NOTES 493 



larger number of the best men into scientific industrial work. The standing of 

 the technical man in this country to-day is deplorably low, as compared with the 

 position he holds in other countries, notably Germany and America. For this, 

 the public schools and the older Universities are, in all probability, largely to 

 blame. It used to be a tradition in the country families of England that the 

 dullest boy should go into the Church ; to-day engineering or some other branch 

 of applied science is often looked on as the best occupation for a boy who seems 

 unlikely to succeed in what are regarded as the more intellectual professions. 

 The science side is the Mecca of the unintelligent at a public school, the classical 

 side is still the bait for the best brains, and, save for a few brilliant exceptions, 

 few of the best of the boys the public schools are turning out in large numbers 

 have entered industrial work. This is greatly to be deplored. Mr. Fleming's 

 pamphlet, however, does not deal with this point directly, though the necessity 

 for its consideration in any scheme for the more effective prosecution of research 

 work connected with industry is evident. There are many problems which can 

 be dealt with successfully by men of average ability, who have had the necessary 

 training in scientific method, but solutions will be obtained more rapidly and more 

 effectively if men of outstanding ability and intelligence are called on to solve 

 them. This is self-evident, and the manufacturers themselves can remedy the 

 difficulty to a certain extent, by placing their technical staff on a more satisfactory 

 footing than that they occupy at present. It is interesting to find that in large 

 undertakings, such as the Eastman Kodak Company, who have established 

 research laboratories of a most elaborate kind, including plant and machinery, 

 to enable a laboratory process to be tried on an industrial scale, the total charge 

 involved amounts to only 07 per cent, of the Company's profits, while in the 

 General Electric Company, where work is even more elaborate and highly 

 developed, the percentage charge is even smaller. There are, however, in this 

 country, comparatively few firms who, at present, are in a position to establish 

 laboratories of the kind referred to, and the scheme outlined, whereby associations 

 of manufacturers act in combination to establish research institutions to carry out 

 work which can be utilised by any of the firms concerned, is of great interest. 

 There is a strong tendency in this country, at the present time, to advance 

 in this direction. Associations of industries have already been established : 

 one of the oldest of these is the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' 

 Association ; but the example has been followed by the formation of the British 

 Engineers' Associations and by many others. The organisation of which 

 Mr. Dudley Docker has been the moving spirit, and by which it is intended to 

 establish a " Parliament of Industry " which will represent all the associations of 

 the individual industries, is a further effort to try and eliminate the individualistic 

 cut-throat competition which has previously existed between different firms 

 engaged on similar manufactures. Such organisations should be in a very strong 

 position as regards research work, and it is gratifying to find that nearly all of 

 them have placed industrial research in the forefront of their programme. 



On the other hand, many national institutions have already been founded in 

 America to deal with it. The sub-division of responsibility between the State, 

 including the national State-aided institutions like Universities, and the manu- 

 facturers' organisations, is a subject which still requires careful and detailed 

 consideration. We have already advanced very far in our conception of the duty 

 the State owes to industry; it is recognised that the State may, without injustice 

 to the taxpayer, employ its resources to assist the development of manufactures 

 which will ultimately benefit enormously the individual citizen. That all the work 



