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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1039 



enthusiasts go so far as to suggest that the men- 

 tal and bodily vigor of an investigator can be con- 

 served only in the stimulating presence of imma- 

 ture minds, otherwise known as students or candi- 

 dates for higher academic degrees. Such eminent 

 minds and enthusiasts entertain grave doubts as to 

 the propriety of the existence independently of 

 colleges and universities of research establish- 

 ments. It is darkly hinted, indeed, that the latter 

 may work harm, if not ruin, to the former by en- 

 ticing the effective teacher away from his stu- 

 dents and by checking the diffusion in order to 

 promote the advancement of knowledge. . . . 



. . . While it is quite true that a majority of 

 the fundamental researches of the past have been 

 accomplished by individuals and that they will 

 continue to be so accomplished in the future, it 

 should nevertheless be the primary purpose of a 

 research institution to institute and to conduct 

 research; to take up especially those larger prob- 

 lems not likely to be solved under other auspices, 

 problems requiring a degree of organized effort 

 and a continuity of purpose surpassing in general 

 the scope and the span of life of any individual 

 investigator. . . . 



. . . They should recognize that the ends of re- 

 search are not limited to the highly worthy object 

 of fitting candidates for the doctorate degree; and 

 they should recognize that there is the amplest 

 room for the simultaneous existence of educa- 

 tional institutions along with other organizations 

 whose primary purpose is not the diffusion but the 

 enlargement of learning. . . . 



. . . Besearch and research organizations are 

 somewhat in danger of being swamped by an ex- 

 cess of symbiosis. . . . Instead of following prece- 

 dent, we should in general avoid it. When, for ex- 

 ample, a research fund is established we should 

 not make haste in academic fashion to set up poor- 

 boy scholarships and reviving fellowships to be 

 awarded to the amateur and to the tyro, but we 

 should seek to originate and to conduct research 

 under the auspices of competent and responsible 

 investigators. And as regards research in aca- 

 demic circles, we need to fix attention rather on 

 the professors who are qualified to extend the 

 boundaries of knowledge than on their pupils. 

 These latter, if worthy of the name, will require 

 little formal instruction in the presence of evolv- 

 ing discoveries and advances; moreover, they must 

 learn early to think with their own hands if they 

 may hope to become either competent teachers or 

 leaders in work of research. 



Dr. Woodward's suggestions are further 

 elaborated by Professor W. E. Castle of Har- 

 vard University in Science, September 25, 

 1914. 



. . . Our larger imiversities, and many of our 

 smaller ones too, point with pride to the research 

 work which they are accomplishing. But in not a 

 few cases this work, if inspected carefully, is 

 found to take final shape in dissertations for the 

 doctorate, of doubtful value as contributors to 

 knowledge, prepared primarily not because the 

 author had something of value to record but be- 

 cause he had to record something in order to get 

 the coveted degree. 



The chief energies of many professors entirely 

 competent as investigators are wholly absorbed in 

 laboriously dragging candidates through the aca- 

 demic mill up to the final examination for the doc- 

 torate. Their success as research professors and 

 the standing of their universities as centers of re- 

 search is commonly estimated in. numbers of doc- 

 torates conferred. . . . 



The attempt to combine teaching with research 

 has another indirect but evil consequence. The 

 periods which the professor can himself devote to 

 research are intermittent and fragmentary. This 

 affects disadvantageously the topics selected for 

 investigation. They too must be minor and frag- 

 mentary. Great fundamental questions requiring 

 long continued and uninterrupted investigation 

 can not be attacked with any hope of success by 

 one who has only an occasional day or a summer 

 vacation to devote to research. The necessity too, 

 of hunting up thesis subjects for students, small 

 enough in scope to be handled successfully by a 

 beginner in a limited time and yet novel enough to 

 make a showing of originality reacts unfavorably 

 on the professor's own work. It loses both in 

 breadth and depth. He who in the full maturity 

 of his powers should be doing a day's work, runs 

 errands for boys, holds their coats and carries 

 water. Imagine what the ' ' Origin of Species ' ' 

 would have been like had it been brought forward 

 vicariously as a series of theses for the doctor's 

 degree, each aiming to present a different point of 

 view or a novel method of attacking evolutionary 

 problems. . . . 



The university is an entirely suitable place, in 

 many respects the 6 est place, for a research estab- 

 lishment; but when such establishments are 

 founded in connection with a university, their pur- 

 pose for research should be made very clear and 

 their administration should be kept very distinct 



