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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 582. 



sentecl by university science and that which 

 has developed under the special endow- 

 ments for research, for the responsibilities 

 of the investigation are often very different 

 in the two cases. But these distinctions 

 need not be elaborated, and are here noted 

 merely for the sake of clearness later on. 



My point is made, if by these remarks 

 your attention is directed to the fact that 

 the endowments, which to-day are to us 

 best known, stand merely as the latest in a 

 long list of gifts left with the hope of aid- 

 ing the advance in knowledge, and if these 

 bequests of the last few years are in any 

 way peculiar, they are chiefly so by the 

 reason of the generosity of the donors and 

 the arrangement of the donations to in- 

 clude biology. 



Yet, if we take the broadest view of the 

 situation, as represented by the scientific 

 returns, it appears that it is within the 

 universities that the more advanced and 

 fundamental scientific work has been ac- 

 complished. 



It is possible that this last remark will 

 not command unqualified assent; and yet 

 when the smoke of argument has cleared 

 away it will, I think, remain essentially 

 unmodified. But in reaching your con- 

 clusions, I beg you to remember that in 

 an address like this it is necessary to speak 

 broadly and to trust that one will be gen- 

 erously understood. 



To present rightly the reasons for uni- 

 versity productiveness, it will be needful 

 first to say a word concerning the normal 

 progress of scientific interest and also to 

 make a little more precise the idea of re- 

 search. 



As this company is well aware, interest 

 in any scientific field passes through a 

 regular series of progressive phases. At- 

 tention and effort are first concentrated on 

 the collection and classification of the 

 material. This constitutes what may be 

 termed the systematic phase. But only 



after this portion of the task has been in 

 some measure accomplished, can compari- 

 son and experimentation be undertaken as 

 a basis for inductions which shall yield 

 new knowledge and enlarge our philosophic 

 view. 



It is the sort of work that characterizes 

 this second phase of our advancing interest 

 which is best designated by the term re- 

 search, and in this paper we use the word 

 in such a sense. 



It is contended then that the universities 

 furnish the conditions in which research 

 grows best— and if true, this fact is worthy 

 of examination. 



Broadly speaking, the effect of these fa- 

 vorable conditions is best seen in the mental 

 attitude of the investigator towards his 

 work. The men of the universities have 

 been freer than any other group to follow 

 the leadings of their own investigations, 

 and to solve the next problem which log- 

 ically confronted them, or, at least, to 

 spend their time, mayhap their lives, and 

 not infrequently their patrimony, in seek- 

 ing a solution. 



It is true, however, that such scientific 

 freedom does not by any means always 

 exist where work in science is in progress. 

 Sometimes, in the case of the endowments 

 intended for research, and much more 

 often in the ease of scientific work de- 

 pendent upon the public funds, the ex- 

 penditures have been applied for assigned 

 work where the plan or program ran even 

 into petty details; statements of progress 

 or reports of activity being expected or 

 demanded. 



Unfortunately research can not be thus 

 assigned, because there is nothing to assign. 

 The investigator, like an adventurous ex- 

 plorer, thinks ' the country to the west looks 

 interesting' and he makes a start. It may 

 be years before we hear from him again, 

 and no man can justly predict success or 

 failure. We do not ask of such a man 



