606 



SCIENCE. 



. [N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 407. 



miglit be brought as professors some of the 

 foremost masters of the subject in general, 

 as well as many specialists in particular 

 fields of the science. Here might be ad- 

 mitted as stiidents such men as have made 

 marked progress in advanced lines of work 

 in the better universities, and who are pre- 

 pared to continue work in the institute. I 

 should not favor free tuition, nor the estab- 

 lishment of stipend-bearing fellowships. 

 On the contrary, I should favor the policy 

 pursued at Johns Hopkins University of 

 making the tisual charge for tuition. Men 

 who are prepared to continue work in the 

 institute always will be able to pay the 

 usual academic fees. Fellowships carrying 

 stipends would no doubt attract students, 

 but it is not numbers which the institute 

 wants, as much as students of the highest 

 ability— and such rarely, if ever, need to 

 be induced to continue work by the promise 

 of a stipend. 



With one well-endowed institute in 

 Washington on the Carnegie foundation, 

 we might hope that ultimately the several 

 sciences would be similarly provided 

 through the benefactions of liberal-minded 

 men of wealth. These institutes would 

 then be for the present the highest develop- 

 ment of the educational facilities of the 

 country, in these lines, and the successive 

 steps in the system would be as follows: 

 Primary schools, secondary schools (high 

 schools and academies), colleges, universi- 

 ties, institiites. In these there is a con- 

 stantly decreasing number of students, who 

 proceed in their educational development 

 from the general to the special— from the 

 universal to the limited. It is for the 

 limited number of specialists who have 

 come up through all the preceding steps 

 that the institutes should exist. I suggest, 

 therefore, that the trustees inaugurate an 

 institute of this highest grade. 



Chaeles E. Besset. 



The University op Nebraska. 



There is undoubtedly a great work to 

 be done in starting local investigators 

 through correspondence. I have always, 

 during a number of years, had several 

 such men on my list — have hunted refer- 

 ences in works they did not possess, gone 

 over their MSS., suggested lines of investi- 

 gation, and so forth. The result has on 

 the whole been most gratifying. These 

 men have not always been isolated in the 

 ordinary sense of the word; not rarely 

 they have been graduate students in our 

 best colleges and universities. I need 

 hardly say that I have received much help 

 of the same kind. I believe that any man 

 who is familiar with a particular branch 

 of study can do this sort of helping work, 

 and that it is extremely worth while. But 

 of course it brings no pay, and it could, I 

 think, very well be subsidized in some way. 



There are many good investigators scat- 

 tered about the country, who don't accom- 

 plish anything for lack of help and kindly 

 criticism. Often the mere fact of not hav- 

 ing some expensive work seems to put a 

 stop to an investigation. But the specialist 

 of long standing can look up references 

 and take away this difficulty. To merely 

 offer the beginner money would not meet 

 the case at all ; he needs guidance. 



Please understand that I don't propose a 

 plan whereby young men may have their 

 woi-k done for them. Directly they show 

 a desire to build their 'researches' out of 

 other people's brains they should be 

 dropped. But this does not apply to those 

 who are really doing all they can and are 

 hindered by circumstances beyond their 

 control. Frequently the circumstances are 

 such that the work can only be brought to 

 a fruitful state through a good deal of 

 cooperation; then the published results 

 should indicate the fact, and the two or 

 more names appear on the title page. 



I think some special regard should be 

 had for the thinly settled parts of the 



