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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1399 



log:rapliy, the botanist to lecture on zoology, 

 and the mathematician on physics or astrono- 

 my. Ifevertheless specialization was be- 

 ginning, science was growing. 



To some of the younger members present, 

 this period may seem to be long passed. Just 

 as an illustration I may say that I received 

 my first lectures in chemistry, geology, 

 mineralogy and crystallography from one pro- 

 fessor, and my physics and mathematics from 

 another. 



The next period succeeded in rapid succes- 

 sion — a professor was expected to be expert 

 in only one science, but a chemist must know 

 inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physi- 

 cal chemistry, analytical chemistry, assaying, 

 etc., and what is more he was expected to 

 teach all of these branches with equal facility 

 and authority. The botanist must know 

 morphology, taxonomy, cytology, bacteriology, 

 physiology, etc., not only of one group of 

 plants, but of all groups and teach and direct 

 research workers in all branches, and so on for 

 the other sciences. This period is rapidly 

 passing and will soon be gone. 



To-day we have narrowed our field. The 

 mass of facts and theories in any branch of 

 science has accumulated so rapidly, the 

 scientific workers have so multiplied, that in 

 a few years we will be fortunate if we can 

 claim authority in a narrow branch of a 

 special field. The evolution of the scientific 

 journals is proof of this evolution. We have 

 colloid journals for the colloid chemist, physi- 

 cal-chemical journals for the physical chemist, 

 organic-chemical journals for the organic 

 chemist, food journals for the food chemist, 

 biological journals for the biological chemist, 

 cereal-chemical journals for the cereal chemist, 

 and so on ad infinitum. There is no end — 

 there can be no end if science is to continue 

 its evolution. The same situation holds for 

 the botanist. They have their physiological 

 and ecological journals. The physicist has 

 those journals which specialize in radio 

 activity, electricity, etc., and in the medical 

 field there is possibly an even greater range 

 of specialization than in any other. 



Such is the situation to-day — where is it 



to end ? It is not to end ! As scientific work- 

 ers increase in number, as the mass of scien- 

 tific knowledge increases while the mind of 

 man remains limited in the amount of infor- 

 mation which it can properly assimilate, we 

 must more and more become a group of 

 specialists centering our intensive study upon 

 a narrower and narrower field. The special- 

 ization that we have seen in medical science 

 is only a special instance of the future of all 

 science. The university of the future vsdll 

 have a professor of radium, a professor of the 

 structure of the atom, and another professor 

 of the a particle or the atomic nucleus, — 

 yes, even a professor of the electron. 



The time of the naturalist has passed, the 

 time of the broad scientist is passing, the day 

 of the specialist is dawning — has, in some 

 instances, actually arrived. Science is sweep- 

 ing forward with tremendous strides, and I 

 do not envy the young candidate for the 

 Ph.D. degree who 100 years hence will be 

 required to search through the literature and 

 compile a monographic history of the problem 

 which he presents as his dissertation. 



So much for my vision of the future. How 

 is mankind to utilize to its best advantage 

 the knowledge of these specialists fifty or 

 one hundred years hence? How are the great 

 problems of the world to be solved by men 

 who can see only isolated trees in the great 

 forests of nature? Probably the answer is 

 cooperation. A problem will be attacked not 

 by one worker but by ten, twenty or one 

 hundred workers, who will pool their knowl- 

 edge, their individuality, their selfishness and 

 who will all work together for the glory of 

 science and the good of mankind. Dr. 

 Crocker, the director of the new Thompson 

 Institute for Plant Research, recently said 

 to me that he believed the day was not far 

 distant when five or ten men would be per- 

 mitted to present a single dissertation for 

 the Doctor's degree, a masterpiece of research 

 worked out in cooperation by the group, and 

 into which each had put the best of his effort 

 and manipulative skill. He has already so 

 far convinced the graduate school of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago that in one or two instances 



