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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1351 



were for the more narrowly limited and clearly 

 defined issues precipitated by sudden climax 

 of war. Conflict such as that through which 

 we have just passed intensified interest and 

 brooked no delay in judgment. Eeconstruc- 

 tion under peace conditions sets no precise 

 time limits for its decisions. Therefore, we 

 face to-day the settlement of great questions 

 upon which the future of the world depends, 

 but without that definite intention of judg- 

 ment called forth by the immediate urgency 

 of war-time crises. Our need for solving 

 present vital problems requires a clear under- 

 standing of what the questions are and a 

 determination of the responsibility for their 

 solution. While we may assmne that this 

 responsibility rests more heavily upon some 

 than it does on others, it is my purpose to 

 call attention to the part which all thinking 

 people have in the movement to bring these 

 great issues to settlement. 



In order that there be no misconception of 

 the views presented, it should be clear that 

 the interpretation of research in this dis- 

 cussion comprises not merely the detailed in- 

 vestigations of fundamental scientific prin- 

 ciples, but with this includes all inquiry 

 which may be included within the range of 

 thought leading to constructive action. The 

 mere acquisition of knowledge does not con- 

 tribute unless it is carried on in such a rela- 

 tion that it leads ultimately to the process of 

 building. On the other hand, construction 

 can not go on without the process of investi- 

 gation, as each new building operation in- 

 volves an individual problem to be solved. 



Some one has said that much of research— 

 with the accent on the " re " — may be so 

 called because after completion it becomes 

 necessary with much labor to search it out 

 again when real opportunity for use appears. 

 Work of an investigational nature carried on 

 with the right spirit, and with proper organi- 

 zation, should be planned to find its place 

 without great loss of energy or time, or at 

 least be located where, with other building 

 materials, it lies at hand ready for use as 

 required. 



The research spirit represents a reaching 



out to understand and use all that lies about 

 us. Its expression is as natural to a thinking 

 mind as hunger is to stomachs. Its origin is 

 by some compared to an awakening — in which 

 we recognize the world of things about us but 

 have come as yet only partially to know it. 

 I prefer to think of it as identified with the 

 growth tendency inherent in biological organ- 

 isms, which may carry us on and on without 

 limit, as our powers and range increase from 

 age to age. Constructive work is inseparably 

 a part of the living of intellectual life. 



Much of misunderstanding that arises gen- 

 erally regarding the function and place of re- 

 search relates itself to false conceptions, first 

 of the limits of the broad field of knowledge, 

 and second of the degree of stability in nature 

 and in man as an outgrowth of the natural 

 world. 



An astonishingly large percentage of the 

 human family conceives of available knowl- 

 edge as comprising nearly all that may be 

 known, and including much not worth know- 

 ing. Such views are not limited to unedu- 

 cated persons, but have been found among 

 scientific men accepting as final all present 

 fundamental theories of the nature of matter, 

 origin of the earth, relationship of life forms, 

 and other equally critical interpretations of 

 the natural universe. It has required the 

 shock of many recent discoveries in physics, 

 chemistry, astronomy and biology to make 

 clear the fact that our understanding of much 

 that is nearest to us is only imperfectly 

 formulated; and that in the present period we 

 can be assured of a field of the unknown, but 

 not unknowable, about us so vast that realiza- 

 tion to our ignorance makes us look only with 

 humble pride upon past accomplishment. To 

 such a field for endeavor as I have remarked 

 for science there may be compared similar 

 regions in the economic, governmental, and 

 cultural subjects, toward which not only the 

 student but the man of business and of affairs 

 looks out with strong desire for attainment 

 of much in knowledge that has not yet been 

 reached. In our day the research of business 

 on scientific lines bulks large in comparison 

 with non-applied science, and present accom- 



