ApEIL 10, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



571 



HOW CAN ENDOWMENTS BE USED MOST 



EFFECTIVELY FOR SCIENTIFIC 



RESEARCH?'' 



I AM not sure that I have rightly appre- 

 hended the special phase which it is de- 

 sired the discussion should take, if, indeed, 

 it is desired that it should take any one 

 trend rather than another among those that 

 are perhaps equally embraced under the 

 broad theme announced. I have inter- 

 preted the question as though it read — 

 By what assignment of endowments can 

 research he most effectually aided? 



I assume that, with some rare exceptions, 

 endowments may be welcomed in whatever 

 form they may come, but that their effect- 

 iveness may be much greater or much less 

 according as they are judiciously or in- 

 judiciously placed. Some endowments, in- 

 deed, may be so hampered by restrictions 

 that they are better declined than accepted, 

 but these, it may be hoped, will grow more 

 and more rare as intelligence relative to 

 what is wise in the endowment of research 

 increases. 



I assume that the principles which con- 

 trol modern success in most other enter- 

 prises will be found applicable in general to 

 the endoAvment of research, and that among 

 these principles are specialization in sub- 

 ject, careful choice of talent, the largest 

 possible use of the highest talent, the great- 

 est possible avoidance of inferior talent, 

 concentration of effort by institutions of 

 limited means and coordination of effort 

 between institutions of whatever means, 

 rising to close combination in effort when- 

 ever practicable. 



1. Endowment of Chairs of Research. — 

 The time is fully ripe for the special endow- 

 ment of chairs of research. The promise 

 of results from such endowment is very 



* The annual discussion before the Washington 

 meeting of the American Society of Naturalists, 

 January 1, 1903. Dr. W. H. Welch, of Johns 

 Hopkins University, also took part in the discus- 

 sion, speaking with special reference to the Rocke- 

 feller Institute for Medical Research. 



great. Not a few of the chairs in our 

 leading universities are devoted chiefly to 

 research, but this is usually due more 

 to the personal force and peculiar en- 

 dowments of the occupant than to self- 

 determined provision on the part of the 

 institution or its patrons. The chairs 

 that are endowed primarily for research 

 are very rare. There ought no longer to 

 be a struggle on the part of the capable in- 

 vestigator to free himself from obligations 

 to teach that he may devote himself to 

 creative work. It need not be urged here 

 that creative work is more serviceable to 

 mankind than expositional work or even 

 disciplinary training. Real capability for 

 investigation of a high order being granted, 

 all pressure from the institutional environ- 

 ment should be such as to impel the in- 

 vestigator to give himself as undividedly 

 as possible to research. 



The endowment of chairs of research is 

 here first urged, not because it is superior 

 to the modes of endowment yet to be con- 

 sidered, but because it requires but a 

 moderate gift, as gifts now run, and is, 

 therefore, within the reach of a large num- 

 ber of possible patrons, to whom endow- 

 ments in more than six figures are im- 

 possible. From $100,000 to $200,000 will 

 effectively endow a chair of research from 

 which great results in time may be ex- 

 pected. Endowments of less amounts may 

 be made to provide that a specific fraction 

 of the time of the occupant of a chair shall 

 "be devoted to investigation, and thus crea- 

 tive work may be effectively promoted by 

 a modest sum. 



2. Endoiuments for Departmental Re- 

 search.— 'Ho scientific staff of a university 

 should regard itself as fulfilling its mission 

 in any adequate way if it does not devote 

 an appreciable portion of its energies to 

 investigation. At present the provision 

 for research is usually rather vague and 



