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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 636 



cooperation, which thrives better the more 

 objective the method employed. Although 

 Aristotle had a love of discovery, he and 

 his followers were so scattered that at this 

 period there was little opportunity for co- 

 operation. With the development of as- 

 tronomy and mathematics in the middle 

 ages the number of centers of research 

 multiplied and we find evidence of jealous 

 rivalry between astronomers: for it was 

 customary to announce discoveries in 

 cipher, pending their confirmation or fur- 

 ther study. If, in the meantime, the dis- 

 covery was announced by another, the first 

 published the key to his cipher and main- 

 tained his priority of discovery. This 

 cipher is, I presume, the ancestor of the 

 modern preliminary notice. 



In more recent time astronomy, the best 

 organized of the sciences, has led the way 

 in cooperation. She has been almost 

 forced to do so by the expensiveness of the 

 equipment of an observatory and by the 

 magnitude of the tasks before her. Con- 

 sider, for example, the work of mapping 

 the heavens, a work requisite for the even- 

 tual determination of the movements of the 

 stars, but of such proportions, however, that 

 it could not be accomplished by one observ- 

 atory alone, with the desirable thorough- 

 ness, inside of one or two centuries. In the 

 year 1887 an international congress of as- 

 tronomers was called at Paris to consider 

 cooperation in making a star-atlas and the 

 adaptation of photography to the work. 

 Eighteen observatories entered into the 

 plan. The position of thousands of stars 

 had to be determined directly by the merid- 

 ian circle. It was necessary, also, to take 

 over 44,000 photographs of parts of the 

 heavens; a work involving great technical 

 refinements. The star-atlas is now near- 

 ing completion, sixteen volumes out of the 

 twenty that are to appear having been 

 already issued. This undertaking stands 



as the greatest example of cooperation in 

 the history of science. 



Other cooperative enterprises have been 

 started by astronomers, such as making 

 latitude determinations, and advancing 

 solar investigations. Thus, last year, the 

 International Union for Cooperation in 

 Solar Eesearch voted the following prin- 

 ciples which, with certain changes, might 

 well be adopted in other sciences: 



1. Cooperation is desirable in tlie various 

 branches of solar research [as enumerated]. 



2. When an institution has collected and coordi- 

 nated results from various sources, members of 

 the union shall be requested to place their ob- 

 servations at the disposal of the said institution. 



3. In the case of investigations which have not 

 yet been thus collected and coordinated, special 

 committees specially nominated by the union shall 

 be charged with the work of preparing and carry- 

 ing out the needful cooperatien. 4. It is pro- 

 posed forthwith to organize such cooperation in 

 two branches of research: (a) the study of the 

 spectra of sun-spots; (6) the study of the records, 

 by means of the H and K light, of the phenomena 

 of the solar atmosphere. 5. The committee lays 

 special stress upon the fact that, notwithstanding 

 the obvious utility of cooperation in certain cases, 

 individual initiative is the chief factor in a very 

 large number. It is as much the duty of the union 

 to encourage original researches as to promote 

 cooperation. 



The foregoing account shows that astron- 

 omers have acquired the excellent habit of 

 combining forces to carry through a large 

 project. 



In certain other sciences, also, cooperation 

 has long been practised. Thus in biology 

 the collections of expeditions are usually 

 worked over by many investigators who- 

 publish together in one series. The publi- 

 cation of the results of the Challenger ex- 

 pedition is one of the greatest examples 

 of such cooperative work. These fifty thick 

 quarto volumes, containing altogether 30,- 

 000 pages of letter press and over 3,000 

 plates, have been the work of scores of 

 hands and the distribution of the labor was 

 international. What is true of the Chal- 

 lenger expedition is true also of a score of 

 other large expeditions; indeed it is the 



