December 23, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



617 



of the station's program of work by indivi- 

 dual or organized farmers, or it may be the 

 indirect and insiduous influence of the abil- 

 ity to cite definite financial benefits to the 

 state or nation from the result of each com- 

 pleted project of station work, as a matter 

 of pride in achievement or as an influence 

 in securing future moral and financial sup- 

 port for the station's program. 



Whatever the character of the pressure may 

 be, it will be most unfortunate for the ulti- 

 mate success of agricultural research in 

 America if this pressure is allowed to influ- 

 ence the methods by which the station re- 

 search is conducted. I believe it to be a 

 cardinal principle of station research that 

 the investigations shall be pursued accord- 

 ing to the very best possible methods of 

 scientific inquiry by a staff of investigators 

 who are as well trained in these methods as 

 it is possible to obtain. It is, of course, 

 fortunate for the man himself if he has had 

 such practical experience in farm operations 

 as will lead him to see the possible applica- 

 tions and ramifications of his problem and 

 such a back-ground of experience is an un- 

 doubted aid in the selection and formulation 

 of a project to be undertaken; but, on the 

 other hand, it may be a real handicap if it 

 so prejudices him against certain methods of 

 study as to limit his working tools of investi- 

 gation, or if it gives him such pronounced 

 preconceptions as to the probable outcome of 

 the investigation as to unconsciously warp 

 his observations or conclusions. From the 

 standpoint of the successful prosecution of 

 station research an open and unbiased mind 

 and the ability to use skillfully all the work- 

 ing tools which are afforded by a proper 

 knowledge of fundamental sciences, are, in 

 my judgment, better qualifications for sta- 

 tion research than is any amount of practi- 

 cal farm exijerience. 



I am not discussing preparation for ex- 

 tension or teaching of agriculture; but prep- 

 aration for agricultural research. I do not 

 wish to appear to belittle the value of practi- 

 cal farm experience to any worker in scien- 

 tific agriculture. I know what its value has 



been to me. Nor do I underestimate its 

 value in contributing to the solution of many 

 problems which come to the station to be 

 answered. But there are hundreds, if not 

 thousands, of farmers in every state who have 

 a vastly better wealth of farm experience to 

 bring to the solution of these problems than 

 we could possibly get for our station men. 

 They can, should, and do contribute the part 

 to the improvement of agricultural practises 

 which farm experience can teach. They can 

 not contribute what scientific inquiry has to 

 add to agricultural knowledge and it is this 

 latter contribution which our stations should 

 be organized to provide. 



I have every confidence that the future 

 has even greater opportunities and successes 

 in store for the contributions of science to 

 agriculture than the past has had, and I, 

 therefore, close this paper with the utterance 

 of my profound conviction that the present 

 apparent slight reverse is but a temporary 

 phase of the general problem of agricultural 

 development in America, and that the out- 

 look is for future opportunities which will 

 challenge and stimulate our very best efforts 

 to meet them. 



E. W. Thatcher 



New York Ageicultural 



Experiment Station, 

 Geneva 



ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH AS A CAREER 



In the present state of the subject a persoii 

 looking forward to a career in zoology must, 

 in most cases, expect to find it in academic 

 life. Here there are increasing opportuni- 

 ties leading out into special lines such as 

 anatomy, physiology, genetics, histology, em- 

 bryology, cytology, entomology, paleontol- 

 ogy and in occasional cases into systematic 

 work upon limited groups, such as fishes, 

 reptiles, birds, mammals, molluscs, etc. The 

 increased entrance requirements of profes- 

 sional schools, demanding scientific training, 

 has led to larger numbers of students in the 

 elementary zoological courses, thus making 

 more teaching positions in colleges; while 

 improved methods of instruction in anatomy, 

 physiology, histology, and embryology have 



