October 31, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



695 



avocation with many, it is a vocation with 

 few; and the many piirsue their investiga- 

 tions amid needlessly unfavorable condi- 

 tions. 



If this description of the status of aiiairs 

 is approximately correct, the remedy would 

 seem to lie in the direct endowment of men. 

 If we have men who are precisely fitted by 

 training, bent, devotion and ability for the 

 work of research, why not provide the means 

 for their support and leave them financially . 

 free, at all events, to devote their energies in 

 the direction in which they promise greatest 

 success ? Undoubtedly they will require ma- 

 terials and apparatus— in some cases a 

 most expensive equipment— but in nearly 

 all cases they will first and foremost require 

 a secure living and leisure. The elevation 

 of the career, of the devotee to research to 

 a worthy professional standing would seem 

 to be the special function which the Car- 

 negie Institution can serve in behalf of 

 learning in America. 



In pursuance of such a policy there 

 would be at once recognized the danger of 

 interfering with the growth of the provi- 

 sions for research now established or likely 

 to be established at the universities. Such 

 a possibility must be carefully guarded 

 against. If it were to become the vogue 

 for the university authorities, when the 

 question of provision for research came up 

 for discussion, to transfer such responsi- 

 bility to the Carnegie Institution, quite as 

 much harm as good would be done. The 

 various ways in which the spirit of research 

 is not only helpful but vital to the flourish- 

 ing of true university work have been re- 

 peatedly and ably set forth ; it will continue 

 to require zealous protection until it be- 

 comes firmly established as an integral 

 factor of our educational system. As a 

 means of fostering' the cause of research 

 without needlessly releasing the universi- 

 ties from their, true responsibilities, the 

 suggestion is near at hand that the Car- 



negie funds shall, here and there, be used 

 to pay a portion of the salary or supple- 

 ment the salary of this professor or that, on 

 condition that he be relieved from all but 

 a minimum of teaching, and thus be able 

 to devote much of his energies to special 

 research. An arrangement effecting sub- 

 stantially the same result exists in the case 

 of geologists who hold an academic and a 

 governmental position, and are able to 

 minimize the instructional obligations of 

 the former, while utilizing to the full 

 the research facilities of the latter 

 position. The university funds thus re- 

 leased would naturally be used for the en- 

 gagement of an assistant, upon whom would 

 fall the instructional and other work so 

 frequently the serious obstacles to success- 

 ful investigation. I do not advocate, ex- 

 cept in special cases, the complete separa- 

 tion of instruction and investigation ; on 

 the contrary, I am convinced that each is 

 helpful to the other, and that even the syn- 

 optic survey of one's science which an in- 

 troductory course makes necessai'y is a use- 

 ful task for the professor occasionally to 

 assume, while the opportunity to serve as a 

 leader to able young men is both stimulat- 

 ing and profitable. It is only to the extent 

 that instructional and administrative rou- 

 tine interfere with the scholar's advance- 

 ment along the lines of his special fitness, 

 that provision should be made to prevent 

 the sacrifice of the latter for the former. 

 In this connection a reference seems per- 

 missible to the special conditions under 

 which the professor (for we may assume 

 that in this country the typical man of re- 

 search is a professor) must live and work. 

 He is not independent; he is not free to 

 follow his own inclinations; he has pre- 

 scribed and absorbing duties. As with most 

 men his income conditions his activity. 

 He must first do that which is necessary to 

 gain a living for himself and family, and 

 to occupy that place in society which his 



