SELF-SUPPORTING SCIENCE

Twenty eminent psychologists from all parts of the country have recently formed what is said to be the first organization of its kind, the Psychological Corporation. This is by no means the first time that the scientist has undertaken to prove that he is a man of business, capable of extracting a livelihood from the public by across-the-counter transaction. But the work of this corporation is something new. By means of psychological tests calculated to reveal the mental capacity of a candidate for a position, it will be able to tell the business man whom to hire, and why. If he wants an executive or clerk all he has to do is to send his candidates to the office of the Psychological Corporation; they will come back properly labelled, Rumor has it that the new company will make a serious effort to detect signs of average intelligence in seekers after public offices.

The beauty of this plan is that, while business men are being relieved of the employment problem, science will, at the same time, be in a position to advance; because the proceeds from the Corporation's services will, of course, be enormous. The profits are to be used in financing scientific research; in short, the philosopher's store--of a sort--has been discovered, for science has found a way to become self supporting. While we may wonder,-in a moment of jocularity, if all science will now rush in where it formerly feared to tread, if we shall see before long the Entomological Company prepared to say it with insects, for example, we cannot help approving of a plan that will make science prosper of its own accord. At least the formation of the Psychological Corporation does away with the lack of precedent for this rare and highly desirable achievement.