Mat 9, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



699 



any country is not a legally constituted 

 body. It possesses no property. It can 

 not accept gifts or legacies. The question 

 has been repeatedly raised whether it is 

 desirable to remove this restriction and to 

 establish the association on a legal founda- 

 tion. For this purpose it would have to 

 place itself under the laws of some one 

 country, and the selection of that country 

 complicates the decision on the main issue, 

 as national consideration and perhaps to 

 some extent national jealousies have to be 

 taken into account. 



To clear our minds, let us separate the 

 two issues, that of the power to hold prop- 

 erty and that of a permanent domicile. 

 Each academy knows from its own experi- 

 ence that though individual research may 

 often be carried out at a small cost an or- 

 ganized investigation demands funds which 

 become considerable when its range is wide. 

 It is therefore just the type of work that 

 an international oi-ganization is best fitted 

 to imdertake which demands the greatest 

 amount of assistance. 



The question to be faced is this: 



Shall our International Association be 

 forever content to exercise a purely pla- 

 tonic patronage, or shall it take an active 

 part in promoting research? If it chooses 

 the latter course it seems to me to be in- 

 dispensable that it should have funds at its 

 disposal. 



I advocate the bolder policy on two 

 grounds : Firstly, international research is 

 most logically administered and paid for 

 by international funds, and, secondly, it 

 seems to me that a purely moral support 

 can not, in the long run, remain effective. 

 The existing special associations, as I have 

 already stated, must retain their complete 

 independence, and it is not likely that it 

 will ever be desirable that the Association 

 of Academies should undertake any work 



in which financial support is expected to 

 extend over a considerable period; but 

 when promising enterprises are in their 

 experimental stages, funds are often most 

 urgently required and most difficult to ob- 

 tain. 



It is here that an international body, 

 having an independent income, could most 

 efficiently step in to support meritorious 

 enterprises during the few critical years 

 until they can be either established on a 

 permanent basis or have completed their 

 work. 



I recognize, of course, the weight of cer- 

 tain objections which have been raised, 

 but I think we must run the risk all the 

 same, for my experience teaches me that 

 there is seldom any vitality without an- 

 tagonism; and the main ground of objec- 

 tion is that we are going on so nicely, we 

 never disagree and therefore we had bet- 

 ter remain as we are. But after all, our 

 progress is only obtained by those having 

 differences of opinion coming together and 

 adjusting their differences. 



Even should the general opinion be 

 against me, and if it were definitely de- 

 cided that the International Association of 

 Academies should forever maintain its 

 present state of poverty, the establishment 

 of a domicile on a moderate scale will have 

 to be considered as an independent issue. 

 It might be mentioned that in the original 

 proposals of the Berlin Academy, they in- 

 tended that there should be not only a cen- 

 tral bureau but an organ, published 

 monthly or quarterly, giving an account 

 of the work done by any one academy that 

 would interest the other academies. 



The policy which the International As- 

 sociation of Academies will adopt on 

 these questions is one of the most vital im- 

 portance, for not only will the future of 

 international work depend on the course 



