August 14, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



227 



of the other three "estates" and likewise 

 with the still larger and equally favorably 

 disposed groups of our contemporaries in 

 the world of trade, commerce and industry. 

 It is well for us to study them lest we 

 should misunderstand them. We need 

 their aid now more than they need ours; 

 and it should be borne in mind that when 

 any proposition is to be voted upon they 

 are overwhelmingly more numerous. 



Time does not permit more than passing 

 reference to the important but as yet little 

 studied subject of research publications, 

 their proper distribution and their ade- 

 quate popularization; nor to the more im- 

 portant, though less debatable, subject of 

 administration, including what are too 

 often contemptuously regarded by men of 

 science as unattractive if not unessential 

 details of fiscal business; nor to the still 

 more important and complex • but little 

 understood subject of boards of trustees, 

 the best methods of choosing them and their 

 proper relations to research organizations.* 

 It must suffice here to call attention to them, 

 among many other subjects, as specially in 

 need of patient investigation by men of 

 science. They are subjects, however, whose 

 elucidation may be deferred. An adequate 

 understanding of them will come, appar- 

 ently, only after the more elementary con- 

 siderations already dwelt upon are visual- 

 ized and appreciated. Passing these con- 

 siderations rapidly in review, the salient 

 needs of research and some of their numer- 

 ous corollaries may be advantageously 



■* An important contribution to this subject has 

 been made by President Eliot in his volume on 

 "University Administration (Houghton Mifflin 

 Company, 1908). All such works, however, are 

 generally held to be " too theoretical ' ' by the aver- 

 age man who prides himself on being ' ' practical. ' ' 

 In his assumed freedom from theory he often 

 adopts the obviously erroneous theory that there 

 is no room for progress or improvement in the 

 conduct of such affairs. 



summarized in paraphrase and in aphorism 

 even at the risk of apparent dogmatism : 



We need first to recognize that in its in- 

 clusive aspects research is in scope coex- 

 tensive with the universe of which we form 

 an insignificant part, but in which we are 

 obliged to play the significant role of inter- 

 preters if we would make the best of our 

 opportunities. The experience of our race 

 has demonstrated that by study and hence 

 by understanding of this universe the roads 

 to progress may be found. The methods 

 of research are the methods of science. 

 They are not of recent origin. They have 

 undergone an evolution extending far 

 backwards towards the era of primitive 

 man. What is new about them is a widely 

 general and rapidly increasing recognition 

 of them as the most trustworthy methods 

 man ha^ devised for the discovery of truth 

 and for the eradication of error. Along 

 with this recognition there has gone on, 

 and is still going on, a gradual elimination 

 of Homeric illusions and fallacies; so that 

 male as well as female witches must be 

 abandoned by all except the more atavistic, 

 while the appellation "genius" in the 

 singular as well as in the plural is becom- 

 ing one of doubtful compliment. We are 

 coming to understand also that while there 

 may occur flashes of wit, and even of 

 wisdom, from abnormal types of mind, the 

 more effective emanations of both wit and 

 wisdom are to be expected from normal 

 and patiently contemplative types. And 

 thus the more striking results of research, 

 quite commonly in the past attributed to 

 wizards and to genii, and still so attributed 

 by a majority, probably, of contemporary 

 writers for the popular press, are now 

 understood by the thoughtful to be products 

 rather of industry, sanity and prolonged 

 labor than of any superhuman faculties. 



Out of this rational appreciation of the 

 methods of science have arisen quite natu- 



