New Z( aland Institute Science Congress. 493 



last link — for tlu' tinn' Ixiiiu — in a long chain of researches nine-tenths of 

 which were purelv academic, hut eacli leading slowly but surely to the 

 final result. And this great wealth of research — apparently medical — was 

 tlie work of the biologist, the chemist, and the physicist. The electric 

 tram, the frozen lamb, the marconigram, the spraying of an apple-tree, the 

 moving picture, the field of turni})s — all these and far more of our every- 

 dav life are but the final -again I say, "for the time being" — practical 

 application of exact knowledge painfully accjuired by enthusiasts such as 

 i\Iichael Faraday — the mighty, the maker of history — with his £100 a year, 

 a room or two to live in, and coals and candles ! " Faraday's early investi- 

 gations on the chemical aspects of electrolysis," wrote in March, 1918, 

 Professor Pope, President of the Chemical Society, " and his studies on 

 magnetic induction, led immediately to the invention of the dynamo, and, 

 through Clerk Maxwell, to the introduction of wireless telegraphy. This 

 one branch of Faraday"s investigations, in point of fact, constitutes the 

 groundwork of the whole stupendous vista of results of the general intro- 

 duction of the electric current into modern life which is so familiar to 

 us all. Cavendish's early production of nitric acid by the passage of an 

 electric spark tlirough the air, reproduced on an enormously large scale, 

 is now furnishing Central Europe with the nitric acid without which no 

 explosives could be manufactured." The Faradays of the present day, 

 instead of being able to devote all their time to research, in order to get 

 tlieir dailv bread are forced to waste their time as teachers. For this fair 

 wages are available ; for the prosecution of pure science there is usually 

 nothing, unless temporarily, and tliat for inexperienced young men. 



On this matter of pure and applied science let me ipiote a resolution of 

 the Inter- Allied Conference on International Scientific Organizations held 

 by the Royal Society during October, 1918. Thus the resolution runs : 

 '■ The Conference, being of opinion that all industrial, agricultural, and 

 medical progress depends on ])ure science, draws attention of the various 

 Governments to the importance of theoretical and disinterested researches, 

 which after the restoration of peace should be supported by large endow- 

 ments. The Conference urges siniilarly the creation of large laboratories 

 for experimental science, both private and national."" 



NeAv Zealand is above all else a farming community. Many of Nature's 

 secrets of a hundred years ago are now the priceless possessions of man. 

 These when more generally a})plied than at present will make our fields 

 yield a much greater return. This would be a great advance, but without 

 the discovery of further fundamental principles, now unknown, agriculture 

 can only reach a stage far fronr perfection. Our scientific duty as a nation 

 is not only to apply to the best of our ability our present knowledge, but 

 by means of purely academic investigations to discover further funda- 

 mental principles on which the greatly improved farming of the future 

 will depend. Suppose, for example, such characters as we wished could 

 be bestowed at will u])on certain fodder plants or food plants — i.e., that 

 the plant-breeder could by methods now unknown create exactly the plant 

 suitable for a special environment, just as one can forge a special tool. 

 Experiments of seemingly the most worthless kinds in genetics might lay 

 the foundation for such knowledge, the value of which is beyond our wildest 

 dreams. Even open-air studies on the plants of bog, or lake, or forest, or 

 mountain-top well might lend valuable assistance. 



Finally, with regard to the New Zealand Institute — and, indeed, with 

 regard to this Dominion's science in general- what should be some of our 



