July 25, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



79 



student body, it follows that we must first 

 require productive scholarship of the faculty 

 as a part of its duty to the university. The 

 interest in original work, thus aroused by 

 compulsion if you will, will be self-sustain- 

 ing and will accomplish the double purpose of 

 setting an example to the students, by means 

 of which, I firmly believe, many of our prob- 

 lems of undergraduate teaching will be solved, 

 and of accomplishing that other prime func- 

 tion of any real modern university : the add- 

 ing to the sum-total of knowledge. 



Now, I would not presume for a moment, 

 to suggest what alterations in the educational 

 and the financial policies of the university 

 may be necessary to bring about this much-to- 

 be-desired condition, nor would I attempt to 

 outline what part Sigma Xi may play in 

 ensuring an increased recognition of the value 

 to the student body, to the faculty, to the 

 country, of more original investigations " in 

 science, pure and applied." But what I do 

 wish to point out is that here is a problem, 

 right in our midst, which touches the very 

 foundations upon which Sigma Xi is built, 

 and to ask whether it is not our duty, officially 

 as a society, to lend our organization, our 

 ideals and our traditions " to encourage 

 higher attainments among the future stu- 

 dents of Cornell University." If we really 

 believe in that for which the society stands, 

 I regard it our duty to take an active part in 

 the solution of this problem. 



Coming now to an extension of the activi- 

 ties of the national organization, may I men- 

 tion briefly two items already under consider- 

 ation. 



First, an extension of the chapter roll : For 

 many years the society has exercised the 

 greatest care in the admission of new chap- 

 ters — this, without doubt, being due to the 

 early experiences above mentioned, of the 

 parent chapter. It has been felt that any in- 

 stitution, before being granted a charter, 

 should have demonstrated beyond any doubt, 

 its ability to maintain a high standard of 

 scientific work. Now, however, with the in- 

 creasing strength and stability of the society, 

 we feel that, even though there may be a 



small risk involved, it is safe to go a step 

 farther by granting charters to such smaller 

 institutions as may have given distinct prom- 

 ise of creditable research activity. We may 

 therefore expect a considerable increase in the 

 chapter roll in the next few years. 



Second, Sigma Xi fellowships : It has al- 

 ways been a matter of regret that neither the 

 chapters nor the national society could 

 directly engage in research. However, under 

 the able leadership of our national president, 

 Professor Stieglitz, of the University of Chi- 

 cago, a movement has been started to enlist 

 the support of the 12,000 members of the so- 

 ciety, by asking for annual contributions from 

 each member of say one or two dollars, for the 

 establishment of at least two fellowships 

 (more if possible) of a value of $1,500 or 

 $2,000 each, one in the physical sciences and 

 one in the biological sciences; these to be 

 awarded each year on some sort of a com- 

 petitive basis. The value of these fellowships 

 would lie not so much in the satisfaction that 

 we would feel in actually engaging in re- 

 search, as in increasing the stability of the 

 national organization by furnishing some tan- 

 gible thing around which would center a com- 

 mon interest. At present the problems of the 

 several chapters are so largely local and so 

 little national that there is need for something 

 to bring them closer together. 



This movement at once suggests an obvious, 

 though perhaps a radical change in our past 

 procedure. "When Sigma Xi was founded it 

 ■was perfectly natural that its activities should 

 be confined almost exclusively to university 

 centers. Then the university was the home 

 of pure science, and to a large extent of ap- 

 plied science. But now, due in part to the 

 increasing economic importance of scientific 

 work, and in part to the extent to which 

 teaching duties are allowed to encroach on 

 the time of the professor, conditions have 

 radically changed. You have only to glance 

 over the papers presented at the meetings of 

 the scientific societies to realize that more 

 and more research in pure science is coming 

 as a by-product from the ever increasing 

 ntunber of governmental and industrial re- 



