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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 4(i3. 



work and in their, salaries set a standard 

 that universities and other institutions 

 would endeavor to meet. These positions 

 and membership in the board of managers 

 would be a recognition of eminence and 

 efficiency in scientific work ; they would en- 

 courage men of science and make scientific 

 work a more attractive career to young men 

 of promise. 



In connection with the central institution 

 the question of publication should be con- 

 sidered. It seems to me that it would be 

 far better to coordinate and assist exist- 

 ing series and journals rather than to es- 

 tablish new ones controlled by the institu- 

 tion. The present diificulties in the pub- 

 lication of scientific research are certainly 

 lamentable. The proceedings of learned 

 societies, in which subjects of all sorts are 

 treated in a single vohime, are a survival 

 from the eighteenth century. The cost of 

 printing, engraving and distribution, as 

 compared with the conditions abroad, is 

 a serious drawback to science in America. 

 A series of monographs published by the 

 Carnegie Institution might be of use, but 

 would take from rather than contribute to 

 the activity of other institutions. The pub- 

 lications of the Geological Survey cost 

 $300,000 annually, and the funds of the 

 Carnegie Institution would go but a small 

 way in this direction. Much more, it seems 

 to me, would be accomplished by establish- 

 ing in Washington as part of the central 

 institution a press which would employ 

 competent draughtsmen, engravers and 

 proof-readers and would offer its services 

 at such charges as are made in Germany 

 and France. The academies of the country 

 might then unite in publishing their pro- 

 ceedings in series devoted to the several 

 sciences, and our various scientific journals 

 could secure publication on terms as favor- 

 able as those of foreign nations. The slu- 

 tonomy of existing publications and their 

 support would thus be maintained, while 



the fact that they came from the press of 

 the Carnegie Institution would at a com- 

 paratively small cost contribute greatly to 

 the prestige of the institution. 



If one half the income of the institution 

 were expended as indicated, a considerable 

 sum would remain with which the trustees 

 or board of managers could play the part 

 of a special providence throughout the 

 country. This would allow annually one 

 or two large appropriations and a great 

 number of smaller subsidies. It seems that 

 the institution might in some cases with ad- 

 vantage give endowments rather than 

 money for current uses. Such endow- 

 ments would certainly tend to make widely 

 and permanently known the beneficent 

 work of the institution. The erection of 

 a laboratory at Woods Hole, costing $100,- 

 000 and called the Carnegie Biological Lab- 

 oratory, or an endowment fund of equal 

 amount, to be known as the Carnegie Re- 

 search Fund for Biology, would in my 

 opinion be of more value to the laboratory 

 and to the cause of science in America than 

 any annual subsidy. One large grant each 

 year or two, or two or three smaller ones, 

 either establishing permanent agencies or 

 carrying forward projects of some magni- 

 tude, would perform an inestimable service 

 and would stimulate and not inhibit similar 

 gifts from other sources. Supposing the 

 turn of psychology to come once in ten 

 years, I can easily outline work for a cen- 

 tury—for example, a station for the study 

 of living animals in connection with a zoo- 

 logical park; a laboratory for the study of 

 children as part of a foundling or orphan 

 asylum ; another in connection with asylums 

 for the blind and deaf ; a clinic for the psy- 

 chological study of the insane ; another for 

 diseases of the nervous system and organs 

 of sense ; an expedition to collect psycholog- 

 ical data regarding savages before they 

 disappear; a shop where psychological in- 

 struments can be made and instrument- 



