Januabt 12, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



35 



attainments and achievements of its individ- 

 ual members. The research department of a 

 large industrial concern will be great because 

 it has investigators on its staff who possess 

 great originality and ability and because its 

 director is wise and far-sighted. It is gen- 

 erally conceded that the personal factor is 

 always paramount in industrial research, and 

 that, as in every other organization, the con- 

 trol of men is the real problem in laboratory 

 administration. 



A brief consideration of the conditions 

 favorable to both pure and industrial research 

 is pertinent in connection with any discussion 

 of the personal organization. 



It is particularly adverse to progress to re- 

 gard able investigators as abnormal men; for 

 successful research demands neither any pecul- 

 iar conformity nor any peculiar deformity of 

 mind, but it requires, rather, peculiar normal- 

 ity and unusual industry and patience. It is 

 little less inimical to expect productive work 

 from those who are absorbingly preoccupied 

 with other affairs than research ; for fruitful 

 scientific inquiry entails, in general, pro- 

 longed and arduous, if not exhausting, labor, 

 for which all of the researcher's time is none 

 too much. This is the experience of the Car- 

 negie Institution and all other research organ- 

 izations. It is only to be expected, therefore, 

 that those most likely to produce important 

 results in research are those who have quali- 

 fied for the responsibilities thereof by the 

 completion and publication of several worthy 

 investigations, and who are at the same time 

 able to devote the bulk of their energies thereto. 

 The productive researchers in our universities 

 are those who are devoting their whole time, 

 or practically their whole time, to investi- 

 gatory work.- 



Eesearch should never be allowed to fall into 

 the rut of prosaic routine. The personnel of 

 the investigatory staff should be maintained at 



2 As a rule, the head professors of chemistry in- 

 the larger universities are not giving more than 

 three to five hours of lectures during the week, 

 the rest of their time being devoted to research, 

 while a number of them have one or more private 

 research assistants, besides the candidates for ad- 

 vanced degrees, doing research work. 



the very highest standard and all administra- 

 tive plans should be carried out with enthu- 

 siasm and earnestness. 



In the research laboratories of manufactur- 

 ing plants the personal cooperation of the re- 

 search staff with the members of other 

 branches of the organization always proves an 

 important aid in maintaining interest in the 

 work and is, in addition, mutually educating.^ 

 In particular, the research department should 

 have an esprit de corps that keeps things mov- 

 ing and should lead the way so strikingly as to 

 be apparent to all other departments of the 

 corporation. In consequence, mediocrity 

 should never be tolerated. It should be borne 

 in mind, however, that the research man can 

 only accomplish efficient work when he is free 

 from restraint and petty annoyances. 



Cooperation is always contributory to suc- 

 cess in a research laboratory, and, other con- 

 ditions being equal, the valuable men are the 

 ones who can and will cooperate with one 

 another. As in business, men succeed only 

 as they utilize the ideas and services of other 

 men. It follows, therefore, that the strength 

 of an investigatory staff, properly operated, 

 should increase more rapidly than the increase 

 of its numbers, and that a fraternal spirit will 

 play an important role in the productiveness 

 of any research department. 



The experience in several of our most suc- 

 cessful industrial research laboratories has 

 clearly shown that cooperation between the 

 different departments thereof can be ade- 

 quately and completely obtained by well- 

 planned weekly conferences on the subjects 

 under study. While some directors of indus- 

 trial research hesitate to spend the time which 

 these conferences entail, it is the opinion of 

 the subcommittee that conferences of this na- 



3 In several of our largest corporations, the 

 plant superintendents make monthly reports to 

 the research departments, including all ideas of 

 their own or of their assistants which may in any 

 way warrant investigation. Then, too, the sales- 

 men report regularly to the research department 

 regarding the various ways in which the com- 

 pany 's products are used and what substitutes are 

 employed for the company's products. Such, 

 plans stimulate closer thought and observation. 



