402 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1374 



already indicated, is absolutely essential to 

 this great problem. 



And I am not without hope that the engi- 

 neer will qualify for this work. There are 

 many indications that their ideas are stirring 

 in the minds of forward-looking men. At the 

 last election Mr. James Hartness, well known 

 as an engineer and inventor, was elected to 

 the Gubernatorial chair of the State of Ver- 

 mont, an honor, so far as I know, that has 

 never before been conferred upon an engineer. 

 And it was with the greatest satisfaction and 

 pleasure that engineers, not only in this 

 country, but elsewhere, viewed the selection 

 of Mr. Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Com- 

 merce. These are pioneer workers in a field 

 hitherto controlled by the lawyer and the 

 politician, and their progress will be watched 

 with the keenest interest and sympathy by all 

 engineers. Of the success of their mission no 

 engineer has the slightest doubt, for we are 

 well aware that these men will bring to the 

 problems of state the methods that have en- 

 abled the engineer to subdue nature and build 

 up civilization. 



Can there be any question that back of a 

 movement as great as this we need an all- 

 embracing Society of Engineers; a society 

 whose business it wiU be to foster the solu- 

 tion of the great problems of industry which 

 are the problems of the engineer. The func- 

 tions of such a society will differentiate 

 sharply from those of an individual society 

 in that as before stated, the individual society 

 is more likely to deal with service to the 

 individual. This society is organized for 

 service to the nation. It is a challenge to 

 national service. There is no question in my 

 mind that it has a bright future and is worthy 

 of the support of engineers of all kinds and 

 in all places. 



PLAGIARISMS 



There have been published in recent num- 

 bers of Science! communications from corre- 

 spondents more or less involving the interest 



1 Science, January 14, 1921 ; February 11, 1921 ; 

 March 4. 1921. 



which revolves around what we are apt to call 

 plagiarism. They are concerned for the most 

 part wiith matters of not very serious import 

 in scientific circles and the communications 

 are marked by courtesy and good humor. 

 These amiable features are sometimes absent 

 in the more earnest and specialized realms of 

 research and the whole subject is only too 

 often conducive to unfortunate and wearying 

 controversy and to permanent and deplorable 

 enmities 'between the best of men and those 

 least likely, one would think, knowingly to rob 

 a fellowman of credit for original work. One 

 not himself drawn into the heat of such con- 

 flicts is often led to believe that a more thor- 

 ough understanding of some of the implica- 

 tions and correlations, a more just apprecia- 

 tion of the numerous underlying springs which 

 (move the human mind would modify it. A 

 anore constant keeping in view the history of 

 science, a realization of how numerous are the 

 expositions of facts, before the world becomes 

 attentive even to the most obvious of them, 

 would cause these deplorable incidents to be- 

 come less frequent. The character of the re- 

 cent outbreak in Science was mild and it was 

 devoid of bitterness, as most incidents are 

 which present such examples of the humor and 

 worldly common sense of the participants, as 

 these communications do. The chances of un- 

 fortunate consequences being remote it is per- 

 haps an opportune time to say something of 

 the broader aspects of the subject of plagiar- 

 ism. 



Its wide aifiliations are best appreciated in 

 an analysis of the underlying principles to 

 which I have referred. Many will be disposed 

 to criticize what may seem the too wide sig- 

 nificance I give to the term. Many look upon 

 it only as one of evil import. However, it is 

 easier to expand its usual limitations a little 

 than to find or invent a name which after all 

 would only here and there overlap the com- 

 monly accepted outlines of the usual term. 



Its most sinister acceptation interests us 

 but little. When a man affixes his name to a 

 long essay or a book which another man has 

 ■RTitten it would perhaps be better to call it 

 thievery. I remember one such instance 



