THE ENDOWMENT OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 441 



things of the past. At present, all we can say is, that matters are 

 improving at such a rate that . . . that they may be allowed, without 

 disadvantage, to improve a little longer. If men of science were sud- 

 denly called upon to administer any extensive scheme of public en- 

 dowment for science, this improvement might be checked, which would 

 be unfortunate. 



As regards the class of men who would come forward if science 

 were endowed, much would doubtless depend on the position offered 

 to the candidates for office, and on the qualifications demanded. In 

 tliese days of competitive examinations, it seems probable that care- 

 ful preliminary inquiry would be made into the proficiency of the 

 candidates, at least in departments of learning associated with their 

 special science. Again, it may be presumed that every office under 

 the new system would have definite duties attached to it, even though 

 matters were so arranged that ample time would be left for original 

 research. It ought certainly to be arranged, moreover, that from time 

 to time every holder of a salaried office should be called upon to give 

 satisfactory proof that he was not wasting his own time and the na- 

 tion's money. It would be unpleasant if a large salary were assigned 

 for life to a zealous student of science, and then, by some accident, his 

 zeal diminished. The mere loss of so much money annually would be 

 of little importance to the nation ; but the discredit to science would 

 be a very serious matter. Unfortunately, those who ought to know 

 assert that among the persons who seem most earnest in the cause of 

 science, and who not only seem, but are exceedingly earnest in advo- 

 cating the endowment of science, there are not wanting men who may 

 be characterized as " scientific Micawbers, waiting for something to 

 turn up." They may be recognized by men of discernment, because 

 of their tendency to dilate upon their own work, to take credit for the 

 work or methods of others, and to urge (anticipating, perhaps, the 

 endowment of science) that large salaries should be given for the dis- 

 charge of exceedingly indefinite duties. In any wide scheme for the 

 endowment of research these persons would have to be carefully 

 watched. The money wasted on them would be a matter of very lit- 

 tle moment; but science would be degraded in the eyes of the world, 

 and mischief, not easily reparable, would be wrought, if such men as 

 these worked their way into the best-paid offices. 



It may, perhaps, be urged that a system of payment by results 

 might be established. Mr. Mattieu Williams, the ingenious author of 

 "The Fuel of the Sun," in a letter commenting upon a leading article 

 (mine, as it chanced) in the Chemical News for September 5, 1873, 

 advances this as the only sound and natural principle of public en- 

 dowment for science. The case seems very simple as he presents it : 

 " If a fund for the payment of scientific research existed," he says, 

 " the genuine worker might send in his bill with the paper communi- 

 cating the results of his researches, and such a bill, after being fairly 



