SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 492. 



vests, must supply better and moi'e ex- 

 pensive equipment, and furnish still more 

 efficient means for the training of the per- 

 sons who do research work for them. 



Kecognition of the Importance of Re- 

 search. — In America three important steps 

 in the recognition of research are marked 

 by enduring movements. These are: the 

 American Jonrnal of Science, the first vol- 

 ULtne of which appeared in 1818, and which 

 has continued to be a record of investiga- 

 tion to the present day; the Smithsonian 

 Institution, organized in 1846, which has 

 for its motto, 'The increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men ' ; and the Car- 

 negie Institution, established in 1902, 

 which, in the words of its generous found- 

 er, has for its aim 'the securing for the 

 United States leadership in the domain of 

 discovery and the utilization of new forces 

 for the benefit of man. ' 



These three monuments mark not only 

 the road of scientific but of industrial ad- 

 vance in America, since the latter follows 

 in the footsteps of the former. The aims 

 of the Carnegie Institution, in pai'ticular, 

 should arrest the attention of every so- 

 called practical man, since they recognize 

 a principle that is invading and revolution- 

 izing industry in all of its many branches, 

 namely, the substitution of precise or scien- 

 tific methods in place of 'rule of thumb,' 

 and the seeking for legitimate gains by the 

 application of original studies to the arts. 

 In brief, it is becoming noised abroad that 

 there is money in research. 



In reference to the growing appreciation 

 of the value of research, a few illustrations 

 may not be amiss. 



The recognition of the importance of re- 

 search to the farmer is indicated by the 

 work carried on at public expense by the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washing- 

 ton. Although the so-called practical ap- 

 plication of discoveries already available, 

 is the avowed aim of this well-organized 



department by the government, yet many 

 contributions to pure science have been 

 made in its eighteen sub-departments or 

 bureaus, and at the fifty-six experiment 

 stations under its general supervision and 

 located in nearly every state of the union. 

 Research in pure science is a part of the 

 work of the Weather Bureau, and of the 

 Divisions of Chemistry, Entomology, Bot- 

 any, Biology, Forestry, Soils, Public Roads, 

 Animal Industry, etc., of the Department 

 of Agriculture and supplemented by ex- 

 periments in agriculture by nearly 700 

 men in the many agricultural experiment 

 stations. The results of the investigations 

 carried on in these many related fields of 

 study, not only furnish direct aid to farm- 

 ers throughout our broad land, but estab- 

 lish safeguards and quarantines about their 

 pursuits, the money value of which can only 

 be reckoned in millions of dollars annually. 

 The term 'chemical industries' applied 

 to a large group of manufactures such as 

 beet sugar, soda ash, Portland cement, etc., 

 is a recognition of the fact that they are 

 based on the research work of the chemical 

 laboratory. But capitalists are no longer 

 content to await returns from the investi- 

 gator who may chance to devote his time 

 and energies to the special field in which 

 their monej^ is invested, but establish labo- 

 ratories of their own and employ research 

 workers who can point out ways of im- 

 proving processes and enlarging factories. 

 So great is this demand that our universi- 

 ties are being called upon to supply trained 

 men by the score, who are able to originate 

 new methods as well as superintend work 

 already in process. The recognition of the 

 value of research in the factory is even 

 more pronounced in Germanj^ than on this 

 side of the Atlantic, as is indicated by the 

 fact that in that country a single chemical 

 establishment employs continuously more 

 than thirty doctors of science, the best the 

 universities there can turn out, who devote 



