January 6, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



11 



science. It has been far easier to get funds for 

 types of work which promise early contribu- 

 tions to practice than those which dig deep and 

 lay solid foundations to make the whole super- 

 structure sure. The dependence of the former 

 upon the latter needs to be recognized. 



The magnificent work of Armsby and his 

 associates has been the admiration of the scien- 

 tific world, but in spite of its ultimate practical 

 value, and especially in furthering investiga- 

 tion, it had not within itself the elements of 

 publicitj^, and was only vaguely understood. 

 It never had an assured permanent income, 

 and in that sense was obliged to live from hand 

 to mouth. The loss this entailed is realized 

 too late; and now the future of the work he 

 so admirably started is under discussion. It 

 would be a calamity if it were allowed to fall 

 to the ground. 



The large amount of attention now 'being 

 given to fundamental and searching inquiry 

 on the soil, the conditions of i^lant growth, and 

 related subjects, should not fail of mention in 

 this connection, for it illustrates the develop- 

 ment of insight into these problems. At no 

 period has there been anything comparable to 

 it. The results which are following from these 

 intensive studies amply justify the expectations 

 of them as constructive means of progress. 



With all the facts clearly in mind, it is very 

 important to take an account of stock in the 

 more conventional lines of experiment; to 

 study seriously the long list of the better 

 experiments in order to determine what they 

 have actually shown, what they are com- 

 petent to show, and the lessons they teach 

 in methods. By all means, let us garner in all 

 the teachings of these field and other common 

 types of experiment; let us profit by both the 

 good and the bad experience, but let not the 

 negative results be overlooked in searching for 

 the more positive ones. Such experiments rep- 

 resent large annual expenditures, and they 

 occupy the time of a large body of workers. 

 They express a confidence on which men are 

 staking their efforts and their prospects. It is 

 important to know the place which such experi- 

 ments should occupy in future study and the 

 manner in which they need to be supplemented. 



This may be one of the fundamental lessons 

 to be drawn fi-om them, and may indicate that 

 their most useful field is in supplementing 

 laboratory studies, rather than the reverse as 

 at present. 



In a public supported enterprise like agri- 

 cultural investigation there must necessarily 

 be a happy combination of effort representing 

 different grades of intensity. Some problems 

 or stages of them call more urgently for the 

 full measure of the method of science than 

 others, and it will be for the investigator to 

 govern himself accordingly. But he can not 

 fail to exercise a critical attitude toward all 

 his work and his methods, or to exemplify in 

 them the element of real progress. 



IT. S. Department ^- ^- ^^^"^^ 



OF Agriculture 



THE CONCILIUM BIBLIOGRAPHICUM 



In the issue of Science of December 2, I 

 called attention to the critical situation in which 

 I found the Concilium Bibliographicum this 

 summer, when I made a special trip to Zurich 

 to investigate this situation for the National 

 Research Council and the Rockefeller Founda- 

 tion. 



On the occasion of this visit I proposed, 

 after conferences with Mrs. Field (widow of 

 the late Dr. H. li. Field), her business ad- 

 visers, the chief of the technical staff of the 

 Concilium, and official representatives of the 

 Swiss Natural Science Association, which be- 

 comes under Dr. Field's will the legatee, under 

 certain conditions, of Dr. Field's financial in- 

 terests in the Concilium, a plan for an imme- 

 diate temporary reorganization of the Con- 

 cilium to last until January 1, 1922, and a 

 further plan for a provisional permanent re- 

 organization to go into effect as from that date. 



The plan for temporary reorganization was 

 put into effect immediately with Professor J. 

 Strohl, of the Zoological Institute of the Uni- 

 versity of Zurich, as acting director, without 

 salary. The proposed provisional permanent 

 reorganization — by "provisional permanent" I 

 mean a well considered and fully supported 

 organization to run on until international mat- 



