848 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 805 



towards technical perfection. If we want 

 to learn how to reduce what I would call 

 our "nation waste," our German friends 

 can give us valuable lessons. It is signifi- 

 cant too that in large German engineering 

 or chemical enterprises the board of direc- 

 tors is made up mostly of scientifically 

 trained men, engineers, chemists and phys- 

 icists. The entrance of the physicist in our 

 industries has not yet become very evident, 

 although in Germany it seems to be the 

 rule, especially in electrical and other 

 enterprises, to give to the physicist as much 

 importance, and even more, than to the 

 chemist; both of these scientific specialists 

 leave the purely engineering problems to 

 the qualified engineer. 



The story was told to me how the head 

 of one of the largest engineering firms in 

 'Germany won his spurs. Prices of copper 

 were rising beyond precedent, and his 

 merchant business associates insisted there- 

 fore that he should buy an amount of 

 copper sufficiently large to supply them 

 for their electric installations for several 

 years to come. In the meantime, prices 

 were going up faster and faster; but this 

 did not seem to disturb the scientific di- 

 rector, who was eagerly following the re- 

 sults of some special research work, giving 

 reliable data about transformers and high 

 voltage transmissions. As he understood 

 the law of Ohm, he knew that pretty soon, 

 even if copper was three times higher in 

 price, he could use so much thinner wire 

 and save money in the end. What he fore- 

 saw happened ; the price of copper dropped 

 suddenly, and Ohm's law triumphed over 

 copper speculators. 



All this does not take away the fact 

 that although some industries suffer from 

 brutal ignorance, others have sometimes 

 been handicapped by a too one-sided 

 scientific organization; I know of some in- 

 stances, especially in Germany, where very 



respectable enterprises have not utilized 

 their available opportunities to the proper 

 extent, because their scientific managers 

 lacked good business sense. I have seen 

 some industrial enterprises much held 

 back by too much red tape and a choking 

 amount of paper-wisdom. The most 

 learned man without common sense or 

 practical abilities can accomplish little ex- 

 cept disappointments. Here is where the 

 keen business man, with a practical turn 

 of mind, with directness of purpose and 

 good judgment, will every time show his 

 advantages. 



An overspecialized man, whether he be 

 a biologist, a physicist, a chemist or an 

 engineer, may lack the broadness of con- 

 ception and action which characterizes 

 true great men of many-sided develop- 

 ment. 



Then again, quite frequently the real 

 field of usefulness of scientifically trained 

 men is much misunderstood. For in- 

 stance, it is a common mistake, made even 

 by some engineers and physicians as well 

 as by business men, to imagine that the 

 main work of the chemist is confined to 

 performing chemical analysis. This con- 

 ception is about as absurd as to think that 

 the main usefulness of an electrical engi- 

 neer consists in making electrical tests, or 

 that the essential work of the merchant is 

 bookkeeping. 



Many a good chemist has been thus pre- 

 vented from showing his best abilities by 

 the sheer ignorance of those who employed 

 him. 



In the development of some of our in- 

 dustries, nothing has played such an im- 

 portant role as scientific research work. 

 To those who do not realize this, let me 

 tell that not so long ago I had an oppor- 

 tunity in Philadelphia, to see that old elec- 

 tric machine of Benjamin Franklin, a 

 small revolving glass globe mounted on a 



