376 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1423 



tablishing of relations, not in the cataloguing 

 of facts. 



K E. Dorset 



404 Maryland Building, 

 "Washington, D. C. 



QUOTATIONS 

 THE EARNING POWER OF RESEARCH 



A PEW years ago the X-ray tube was an er- 

 ratic apparatus not in any very general use. 

 The research laboratory of the General Electric 

 Company realized that there was a possibility 

 of utilizing pure electronic emission from a hot 

 filament to produce controllable X-rays iu a 

 perfect vacuum. They conducted extensive re- 

 search upon such devices as then existed, and 

 as a result the tungsten target took the place 

 of platinum in the standard gas tube of that 

 day. Research had also to be applied before 

 the laboratory learned positively that available 

 electrons already existed and that there was a 

 possibility of controlling them, as, for example, 

 focusing them on a target. The research has 

 been continued, until today practically all the 

 X-ray tubes of the country are made bj' the 

 company in accordance with the discoveries of 

 the man whose name the tubes bear. The 

 Coolidge tube is also used abroad almost to the 

 exclusion of other types. These remarkable 

 results have been achieved through very care- 

 ful, accurate, and often discouraging studies 

 of electric phenomena in high va«ua, with very 

 pure materials. The perfection of the tube is 

 the nucleus of an annual business, including 

 accessories and generating apparatus used in 

 X-ray work, of from five to ten million dollars 

 a year. The benefit cannot be measured wholly 

 in monetary return, for everyone is familiar 

 with the humanitarian benefits. 



Our oldest industries have been the most re- 

 luctant iu establishing research laboratories. 

 But the experience of a leader may guide the 

 entire industry. Some years ago the Ward 

 Baking Company established a fellowship at 

 the Mellon Institute. The research soon 

 brought results and the application of a more 

 balanced j'east nutrient to the dough gave 

 better fermentation and better bread. It was 

 discovered that the baker can grow yeast in the 

 dough and control fermentation wastes. This 



conservation amounts to 2 per cent of the flour, 

 15 per cent of the sugar, and sufficient yeast 

 to make the total saving 45 cents net per bar- 

 rel of flour used. It is estimated that this 

 process saves American, Canadian, and Brit- 

 ish bakers not less than $40,000 per day, with- 

 out detriment to the quality of the bread. 



In 1915 a control laboratoi-y was installed 

 with one chemist. Today there are a variety 

 of control laboratories with twenty-five tech- 

 nical workers. A chemist has frequently saved 

 two months' salary for his employer with a 

 report on samples from a single carload of 

 butter. The control which has been established 

 as a result of research upon the raw materials 

 makes possible uniformity in the finished 

 product. Time, temperature, and other fac- 

 tors which influence fermentation have been 

 established, and since no two carloads of flour 

 are alike the data are vital in determining how 

 fermentation must be varied to secure uniform- 

 ity. The stud5' of enzymes, proteins, colloids, 

 yeasts, bacteria, and nutrient value is pointing 

 the way to still better bread, higher nutritive 

 values, economy in production, and the eleva- 

 tion of the entire industry. It is no wonder that 

 during these days of industrial depression this 

 pioneer in research as applied to baking has 

 increased the number of its scientiflc workers. 

 Eesults continue to justify the increase. — The 

 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chem- 

 istry. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



A Monograph of the Existing Crinoids. Volume 

 1. The Comatulids. Part 2. By Austin 

 HoBAET Clark, Curator, Division of Echino- 

 derms. United States National Museum. Bul- 

 letin 82. Washington, 1921. 4 to Pp. xxvi 

 + 795; with 949 text-figures and 57 plates. 

 The first part of Clark's monograph appeared 

 in 1915. J The present brochure, fully twice 

 the size of its predecessor, constitutes the con- 

 cluding part of the general introduction to The 

 Comatulids. The sj'stematic description of the 

 group will follow. The major part of this 

 work has already been completed and much of 

 it has appeared in a series of monographs and 



1 Reviewed in Science, N. S., Vol. XLII, No. 

 lOSO, p. 342, Sept. 10, 1915, by Frank Springer. 



