February 28, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



205 



or at least alleviate, many of our scientific ills, 

 and you will at once see that our selection of 

 problems and our planning of projected in- 

 vestigations would be greatly improved if co- 

 operation between competent thinkers were 

 more in vogue. If every projected research in- 

 volving considerable expenditure of money and 

 energy might be submitted to several com- 

 petent workers, with the request that they 

 make suggestions, I have no doubt that much 

 more valuable and feasible plans might result. 

 It strikes one as a curious fact that scientific 

 investigators wish to keep their work secret 

 until it is finished (as they may fondly sup- 

 pose), after which they are just as strong in 

 their wish to present it to their colleagues. 

 The results of investigation are frequently 

 treated like Christmas gifts; they are planned 

 and made in secret and handed to the recipients 

 only after alterations are well-nigh impossible ! 

 And, finally, to complete the anomaly, the in- 

 vestigator is often sorely pained if his contri- 

 bution proves to be very imperfect or even 

 quite unacceptable! One wishes to ask why 

 it would not be better to obtain the adverse 

 criticism before the work was " finished," 

 rather than to wait until after publication ; the 

 criticism will eventually be forthcoming in 

 any event and it should be much more useful 

 if it were made available early in the investi- 

 gation. In so far as in us lies, we should 

 avoid wasting our own time and facilities and 

 those of our colleagues. 



As I have emphasized elsewhere, it ought to 

 be of enormous value to botanical science if 

 some organization (perhaps the National Re- 

 search Council) might publish yearly a list of 

 what seem to be important and promising and 

 feasible problems for botanical investigation, 

 with elaborated plans. My imagination pic- 

 tures this list as rather long, including all 

 sorts of projects, sent in by numerous think- 

 ers who have the well-being of their science 

 really at heart, and I should expect it to alter 

 from year to year, as projects get undertaken 

 and results are obtained. It would be a fine 

 thing if each society of research workers were 

 to take upon itself the responsibility of fur- 

 nishing such a series of proposals. This 



should be accompanied by a usable bibliog- 

 raphy of each problem, and mention should be 

 made of investigators who might be engaged 

 in this sort of work. 



If this dream might come true such an an- 

 nual publication might do more toward giving 

 us a rather clear picture of the aims and trend 

 of our science than could be secured from any 

 other simple form of organized cooperative 

 effort. 



(6) The Procuring of Data. — After a re- 

 search problem has been selected and properly 

 planned, the securing of the requisite observa- 

 tional or experimental data is a matter of com- 

 paratively little diflSculty. This is the easiest 

 part of investigation and many publications 

 consist of but little more than tabulations or 

 lists of the data secured, without serious at- 

 tempt to exhibit either plan or interpretation. 

 This phase of research requires special atten- 

 tion less than do the other two and I need not 

 dwell here upon it. Jf may suggest, however, 

 that when practical difficulties arise during the 

 progress of a piece of experimental or observa- 

 tional work, it would be well for the investi- 

 gator to call upon some of his competent col- 

 leagues for advice, and it would also be well 

 for the rapid advance of our science if the per- 

 sons thus asked might respond in a whole- 

 hearted sort of way. Let it be remembered in 

 this connection that botany is a world science 

 and that its advance is not to be accelerated 

 through the usual operation of institutional or 

 individual rivalries and jealousies. Such mo- 

 tives may have value if rationally controlled, 

 but they do not apiiear generally to result in 

 the building up of an esprit du corps among 

 scientists. 



(c) The Interpretation and Presentation of 

 Results. — It frequently follows that a good plan 

 systematically carried out gives results that 

 are largely interpreted by the plan itself. If 

 a quarryman cuts an ashlar expressly for a 

 certain position in a wall it is not necessary 

 for him to explain to the builder just what is 

 to be done with it when it is delivered. But 

 the case is not nearly always so simple as this 

 when complicated problems are under investi- 

 gation. And most biological problems are still 



