Editorial 



Are there line fences in science? 



In the early days when the untilled prairies of the great Ameri- 

 can midland were broad and the tillers few, it was the rule to leave 

 wide "turnrows" of virgin sod next the line fences. At a later 

 stage these came to be almost the only virgin ground left, and they 

 lingered here and there as the choicest residues of primitive fertility 

 and native life. Since these in turn passed away, the tillage of 

 each field has pressed hard on its neighbor's ground. It has been 

 somewhat so in the scientific domain. The once neglected turn- 

 rows have become the fields that most invite culture. But this 

 has been said before. 



Notwithstanding this parallel, one is sometimes prompted to 

 ask if there are indeed line fences in science. Have metes and 

 bounds of ownership been set, at which one's work must stop? 

 May the arbitrator say: To this point you may plow and plant, 

 but no farther? Or is the tillage of the sciences reciprocal like 

 the cropping of the cereals and the legumes ? The more they are 

 interplanted, within limits, the better for both crops, the Chinese 

 say. 



The question is concrete and takes sharp outline only through 

 a concrete case. In citing such a case, matter may thereby get 

 into print that is not in print, nor on the road to print; matter 

 adjudged out of bounds, because it trespassed on others' fields. 



It is permissible to cite such a case the more freely because the 

 one in mind came at a time when bounds were shifting, when the 

 chief parties in interest were absent or preoccupied. The case thus 

 takes cover under the latitudinal functions of the important sub- 

 ordinate and the anonymous critic. It is moreover a case of 

 friends among friends; it is not a scrap between hostiles. The 

 case may not be material in itself, though it relates to an important 

 inquiry, and lies at the threshold of an important enterprise. It 



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