476 



SCIENCE 



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



search. Though based upon the accumulation 

 of facts, the critical significance of research 

 lies in the quality of judgment and organiza- 

 tion leading to constructive use, with the 

 ultimate goal of application or service. One 

 of the greatest contributions that education of 

 the future can make is to place the emphasis 

 in training on a broader view of organization 

 of knowledge, on the ability to judge and 

 construct, and on the desire for service. Not 

 until such an understanding of the function 

 of educational training comes into general ac- 

 ceptance, can we expect the average man to be 

 brought into full participation or interest in 

 the spirit and opportunity of the constructive 

 work of the world required from day to day. 



It is, I believe, also a responsibility of the 

 educator to bring about a better understand- 

 ing of the relation between the two great 

 ideals of construction and of service which 

 are fundamental to the philosophy of right 

 living. Two groups of persons' who con- 

 tribute greatly to advance the comfort and 

 happiness of mankind are, those who produce 

 the new ideas upon which we build from age 

 to age, and those who give themselves to public 

 service in the larger sense. There is in my 

 judgment a close and necessary connection 

 between these two types of relations to the 

 community. Research should lead to con- 

 struction and is not complete unless the re- 

 sults are available for general use; while 

 public service rarely attains the purpose for 

 which it is initiated unless it is distinctly 

 constructive. 



I have spoken up to this time of the broader 

 view of research, and of its more general 

 relation to great problems with which we are 

 confronted. In considering specifically the 

 connection of this phase of thought with the 

 life of the average man, we should look more 

 particularly to the practical value of con- 

 structive work in contacts which may be con- 

 sidered representative of everyday life. 



Research or constructive work is often 

 divided into two types, one concerning funda- 

 mental principles without regard to their im- 

 mediate application; the other, sometimes 

 designated as research of application, repre- 



senting especially the investigation of meth- 

 ods by which principles already known are 

 put to human use. 



The first type of investigation has been 

 advanced especially in institutions concerned 

 particularly with scientific and educational 

 problems. Much fundamental investigation 

 has, however, been conducted by engineering 

 and governmental laboratories established spe- 

 cifically for the purpose of contributing to 

 clearly determined needs. Through acquaint- 

 ance with any one of many occupations such 

 as agriculture, engineering, or business, the 

 average person is sooner or later intimately 

 in contact with some phase of this type of 

 research. 



Research of application reaches its highest 

 expression in the great engineering labora- 

 tories of corporations recognizing the possi- 

 bility of drawing from the field of investiga- 

 tion uses of scientific laws or principles, which 

 may make possible great saving or higher 

 efficiency in the conduct of their business. 

 Enterprises organized for legitimate gain do 

 not always make increased income by in- 

 creased profit percentage, but often by in- 

 crease in volume of business, introduction of 

 new materials, or utilization of new ideas. 

 Volume of business may mean increase of 

 plant. The use of new materials often means 

 a practical reorganization of plant and in- 

 creased expenditure. Introduction of new 

 ideas may mean increased efficiency, increased 

 profit, and, with the exception of purchase of 

 patents, may not require continued increase 

 of expenditure. 



Research of application finds general use 

 in the problems of everyday business and 

 everyday life, in which we are forced to make 

 decisions which lie between following rule of 

 thumb methods and the possibility of making 

 a special judgment for every situation which 

 confronts us. It is the difference between the 

 attitude of the oculist or optician who has 

 just so many possible standard types of cases 

 into which all eye troubles can and must fit, 

 and the other man who, under normal circum- 

 stances, considers each eye as different from 

 every other and judges it specifically, accord- 



