April 10, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



ri7 



needed by students. It might seem that 

 through cooperation of technical and mixed 

 societies such bibliographies might well be 

 prepared, and that in connection with 

 their serials each group of societies might 

 undertake the preparation of a Central- 

 Matt. 



These considerations make it clear that 

 a vast saving of money and energy may 

 be eifected by the proper coordination of 

 the work of mixed societies, and that the 

 publications may be made infinitely more 

 effective. Such coordination would re- 

 quire a certain sacrifice of independence 

 on the part of each society, which would 

 be amply repaid by the greater usefulness 

 of its work. I think, if we succeed in 

 moving on in the direction of thus cen- 

 tralizing effort in every branch of science, 

 we shall be justified in asking for more 

 liberal support of our work, not so much 

 by endowment as by enlisting the interest 

 of friends of education who will support 

 the work of libraries by subscribing to 

 scientific serials. If all the libraries in 

 our country that have more than ten 

 thousand volumes were in a position to 

 subscribe to the organized scientific period- 

 ical literature, there would be no difficulty 

 in providing for the publication of the 

 bulk of all scientific matter worthy of 

 publication, and without asking for heavy 

 endowments. There would still remain a 

 number of special and costly works which 

 societies and institutions could not well 

 support out of their own funds. For such 

 publications we might justly ask the assist- 

 ance of wealthy friends of science. For 

 these we should try to obtain sufficient 

 endowment, which might be allotted by a 

 national council representing the various 

 branches of science. 



I thoroughly believe that our first duty 

 is to systematize our efforts, and to econ- 

 omize by such systematization. In this 

 way we shall make the available funds go 



much further than they have ever gone 

 before. "VVe shall make our work more 

 effective, and enlist the cooperation of the 

 reading public, and we shall be in a posi- 

 tion to ask with greater authority for the 

 support of publications that neither the 

 government, nor societies, nor the reading 

 public is able to support. 



Franz Boas. 



On the principle that it is sometimes 

 important to know what not to do, I would 

 offer a few remarks on one of the practical 

 aspects of the inverted question: How are 

 we at present using endowments ineffectu- 

 ally in scientific research? 



To those who see our fires of learning 

 gleaming only from afar, and are not near 

 enough to see all the smoke, many of our 

 university customs must appear to be en- 

 veloped in a haze of sanctity. One of these 

 is the esoteric custom of awarding fellow- 

 ships for research. In the language of the 

 apiculturist, a university fellowship seems 

 to the uninitiated like a rich mass of ' royal 

 jelly,' to be fed to some fortunate but im- 

 pecunious larval investigator for the pur- 

 pose of enabling him to develop into a 

 leader in the hive of scientific workers. 

 And very often the larval investigator is 

 of the same opinion till the food is admin- 

 istered and he suffers the disillusionment 

 of the initiated. 



He is no sooner awarded a fellowship of 

 a few hundred dollars— and this is true 

 even in our most richly endowed univer- 

 sities—than he finds that half or the 

 greater portion reverts to his benefactor 

 for tuition and laboratory fees. Nor is he 

 even then permitted to settle down to his 

 work in peace with the small pecuniary 

 remnant and the 'honor' thereto appertain- 

 ing. He may find that the richer the in- 

 stitution, the more it has need of his 

 services as an instructor or laboratory as- 

 sistant. This is because the university has 



