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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1052 



committee or on motion, action was taken as 

 follows : 



1. Mr. Charles E. Cross was made chairman of 

 the subcommittee on research funds, to fill the va- 

 cancy -caused by the death of Charles Sedgwick 

 Minot. Mr. W. B. Cannon has been appointed to 

 fill the vacancy on the committee of one hundred. 



2. The subcommittee on research in industrial 

 laboratories was constituted to consist of Messrs. 

 Kaymond C. Baeon, C. L. Mees, M. C. Whitaker 

 and W. R. Whitney. 



3. A subcommittee on researcb under the na- 

 tional government was authorized with Mr. S. W. 

 Stratton as chairman. 



4. A subcommittee on research on the Pacific 

 Coast was authorized with Mr. J. C. Merriam as 

 chairman. 



5. The executive committee was authorized to 

 establish other subcommittees. Among those sug- 

 gested and discussed were committees on research 

 institutions, on research in museums, research 

 under municipalities, research in the south, re- 

 search by agencies promoting the public health and 

 the publication of research. 



6. The committee adjourned to meet with the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science at Columbus, Ohio, on the afternoon of 

 Monday, December 27, 1915. 



There are 'appended the opening remarks of 

 the chairman of the executive committee and 

 reports from the four subcommittees. 



J. McK. Cattell, 



Becretary 



SCIENTIFIC RESEAECH: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY 

 THE CHAIRMAN 



Several persons have asked the question "What 

 can be accomplished by the Committee of One 

 Hundred on Scientific Eesearch?" To answer this 

 question, we must first ask, what is the present 

 condition of the United States as regards scientific 

 work of the highest grade, and what means are at 

 present available? Six years ago from a study of 

 the men recognized as eminent by the great scien- 

 tific societies of the world, it appeared that the 

 number selected from the United States was six, 

 the same as from Saxony. The ratio of the popu- 

 lations is about twenty to one. Of the Americans 

 thus selected no one devoted much, if any, of his 

 time to teaching, and three were born outside of 

 the United States. 



The government of the United States expends an 



enormous sum each year in scientific research. In 

 the departments of science best known to me, a 

 portion only of this amount is spent wisely. Cer- 

 tain of the states and cities also appropriate 

 large sums, a part of which may be regarded as 

 devoted to research. 



At the last meeting of this committee the results 

 attained by the research laboratories of the great 

 industrial corporations was brought out in a strik- 

 ing manner. It was shown that they were not re- 

 stricted to commercial results, and that friendly 

 relations existed between them. A single success- 

 ful research might here easily repay the entire ex- 

 penditure. 



The universities of the country devote vast sums 

 to the diffusion of knowledge, but their contribu- 

 tions to its extension are comparatively limited. 

 They expend large sums entrusted to them with the 

 condition that it shall be used for original re- 

 search, and valuable results are also obtained by 

 their officers in their own time. The proportion of 

 the entire funds which is devoted to research is, 

 however, exceedingly small. There are few uni- 

 versities which could appropriate money for re- 

 search, apart from teaching, for instance, to sup- 

 ply an officer with an instrument, an assistant, or 

 money for publication. The general public do not 

 realize this; they think that since the universities 

 teach science, they add to it, as well as diffuse 

 it. Research , receives but little aid from the 

 numerous unrestricted gifts to universities. If a 

 tenth of the money used for teaching were em- 

 ployed in research, Americans would soon take 

 their proper places among the great men of science 

 of the world. 



Certain institutions like those established by 

 Rockefeller and Carnegie have devoted large sums 

 of money to research along particular lines, but 

 having no especial relations with other iavestiga- 

 tors. 



None of the methods so far described help the 

 man of genius in his home or in his laboratory, 

 none of them "seek the particular man, and aid 

 him. ' ' The research funds are the only means for 

 supplying these needs. Unfortunately, their total 

 income is small, but some of them have a very re- 

 markable history. For instance, the Elizabeth 

 Thompson Fund has an annual income of about a 

 thousand dollars, but largely through the eminent 

 skill of our late fellow member, Charles S. Minot, 

 during quarter of a century it has aided 169 re- 

 searches, with only five failures. A large part of 

 these could not have been completed without this 

 aid. The grants have been distributed throughout 



