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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1291 



by uncensored mail immediately to the 

 office of the Research Council in Washing- 

 ton, was taken each Saturday night to 

 New London and presented in digested 

 form to the group of scientists which was 

 working there continuously on submarine 

 problems. Similar arrangements were 

 made with the aeroplane research groups, 

 sound ranging groups, etc., so that in the 

 Research Information Service we had the 

 first demonstration in history of the possi- 

 bilities of international cooperation in re- 

 search on a huge scale, a sort of coopera- 

 tion which made it possible for any devel- 

 ment, or any idea which originated in any 

 of the chief civilized countries of the 

 world to go at once, very frequently by 

 cable, to all the other countries and to be 

 applied there as soon as possible, or to 

 stimulate carefully selected groups of com- 

 petent technical men in these countries to 

 further development. The extraordinary 

 rapidity ivith which scientific developments 

 were made in the war was unquestionably 

 due then, first, to the forming of these 

 highly competent research groups, and sec- 

 ond, to the establishment of effective chan- 

 nels for the cooperation between these 

 groups. 



But what have all these accomplishments 

 of science in the war to do with the new 

 opportunity in science? Simply this; for 

 the first time in history the world has been 

 waked up by the war to an appreciation of 

 what science can do. Why have we gone 

 on for hundreds of years wasting millions 

 and hundreds of millions of dollars in col- 

 lisions between ships? Why have we not 

 years ago in times of peace gone at the 

 problems of under-water detection in the 

 way in which we went at them during the 

 war? Simply because men in authority 

 have been asleep to the possibilities. But 

 now for the moment at least they are 

 awake. How long they will remain awake 



is problematical. But just now the war 

 has taught our political and industrial 

 leaders what science can do. The war has 

 also taught young soldiers that they need 

 their science for success. Administrative 

 positions in the industries are to-day being 

 filled as never before from the ranks of the 

 technically trained men. The war has 

 taught the prospective officer that he can 

 not hope for promotion unless he has sci- 

 entific training. The war has taught the 

 manufacturer that he can not hope to keep 

 in the lead of his industry save through the 

 brains of a research group which alone 

 can keep him in the forefront of progress. 

 As a result of all this there is indeed a 

 new opportunity in every phase and 

 branch of science. There is a new oppor- 

 tunity, first, for science in the secondary 

 schools. I hope, at least, that we are going 

 to have an awakening among our principals, 

 superintendents and educational leaders 

 which will make it possible pretty soon to 

 get consecutive, systematic, thorough work 

 in science in the high schools. This is 

 simply a matter of school administration 

 and organization, and I hope some time 

 principals and superintendents will wake 

 up to that fact. So long as they continue 

 to do what is called in the service ' ' passing 

 the buck, ' ' and put it all up to the teacher 

 of science who is absolutely helpless with- 

 out them no progress can be made. So 

 long as our elementary science is taught 

 by what I choose to call the pellet method 

 of instruction, by which I mean that the 

 science is split up into yearly or half- 

 yearly doses without antecedents and with- 

 out consequents, we shall never have worth 

 while training in science in the public 

 schools, no matter what the angle of ap- 

 proach, or what the arrangement of sub- 

 ject-matter. The crying need is not for a 

 reorganization and rearrangement of the 

 subject-matter of science. That has been 



