are large collections of facts for? To make theories from, says Bacon; to try readymade theories by, says the history of discovery; it is all the same, says the idolater; nonsense, say we." Whichever it may be, the solitary scientist is likely to put a great part of his life into the pathetic futilities illustrated by De Morgan in the Budget of Paradoxes. He needs chart and compass, suggestion, direction, and the external stimulus which comes from a consciousness that his work is part of great things that are being done.

This relation of the scientific worker to scientific work as a whole can be furnished only by organization. It is a very interesting circumstance that while the long history of science exhibits a continual protest against limitations upon individual freedom, the impulse which has called in the power of organization to multiply the effectiveness of scientific and industrial research to the highest degree is the German desire for military world dominion, supported by a system of education strictly controlled by government. All the world realizes now the immense value in preparing for the present war, of the German system of research applied at Charlottenburg and Grosslichterfelde. That realization is plainly giving a tremendous impetus to movements for effective organization of scientific power both in England and in the United States-countries whose whole development has rested upon individual enterprise. It remains to be seen whether peoples thoroughly imbued with the ideas and accustomed to the traditions of separate private initiative are capable of organizing scientific research for practical ends as effectively as an autocratic government giving direction to a docile amd submissive people. I have no doubt about it myself, and I think the process has been well begun in England under the Advisory Council of the Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and in the United States under the National Research Council. I venture to say two things about it. One is that the work cannot be done by men who make it an incident to other occupations. It can be encouraged of course by men who are doing other things, but the real work of organization and research must be done by men who make it the whole business of their lives. It cannot be successful if parcelled out among a lot of universities and colleges, to be done by teachers however eminent and students however zealous in their leisure hours. The other thing is that while the solution of specific industrial problems and the attainment of specific industrial objects will be of immense value, the whole system will dry up and fail unless research in pure science be included within its scope. That is the source

and the chief source of the vision which incidentally solves the practical problems.

We are thinking now mainly of science as applied to war; but practically the entire industrial force of mankind is being applied to war, so that our special point of view takes in the whole field. It is quite certain that if the nations on either side in this war had been without a great fund of scientific knowledge which they could direct towards the accomplishment of specific things in the way of attack and defense, transportation and supply of armies, that side in the war would long since have been defeated. Germany had the advantage at the start, because she had long been consciously making this kind of preparaion with a settled purpose to bring on the war when she was ready. It would be the height of folly for the peaceable law-abiding nations of the earth ever to permit themselves to be left again at a disadvantage in that kind of preparation. Competency for defense against military aggression requires highly developed organized scientific preparation. Without it, the most civilized nation will be as helpless as the Aztecs were against Cortez.

We are not limited, however, to a military objective, for when the war is over the international competitions of peace will be resumed. No treaties or leagues can prevent that, and it is not desirable that they should, for no nation can afford to be without the stimulus of competition.

In that race the same power of science which has so amazingly increased the productive capacity of mankind during the past century will be applied again and the prizes of industrial and commercial leadership will fall to the nation which organizes its scientific forces most effectively.

THE FUNCTION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN A MODERN

STATE

BY HENRY S. PRITCHETT

PRESIDENT OF THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING

The part played by scientific reseach in the development of modern nations is so well understood that it is a part of the common knowledge of mankind. What is perhaps not so well apprehended is the relation between the investigator in his laboratory or his library and the industrial and financial machinery through which his research is enabled to develop into forms which increase wealth, sustain human health and activity, and increase the comfort and security of human life. The world still conceives of scientific investigators in much the same light as

the old time prospectors for the precious metals-each individual sinking his shaft here or there as chance or inclination may carry him. Of the great number so engaged a very few will strike veins of true gold, a larger number will obtain ore that will at least repay the labor and cost involved in their adventure, but the great majority will sink holes in barren and fruitless soil.

The prosecution of research today is upon an entirely different basis. Not only do those in the same science coördinate their work, if they are to attain the highest results, but all branches of science are regarded not as separate and unrelated agencies, but as parts of a common effort. A research started in a purely physical field may find its solution in a chemical reaction or a physiological process. The research men of a nation are not isolated individuals but an organized and coöperating army.

