June 2, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



771 



each laboratory involving special classes of 

 apparatus there are specialists continually 

 working who are available for consultation 

 and assistance to all other workers in the 

 laboratory. In this way single operations 

 which become necessary in the course of an 

 investigation may frequently be transferred 

 from the man who has carried on the main 

 line of work on the subject to some other 

 specialist in the laboratory. In the Kodak 

 laboratory, for instance, electrical meas- 

 urements, photometric measurements, spee- 

 trophotography, lens optics, photographic 

 sensitometry, work involving dyestuffs, and 

 aU strictly photographic operations, such 

 as copying, lantern-slide making, printing 

 and enlarging, making up developers, etc., 

 are in the hands of specialists, and when- 

 ever any of these operations become neces- 

 sary in the course of an investigation, the 

 conference directs that they be carried out 

 by the specialist on the subject. In this 

 way an organic chemist, for instance, will 

 have the absorption curve of his products 

 measured not by an instrument in the or- 

 ganic laboratory but by the physics de- 

 partment, while the preparation of photo- 

 graphs, lantern slides and prints which are 

 often involved in publication are carried 

 on by the photographic department and not 

 by the man who did the work, these ar- 

 rangements relieving specialists in one 

 subject from having to acquire technical 

 skill in another. It is in such complete co- 

 operation that the greatest economy in 

 scientific investigation is to be found. 



It must be remembered that such spe- 

 cialization as this is not at all suitable for 

 use in a university, where the object is the 

 broadening and education of the students ; 

 it is one of the many differences between 

 research work in a university and in a set 

 research laboratory, whether it be indus- 

 trial or not, that in a university the pri- 

 mary object is the training of the worker. 



while in the research laboratory the pri- 

 mary object is the carrying out of the in- 

 vestigation. 



The best utilization of the results ob- 

 tained in an industrial research laboratory 

 is only second in importance to the organi- 

 zation required to obtain them. All results 

 of general scientific interest and importance 

 should undoubtedly be published both in 

 the public interest, and also because only 

 by such publication can the interest of the 

 laboratory staff in pure science be main- 

 tained. It is doubtful if the importance of 

 maintaining the full interest in theoretical 

 science of a laboratory staff has been fully 

 realized. When the men come to the labor- 

 atory they are usually interested chiefly in 

 the progress of pure science, but they 

 rapidly become absorbed in the special 

 problems presented to them and, without 

 definite effort on the part of those respon- 

 sible for the direction of the laboratory, 

 there is great danger that they will not 

 keep up to date in what is being done by 

 other workers in their own and allied fields. 

 Their interest can be stimulated by jour- 

 nal meetings and scientific conferences, but 

 the greatest stimulation is afforded by the 

 requirement that they themselves publish 

 in the usual scientific journals the scientific 

 results which they may obtain. Another 

 reason for publication is that when a piece 

 of work is written up for publication the 

 necessity for finishing loose ends becomes 

 manifest and that work which is published 

 is therefore more likely to be properly 

 completed. 



With some laboratories publication is 

 rendered difficult by the industrial organi- 

 zation; while nominally manufacturing 

 companies are usually willing that results 

 of scientific interest should be published, 

 the organization of the company frequently 

 requires that they be passed on by the 

 heads of several departments, such as the 



