March 19, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



279 



finally replaced fcy otiher plans, as the work 

 progresses and as new ideas are brought to 

 light. This feature apparently requires re- 

 peated emphasis, to offset the mistaken thought 

 that any free thinker is to 'be hampered in his 

 scientific progress if he joins in with a group 

 of others who already have in mind a broad, 

 although always tentative, plan. On the other 

 hand, it is especially essential that any or- 

 ganization for cooperation should exhibit a 

 strong esprit du corps, and if a prospective co- 

 operator feels that his entrance into the or- 

 ganization may result in too great modifica- 

 tion of his own ideas of what he should do, if 

 he does not respond to the general aims and 

 motives of the group, he should consider care- 

 fully before he joins. 



Given the needed organization, safeguarded 

 against autocracy or bureaucracy, around 

 which and in which cooperative research might 

 develop — ^more as a coagulation due to the in- 

 ternal conditions of an emulsion than as a 

 precipitate forced by a reagent from without — • 

 it really seems possible for beginnings to be 

 made, even without considerable financial sup- 

 port. According to the writer's experience 

 with his colleagues it is not true that scien- 

 tific research workers do not generally wish to 

 cooperate. A number of able workers can be 

 found who wiU gladly join hands in the prose- 

 cution of almost any problem that may be men- 

 tioned. It is of course not to be expected that 

 all workers will unite on any particular por- 

 tion of the vast realm of science ; if the project 

 in question is concrete enough to be ready for 

 actual attack there will, of necessity, be only 

 relatively few who will take part. Further- 

 more, the more fundamental is the nature of 

 the problem, the fewer will be the number of 

 possible cooperators; many would join to- 

 gether to find ways of reducing the cost of liv- 

 ing, while only a few could be found to work 

 conjointly on the ultimate naiture of life itself ! 

 Clearly, the function of the original organiza- 

 tions for cooperative scientific research must 

 be to find the cooperators and to prepare a way 

 by which these may -cooperate. To accomplish 

 this, the preliminary organization will of 

 course require time and thought from, several 



persons, and some funds must be available for 

 assistance and for travel. Scientisits are not 

 generally able to command even such small 

 funds as will be needed; they will rightly feel 

 that, if they devote time and serious thought 

 to this matter of organization (thus tempor- 

 arily setting aside their own investigations), 

 (the small amounts of money needed should 

 come from elsewhere. It is not necessary, 

 however, to pay for the time and thought of 

 the cooperators themselves, these may be had 

 for the asking; but mechanical and clerical 

 assistance must be furnished to the prelimi- 

 nary organizations if they are to be successful. 

 Without funds for this (and for travel, also, 

 in many cases) such organizations ought not to 

 be started, for without such funds they can 

 do little more than distract the attention of 

 their members from their own researches. An 

 active guerilla warfare seems much better than 

 mere social gatherings that would be unable 

 to act upon a decision even if they should 

 reach one, as to what is needed and what 

 ought to be done. This consideration assumes 

 special importance when it is remembered that 

 the individualistic and non-cooperative method, 

 poor as it confessedly is, is the only one that 

 has been really tested in fundamental research, 

 and that discussions within groups that are 

 without adequate power to act are apt to de- 

 tract from the volume of individual research, 

 while they may add but little to true accom- 

 plishment. 



To determine whether cooperators may be 

 found for a given project it seems desirable to 

 begin the organization in an experimental 

 way. The preliminary organization will need 

 widespread publicity among the proper public. 

 Tentative plans for the problem in hand will 

 need to be submitted to many minds, will need 

 to be repeatedly modified or remade, until a 

 sufficient group of workers are willing' to enter 

 into the proposed cooperation. Diversity of 

 geographical location and of temperament and 

 interest among scientists, make the prelimi- 

 nary testing of any cooperative project an 

 operation that must necessarily consume much 

 time; several years may generally elapse be- 

 fore a true decision can be reached as to 



