472 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



we have not only a recognition of their utility and national 

 importance on the part of the public, but we have a large 

 number of officials whose emoluments are commensurate with 

 the dignity of their position. The prizes offered by such pro- 

 fessions as the Church and the Law are of a nature to attract 

 into the ranks of those professions a large proportion of the 

 able men of the country ; consequently men are withdrawn 

 from other professions they would probably prefer to enter — 

 such as the profession of chemistry or applied science — with 

 the result that there is a large waste of national intellect. In 

 medicine, recently, eight physicians have been retained at a 

 fee of £5,000 per annum each, but no such fee has ever been 

 accorded to any scientific man. 



The effect of this is that the public understands that the 

 State must have great lawyers, a great body of clergy, and 

 efficient doctors, who must be paid well ; but a man who 

 pursues science, however brilliantly, and makes the most 

 important discoveries, receives, practically speaking, no recog- 

 nition, because his profession is not recognised. Were scien- 

 tific men employed more frequently and paid more reasonably, 

 the public would gradually get to know that such work is 

 important. As it is, not only are the salaries offered, even 

 in Government establishments like the Arsenal, totally inade- 

 quate, but as the prospects of advancement are so meagre, a 

 large proportion of the able young men who might otherwise 

 take up chemistry as a pursuit are led into other professions. 



The deputation was altogether favourably received, and 

 in reply the President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Runciman) 

 referred to our shortage of young chemists. He admitted that 

 this was due to the fact that the career of chemist in this 

 country is most precarious on account of the smallness of the 

 remunerations offered to chemists upon whom the success of 

 many of the industries of the country is dependent. This, he 

 said, must be altered, and the career of the chemist must be 

 better assured if greater numbers of young men are to be 

 attracted to the profession. Mr. Runciman referred also to 

 the difficulty of obtaining the co-operation of manufacturers 

 whose businesses involved secret processes, lest in such co- 

 operation those precious secrets might become known to com- 

 petitors. 



The President of the Board of Education (Mr. Pease) 



