Eebruary 26, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



317 



the world and have aided nearly every department 

 of human knowledge. Similar results in a nar- 

 rower field have been reached by the Rumford 

 Fund. By such funds as these, administered by 

 local committees, it is probable that greater ad- 

 vances in pure science can be obtained for a given 

 outlay than in any other way. An attempt has 

 been made to furnish a concrete example. 



Astronomy has been more favored than any 

 other science in receiving large gifts for its sup- 

 port, and it is through these that America occupies 

 its present honorable place in astrophysics. As a 

 consequence, observatories are carefully organized 

 and great results can be obtained from a moder- 

 ate expenditure. Recently I wrote to twelve lead- 

 ing astronomers, asking each how he would expend 

 a moderate sum.i The unexpected reply was that, 

 in almost every case, the greatest need was for an 

 assistant. In many cases, a small sum would thus 

 double the output of an observatory. 



It is obvious that each of the problems here con- 

 sidered suggests a field of work for this com- 

 mittee, at first through subcommittees accumu- 

 lating facts and then if possible improving the 

 conditions. We shall this afternoon see that a 

 good beginning has already been made. 



EEPOET OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH FUNDS 



The fact that the members of the subcommittee 

 on research funds reside in places remote from one 

 another has made it impracticable since its ap- 

 pointment in April, 1914, to hold formal meetings, 

 but several meetings of an informal character for 

 consultation and debate have taken place among 

 those who could be assembled. At only one of 

 these, however, have they had the benefit of the 

 counsel and advice of Dr. Minot, the chairman, 

 since his illness followed by death occurred before 

 any work could begin in the autumn. 



It seemed to the subcommittee that a most ob- 

 vious manner in which at the beginning, it could 

 aid the work for which the Committee of One 

 Hundred was instituted would be to enter, if pos- 

 sible, into communication with those having the 

 charge of the various funds in this country which 

 are available for purposes of scientific research, so 

 that there might be a wider knowledge than at 

 present exists as to the range of application of the 

 several funds and of the researches in progress 

 with aid from any one or more of them. With 

 this knowledge, in case of the receipt of meritori- 

 ous applications for aid by the trustees of any 



1 See Science, Vol. XLL, p. 82. 



particular fund which they were unable to grant 

 or which might seem to come especially within the 

 scope of some other research fund, the trustees 

 thus applied to could refer such applications to 

 those in charge of such other fund should they 

 think it advisable. With this end in view, the fol- 

 lowing letter was sent to the chairmen of the trus- 

 tees or committees in charge of a number of repre- 

 sentative research funds. 



Bear Sir: At a meeting of the "Committee of 

 One Hundred on Scientific Research" of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of Science 

 held at Washington, April 20, 1914, several sub- 

 committees on Research Funds, was constituted 

 as follows: Charles S. Minot, chairman, Simon 

 Flexner, E. C. Pickering, R. S. Woodward, Charles 

 R. Cross, secretary. The recent illness and death 

 of Dr. Minot have deprived the subcommittee of 

 his inestimable services. 



It is felt that this subcommittee may perhaps 

 aid in the furtherance of research if it can bring 

 about relations of correspondence among those in 

 charge of the various research funds existing in 

 this country, whereby scientific workers who need 

 aid in the prosecution of their researches may be 

 directed to the sources from which such help is 

 most likely to be obtained. This has been done 

 informally in a number of instances in the past, 

 and the experience thus gained has suggested the 

 belief that some definite plan of cooperation 

 would be useful. 



For this it would be desirable that the sub- 

 committee on research funds should have a record 

 of the several existing funds, the amount of each, 

 the approximate annual income from each, the ob- 

 jects to which they are devoted, the conditions 

 under which they are available, and the grants al- 

 ready made for researches still in progress. Fre- 

 quently such information is already to be found in 

 published form. With this at hand, the committee 

 could refer suitable applicants to the officers in 

 charge of such particular funds as in its judg- 

 ment might appropriately consider the matter. 



The committee, of course, would neither expect 

 nor desire that any portion of the authoritv or re- 

 sponsibility of the trustees of any research fund 

 should be delegated to it. Its function would only 

 be to act as a sort of clearing house, as it were, 

 which could to some extent classify and distribute 

 applications for aid to the most available sources. 

 Such a procedure would in no way obligate the 

 managers of any funds to grant aid to any person 

 unless they should believe that they themselves 

 would have been ready to do so upon their own 

 initiative. 



It seems to be the ease that many younger scien- 

 tific men who are engaged in the prosecution of 

 meritorious researches are not aware of the exist- 

 ence of certain of the research funds, and still less 

 of the purposes to which they may be applied. 

 Such a committee as that appointed by the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 which would soon become generally known, might, 

 it would seem, be of value to all such. 



Will you kindly inform the undersigned whether 



