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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1359 



speaking generally, the workers of necessity 

 came from the so-called pure science field. 

 While they doubtless lost caste for a time, 

 many of them have lived to see the old oppo- 

 sition die. The best universities in the land 

 are now proud to call these men from the 

 agricultural experiment stations to their 

 highest research positions. 



The worker in the land grant college, the 

 experiment station or the National Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, as in other fields, is now 

 accepted on his merits as a research worker. 

 Eesearch in the field of agriculture has, as 

 in the days of Darwin, been so fruitful in 

 results of scientific as well as economic value 

 that it is receiving the attention of such in- 

 stitutions as Harvard, Yale, Colimibia, Johns 

 Hopkins and Chicago, as well as of the great 

 state universities, and most recently by the 

 Eockefeller Foundation for Medical Eesearch 

 in its laboratories for animal diseases under 

 the direction of Dr. Theobald Smith, formerly 

 in the Bureau of Animal Industry, of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, and later 

 in the Bussey Institution of Harvard Uni- 

 versity. This Foundation also contemplates a 

 similar laboratory for phytopathological re- 

 search. 



The latest development in this field is the 

 organization of the Division of Biology and 

 Agriculture of the National Eesearch Coun- 

 cil, an agency established by the National 

 Academy of Sciences at the request of the 

 President of the United States, to organize 

 and conduct research in every field necessary 

 during the world war. After the close of the 

 war the President requested that the Council 

 be reorganized for the promotion of research 

 of value to the nation and placed on a per- 

 manent basis. This was carried out in a 

 comprehensive way, supplementing existing 

 agencies, governmental and private, without 

 supplanting them; in fact, the National Ee- 

 search Council is now a clearing house of 

 research agencies of the United States, also 

 having relations with similar organizations 

 abroad through an international association. 

 It supplements the work of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science, 



and through stimulating research in general 

 it will, without doubt, increase the interest 

 of scientific workers in this association, which 

 is the greatest organized scientific forum of 

 the United States. Every live scientific 

 worker in America should join this associa- 

 tion through the sections in which he is 

 especially interested. Section should be 

 the largest and livest Section of the Associa- 

 tion. We draw from all sciences and are in- 

 terested in all, including those usually desig- 

 nated as social and economic. We may be 

 members also of special affiliated societies, 

 like the Botanical Society of America, the 

 Society for the Promotion of Agricultural 

 Science, etc., but that is all the greater reason 

 why we should be members of Section — 

 the agricultural focus of this association. 



It has been proposed to merge the famous 

 old Society for the Promotion of Agricultural 

 Science with Section O. I believe that this 

 is a wise move. Possibly the same idea could 

 be carried out with reference to some other 

 societies in relation to other Sections. We 

 need but two types of society organization 

 based on subject matter — one small, select, 

 highly specialized group and one generalized 

 group. There are now too many organiza- 

 tions covering practically the same field. 

 Time and money are not available to keep in 

 touch with all. Let us carefully study the 

 problem and consolidate wherever it can be 

 done to advantage. All of the great research 

 organizations ought to be affiliated with the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science and hold their meetings at the 

 same place in such way as not to conflict with 

 each other. This has been accomplished in 

 part. It should now be completed. 



While much has been accomplished in agri- 

 cultural investigation in the past we are just 

 entering what may rightly be termed the 

 scientific phase of agricultural development. 

 Eesearch in this field must be greatly intensi- 

 fied. The mere mention of some of the fields 

 such as genetics, plant and animal nutrition, 

 plant and animal disease, disease resistance 

 and immunity, and soil biology will recall to 

 yoTor minds at once the fact that we are just 



