588 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 406. 



tablishment, and bring to it a limited num- 

 ber of the ablest investigators and student 

 assistants, it would thereby give, in my 

 judgment, the most direct and powerful 

 stimulus to research Avhich could be ren- 

 dered. 



The promotion of research by assisting 

 investigators in existing institutions con- 

 stitutes a means which will doubtless re- 

 ceive the most careful consideration at the 

 hands of those who direct the Carnegie 

 Institution. Undoubtedly great possibili- 

 ties for stimulating research are to be found 

 in our universities and colleges. Neverthe- 

 less the wise use of funds in this way is 

 beset with many difficulties. In most 

 American institutions of learning the con- 

 ditions which obtain are not favorable to 

 the development of the research spirit, and 

 it would be entirely possible to expend the 

 entire income of the Carnegie Institution 

 in this way and obtain no other results 

 than those of a mediocre and routine na- 

 ture. In no other direction will the man- 

 agers of the Institution be called upon for 

 a greater measure of that good judgment 

 which couples keen discrimination with 

 sympathetic appreciation, than in their en- 

 deavor to assist research in existing insti- 

 tutions. 



The third line of activity to which I 

 have alluded has its peculiar difficulties 

 also, though of a different sort from those 

 just referred to. 



An institution founded for the promotion 

 of research will not be content to get in ' 

 touch only with those already fairly known 

 and started in the work of investigation. 

 It will seek to introduce the new sciences 

 as well as to stimulate the old to new tri- 

 umphs. It will desire to discover the dis- 

 coverer, to keep a door always accessible 

 to the unknown and obscure investigator. 

 By such a door an army of cranks will seek 

 to enter, but so also will the unheralded 

 genius. Now and then a Thomson, an 



Edison or a Marconi will knock for admis- 

 sion; mayhap a Henry or a Pasteur. It 

 is here— in the endeavor to come in touch 

 with the unknown struggling man of 

 genius— that those who direct the Institu- 

 tion will find at the same time their keenest 

 disappointments and their greatest suc- 

 cesses; and here again is a wise sympathy 

 no less needed than a keen scrutiny. 



Of the three plans of procedure here 

 suggested the first is, to my thinking, the 

 prop and the inspiration of the other two. 



If the Carnegie Institution succeeds not 

 only in bringing to accomplishment certain 

 useful researches, but also in awakening 

 the spirit of research itself, its success will 

 have momentous consequences for the 

 whole world. No other project has at this 

 moment so fully the attention of all men 

 of science. In their effort to execute the 

 delicate and important task committed to 

 them the directors of the Institution are 

 sure to receive the cordial cooperation, as 

 they already have the keen attention, of 

 those who are interested in science and in 

 the progress of men. 



Henry S. Pritchett. 



MEMBERSHIP OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIA- 

 TION. 

 The following is a list of persons who 

 have completed membership in the Asso- 

 ciation during August, 1902. 



Thos. L. Armitage, M.D., Physician and Sur- 

 geon, Princeton, Minn. 



Oscar P. Austin, Chief of Bureau of Statistics, 

 Treasur}' Department, Washington, D. C. 



Theodore Baker, Box 44, Haskell, N. J. 



Howard J. Banker, Professor of Biology, South- 

 western Normal School, California, Pa. 



John Barlow, State College, Kingston, R. I. 



John E. Best, M.D., Physician, Arlington 

 Heights, 111. 



Mrs. Josephine Hall Bishop, 2309 Washington 

 St., San Francisco, Cal. 



James Hall Bishop, 2309 Washington St., San 

 Francisco, Cal. 



Anson W. Burchard, 44 Broad St., New York 

 City. 



