NoveMBER 29, 1918] 
history of discovery; it is all the same, says 
the idolator; nonsense, say we.” Whichever 
it may be, the solitary scientist is likely to put 
a great part of his life into the pathetic futili- 
ties illustrated by De Morgan in the “ Budget 
of Paradoxes.” He needs chart and compass, 
suggestion, direction, and the external stim- 
ulus which comes frpm a consciousness that 
his work is part of great things that are being 
done. 
This relation of the scientifie worker to sci- 
entific work as a whole can be furnished only 
by organization. It is a very interesting cir- 
cumstance that while the long history of sci- 
ence exhibits a continual protest against limi- 
tations upon individual freedom, the impulse 
which has called in the power of organization 
to multiply the effectiveness of scientific and 
industrial research to the highest degree is 
the German desire for military world do- 
minion, supported by a system of education 
strictly controlled by government. All the 
world realizes now the immense value in pre- 
paring for the present war, of the German 
system of research applied at Charlottenburg 
and Grosslichterfelde. That realization is 
plainly giving a tremendous impetus to move- 
ments for effective organization of scientific 
power both in England and in the United 
States—countries whose whole development 
has rested upon individual enterprise. It re- 
mains to be seen whether peoples thoroughly 
imbued with the ideas and accustomed to the 
traditions of separate private initiative are 
capable of organizing scientific research for 
practical ends as effectively as an autocratic 
government giving direction to a docile and 
submissive people. I have no doubt about it 
myself, and I think the process has been well 
begun in England under the Advisory Council 
of the Committee of the Privy Council for 
Scientific and Industrial Research, and in the 
United States under the National Research 
Council. I venture to say two things about 
it. One is that the work can not be done by 
men who make it an incident to other occu- 
pations. It can be encouraged of course by 
men who are doing other things, but the real 
; SCIENCE 
533 
work of organization and research must be 
done by men who make it the whole business 
of their lives. It can not be suecessful if 
parcelled out among a lot of universities and 
colleges to be done by teachers however em- 
inent and students however zealous in their 
leisure hours. The other thing is that while 
the solution of specific industrial problems and 
the attainment of specific industrial objects 
will be of immense value, the whole system 
will dry up and fail unless research in pure 
science be included with its scope. That is 
the source and the chief source of the vision 
which incidently solves the practical problems. 
We are thinking now mainly of science as 
applied to war; but practically the entire in- 
dustrial force of mankind is being applied to 
war, so that our special point of view takes 
in the whole field. It is quite certain that if 
the nations on either side in this war had 
been without a great fund of scientific knowl- 
edge which they could direct towards the ac- 
complishment of specific things in the way of 
attack and defense, transportation and supply 
of armies, that side in the war would long 
since have been defeated. Germany had the 
advantage at the start, because she had long 
been consciously making this kind of prepara- 
tion with a settled purpose to bring on the war 
when she was ready. It would be the height 
of folly for the peaceable law-abiding nations 
of the earth ever to permit themselves to be 
left again at a disadvantage in that kind of 
preparation. Competency for defense against 
military aggression requires highly developed 
organized scientific preparation. Without it, 
the most civilized nation will be as helpless as 
the Aztees were against Cortez. 
We are not limited, however, to a military ob- 
jective, for when the war is over the interna- 
tional competitions of peace will be resumed. 
No treaties or leagues can prevent that, and it 
is not desirable that they should, for no nation 
ean afford to be without the stimulus of com- 
petition. 
In that race the same power of science 
which has so amazingly increased the produc- 
tive capacity of mankind during the past cen- 
