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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1157 



tradicted daily in the plexus of events 

 which make up what our successors will 

 call the history, recorded and unrecorded, 

 of the institution. Thus it has been sug- 

 gested not infrequently that promising re- 

 searches be suspended in order that equally 

 or less promising researches might be taken 

 up ; and it has happened that proposals to 

 abolish departments of research have been 

 seriously advanced before these depart- 

 ments have had time to prove their rights 

 to existence. It is not infrequently sug- 

 gested, likewise,, by otherwise irreproach- 

 able correspondents, that the experts of the 

 laboratories and observatories of the insti- 

 tution be set at work under the direction 

 of amateurs, or, in some cases, of those even 

 who have not reached that earliest stage of 

 Capacity in science. 



It goes without saying that all such un- 

 toward influences should have little effect 

 on the rise and progress of a research es- 

 tablishment; but he would be an incom- 

 petent administrator who failed to recog- 

 nize the existence and the dangers of these 

 influences. Most men are still opportu- 

 nists; many contemn principles and theo- 

 ries of procedure; while the characteristic 

 defect of deliberative bodies, strikingly il- 

 lustrated by legislative assemblies, is lack 

 of deliberation. Moreover, what any or- 

 ganization, altruistic or otherwise, may ac- 

 complish at any epoch, or during any 

 period, will depend very largely on the 

 status of contemporary public opinion. No 

 organization may be rationally expected to 

 rise much above the level of the ideals of 

 those who support and direct it. The law 

 of averages and the "law of conservation 

 of ignorance" apply in the business of re-, 

 search no less rigorously than in other 

 affairs of human endeavor. The only dif- 

 ference is that in research, from the nature 

 of the case, we are held to stricter accounta- 

 bility; it is incumbent on us to be alive to 

 the ideals and the theories which lead to 



regress as well as alive to the ideals and the 

 theories which lead to progress. 



Although popular opinion continues to 

 look upon the institution as an establish- 

 ment of unlimited means, and hence of 

 unlimited capacities, it is an easily ascer- 

 tained fact that such advances as have been 

 attained are due chiefly to concentration of 

 effort in a few fields of investigation, the 

 number of these being necessarily limited 

 by the finiteness of income. Of the agen- 

 cies which have contributed most to these 

 advances the departments of research must 

 be given first rank when quality and quan- 

 tity of results accomplished are taken into 

 account. These departments have sup- 

 plied also a much needed verification of the 

 axiom hitherto admitted in all domains of 

 activity except those of research, namely, 

 that if any good work is required the best 

 way to get it done is to commit it to com- 

 petent men not otherwise preoccupied. 

 They have verified, likewise, the equally 

 obvious truth that large and difficult under- 

 takings demand foresight and oversight, 

 prolonged effort, and a corresponding con- 

 tinuity of support. The idea that discov- 

 eries and advances are of meteoric origin 

 and that they are due chiefly to abnormal 

 minds has been rudely shattered by the re- 

 morseless experience of the institution. 



Along with these considerations special 

 mention should be made of another of vital 

 importance to the departments of research. 

 This is their complete autonomy within the 

 limits of their annual appropriations. Al- 

 lusion is made to this matter here partly 

 for the purpose of correcting public misap- 

 prehension concerning the relations of these 

 departments to the institution as a whole, 

 and partly for the purpose of stating 

 formally the theory of administration fol- 

 lowed by the institution during the past 

 twelve years. Such a degree of freedom 

 accorded to the departments of research is 



