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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1187 



dowments remarked that his institution was ap- 

 propriating more money to carry on research in 

 one of the great universities than the university 

 itself is devoting to this purpose. In visiting 

 alumni associations the ambassador of another 

 great institution bragged about the millions that 

 were going into new buildings. At the same time 

 there was internal complaint that research was 

 being hampered by the lack of funds! Instances 

 where research is eking out its hampered existence 

 by the side of a great athletic plant or by the side 

 of splendid costly halls, if not between the two, 

 are not unique. As I am not permitted to stir up 

 the animals — the very expression so unacademic — 

 I will, in as academic and wooden a way as pos- 

 sible, discuss some of your questions, and point out 

 in a mild way how the Nirvana of the research 

 man may be approached, if not attained. 



The first point in your circular letter raises the 

 question of the function of the university, and of 

 the university professor. Minot said that the 

 function of the professor is "to carry on research 

 and to teach others to do the same." If research 

 is the function of the professor, ipso facto, it 

 must be the function of the university. I think 

 Minot 's definition should include the central idea 

 on which a prominent research institution was 

 founded, if not conducted; to find the exceptional 

 man and enable him to do the work for which he is 

 best fitted. We will grant for the time, then, that 

 it is the function of the university to find the ex- 

 ceptional man to carry on research, to enable him 

 to make the most of his ability, and in his turn, to 

 find exceptional men and enable them to do their 

 utmost. 



To this, the primary function of the university, 

 as a close second comes the function of finding the 

 other exceptional man, who can appreciate pure 

 research and who is willing to let the university 

 be the mediary between his own dollars and the 

 university's research man. 



If we grant all of the above, the answer to your 

 first question becomes easy. If it is the function 

 of the university to carry on research, there is evi- 

 dently no reason why it should not engage men to 

 carry on this function. Whether such men, or such 

 a man, should devote part of his time, all of his 

 time, or sporadically all of his time during leave 

 of absence, are subsidiary questions, once it is 

 granted that it is the function of the university to 

 carry on research. University presidents, I fear, 

 are usually too prone to believe in the efficacy of 

 devotion, only so long as it is offered within hear- 

 ing of the college bells. . . . The Carnegie Foun- 



dation has been criticized because it no longer pen- 

 sions university professors with research proclivi- 

 ties at the end of twenty-five years of teaching. 

 But, if it is the function of the university to carry 

 on research, why should such men be pensioned? 

 If the man is so wrapped up in research that he is 

 willing to retire on decreased pay, that he may be 

 able to devote himself exclusively to research, why 

 not let him continue in one of the chief functions 

 of the university on full, if not increased pay? 

 The universities are trying to shirk when they 

 criticize the Carnegie Foundation, because it re- 

 fuses to help them carry on one branch of their 

 work. 



It goes without saying that the research man 

 needs appropriations for apparatus or collections, 

 or assistants or traveling expenses, and for publi- 

 cation. He can get some, if not all of these things, 

 by cooperation with other institutions, the Car- 

 negie Institution, the Elizabeth Thompson Science 

 Fund, the Baehe Fund, the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, not to mention 

 some others which help with money, or which co- 

 operate in the matter of publication. The neces- 

 sity for and existence of these research funds and 

 institutions lies in the fact that the universities 

 themselves failed to appreciate the necessity for 

 research, failed to make adequate provision for it. 

 The research funds stand in the same relation to 

 the universities and to the public, that the inter- 

 urban railways stand to the steam railways and 

 the public. Frequently the time of the research 

 man consumed in diplomacy, in getting the co- 

 operation of people and institutions inclined for 

 the most part to pull in different directions, could 

 have been spent to better advantage in other ways. 

 Digging the bait is more laborious, and always 

 more tiresome, than fishing. 



If it is the function of the university to carry 

 on research and to teach others to do so, then of 

 course, the university should discriminate between 

 those gifted in teaching and those gifted in in- 

 vestigation. Tour very question, "Must the many 

 other research institutions outside the universi- 

 ties be mainly relied upon for this work ? " is sin 

 against the Holy Ghost. 



The centers of some lines of pure research, cytol- 

 ogy and genetics for example, had shifted to 

 America before the great war. With the un- 

 tempered democracy of high explosive shells of 

 both contestants, which kUl the most highly 

 trained specialist by the side of the day laborer, 

 it will naturally become the duty as well as the 

 privilege of America, to still further enter into 



