ipo SCIENCE PROGRESS 



critics, curiously silent at Dublin, Mendel may claim comparison, 

 if at a distance, with Curie. 



Possibly the air of Dublin had also something to do with the 

 very political energy of many of the debates. Mr. T. W. Russell 

 had a most characteristic round with Sir Horace Plunkett, who 

 made a model President of a section, and his polemical example 

 was followed elsewhere. Indeed, as critics of Government in 

 general, the Presidents themselves set a vigorous example. 



Professor Kipping, following closely the example of Prof. 

 Meldola in his Presidential address to the Chemical Society, 

 foretold the extinction of British manufactures of many sorts if 

 research work was neglected by the State in the development 

 of its business ; and he had an ingenious plan for " the evolution 

 of that otherwise almost unattainable being, the man thoroughly 

 trained both in science and practice." His idea was an inter- 

 change between the university and the manufactory under his 

 plan. The research students of the teaching institution, engaged 

 on a given problem for a manufacturer, would be allowed to 

 study its practical aspects in the works ; on the other hand, 

 work-chemists, with considerable practical experience, would 

 be granted permission to proceed to the university laboratory, 

 where they would study the problem with the assistance of 

 the highest scientific knowledge, and acquire further training 

 in the methods of research. 



Combinations such as these could hardly fail to lead to 

 valuable results, which would form the subject of patents ; the 

 monopolies thus acquired would place the manufacturers in a 

 favourable position, and the revival of our chemical industries 

 would follow in due course. There is nothing Utopian in this 

 scheme, and there are no great initial difficulties to be overcome ; 

 it may be set in operation by the manufacturer, and possibly 

 also by the worker in pure science. Reading between the lines 

 certain records which have recently appeared in the science 

 journals and the patent lists, it may even be inferred that such 

 arrangements are already in force in one of our large industrial 

 centres. 



His paper was full of admirable advice, but the weakness 

 of all the proselytising papers at the British Association is that 

 they do not reach the "right sources. Scientific papers fall 

 presumably on congenial soil ; social and political papers never 