A striking illustration of the outcome of this conception is afforded by the history of the great industrial research establishment at Grosslichterfelde outside Berlin. In this vast establishment covering many acres, are brought together research men from every field of science working together in the solution of problems arising in the industries. A problem in textiles, or metals, or sanitation may require the coöperative efforts of men in fields of science that we ordinarily consider as foreign to each other. In the field of industrial research, chemistry, biology, mechanics, physics, are not separated and unrelated sciences, but parts of one universal science. As a result of this coöperation the German manufacturer may take to this great research laboratory any problem of scientific industry. Manufacturers of steel, brass, stone, textiles, dyes, bring their difficult problems here to be solved. The first act of the administration is to put the enquirer abreast of the literature of the whole world. In many cases it will be found that the problem has already been solved somewhere, oftentimes for a purpose widely different from that of the particular enquiry that has called for the solution.

In the United States the relations between research men in the universities and institutes of research and those operating industrial plants have not yet come to a stage as intimate or fruitful as that which has existed for many years in Germany. It is today a part of our plan of progress for the future to establish such relations that the investigator and the manufacturer shall understand each other and shall coöperate intelligently for the promotion of science and industry.

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RELATIONS TO INDUSTRY: T. N. VAIL

RELATIONS OF SCIENCE TO INDUSTRY

BY THEODORE N. VAIL

PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY

It has been my desire to assist the National Research Council in bringing about closer coöperative relations between scientific and industrial effort and the more satisfactory coördination of the various sorts of research activity. I therefore welcome this opportunity to express my convictions concerning the importance of intimate relations between science and industry.

An immense amount of work has been done and is being done for the increase of knowledge through research. Much of this is wholly voluntary and isolated. Large results have followed but little has been accomplished by comparison with what can and will be achieved by the effective organizaton of effort. For such organization will at once reduce duplication of work and increase achievement through coöperation. Scientific research is at the best costly in time and money because many wildernesses are necessarily explored without important results and many trails which lead nowhere are sure to be followed. But by carefully avoiding a duplication of work and by utilizing all that pioneer investigators have done the fruitfulness of research can be greatly increased. That this fact is recognized and widely accepted is indicated by present efforts toward organization.

What is now urgently needed is a clearing-house which shall be systematically organized to coördinate both scientific and industrial research. All investigators should be kept in intimate touch with such a clearing-house and through it the work of each should be made available to all. It should be one of the functions of this organization to promote the effective distribution and utilization of research information and in other feasible ways to minimize waste and promote the original work upon which progress chiefly depends.

Except for the special laboratories of a few large industrial organizations and the smaller laboratories of individuals, both scientific and industrial research have been carried on in the laboratories of educational institutions by individuals who are at once teachers and investigators. The combination of teaching and research should doubtless be continued, for it is profitable alike to student and teacher and tends to promote both research and scientific training. It is possible on the one hand for students to render valuable research assistance while studying in a col

RELATIONS TO INDUSTRY: T. N. VAIL

13

lege or university, and on the other hand it is almost inevitably true that contacts of the teacher with advanced students increase his value as an investigator. But already pure research has become so broad in its applications, and so insistently demanded by practical interests, that it constitutes an over heavy burden on educational institutions and must therefore be taken care of in a measure by the provision of special organizations.

Many educational institutions possess large and effectively organized laboratories with excellent staffs. It is not desirable that these organizations be ignored in the further promotion of research. Instead educational institutions should be financially aided in order that they may adequately provide for pure research both by material equipment and by the appointment of investigators whose time is not to any considerable extent demanded for other duties. Research laboratories, whether or not connected with educational institutions, should be freely open to the public and every effort should be made so to exhibit the importance of investigation that it shall be increasingly supported by the public.

The close connection in recent years between industrial progress and what may be called industrial research is significant. The large industrial enterprises have been developed as much through the organization of their scientific departments as through that of their operating departments. These departments of industrial research will undoubtedly be continued along present lines for, while their maintenance is costly in the aggregate, the expenditure is negligible by comparison with practical results when spread over a large production.

Many if not all of the large industries which have developed research departments started when the application of science to their particular needs was new. Consequently the industry and its corresponding research have developed together. But the progress of science during the past half-century has necessitated specialization in research as well as in production, so that today small and novel industries are unable to carry the burden of a highly organized research department. Unless something is done to meet the needs of such industrial establishments, a type of enterprise which has done much to advance civilization and to promote industrial progress will tend to disappear because of the impossibility of competing with larger and well established industrial organizations.

In short, the organization and coördination of research for industrial purposes is urgently necessary. Future progress is dependent upon prompt and wise action. Plans should be formulated at once with care.