October 1, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



305 



sible recommend and approve conitemplated lines 

 of experimentation for ensuing years with a view to 

 building up a system under whieli tiie worlc of the 

 respective stations shall, as far as possible be sup- 

 plementary to and correlated with each other. . . . 

 (c) That from time to time . . . conferences of 

 these committees or representatives thereof from 

 groups of provinces or all the provinces be held. . . . 



Another resolution with respect to plant 

 breeding reads, in part, as follows: 



Be it resolved that plant breeding work in Can- 

 ada whether carried on under federal or provincial 

 direction should be fully coordinated and corre- 

 lated by the holding of conferences of Canadian 

 plant breeders . . . that the mode of extension (of 

 plant breeding work) be arranged by conference 

 from time to time between federal of&eers and the 

 officers of the provinces concerned so as to avoid 

 duplication of effort and attain the maximum de- 

 gree of efficiency. 



It is of course possible that local jealousies 

 and personal affairs may interfere with the 

 working out of such plans. I have heard of 

 an institution where one kind of worker may 

 study an insect so long as it remains in the air 

 but as soon as it penetrates the hide of a cow 

 he must not seek to follow it; it then becomes 

 the property of a different subdepartment. If 

 it digs into the ground another subdepartment 

 claims it. I know that some technical agricul- 

 turists are constantly on the watch lest a bot- 

 anist or chemist tread on their preserves, and 

 that some pure scientists have " no trespass- 

 ing " signs up for technical agriculturists. 

 When members of the same department quar- 

 rel over such things we may expect trouble in 

 a larger organization. The division of credit 

 for work done may cause some heartburnings. 

 But I believe the good sense of all concerned 

 and the desire to get results will overcome all 

 such dificulties. And a little experience in 

 cooperative work will soon convince every one 

 of the essential decency of scientific colleagues. 



Such work need not interfere with any one's 

 initiative, and no matter how much coopera- 

 tion may be secured in solving practical prob- 

 lems, undoubtedly much of our progress will 

 continue to depend on individual brains and 

 initiative and imagination. Cooperation can 



not replace intellect but it can make intellect 

 much more effective in solving certain kinds 

 of problems. 



Moreover it must be remembered that co- 

 operation can be effective only with certain 

 kinds of problems. The problems must be 

 clean-cut, easily outlined. The end sought 

 must already be perfectly clear; the probabil- 

 ity of success must be demonstrable; the 

 methods of attack must be fairly obvious from 

 the data at hand. But there is another kind 

 of studies — those which really open up new 

 fields of interest and importance. These stud- 

 ies must be highly individual and do not lend 

 themselves to cooperation. Such problems can 

 not be outlined because they are not known 

 or are perceived only vaguely. One gets a 

 hint but the end of the trail is not clear; the 

 success of the work is doubtful or may appear 

 ridiculous. The project can not be outlined 

 so clearly and attractively as to enlist the help 

 of colleagues or the support of executive boards 

 which control funds. 



And just here, it may be remarked, is a 

 defect inherent in all institutions and organi- 

 zations whose specific purpose is the carrying 

 on or support of research. The directors or 

 chiefs can not give financial support unless the 

 problem can be clearly outlined, and the proba- 

 bility of its solution demonstrated. They must 

 thereby exclude many of that second and 

 higher type of researches to which I have re- 

 ferred. If Mendel had had to ask the prelate 

 of his monastery for land and labor to carry 

 on his experiments, he could not have justified 

 his request by predicting the discovery of his 

 law of heredity. There is after all some ad- 

 vantage in holding a teaching position in 

 which one can potter at whatever notions one 

 conceives without having to justify them to 

 some one controlling his salary and without 

 having to give reports at intervals. We teach- 

 ers are not as envious of you full-time research 

 men in governmental positions as you might 

 suppose. 



For the same reason it would, in my opinion, 

 be a mistake to do anything that would tend 

 to concentrate research in governmental de- 

 partments or institutions. Every teacher 



