468 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 403. 



inal investigations have not wasted their 

 time, but are better prepared for teaching 

 or other kinds of work. To pass beyond 

 the limits of the already known, to discover 

 new truth and new methods by reliance on 

 individual initiative and judgment, to do 

 and give and not merely learn and receive, 

 is an educational method incomparably bet- 

 ter than any other. Those who have ac- 

 complished this either at the university or 

 in active life are the world's leaders. The 

 student is in no sense pauperized because 

 he receives a fellowship. His research is 

 worth on the average far more than it costs ; 

 he gives to the world more than he receives 

 and earns his living by honest work. 



If I may venture to suggest a definite 

 plan for the award of fellowships, it would 

 be that each university be permitted to 

 nominate for a Carnegie fellowship, one of 

 every ten of those on whom it confers the 

 doctorate of philosophy. These men— who 

 at present would number about fifteen in 

 the sciences — would be well prepared for 

 research and covild carry it forward for a 

 year to great advantage at Washington or 

 elsewhere. The value of the fellowships 

 should be $1,000. 



The Carnegie Institution will doubtless 

 also undertake to promote scientific re- 

 search by enabling men to devote them- 

 selves to investigation who have already 

 proved themselves competent, but who are 

 prevented by various causes from doing 

 the work for which they are fit. The great- 

 est obstacle to the advancement of science 

 is, in my opinion, the circumstance that 

 scientific men are not directly rewarded for 

 their investigations and discoveries. The 

 lawyer, physician or engineer can command 

 a fee commensurate with the value of his 

 services, the artist can sell his picture for 

 what it is worth, the novelist receives a 

 royalty on as many copies of his book as the 

 public will buy; but the man of science as 

 a rule gives his research work to the public. 



He earns his living by teaching or other- 

 wise, and is thus an amateur, not a profes- 

 sional investigator. In a few cases the pat- 

 ent office intervenes, and we see what it 

 can accomplish, for example, in Mr. Edi- 

 son's inventions. But the field covered by 

 the patent office is small, and as a rule it 

 is more likely to divert from than to en- 

 courage research in pure science. If some 

 method could be devised by which society 

 would pay the man of science even one 

 tenth of the value of his investigations, 

 science would enter a new era of progress. 

 Possibly the Carnegie Institution may find 

 some means to accomplish this end, for ex- 

 ample, by paying an investigator for his 

 research at the same rate that a magazine 

 pays for a short story; but the problem is 

 complicated and difficult. The ofi'ering 

 of prizes is an obvious, but I fear not very 

 satisfactory or effective, method. 



I am sufficiently optimistic to believe 

 that the combination of teaching or econom- 

 ic work with research is on the whole an 

 advantage. The authorities of Columbia 

 University expect me to give one under- 

 graduate course with laboratory work and 

 one advanced course with the supervision 

 of research work. This amount of teach- 

 ing, I think, improves the quality of the re- 

 search work that I am able to do and does 

 not seriously limit the quantity. Indeed 

 the cooperation with students may increase 

 the quantity. It would, however, doubt- 

 less be an advantage for men engaged in 

 teaching or economic work to have occa- 

 sionally a year free, devoted entirely to 

 research, at Washington or abroad. Col- 

 umbia University does not demand an ex- 

 cessive amount of teaching and allows a 

 leave of absence one year in seven with 

 half salary. Some other institutions are 

 less fortunate or less wise, and the Carnegie 

 Institution could accomplish results of im- 

 measurable importance by permitting 

 those engaged primarily in teaching or 



