448 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Tor,. L. No. 1298 



After a business has assiuned large propor- 

 tions, and research functions are distributed 

 in scattered manufacturing and engineering 

 departments, it is difficult to gather them to- 

 gether and coordinate them. 



Let me remind those of you who may 

 think this conception of research degrading 

 that the present scientific limitation of the 

 word is modern and confined to the exact 

 sciences. The Century Dictionary gives its 

 definitions in this order: 



1. Diligent inquiry, examination or study, 



2. Laborious or continued search after facts 

 or principles, 



3. Investigation, 



and quotes from Cowper 



He sueks intelligence in every clime 



And spreads the honey of his deep research 



At his return — a rich repast for me, 



so I think that the definition which I pro- 

 pose does not violate good usage. Even if 

 it did would not the possibilities of develop- 

 ment and usefulness to industry which this 

 deiinition allows justify it in the same way 

 that Bryce, in his " American Common- 

 wealth," writing of the third quarter of the 

 last century, said that the application of the 

 name " university " to many institutions, 

 which were no more than colleges or in some 

 cases high schools, was a favorable sign be- 

 cause it showed an aspiration, and that where 

 the aspiration existed the reality would fol- 

 low? We all know to what a large extent 

 this forecast has come true. 



Morris E. Leeds 

 Leeds & Nobthktjp Company, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



THE NATURALIST'S PLACE IN HIS 

 COMMUNITYi 



Before beginning discussion I may say that 

 I am not trying to say anything new or 

 original and that I am not quite sure that I 

 shall be able to make myself entirely clear in 

 the limited time at my disposal. I do think, 

 however, that the points which I shall men- 



1 Eead at the meeting of the Bay Section of the 

 Western Society of Naturalists, Stanford Univer- 

 sity, November 29, 1918. 



tion should be more often opened to serious 

 consideration. 



Inasmuch as there are probably about as 

 many different notions of " naturalist " as 

 there are users of the word it may be necessary 

 to say that by this term I now mean any one 

 who is actively interested in living things as 

 such. 



In primitive societies most of the leaders 

 are naturalists. In fact in most cases their 

 leadership depends on attainments of that sort. 

 The medicine man gains and holds his posi- 

 tion very largely through his shifty use of 

 knowledge of certain characteristics of ani- 

 mals in general and of his fellows in par- 

 ticular. The chieftain also usually bases his 

 influence on successes derived from familiarity 

 with activities of all sorts of animals. Cer- 

 tain women may gain indulgence or even gen- 

 eral respect through exceptional familiarity 

 with medicinal and food values of great 

 numbers of plants and animals. It is, of 

 course, easy to see that primitive leadership 

 is thus conditioned because primitive man is 

 individually in contact with the natural en- 

 vironment and appreciative of its mysteries; 

 also because in an unspecialized social g^oup 

 all the members are sufficiently acquainted 

 with every phase of activity to be able to 

 understand and fairly to evaluate luiusual 

 skill and intelligence. 



As society advances in complexity from the 

 primitive stage and as more and more special- 

 ization occurs there are larger and larger 

 numbers of individuals removed from natural 

 to artificial conditions of existence. Not only 

 so, but many of them are so far removed that 

 they cease to have any knowledge of natural 

 existence and so become entirely out of sym- 

 pathy with those who retain some contact 

 with and some interest in the natural order of 

 things. This remoteness from nature may be 

 physical as in the city dweller, or mental as 

 in the rural resident who sees nothing but a 

 pecuniary return through manipulation of 

 same natural object. Thus it happens that 

 the abilities of the naturalist tend to be ob- 

 scured, ignored or derided in a complex so- 

 ciety. His standing amongst his fellows is 

 reduced to the lowest rank and his influence 



