JULT 19, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



71 



and the expenditure of funds are con- 

 cerned, the control in many of our insti- 

 tutes is in the hands of the staff, aided by 

 a small group of scientific advisers, them- 

 selves active workers and keenly alive to 

 the needs of the investigator. This leaves 

 the actual care of the funds with the trus- 

 tees, but puts the scientific activities in the 

 hands of scientific men. The arrangement 

 solves several problems and seems essential 

 for the healthy development of research 

 foundations. 



In view of all of these facts it does not 

 appear very strange that independence has 

 been desired for the newer establishments. 



This brings us to the problem of getting 

 men — men who will attempt to realize the 

 highest aims and aspirations of these foun- 

 dations. These have been taken largely 

 from university laboratories and have been 

 attracted to the newer work by the prospect 

 of more time and resources to apply to 

 their chosen problems and by more fitting 

 salaries. 



Of course it has happened at times that 

 in arranging the program of some founda- 

 tions, emphasis has been put on finding the 

 answer to some specific question which was 

 in the donor's mind. This is unfortunate 

 so far as it implies a limitation of the scien- 

 tific work, but on the other hand, in many 

 cases the investigator has been given ample 

 freedom to pursue his own course and de- 

 vote his time to matters often seemingly 

 remote ; in other words, to follow where his 

 research led. The situation demands above 

 all things faith in the sincerity of purpose 

 of the investigator, and fortunately this is 

 granted with increasing frequency. 



In these institutions which serve to medi- 

 ate, on the one hand, between the findings 

 of science and practical problems, and on 

 the other to give opportunity for the attain- 

 ment of fundamental facts, there is a con- 

 stant danger threatening every searcher 



after new knowledge. The mediation work, 

 because it involves as one element a prac- 

 tical problem, is moderately intelligible to 

 the laity and extremely handy when it 

 comes to giving an account of things done. 

 It may become thereby unduly attractive. 



By contrast, the search for the new 

 knowledge is rarely intelligible to the com- 

 munity at large, and must often be de- 

 scribed in terms of things in mind rather 

 than of things accomplished, and thus this 

 kind of activity often lacks for encourage- 

 ment. Let me illustrate. Some years ago 

 the need of protection from diphtheria was 

 urgent. The infecting organism and its 

 biological characters, on the one hand, were 

 known ; on the other, the dread disease was 

 only too familiar. How could laboratory 

 knowledge be used to solve the clinical 

 problem? You are familiar with the an- 

 swer which was given in the form of the 

 diphtheria antitoxin. That is a splendid 

 example of work in mediation as done in 

 research institutes. 



But a further question arises : How does 

 the antitoxin produce its effect? This is 

 quite another sort of problem; at first 

 glance it appears to have little practical 

 bearing and yet the answer to it in even 

 one instance may lead to a wider view of 

 the processes of immunity. The solution 

 of problems of this class is different from 

 the work of mediation, certainly of equal 

 rank with it, and yet in every way harder 

 to support and harder to carry on, since the 

 results can not in the first instance possibly 

 appeal to any save the well-trained few. 

 In this there lies an obstacle to progress 

 which you can largely help to remove. 



Because the men who can do this latter 

 kind of work are relatively rare, even 

 among investigators, because such work can 

 have rational appreciation from a limited 

 group only, and because knowledge of this 

 sort is sure to become the basis for many 



