10 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 470. 



before there Avas a demand for the prod- 

 ucts. Those who could present evidence 

 that they had followed such courses were 

 generally given the preference. This was 

 especially true in the ease of appointments 

 in the colleges, some colleges even going so 

 ~far as to decline to appoint any one who 

 had not taken the degree of doctor of phi- 

 losophy, which is the badge of the course 

 that involves investigation. As the demand 

 for those who had received this training 

 increased, the number of those seeking it 

 increased at least in the same proportion. 

 New universities were established and old 

 ones caught the spirit of the new move- 

 ment until from one end of the country to 

 the other centers of scientific activity are 

 now found, and the amount of research 

 work that is done is enormous compared 

 with what was done twenty-five or thirty 

 years ago. Many of those who get a taste 

 of the work of investigation become fasci- 

 nated by it and are anxious to devote their 

 lives to it. At present, with the facilities 

 for such work available, it seems probable 

 that most of those who have a strong de- 

 sire and the necessary industry and ability 

 to follow it find their opportunity some- 

 where. There is little danger of our losing 

 a genius or even one with fair talent. The 

 world is on the lookout for them. The 

 demand for those who can do good research 

 work is greater than the supply. To be 

 sure the rewards are not as a rule as great 

 as those that are likely to be won by the 

 ablest members of some other professions 

 and occupations, and as long as this con- 

 dition of affairs continues to exist there 

 will not be as many men of the highest in- 

 tellectual order engaged in this work as we 

 should like to see. On the other hand, 

 when we consider the great progress that 

 has been made during the last twenty-five 

 years or so, we have every reason to take a 

 cheerful view of the future. If as much 

 progress should be made in the next quar- 



ter century, we shall, to say the least, be 

 able to compete with the foremost nations 

 of the world in scientific investigation. In 

 my opinion this progress is largely depen- 

 dent upon the development of our univer- 

 sities. Without the opportunities for train- 

 ing in the methods of scientific investiga- 

 tion there will be but few investigators. It 

 is necessary to have a large number in 

 order that the principle of selection may 

 operate. In this line of work as in others, 

 many are called, but few are chosen. 



Another fact that is working advan- 

 tageously to increase the amount of scien- 

 tific research done in this country is the 

 support given by the government in its 

 different scientific bureaus. The Geolog- 

 ical Survey, the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the 

 National Bureau of Standards and other 

 departments are carrying on a large 

 amount of excellent scientific work, and 

 thus helping most efficiently to spread the 

 scientific spirit throughout the land. 



Finally, two exceedingly interesting ex- 

 periments in the way of encouraging sci- 

 entific investigation are now attracting the 

 attention of the world. I mean, of course, 

 the Carnegie Institution, with its endow- 

 ment of $10,000,000, and the Rockefeller 

 Institute, devoted to investigations in the 

 field of medicine, which will no doubt be 

 adequately endowed. It is too early to 

 express an opinion in regard to the in- 

 fluence of these great foundations upon the 

 progress of scientific investigation. As 

 both will make possible the carrying out 

 of many investigations that would other- 

 wise probably not be carried out, the 

 chances of achieving valuable results will 

 be increased. The danger is that those 

 who are responsible for the management 

 of the funds will be disappointed that the 

 results are not at once of a striking char- 

 acter, and that they will be tempted to 

 change the method of applying the money 



