SWEATING THE SCIENTIST 60 1 



paid much less than the highest appointments in the Anglican 

 Church — though the latter figures cannot be very easily ascer- 

 tained ; and, at least, no scientific men have a seat in the House 

 of Lords by virtue of their office or work. The highest salaries 

 for scientific work are very much less than those given in 

 the Army and Navy — which reach to £4,000 or £5,000 a year, 

 and probably more when certain allowances are added. The 

 scientific and academical sides of the medical profession show 

 a similar state of affairs when compared with the clinical side — 

 the incomes of the former seldom if ever exceeding £1,000 a 

 year, while those of the latter are well known to run to many 

 times that amount, especially in surgery. Compared with the 

 law, science stands nowhere at all in Britain, either in pay- 

 ment or in position. The disparity is still greater in comparison 

 with " business " ; and the enormous fortunes made in in- 

 numerable directions by manufacturers, shipowners, retail and 

 wholesale traders, vendors of registered articles, financiers, and 

 so on, would in many single cases cover the whole funds 

 allotted to science throughout the great British Empire. Even 

 certain branches of art, such as the drama, singing, and acting, 

 have a large advantage compared with scientific work. 



It is in no grudging spirit that men of science will draw such 

 comparisons. That good pay should be given for good work 

 is an elementary principle governing all lines of effort ; but 

 another principle must be held in view — that, if possible, pay- 

 ment should bear some proportion to the value of the kind of 

 work done. We pay an architect or a general more than we 

 pay the bricklayer or the soldier, because the labours of the 

 former are the more important ; and the same principle should 

 carry weight in comparisons of the emoluments of the several 

 professions. In the two previous numbers of Science Progress, 

 a survey of the value of scientific work to the world has been 

 attempted. It is probably of greater advantage to the world 

 than any other line of effort. Science has become our premier 

 industry, and governs every other industry just as the work 

 of the architect governs that of the individual bricklayers. The 

 world receives not only " fairy tales " from science, but also 

 the most wonderful fairy gifts — a greater knowledge of the 

 universe in which we live, a greater power over nature and 

 over barbarism, greater precision in invention, in the treatment 

 and prevention of disease, and in our manner of judging re- 



