Scientific Establishments

Abstract

The social characteristics of scientific establishments are bound up with those of the social institutions where most of them are located — with those of universities. Occasionally, though, in the development of sciences, extra mural establishments have arisen, especially during the earlier phases. Among the best known examples are the Paracelsians and the Freudians — both representatives of medical sciences which may be significant. Of course, the interplay, and particularly the battles, between intra mural and extra mural establishments, like their distinguishing characteristics, deserve more attention: But the simple reference to extra mural establishments alone is enough to put the problem of the relationship between universities and sciences into better perspective. Whatever the contributions of extra mural establishments to the development of sciences have been in the past and may be at present, university-related groups have gained the ascendancy — in the development of almost all higher branches of learning they play the dominant part.