Febeuaet 28, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



315 



individuals and organizations, have no 

 foundations in fact. 



4. That while there may be wisdom in a 

 multitude of counsels, it becomes increas- 

 ingly difficult of access as the multitude 

 enlarges and is generally obscured, if not 

 hidden, by a conflict of opinions. The cur- 

 rent popular impression that discoveries 

 and advances may be favorably promoted 

 by the patient examination of a vast ag- 

 gregate of miscellaneous suggestions is a 

 fallacy abundantly demonstrated by the 

 probably unequaled data available to the 

 institution. 



5. That it is neither practicable nor ad- 

 vantageous for the institution to under- 

 take to perfect inventions, to secure letters 

 patent for them, to defend inventors in 

 suits at law, or to exploit successful inven- 

 tions. The objects of the inventor are pri- 

 marily egoistic and hence secretive ; the 

 objects of the institution are primarily al- 

 truistic and hence non-secretive; their di- 

 vergence is so great as to render them 

 mutually exclusive under existing condi- 

 tions. The distinction between invention 

 and investigation is rarely understood and 

 is not always easily drawn. They are in- 

 deed closely allied ; for the inventor is often 

 compelled to make investigations and the 

 investigator is often compelled to devise 

 inventions. It should be said also that the 

 egoism of the inventor which leads him to 

 secretiveness and to seek state privileges 

 through patent rights has its correlative in 

 the desire of the investigator to secure pri- 

 ority of discovery and publication. The 

 distinction is one of reversed attitudes and 

 objects. The inventor is primarily inter- 

 ested in direct personal benefits which may 

 come from the application of facts and 

 principles in the perfection of useful de- 

 vices, machines and processes. The inves- 

 tigator is primarily interested in the dis- 

 covery of facts and principles which may 



be given freely to the world without expec- 

 tation of immediate application or hope of 

 direct personal benefit. It is claimed, how- 

 ever, that the party of the second part to 

 be considered in all such matters, namely, 

 society, is in general disproportionately the 

 gainer over both the inventor and the in- 

 vestigator. The extensive evidence on this 

 subject acquired by the institution shows 

 clearly that the indirect advantages to the 

 investigator arising from his altruism are 

 generally much greater than the direct 

 advantages to the inventor arising from 

 his egoism. This evidence is, indeed, so 

 convincing as to suggest the desirability, 

 at some future date, of the organization of 

 a department devoted to inventions, which, 

 instead of being protected by patent rights 

 should be protected, if at all, against them. 

 It is plain, in fact, that if society could 

 make use of knowledge now available the 

 labors of the expert inventor could become 

 far more fruitful and far more satisfactory 

 to him than they are at present. 



KESUME OF INVESTIGATIONS OF THE YEAR 



Departments of Research 

 It is now nine years since the earliest of 

 the departments of research established by 

 the institution were authorized and six 

 years since the latest of them was author- 

 ized. This lapse of time has now fully 

 demonstrated that these departments are 

 all engaged in enterprises which, by reason 

 of their magnitudes, were unlikely to be 

 carried out under other auspices. They 

 have grown very rapidly and have become 

 highly productive. All of them tend con- 

 tinually, and in many respects properly, 

 to expand as their several fields of investi- 

 gation are developed. They thus tend con- 

 stantly to press closely upon the available 

 income of the institution and hence to be- 

 come a source of concern by reason of their 

 highly commendable progress. But the 



