486 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol, XVI. No. 404. 



It seems doubtful whether any salary 

 could be paid to a body of academicians, 

 sufficient to enable them to devote their 

 whole time to research; and it is a fair 

 question whether it would really be desir- 

 able to set a body of men apart in a scien- 

 tific academy, at the present day, without 

 that contact with students which a uni- 

 versity provides. It must be remembered 

 that the Royal Institution of London is not 

 an academy in the strictest sense; nor do 

 the resident lecturers owe a duty to a foun- 

 dation, but rather to the subscribers. With 

 the enormous distances separating our edu- 

 cational centers, it would not be conceiv- 

 able that a lecturer could assemble around 

 him so national an audience as would listen 

 to a Faraday or a Rayleigh. 



All these plans remind one of the hot- 

 house method of stimulating plant-growth ; 

 why not attempt the open-air method of 

 cultivating the soil? The Carnegie Insti- 

 tution might facilitate research for all, in- 

 stead of offering incentives to a chosen few. 

 For this reason, the satisfactory equipment 

 of marine biological stations, open to all 

 qualified observers, and of similar institu- 

 tions that would render the natural phe- 

 nomena more readily accessible to general 

 study, would seem eminently proper; while 

 one might doubt the propriety of establish- 

 ing observatories simply for the intense 

 study of single problems. The efficacy of 

 special research laboratories in the phys- 

 ical sciences, such as England owes to the 

 generosity of Mr. Mond, has yet to be prov- 

 en in contrast with that of university labo- 

 ratories; to the writer, their establishment 

 iji this country would appear premature, 

 since many of our well-equipped education- 

 al laboratories are not so crowded that they 

 would be obliged to refuse accommodation 

 to an independent investigator who sought 

 their hospitality. 



The same general argmnent would op- 

 pose the financial support of periodicals and 



publishing organizations, while it would 

 strongly favor the equipment of a scientific 

 printing office, for the prompt and cheap 

 reproduction of the results of research, for 

 the account of individuals as well as of as- 

 sociations. However, if the trustees de- 

 sired to obviate the most serious difficulties 

 which beset the American scientist in his 

 laboratory work, they would establish 

 workshops for the construction of special 

 apparatus and the preparation of the more 

 recondite materials, such as rare chemicals, 

 microscopic mounts, etc. What stipend, for 

 instance, could put the American chemist 

 on a level with his German colleague, when 

 the latter can obtain, within twenty-four 

 hours, any preparation that is catalogued, 

 while the former must allow six weeks for 

 obtaining anything that is not so commonly 

 known as to be literally a 'drug on the 

 market'? By enabling the private investi- 

 gator to supply his needs quickly and at 

 reasonable cost, without the unjust discrim- 

 ination of 'duty-free' importation, a stimu- 

 lus would be given to private research, in- 

 side and outside the college laboratory. 

 Who can estimate the amount of time frit- 

 tered away in this country through the lack 

 of ready access to the mechanical adjuncts 

 to investigation? Workshops to supply 

 these would not only improve our immedi- 

 ate condition; but, if properly organized, 

 they might serve to educate a body of 

 mechanicians and preparators, whose help 

 would be invaluable in the various scien- 

 tific institutions of the country. 



If these suggestions should illustrate the 

 view that the Carnegie Institution can do 

 measurable harm by seeking to supplant 

 private initiative with artificial stimulus, 

 but can do immeasurable good by clearing 

 away the obstacles that now trammel the 

 general growth of the scientific spirit in 

 America, they will best express the opin- 

 ions of Morris Loeb. 



New York University. 



