G 



occasion with all that energy and enterprise 

 so characteristic of America, 



So much has already been said and so 

 much remains to be said urging upon us the 

 importance of scientific research conducted 

 for the sake of utility and for increasing the 

 convenience and comfort of mankind, that 

 there is danger of losing sight of another 

 form of research which has for its primary 

 object none of these things. I refer to pure 

 scientific research. 



In the minds of many there is confusion 

 between industrial scientific research and 

 this purely scientific research, particularly 

 as the industrial research involves the use 

 of advanced scientific methods and calls for 

 the highest degree of scientific attainment. 

 The confusion is worse because the same 

 scientific principles and methods of inves- 

 tigation are frequently employed in each 

 case and even the subject-matter under in- 

 vestigation may sometimes be identical. 



The misunderstanding arises from con- 

 sidering only the subject-matter of the two 

 classes of research. The distinction is to 

 be found not in the subject-matter of the 

 research, but in the motive. 



The electrical engineer, let us say, find- 

 ing a new and unexplained difficulty in the 

 working of electric lamps, subjects the phe- 

 nomenon observed to a process of inquiry 

 employing scientific methods, with a view 

 to removing from the lamps an objection- 

 able characteristic. The pure scientist at 

 the same time investigates in precisely the 

 same manner the same phenomenon, but 

 with the purpose of obtaining an explana- 

 tion of a physical occurrence, the nature of 

 which can not be explained by known facts. 



