498 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1428 



knowledge is thereby increased by a new dis- 

 covery." It is not fair in this ease to remove 

 the quoted words from their context, which 

 was really a commendation of research as a 

 university function. But in view of the wari- 

 ness with which such views are expressed in 

 public, the slight stricture here permitted to 

 appear is probably only the weather-worn out- 

 cropping of a stratum much more extensive. 



Indeed, it is not an uncommon idea even 

 among men actively engaged in investigation 

 that there is a fearful waste of energy upon 

 research that might as well be left undone. Has 

 it not been pointed out in every discussion of 

 cooperation in scientifie work how much better 

 would the world be served, could the labor now 

 being frittered away upon unimportant mat- 

 ters be organized under the direction of some 

 one capable of separating the wheat from the 

 chaff? A few years ago Edwin Linton, in an 

 appreciation of Spencer Pullerton Baird, who 

 must have been a practical person to have 

 deserved the commendation bestowed upon 

 him, wrote : "I am led to wonder if the failure 

 of science to influence legislation in the inter- 

 ests of the people is not to be charged to the 

 propensity on the part of these leaders to shun 

 the practical." Likewise the energetic chief 

 of the Federal Bureau of Entomology, on look- 

 ing through a collection of doctor's theses with 

 the interests of his own bureau in mind, iinds 

 "that onlj' a very small percentage of this out- 

 put represents work which can be of the slight- 

 est use to humanity in its immediate problems 

 regarding the insect world." "At present most 

 of the best men are working away in their 

 laboratories practically heedless of . . . the 

 tremendous necessity for the most intense work 

 by the very best minds on the problem of over- 

 coming and controlling our strongest rivals on 

 this planet." Had Dr. Howard been a phys- 

 icist, or engineer, or metallurgist, he could no 

 doubt have changed a word here and there and 

 made the same statement with equal vigor. 

 Those of you who every May have scanned a 

 series of doctor's theses may wish to explain 

 in some other way the fine despair with which 

 he exclaims, "And how can we emphasize the 

 prime importance of devoting our earliest 

 attention to those problems which most imme- 

 diately concern our well being." 



These are not the only investigators who 

 have views that substantially agree in regard- 

 ing much research as wasted, and the number 

 who are willing to express such views in public 

 is presumably but a fraction of the number 

 who hold them in private. 



Research is not, it is true, alone in including 

 much which is of no direct value. How much 

 of literature could not be suppressed, to the 

 advantage of author, publisher and reading 

 public? Is there not much of so-called art 

 which might never have been born, and leave 

 the world happier for its non-existence? How- 

 ever, to recite the ills of sister lines of en- 

 deavor is not to cure or even excuse our own. 



But are they ills? Is it to be in any wise 

 deplored that the research by which John 

 Brown wins a degree, or Professor Jones keeps 

 his mind fertile while teaching, is not of the 

 sort that promises to lighten the burdens of 

 human society or increase its means of 

 pleasure? At least, is it to be deplored to the 

 extent that Student Brown and Professor 

 Jones should have refrained from research if 

 they were unable to fix upon a more practical 

 subject of investigation? I believe it is not 

 only not to be regretted that some pieces of 

 research must seem trifling, but that the system 

 under which we now operate, in which un- 

 important or perhaps in themselves valueless 

 contributions are sometimes made, accom- 

 plishes a greater result than any system that 

 could be devised under which such insignificant 

 researches would be excluded. 



Let me disillusion at once those who imagine 

 that I am about to defend research on the ideal 

 ground that truth for truth's sake is indeed 

 practical, and that therefore any investigation 

 which discovers a grain of that precious com- 

 modity is an economic gain. I would be will- 

 ing to make such a defense if it were desirable 

 to pitch the combat on so high a plane. But 

 it is no time to wrestle with the angels above 

 the clouds while the forces of evil are unvan- 

 quished in the valley. I have no intention of 

 discussing at length what is practical. Per- 

 haps one should regard general knowledge as 

 the most practical kind. The elimination of 

 ennui and of the loose habits formed in the 

 periods of mental vacuity to which the ig- 

 norant and the merely technically trained are 



