208 



SCIENCE 



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



by those who are alone qualified to render 

 adequate judgment. 



Like all other branches of the institution, 

 the division of research associates has 

 undergone a distinct evolution. Originally 

 a division which gave rise to excessive and 

 often unrealizable expectations, it has 

 gradually become shorn of its extrinsic ap- 

 pendages and divested of its inheritances 

 from occultism. In spite of these omni- 

 present obstacles to progress and to effi- 

 ciency, this division has been highly pro- 

 ductive from the beginning and continues 

 to be one of the most important agencies of 

 the institution for the promotion of learn- 

 ing. The main reason for the noteworthy 

 success of this agency is very simple. It 

 was stated in a recommendation concern- 

 ing research associateships, in the report of 

 the president for the year 1906, in these 

 words : 



The limitation of eligibility for such positions to 

 investigators of proved capacity for and of proved 

 opportunity for research. 



In the meantime, the number of those 

 possessing such qualifications has increased 

 much more rapidly than the resources of 

 the institution (or than the resources of all 

 research agencies combined) have increased 

 to meet this and other growing financial 

 needs. Not only has income failed to keep 

 pace with worthy demands, but, as re- 

 peatedly pointed out hitherto, the pur- 

 chasing capacity of income has steadily de- 

 clined since the foundation of the institu- 

 tion. Thus it happens that now, just as 

 the merits of the system of research associ- 

 ates have come to be generally recognized, 

 it is essential to suspend extension of this 

 system, and it may become essential to cur- 

 tail to some extent the amounts of the 

 grants hitherto made to those who have 

 helped most to develop this remarkably ef- 

 fective division of the institution's activi- 

 ties. 



It should be evident from the preceding 

 paragraphs of this section of the report, as 

 well as from numerous passages in previ- 

 ous reports, that the income of the institu- 

 tion is not only not equal to popular esti- 

 mates, but that it is not equal even to the 

 legitimate demands on it for research. 

 This proposition is easily verified, although 

 few people believe it and fewer still are 

 willing to undertake the small arithmetical 

 labor essential for its demonstration. On 

 the other hand, it is admitted by everybody 

 that the institution is not doing as much as 

 it could, but the simple reasons for this 

 obvious fact appear to be far from equally 

 obvious. Whether it would be desirable, 

 if practicable, to double, say, the endow- 

 ment, and hence the income, of the institu- 

 tion is a question well worthy of consid- 

 eration. But along with many reasons 

 why it would be so desirable there mig-ht 

 be adduced also many other reasons why it 

 would not. This is, indeed, a fundamental 

 question whose deliberate consideration 

 should precede the next step. We possess 

 as yet no well-defined and generally ac- 

 cepted theory of a research organization. 

 The institution, plainly enough, stands 

 somewhat in isolation. It would prosper 

 better, probably, and be better understood, 

 certainly, if it had more contemporaries 

 with which to divide not only the vast 

 fields of opportunity, but also the vast ag- 

 gregate of fruitless labors imposed on those 

 who should be preoccupied with the busi- 

 ness of research. In the meantime, while 

 no expansion is permissible under existing 

 income, the current activities of the insti- 

 tution may continue without serious modi- 

 fication of plans or impairment of efficiency. 



E. S. WOODWAED 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



WIRELESS TELEGRAPH INSTALLATION AT THE 



UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 



A NOTABLE addition to the equipment of the 

 Eyerson Physical Laboratory at the Univer- 



