September 14, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



251 



when the research is in two quite distinct 

 divisions, fundamental work is not subject 

 to interruption by woi'ks troubles. 



Industrial research is preeminentlj' 

 fitted to be carried on by team work. This 

 we have developed to a high degree in Pitts- 

 burgh and consider very much more effi- 

 cient than the alternative cell system where 

 each leading man has a room or suite of 

 rooms to himself and keeps his work to him- 

 self. In the ideal organization, two or 

 three men work together on the same large 

 problem or group of problems, the aim be- 

 ing to have a good theoretical man and a 

 good experimentalist working together as 

 much as possible or even a physicist and 

 chemist in some cases. The characteristic 

 of the team work plan, however, is the con- 

 ference system. The five or six men most 

 interested in each line of research meet for 

 an hour each week to discuss the problem in 

 its various aspects, to plan new work and 

 to consider various interpretations and 

 applications of the results obtained. The 

 ideal conference is not less than four and 

 not more than eight men and includes an 

 efficient stenographer. To one experienced 

 in such team work, the results of getting 

 together are surprising. A good suggestion 

 is no sooner made than capped by a better 

 and the saving in time and effort is almost 

 incalculable. 



The conference system also aids in put- 

 ting useful results before the other wing of 

 the research division and before the patent 

 department. At each of our conferences 

 are representatives of the other wing of 

 the research di%'ision, charged with taking 

 up any results immediately applicable, and 

 a member of the legal department who 

 takes care of any ideas worth patenting. 

 This plan of conferences relieves the scien- 

 tific men from responsibility for calling the 

 attention of the works or of the patent de- 

 partment to useful patentable results. 



So far as national welfare is concerned. 



in oi'der to increase our stock of organized 

 knowledge, we need more teaching by pro- 

 fessors and instructors in closer touch with 

 industrial problems. So far as developing 

 research men goes, the ideal instructor is 

 probably an ex-professional research man 

 and, in many cases, one who has made a 

 reputation or a fortune by his work along 

 industrial lines. Another need is, of 

 course, more research laboratories all along 

 the line. The increase would naturally be 

 among industrial organizations and the ex- 

 pense borne largely by manufacturing con- 

 cerns, since it is they who reap the chief 

 direct financial benefit. 



Another great need is cooperation among 

 the various branches of research : univer- 

 sity, national and industrial. There should 

 be a free interchange of men between such 

 laboratories, and each should be thor- 

 oughly familiar with the needs and prob- 

 lems of the other. One great benefit from 

 this war, if it lasts sufficiently long, will be 

 to force cooperation between different 

 branches of research. 



III. The Application of Organized 

 Knoivledge. — The present national crisis 

 brings home to us the crjing needs of the 

 nation in availing itself of the knowledge 

 and abilitj^ at its command. Fifty thou- 

 sand specialists in applying scientific 

 knowledge to practical problems as well as 

 scores of research laboratories have offered 

 their services to the nation. But problems 

 requiring investigation are slow in being 

 developed. Once they are formulated and 

 given to the engineers of the country, few 

 will remain unsolved very long. 



It is for the engineer to apply the results 

 of research to practical problems and to 

 carry practical problems demanding gen- 

 eral research back to the research labora- 

 tories. To the engineer, everj' special prob- 

 lem requires a special application of funda- 

 mental principles. Is it too much to hope 

 that the day is rapidly approaching when 



