THE RELATIONSHIP OF MINING TO SCIENCE 605 



into, as to whether science has any other justification for its 

 existence than the furtherance of industrial and economic 

 welfare. But, whatever diversity of opinion there may be as 

 to the propriety of a body such as the British Association 

 concerning itself with these matters, there can be none as to the 

 simple fact that science and industry should go hand in hand 

 and mutually subserve each other. It is in the interest of 

 industry that science should be brought to bear upon it ; and 

 it is equally in the interest of science that industry should 

 prosper. It was the purpose (Dean Church tells us) of Francis 

 Bacon in his book entitled Advancement of Learning, " to make 

 knowledge really and intelligently the interest, not of the school 

 or the study or the laboratory only, but of society at large." 

 And this, says Prof. Ray Lankester, in his Presidential 

 Address, "is what our founders also intended by their use of 

 the word 'advancement.'" One word, not in any sense of 

 determent, but of warning is, however, necessary : Science must 

 ever be on her guard against losing her identity and becoming 

 merged beyond recognition in a merely scientifically inclined 

 industrialism. Such a state of things would be little better than 

 were she to stand aloof altogether. Science and industry have 

 each their own function, and the best results may be expected 

 by exercising such function independently, and comparing notes 

 as often as possible. 



Assuming, however, that it is within the province of the 

 leading organisation of British science to minister to the welfare 

 of industrial enterprise (and few, I think, will doubt it), we are 

 further led to inquire how far it really does so, and how far, in 

 turn, there is any response on the part of national industry as a 

 whole, and sectionally of its component parts. 



That there has been a response, and a marked one, is evident 

 from a glance at the various subjects dealt with at the meetings. 

 But a closer examination will reveal the fact that such response 

 has by no means been general. Many departments of our 

 industrial life are keenly alert to what they owe to science, and 

 are ever ready to return the compliment by contributing the 

 results of practical experience, thus either confirming the a priori 

 reasoning of scientists, or, it may be, disproving it, — in either 

 case forming a more substantial basis for future operation, and 

 advancing our knowledge step by step. In the Engineering 

 section, for example, at the recent meeting the subject of the 



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