5S^ THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY
we Bay of the opportunities of the young man in Siberia, China, Austral- asia, South America or Africa? We can not doubt, in some instances we have living proof, that the populations of these coimtries, granted equality of opportunity, would produce their proportionate quota of talented investigators. In certain localities in these countries every necessary institution exists for providing the essential preUminary training of the investigator, but, training in the fundamentals of his subject secured, where is he now to turn for the living example of the great investigator or for the opportunities of a laboratory partly or wholly devoted to research? The bare possibility of creating fresh fields of knowledge in his chosen territory will probably never even occur to him, since he has never seen or been stimulated to imagine investigation conducted on a broad and practical scale. Thus he turns his energies to other fields and perchance may dissipate on trifles talents which would have been of priceless value to civilization. As a means, then, of tapping new sources of talent for investigation, a cen- trifugal disposal of investigators and the opportunities for investigation has now become a paramount necessity.
But long ere we can accomplish a fraction of these desirable reforms and developments of our institution a new spirit must arise among investigators themselves. For centuries they have held themselves aloof from the world and centered their regard too exclusively upon their chosen special fields. Few indeed are the investigators of the present day who devote any proportion of their time to reflection upon the ultimate import of their profession, fewer still are conscious of a uniting purpose binding them to the investigators of all lands and times, of the historical continuity of their labors, or of the vital sig- niflcance of their function in society. The communal spirit which arises from the awareness of conmion aims and the certitude of irre- placeable usefulness which is the driving force of any and every human institution i& as yet, in our institution of investigation, but inadequately aroused. If we are to take our rightfid place in the scheme of things and acquit ourselves as becomes our responsibility we can not too soon take these fundamental aspects of our profession seriously into con- sideration.
And above all let no investigator be ashamed of his profession and let none regard his labors cheaply, for the investigator is the pathfinder and the pioneer of new civilizations; he is more than that, he is the interpreter of the Infinite.
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