224 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 659 



remember the histories of the Stewart, Tilden 

 and other bequests, or when we consider that 

 the Smithsonian Institution, established by a 

 foreigner " for the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among men " has been used largely 

 for the promotion of local interests. But it is 

 only by frankly considering these things that 

 we may learn that honor is more than great 

 riches. — The Popular Science Monthly, Jan- 

 uary, 1907. 



We agree with Mr. Lange when he says, on 

 page 1060 of this issue, that Dr. Alfred ISTobel 

 was a man of remarkable originality, as is 

 shown by his bequest of his fortune to Scan- 

 dinavia to reward the benefactors of mankind. 

 But we fear that his originality will never be 

 allowed much scope by those who have charge 

 of the administration of the fund, for they 

 have from the beginning shown a flagrant dis- 

 regard of the intentions of the founder. This, 

 of course, is no new thing. Many philan- 

 thropic testators, if they could rise from their 

 graves fifty or a hundred years after they had 

 been laid in them, would repudiate the work 

 that is being carried on in their names. This 

 is sometimes the fault of the trustees and 

 sometimes their wisdom. The provisions of a 

 will may prove to be impracticable, or in the 

 course of time the changed conditions may 

 make it useless or detrimental to the cause it 

 was intended to promote. 



But Nobel's plan has been proved neither 

 unpractical nor unwise, because it has never 

 been tried. In his will of November 27, 1893, 

 he directs that his property "shall constitute 

 a fund, the interest accruing from which shall 

 be annually awarded in prizes to those persons 

 who shall have contributed most materially to 

 benefit mankind during the year immediately 

 preceding." 



The clause we have italicized has been dis- 

 regarded from the start by the five Nobel com- 

 mittees, although it is the most original and 

 promising feature of the plan. Great dis- 

 coveries in science and innovations in litera- 

 ture are often the work of young men, un- 

 appreciated by their colleagues and superiors, 

 overburdened by drudgery and . inadequately 

 provided with the means of study and re- 

 search. To men like this the free gift of 



$40,000 and the public recognition of the 

 value of their work would be a godsend. 

 They would be stimulated to greater exer- 

 tions and would be able to devote themselves 

 to the work for which they had already proved 

 themselves exceptionally fitted. 



But the Nobel committees, instead of this, 

 have chosen to bestow their awards in many 

 cases on men who, long before the Nobel Fund 

 was established, had done the work for which 

 the world is their debtor, and were resting on 

 their laurels. The money, however much 

 needed, will not enable them to do more than 

 they have ; the honor, however much deserved, 

 will not add to their fame. The Nobel prizes 

 have been given only six years, yet six of 

 the recipients — Cardueci, Moissan, Dunant, 

 Mommsen, Finsen, Curie — ^have died since 

 they were so honored, three of them from old 

 age. The following table shows how far the 

 Nobel committees have departed from the in- 

 tention of the founder in rewarding contem- 

 porary achievement: 



Name 



Dunant 



Sully-Prudhomme 



Mommsen 



Fischer 



Bjornson 



Mistral 



Echegaray 



Passy 



Arrhenius 



Becquerel 



Behring 



Ramsay 



Finsen 



Cremer 



Rayleigh 



M Curie 



Madame Curie.. 



Rontgen 



Eoss 



Cardueci 



Ramon y Cajal.. 



Moissan 



Baeyer 



Koch 



Sienkiewicz 



Leuard 



Suttner 



Golgi 



Achievemeut 



GeneTa Convention 



"Justice" 



" History of Rome" 



Sugar synthesis 



" Arne" 



*' Mireio" 



" O Locura o Santidad " 

 French Arbitration Society 



Electrolytic theory 



Uranium rays 



Diphtheria antitoxin 



Helium 



Light cure 



Interparliamentary confer- 

 ence 



Argon 



Radium 



Radium 



X-rays 



Malaria parasite 



"Odi Barbare" 



Neurology 



Isolation of fluorine 



Artificial indigo 



Tuberculosis bacillus 



" With Fire and Sword ' 



Lenard rays 



" Die Waffen nieder''.... 

 Nerve staining 



35 

 39 

 37 

 33 

 26 

 29 

 4o 

 45 

 25 

 44 

 38 

 43 

 34 



50 

 52 

 39 

 31 

 50 

 40 

 44 

 41 

 35 

 45 

 41 

 38 

 32 

 47 

 25 



37 

 23 



48 



17 



45 



45 



26 



3* 



19 



7 



9 



9 



7 



15 

 10 

 5 

 5 

 6 

 5 

 27 

 15 

 9 

 25 

 23 

 21 

 11 

 18 



The Code of Statutes of the Nobel Founda- 

 tion, issued in the name of the King, June 

 29, 1900, contains the following section : 



