520 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1196 



tion into the general mass of information 

 by critical comparison with other experi- 

 ments on the same or similar subjects. 

 The whole process, in fact, may be likened 

 to the process of thought. "We have first 

 the perception by means of the senses. The 

 percept is then stored in the memory and 

 in the mind is compared with other previ- 

 ously stored percepts, and finally forms 

 with them a conception. 



I desire in this paper to consider the 

 methods by which these three sections of 

 the production of knowledge may be car- 

 ried on, to suggest an arrangement of lab- 

 oratories to produce experimental results 

 dealing with any branch of science, then to 

 consider how the knowledge so obtained 

 may best be stored and classified and finally 

 the methods to be employed to make the 

 results of scientific research available for 

 application. 



1. EESEAECH WORK 



The agencies engaged in scientific re- 

 search are of several kinds. The tradi- 

 tional home of research work is in the 

 university, and the bulk of the scientific 

 production of the world comes from institu- 

 tions connected with teaching. The indus- 

 tries are more and more supporting re- 

 search laboratories, a large number of 

 which contribute to the general fund of 

 scientific knowledge by publishing the re- 

 sults which they obtain, and some of which 

 are engaged upon purely scientific work of 

 no mean order. Consulting and technical 

 laboratories engaged in industrial work 

 make frequent contributions to science, and 

 there are some very important laboratories 

 engaged in pure research work which are 

 supported by philanthropic foundations. 



The classification of research laborator- 

 ies is not altogether an easy task. They 

 may obviously be classified according to 

 the source of the funds which support 

 them ; that is, we may classify them as uni- 



versity laboratories, industrial laborator- 

 ies, government laboratories, institution 

 laboratories, and so on, but if we look at 

 ,them simply in the light of the research 

 .undertaken, this does not seem to be alto- 

 gether a logical classification since there is 

 little distinction between the work done in 

 .some university laboratories and some in- 

 dustrial laboratories, and the work of the 

 government and institution laboratories 

 again overlaps that of the two former 

 classes. 



The University of Pittsburgh, for in- 

 iStance, has an industrial laboratory where 

 definitely technical problems are dealt 

 with. The research work on photometry 

 done at Nela Park and at Cornell Univer- 

 sity would seem to be similar in kind, and 

 work on physical chemistry or on the struc- 

 ture of chemical compounds is of the same 

 ,type, requires the same class of workers, 

 and produces the same results, whether it 

 be done in a university, in a laboratory of 

 the Carnegie Institution or in such an in- 

 dustrial laboratory as that of the General 

 Electric Company. It is equally difficult 

 to classify laboratories according to the 

 purpose for which researches are avowedly 

 carried on. Most university laboratories 

 are willing to undertake work of industrial 

 value, and, indeed, some specialize in such 

 problems; while many industrial labora- 

 tories are quite willing to carry out a re- 

 search of purely academic and theoretical 

 interest provided the problems involved 

 ,bear a relation to the general work of the 

 laboratory. 



A useful classification of laboratories can, 

 however, be obtained if we consider 

 whether the problems investigated in a lab- 

 oratory are all connected with one common 

 subject or whether the problems are of 

 many kinds, having no connecting bond of 

 interest. I would suggest that the first 

 type of laboratory might be called "con- 



