SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 575. 



There is a good deal more than that in 

 science and, although good managers and 

 directors are necessary, it is true that the 

 power of organizing and the power of 

 investigating are two different things and 

 often exist in inverse ratio to each other, 

 and it is the latter which is at the basis of 

 science. An organizer is of no use until 

 there is something to organize and the 

 materials on which the organizer in science 

 must work are not made by machinery, 

 but by the brains of individual workers, 

 and it is important that they should be 

 placed under the most favorable conditions 

 for work. If hitherto there has been per- 

 haps too little organization, there is a dan- 

 ger that in the future there may be too 

 much. In a mill many men are doing the 

 same kind of work, but in science one man 

 should not duplicate the work of another. 

 The object of organization in the one ease 

 is to secure uniformity of product; in the 

 other to encourage diversity of work. 



You have seen the statement in print 

 that there are not enough workers in sci- 

 ence and it has been claimed that the re- 

 wards are so inadequate that many young 

 men can not afford to enter on a scientific 

 career. It has been proposed to remedy 

 that difficulty, and we not infrequently 

 hear that something should be done by the 

 public. So far nothing very definite has 

 been proposed. It has been suggested that 

 scientific men should be better paid. 

 Against that we haVe absolutely nothing 

 to say, but we are waiting a little impa- 

 tiently to learn how they are to be paid. 

 The captains of industrial establishments 

 make large fortunes and it seems to be a 

 principle of economy that in the manage- 

 ment of other people's money a pretty 

 large proportion finds its way into the 

 pockets of the managers. Others who 

 probably recognize the obstacles in the way 

 of arranging that scientific men shall be 

 better paid would solve the difficulty by 



having a limited number of great prizes to 

 be awarded at intervals. 



It is certainly pleasant to know that the 

 public would like to do something for us, 

 for with the intention may come later the 

 fulfillment. But it may be weU. to look 

 into the matter a little more closely. In 

 the first place, assuming that more men 

 ought to go into science, it is by no means 

 certain that, were the remuneration much- 

 greater, the right kind of men would go 

 into the field. It would be an easy mat- 

 ter, if the pecuniary rewards were great 

 enough, to induce any number of men to 

 go into science, but a man in search of 

 money is not ever likely to do the best 

 work in science. Unless a man has a love 

 of science for its own sake, apart from the 

 money he is to make out of it, he must be 

 classed as a business man and not a scien- 

 tific man. A more important point to as- 

 certain is how many men with a strong 

 desire to study science and with good abil- 

 ity have been obliged to abandon its pursuit 

 and gain their living in some other way. 

 There are certainly some, but I am unable 

 to form a definite idea as to the number. 

 There are undoubtedly a good many men in 

 the field struggling under difficulties which 

 keep them from doing the best work of 

 which they are capable. Before attempt- 

 ing to draw more men into the field it 

 would be better to provide properly for 

 those already in it. 



Little need be said on the subject of a 

 limited number of great prizes. So far, 

 we are in the dark as to what the prizes 

 are to be. We can not, of course, adopt 

 the plan established in some countries and 

 bestow on a few favored sons of science 

 titles of nobility or knighthood. This 

 method of rewarding merit has something 

 to be said in its favor. It costs the be- 

 stower nothing and pleases the recipient. 

 A chemist Avith a decoration round his neck 

 is, of course, distinguished at once from 



