Evening star., 1938-12-09

Creation as a unit, with all things
from remotest stars to tiniest living
things in some way related, was pic
tured by DR.. John c. Merriam, presi-
dent of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington for the last 18 years, in
his farewell report to the institu-
tons trustees at their annual meet
ing this morning.
DR.. Merriam retireS at the end of
the year, to be succeeded by DR..
Vannevar Bush, former vice presi-
dent of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
The retiring president told the
trustees that coordination of all
fields of research must be major
goal of science, since any discovery
may have a direct bearing on some
apparently unrelated subject.
1T is interesting to note in this
connection, DR.. Merriam said, that
at various times in the history of
science, philosophy and religion
there have developed definite ex-
pressions of the idea of unity, in
cluding everything in the physical
and biological universe, not only in
space but through time. AS knoWl-
edge advances this idea of unity
becomes in the scientific sense an
increasingly practical feature of re-
search on the organization of knowl-
edge.
Inter relation of Elements.
"It is no longer possible to study
the broader problems of astronomy
and the universe without recogni-
ton of an inter-relation among the
elements Of the world about us
wherever we touch them. In the
same manner it is discovered that
study OF events in geological history,
even for remote periods, is based
upon application of principles which
extend through time and may be
carefully examined in the world to-
Cay. Investigation of the various
stages in the process of evolution is
based upon the idea of growth
through the years in materials
which have a continuity and are, 50
Tar as we know, affected in COM
parable ways by influences through
space and time.
1T becomes increasingly clear
that one function of the Carnegie
Institution lies in making possible
such relation of its various types
of specialized research to one an
ether as will. bring largest values
:or each research, and will also
facilitate building upward in the
broader scheme of knowledge. This
process will depend in some measure
upon acceptance of the idea that all
elements Of nature and of knowledge
have inter-relationships. We now
realize that no science can exist
alone. No branch of knowledge
can exist alone. All must be related
to other knowledge if they are to
attain their largest value"
Authorizes S1,5O0,o0O Budget.
The Board of Trustees authorized
- p1,Ooo,poo UUuScU 1Ol operating
activities of the institution during
1899.
The following members of the
board were present: Thomas Bar
bour, Robert Woods Bliss, Frederic
A. Delano, Homer L. Ferguson, Her.
bert Hoover, Frank B. Jewett, Alfred
L. Loomis. Roswell Miller, Henry S.
Morgan, Stewart Patton, Elihu Root,
jr.; Henry R. Shepley, William Ben
son Storey, Richard P. Strong,
Charles P. Taft, James w. Wads-
worth, Frederic c. Walcott and Lewis
H. Weed.
A vacancy in the board, due to
the death of DR.. w. w. Campbell,
was filled by the election of Walter
A. Jessup, president of the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching.
Walter S. Clifford and Frederic
G. Walcott were reelected to the
Executive Committee.
DR.. Jessup also was elected as a