Mat 3, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



689 



The service of the school of science for 

 the benefit of the commimity is well estab- 

 lished, but it has not yet secured the tena- 

 cious hold of the older college, which, in 

 educating generation after generation, 

 father and son, has established the tradi- 

 tions of the family on scholarship and cul- 

 ture, and extended the influence of col- 

 legiate training into the professional and 

 business world. The first generation of 

 graduates from the scientific school has 

 had barely time to make its record, but an 

 honorable record is assured, and it will be 

 continued by their sons and grandsons. 

 Traditional family support of an institu- 

 tion is one of its most valuable assets intel- 

 lectually and pecuniarily; fortunate is the 

 institution that has this support in the best 

 families. 



The school of science in its breadth of 

 training and scope of applications is pecul- 

 iarly an American institution. In Eng- 

 land, until recently, the spirit of progress 

 along similar lines has been somewhat in- 

 active. But aroused by the recent great 

 industrial activity to the fact that their 

 old-time plants must be rehabilitated and 

 that our young men are being called on for 

 assistance, large grants have been made to 

 establish schools of science, and the man- 

 agers of these funds are inquiring with 

 much interest into the foundation and op- 

 eration of our scientific institutions. The 

 fact is being recognized that the business 

 world is receiving aid from practical meth- 

 ods that they must adopt to regain their 

 industrial standing. 



In Germany the conditions are essentially 

 different. While the labors of the early 

 French and English investigators contrib- 

 uted very largely to the foundation of 

 chemical science, our immediate inspiration 

 came from the German laboratory. More 

 recently the unprecedented expansion of 

 our national resources has developed cir- 



cumstances so fundamentally different, our 

 institutions have of necessity directed their 

 efforts toward meeting business require- 

 ments to the extent that they are unique. 

 Yet the atmosphere of quiet scholarly in- 

 quiry of the German institutions still re- 

 tains its influence. The great body of Ger- 

 man scholars in happiness and contentment 

 devote their lives to discovery and elabora- 

 tion with sufScient remuneration for eco- 

 nomical living and simple habits, and the 

 world is benefited by their labors. In the 

 great manufactory such as that of the 

 Badische Aniline Fabrique or of Meister, 

 Lucius and Bruening hundreds of chemists 

 are employed, a large proportion with doc- 

 torate degrees from the imiversities. Those 

 men are devoting their best efforts to the 

 interests of their employers in the national 

 spirit of faithful application and with very 

 moderate compensation. If such establish- 

 ments were compelled to pay salaries 

 equivalent to those granted for similar 

 service in our own factories, it would 

 doubtless make a serious inroad in the very 

 generous dividends they are now able to 

 declare. 



It is extremely doubtful whether the con- 

 ditions in the German university, including 

 their long vacations, their leisurely habits 

 during the semesters, and with no restraint 

 on the student except attendance at final 

 examinations, are applicable in American 

 schools of science. Certainly their tradi- 

 tional method of allowing the student, 

 whatever his capacity, to work out problems 

 on his own resources, even before he is well 

 grounded in breadth of practical methods, 

 could not meet our requirements. 



I am sure there will be no dissent from 

 the view that original research is of equal 

 importance in the school of science as in 

 the university, although evidently it should 

 take a somewhat different form in the sci- 

 entific institution. In the university labo- 



