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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 718 



truly wonderful state, not presuming to have 

 reached it in its perfection. 



But let me return to the question of the 

 perceptive phase of the physical sciences. A 

 splendid example of almost pure perception is 

 the recent vpork of Kutherford and others on 

 radio-activity which is based on what would 

 seem to be an absurdly slender group of ob- 

 servable effects. No one can overestimate the 

 power of men who do such work as this. My 

 chief business, however, is the teaching of 

 physics; as a teacher I am concerned with 

 average men; and every year I am more and 

 more amazed to see the feebleness with which 

 men hold things in the mind, and more and 

 more impressed with the tremendous power 

 with which men hold things in the hand, a 

 power which, as Plato says, encompasses with 

 eternal security an ancient polity and ancient 

 divisions of rank founded on possession, but 

 which also, alas! as Ruskin says, too often 

 takes the name of Christ in vain and leagues 

 itself with his chief enemy covetoiisness, 

 which is idolatry. 



W. S. Franklin 



WHAT OAN BE DONE TO ENHANCE THE VALUE OF 



THE WORK OF THE BUREAU OP STANDARDS 



TO THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES? 



The greater part of the scientific work done 

 in the United States is accomplished through 

 two agencies, the universities and technical 

 schools on one hand and the bureaus of the 

 government on the other. As regards the 

 latter, the principle that the government 

 should undertake, in the main, only such work 

 as can not efficiently be handled by unofficial 

 enterprise, is generally accepted as sound and 

 has, with some exceptions, been adopted as a 

 policy by the bureaus. It must be admitted 

 that it would not be well to draw such a dis- 

 tinction, or any distinction, too sharply or 

 rigidly. To attempt this would certainly im- 

 pair the usefulness of the work of the gov- 

 ernmental departments. But, broadly speak- 

 ing, it is not impracticable to avoid needless 

 competition with scientific research carried on 

 by other instrumentalities. 



It is an indubitable fact that some lines of 

 scientific research lie farther away from prac- 



tical applications than do others. Those can 

 be and are well cared for by educational in- 

 stitutions. On the other hand, experience has 

 shown that scientific investigations which bear 

 more directly upon the industries can not be 

 so satisfactorily undertaken without govern- 

 ment aid and are more or less seriously 

 neglected when left wholly to private enter- 

 prize. Such technical researches are by their 

 nature (costliness, necessity of continuity, 

 direct bearing on legislation, etc.) appropriate 

 subjects for governmental treatment. The 

 success and value of the official work of the 

 United States authorities on road building, on 

 the testing of materials of construction and 

 of foods and drugs, and on standards of meas- 

 urement, are approved and appreciated alike 

 by scientific men and by the general public, 

 and scarcely require special emphasis here. 



It is fortunate that popular recognition is 

 accorded to this branch of governmental work, 

 not only in a liberal degree, but also in a way 

 that harmonizes with the principle enunciated 

 above. So long as the bureaus concentrate 

 their labors on the solution of problems of 

 practical interest, so long will they enjoy the 

 approval and support of the public. Just in 

 the measure that they allow themselves to be 

 diverted to the study of scientific questions 

 lying far afield from practical industrial ap- 

 plications, will the public interest cool and 

 the necessary appropriations become increas- 

 ingly more difficult to obtain, and this quite 

 apart from the intrinsic 'interest or importance 

 of the work done. As an example of the sort 

 of scientific questions referred to, determina- 

 tions of the atomic weights of the elements 

 may be cited as typical. If the considerations 

 advanced here have any validity, such deter- 

 minations had better be left for other institu- 

 tions and remain untouched by the govern- 

 ment. We are free to admire the excellence 

 of the work as much as we like, and to extoll 

 its importance, and we may still without incon- 

 sistency take the stand that such work is not 

 within the proper scope of governmental de- 

 partments, because, (1) it can be and is well 

 taken care of by other agencies, (2) it is not 

 of direct industrial or so-called " practical " 

 application, (3) it is not calculated to com- 



