Sbptembkr 19, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



463 



independent. The other half might be 

 used for the establishment of an institu- 

 tion at Washington that would promote 

 scientific research in a way that would not 

 interfere with existing agencies, but would 

 rather set them a standard. 



I should like to see at Washington a Car- 

 negie Institution somewhat on the plan of 

 the Royal Institution of London, which, as 

 we all know, was founded by an American. 

 Such an institution might be made the cen- 

 ter for the scientific life and activity of the 

 country. The government should provide 

 the site for the building as part of the plans 

 for the improvement of Washington, and 

 half the income of the institution for the 

 next three or four years could be spent for 

 its erection. It should contain rooms for 

 the meetings of national and local societies, 

 for boards and committees, and for lec- 

 tures. It should contain comparatively 

 small but admirably equipped laboratories 

 for the three fundamental sciences — phys- 

 ics, chemistry and psychology.* There 

 should be a professor or director for each 

 of these sciences with a salary of $10,000, 

 whose duties it would be to conduct and 

 direct research work in the laboratory, to 

 coordinate and promote the research work 

 of the country and to give a few lectures. 

 He should have suitable assistants, compu- 

 ters and instrument makers at a cost per- 

 haps of $10,000, and about $5,000 annually 

 should be allowed for apparatus, with oc- 

 casional special grants if needed. Efficient 

 investigators, perhaps not more than five 

 or six in each science, should be encouraged 

 to carry on research in the laboratories for 

 a year or less ; these men should have leave 

 of absence from their own institutions and 

 would in most cases receive subsidies from 



* In ranking psychology with physics and chem- 

 istry I may be influenced by the direction of my 

 o\vn work. I believe, however, that I am logically 

 correct. The fact that psychology is at present 

 more immature than physics or chemistry appears 

 to be a reason for giving it opportunity. 



the general funds of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion. They should give short courses of 

 public lectures, and other men of science 

 should be invited to present the results of 

 their researches in lectures or articles. 

 These should be well paid for and should 

 not be published exclusively by the institu- 

 tion, but distributed freely to newspapers 

 and journals. Then there should be a board 

 of managers, representing each science 

 or important branch of a science. In the 

 exact and natural sciences there might be 

 perhaps twenty of these managers, who 

 would include the directors of the labora- 

 tories. With the president and secretary 

 they should be given full and com- 

 plete control of the scientific work of 

 the institution, subject only to the veto 

 of the board of trustees. Membership in 

 this board of managers should be the chief 

 distinction in American science, being con- 

 ferred on those who unite eminence in re- 

 search with public spirit and executive 

 ability. The members should receive a sal- 

 ary of say $2,500 a year ; they should meet 

 together at Washington for a week once a 

 year, and perhaps should be present on 

 one other occasion as chairmen of honorary 

 committees on each science. Each should 

 present a lecture or paper annually before 

 the institution, perhaps reviewing the pro- 

 gress in the United States of the science 

 that he represents. On the plan outlined 

 the annual charge for the laboratories 

 would be $75,000 and for the board of man- 

 agers, $50,000. The expenses of the cen- 

 tral institution would thus be $125,000, to 

 which must of course be added the cost of 

 administration. I see no other way by 

 which an equal sum could so effectively 

 contribute to the advancement of science. 

 A considerable amount of research of the 

 highest class would proceed directly from 

 the institution and would become quickly 

 and widely known. The directors of the 

 laboratories would in the character of their 



