Mabch 21, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



273 



sake" is a motto which might well be posted 

 in every botanical laboratorj', and I believe 

 we would all be the gainer by following such a 

 precept. I have no patience with a worker 

 who oscillates to and fro in an effort to include 

 both pure and applied science in one single 

 investigation. It reminds one of the corre- 

 spondent who wrote to Harvey and described 

 Oscillatoria as " fluttering back and forth on 

 the borderland of the plant and animal king- 

 dom." While some of us would like to think 

 that a bit of our botanical research might be 

 of practical importance, we can not hope to 

 gain either one thing or the other by any 

 deliberate effort to make an investigation pay 

 for itself by any commercial standard. That 

 abstract research sometimes brings concrete 

 returns is true, but it generally requires a 

 second part to make the practical application. 

 When Naegeli wrote " On Oligodynamic Phe- 

 nomena in Living Cells " he had no idea of 

 solving the problem of a cure for certain bad 

 odors and tastes in water supplies, although 

 the necessity for a remedy for such conditions 

 existed then as well as when the application 

 of his work was made. Nor was it probable 

 that any representation of a certain large 

 corporation ever read Clark's paper " On the 

 Toxic Effect of Deleterious Agents on the 

 Germination and Development of Certain 

 Filamentous Fungi," although the application 

 of this research was the means of saving thou- 

 sands of dollars and helping out a situation, 

 which, because of the war, promised to be dis- 

 astrous. It is an admission of weakness 

 which no true student should grant for an 

 instant — that cui hono must be the test of all 

 botanical research. 



Of course, when I refer to research I mean 

 something worthy of the name. Perhaps there 

 is no one thing about which so many harbor 

 a delusion as that mystic form of scientific 

 endeavor which is supposed to lift one above 

 the common herd and land him in the very 

 bosom of the scientists' heaven, namely re- 

 search. It is sometimes referred to by the 

 neophyte as " having a problem." Heaven 

 knows, we all have problems enough — most of 

 them very imscientific — but if they were no 



more real than the subjects for investigation 

 of some of our scientists they would give us 

 little concern. 



Let us take an example: Suppose the De- 

 partment of Scientific Restauranting in one 

 of our large institutions of learning assigns 

 to one of its graduate students the research 

 problem of how many ham sandwiches may be 

 obtained from a hog. Or if the president has 

 not succeeded in shaving enough off of exist- 

 ing departments to add this important branch 

 to his curriculum, the department of domestic 

 science, or zoology, or, since the hog is normally 

 vegetarian, the botanical department might 

 undertake the investigation. In the first place 

 it would be necessary to decide upon the stand- 

 ard size and weight of the ham to be ensand- 

 wiohed. This would probably necessitate the 

 granting of a traveling fellowship readily ob- 

 tained from the representatives of one of the 

 large packing houses in order that restaurants 

 throughout the world might be visited and 

 first-hand information obtained on which to 

 standardize the slice of ham. Returning to 

 the labora,tory after perhaps a year's travel, the 

 investigator would have accumulated innumer- 

 able bottles containing various samples prop- 

 erly preserved in alcohol or formalin and duly 

 labeled with date and place of collection and 

 such other environmental infonnation as 

 seemed necessary. It would then devolve upon 

 the scientist to weigh and measure and plot 

 curves until he had definitely decided upon the 

 amount of ham which should be the basis of 

 his investigation. This determined, he would 

 then be free to turn his attention to the hog. 

 I will not weary you with the details of the 

 laborious and erudite investigation necessary 

 to determine the amount of pure ham, suitable 

 for sandwiches, which may be obtained from 

 this animal. Of course, the easiest way would 

 be to kill the hog, cook him and make him 

 into sandlwiches, but this would not be re- 

 search as it is often practised — besides any 

 one could do that and there would be no chance 

 for scientific investigation. Nor need I dwell 

 upon the discouragements and disappointments 

 which the ardent seeker after truth would meet 

 before the conditions of his problem were met. 



