striking and easily acquired lessons 



certain fundamentals of physical science. 



But what is more important in this connection is 

 tne general recognition of research as an essential 

 preliminary to progress. Accordingly, numerous 

 national organisations are now forming research com- 

 mittees for the investigation of problems common to 

 their several interests, while not a few individual 

 establishments are conducting special research labora- 

 tories the contributions of which to knowledge must 

 be justly measured by a much higher standard than 

 that of commercial profit alone. In this process of 

 evolution the conventional divisions of pure and applied 

 science are coming into closer contact and the invidious 

 distinctions between them, often set up disadvan- 

 tageously to both, seem to be slowly disappearing. 

 _ Fundamentally related to the application of the scien- 

 tific method in increasing measure in nearly all fields 

 of inquiry is the question of the costs involved, although 

 it. has been little considered and is often contemptu- 

 ously disregarded both by enthusiastic investigators 

 and by optimistic financiers. It is, in fact, in its 

 entirety, often a question of great complexity, involv- 

 ing as a rule many difficulties with "personal equa- 

 tions," and all the entanglements due to the uncer- 

 tainties which successful research seeks to remove. A 

 statement of certain of its more obvious aspects may 

 help to remove common misapprehension. Briefly, 

 these aspects may be stated as follows :— 



(i) Sound research, like any trustworthv work, is 

 expensive in proportion to its 'comprehensiveness and 

 thorotighness. 



(2) The number of projects worthy of investigation 

 IS now far greater than can be adequately financed, and 

 hence advantageously pursued, either by any single 

 f 2«"cy or by all such combined ; and the prevalent 

 lack of financial support for this kind of work appears 

 destined to continue indefinitely, certainly so long as 

 there is no general recognition of existing conditions 

 °'" °* practicable ways of improving them. 



(3) Each research organisation must therefore choose 

 lor Itself at any epoch the field, or the fields, it will 

 cultivate, and must restrict itself to them. No such 



NO. 2424, VOL. 97] 



privately endowed organisation may seek to delegate 

 its duties to others, to play the rdle. of paternalism, to 

 undertake the functions of a scientific clearing-house^ 

 to secure monopolistic privileges, or to engage in pro- 

 pagandism, without danger of defeating its primary 

 purposes. 



Ihat large sums are now spent annually by Govern- 

 ments, by municipalities, and by industrial organisations 

 in defraying the costs of investigations, sums vastly 

 greater in the aggregate than the combined incomes 

 of all existing endowed research organisations, is a 

 fact which needs to be visualised as a preliminary to 

 an understanding of the relatively narrow limitations 

 of the resources and capacities of the institution. 



Thus, to illustrate, in the conduct of work which 

 may be fittingly called research, the United States 

 Government spends annually not less than twenty 

 times the income of the institution. It matters not 

 that this work is often designated by the ambiguous, 

 word "practical," or by the misleading phrase _ "ap- 

 plied science." In so far as it deals with facts and 

 principles, and substitutes knowledge for ignorance, it 

 is worthy of prompt recognition and unstinted support. 



If, for example, the United States Department of 

 Agriculture can succeed in supplanting "lunar 

 methods " in husbandry by methods founded on 

 physical fact and verifiable induction, it will be entitled 

 to conspicuous distinction in the annals of American 

 science. But while antithetical words and phrases 

 continue to befog contemporary thought it may be 

 easily ascertained, and should be better known, that 

 the United States Government, through its numerous 

 departments and bureaus, is now carrying on, and has 

 in recent decades accomplished, a large amount of 

 high-class research, the annual costs of which quite 

 overshadow the income from any existing research 

 endowment. It may be as easily ascertained, and 

 should be as well known, that no such endowment can 

 be reasonably expected to supplant governmental func- 

 tions or to supplement governmental resources. The 

 legislator who sees no reason why the institution may 

 not undertake electrification of postal routes, the pub- 

 licist who entertains fears lest a few endowed organisa- 

 tions should secure a monopoly of research, and the 

 educator who 'imagines the income of the institution 

 sufficient to meet academic needs and emergencies, are 

 all alike deceived by fallacies which become manifest 

 as soon as one is asked to assume responsibility for 

 their consequences. 



In connection with these matters of public concern, 

 it is fitting to remark that while the world at large has 

 entertained all manner of fictitious expectations from 

 the institution, its actual development has proceeded 

 in conformity with the limitations of its income and 

 the conditions of its environment. As a matter of fact, 

 it is now essential to curtail research in order to live 

 within income, since the purchasing capacity of mone- 

 tary standards, which has fallen by more than 30 per 

 cent, during the last two decades, appears to be still 

 diminishing. 



Characteristics of the Carnegie Institution. 



It appears advantageous now, in the interests of all 

 concerned, after a decade of patient observation of 

 actual developments and of considerate attention to an 

 unsurpassed wealth of private and public opinion, to 

 state briefly the ideas and the ideals which have 

 animated the present administration and seem fitted 

 to endure in the conduct of any similar organise 

 tion. 



The institution is an establishment for fhe conduct 

 and for the promotion of original research, the results 

 of which are given freely to the world. 



It is important in this connection to offer an answer 

 to the underlying question perennially put directly, and 



