SCIENCE 



Friday, March 19, 1920 



CONTENTS 

 Constructive Scientific Research by Coopera- 

 tion: Professor Burton E. Livingston... 277 



Suggestions for Ecologio Investigations in 

 Vertebrate Zoology: "Walter P. Taylor... 283 



The Attainment of High Levels in the At- 

 mosphere: Professor Alexander McAdie. 287 



The Separation of the Element Chlorine into 

 Chlorine and Meta-chlorine : Professor 

 William D. Harkins 289 



Wilhelm Pfeffer: G. J. P 291 



Scientific Events: — 



The Organization of Scientific Work in In- 

 dia; Portland Cement in 1919; The Investi- 

 gation of Fatigue Phenomena in Metals . . . 292 



Scientific Notes and News 294 



University and Educational News 295 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Ionization and Badiation: Professor H. M. 

 Dadodeian. How did Darwin work? Pro- 

 fessor T. D. A. Cockerell. A Convenient 

 Demonstration Mounting for Jelly fishes: N. 

 M. Gribr 296 



Organisation of the American Geophysical 

 Union: Dr. Harry O. Wood 297 



Special Articles: — 

 Is Unpalatable Food Properly digested? 

 Ealph C. Holder, Clarence A. Smith, 

 Philip B. Hawk 299 



The Western Society of Naturalists: John F. 

 BovABD 299 



The American Mathematical Society: Pro- 

 fessor P. N. Cole 300 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garriaon-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



CONSTRUCTIVE SCIENTIFIC RE- 

 SEARCH BY COOPERATION! 



It has been occasionally suggested ttat one 

 of the reasons for the slow advance of science 

 lies in the fact that scientific research proh- 

 lems are still generally attacked by individuals 

 or by small, local groups of workers influenced 

 by a single individual, rather than by planned 

 cooperation among a number of workers in 

 different institutions. Individualistic research 

 has been characterized, by the late Professor 

 C. E. Bessey, as a kind of guerilla warfare 

 upon the unknown. As in other lines of hu- 

 man activity, it seems highly desirable to out- 

 grow this kind of attack, just as rapidly as 

 the appeal of well-planned campaigns and the 

 desire for a maximum of service to race ad- 

 vancement makes itseK felt by scientific work- 

 ers. Commercial research is now frequently 

 carried on in this way, different individuals 

 being actually paid for studying certain as- 

 pects of a broad problem and for bringing 

 their minds to bear upon it in a cooperative 

 way. The more fundamental aspects of scien- 

 tific investigation and the clearing up of 

 the broader, general principles of science have 

 not usually been approached in this manner; 

 the extremely individualistic methods of the 

 Middle Ages seem still to be in vogue. 



This state of affairs in science is sometimes 

 thought to be due to the supposed fact that an 

 investigator can not confine himself to what 

 he starts out to study, but that he is con- 

 strained, by the nature of investigation itself, 

 to follow his evanescent interests and caprices 

 wherever they may lead. But the scientific re- 

 searches undertaken and carried out by large 

 commercial establishments and also, especially, 

 those that were so remarkable furthered by pre- 

 liminary planning and a division of work, 



1 Prepared by request of the oliairmaii of the Di- 

 vision of Biology and AgricnltTire of the National 

 Eeseaich Council. 



