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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1087 



most complete autonomy in the depart- 

 ments eoncerned. 



In Germany the chief chemist is his own 

 boss. He engages his assistants, fixes their 

 compensation, engages and discharges jan- 

 itors and laboratory helpers. He makes 

 changes in the building and the laboratory 

 with but nominal supervision. He appor- 

 tions his funds according to his own ideas 

 and is virtually his own administrator. 



What the research man in this country 

 needs more than anything else in order to 

 make his work efficient, is freedom from 

 restraint and petty annoyances. He should 

 be made to feel that he has at least a part 

 in the general organization and progress of 

 the institution. Oftentimes he feels, and 

 with a considerable degree of justification, 

 that his department exists only by the gra- 

 cious magnanimity of the administrators, 

 whose knowledge of his work may be very 

 limited. 



Professor W. H. Walker at a joint meet- 

 ing of three chemical societies in New York 

 last winter made the following statement : 



My plea at this time is not so much for greater 

 generosity on the part of the employer in mat- 

 ters of laboratory facilities, special equipment or 

 a good library, however important these are, but 

 rather for a larger appreciation of the conditions 

 which make for ultimate siiccess in research work. 



In the same vein, Professor Arthur D. 

 Little, speaking before the United States 

 Chamber of Commerce, says: 



The plain underlying reason why we have been 

 unable during thirty years of tariff protection to 

 develop in this country an independent and self- 

 contained coal tar color industry while during the 

 same period the Germans have magnificently suc- 

 ceeded is to be found in the failure of our manu- 

 facturers and capitalists to realize the creative 

 power and earning capacity of industrial re- 

 search. This power and this capacity have been 

 recognized by Germany and on them aa corner 

 Btones her industries are based. 



Aside from the question of recognition 

 and support for the research man, another 



factor enters in, upon which the effective- 

 ness of his work largely depends, and that 

 factor is the time allotted to his work. 



In this country there are very few inde- 

 pendent research institutions and for that 

 reason the major portion of scientific re- 

 search is carried out in the universities and 

 agricultural experiment stations. Every- 

 body recognizes that teaching and research 

 should go hand in hand and that no uni- 

 versity professor fulfils his obligations un- 

 less he is doing some original investigation 

 tending to advance human knowledge. This 

 is all well and good, but are the coUeges 

 and smaller universities of the country al- 

 lowing sufficient time to their professors 

 for such work? How much creditable re- 

 search could a professor carry out in the 

 course of a year who is obliged to teach 

 twelve to eighteen hours per week with an 

 additional twelve or more hours in the 

 preparation for his work? Young, enthu- 

 siastic professors have tried it over and over 

 again, but with the same result — a stupen- 

 dous failure — as far as the research goes. 



The professor who has spent his energies 

 in the classroom during the day is in no 

 way fitted to continue his research problem 

 in the evening, as many of them do. A 

 neglect to observe the proper requirements 

 for rest and relaxation will immediately 

 tell upon the quality as well as the 

 quantity of work produced. Consequently 

 the college or small university can 

 never hope to produce but an insignif- 

 icant amount of research work, and this fact 

 is recognized by President Woodward, of 

 the Carnegie Institution at Washington, 

 and by other administrators of research 

 funds. It is very rare that a college pro- 

 fessor gets a grant from such a fund, and 

 for the very reason mentioned above. 



The productive research workers in the 

 country to-day are those who are devoting 

 their whole time or practically their whole 



