74 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Lord Eosebery, in the address to a Chamber of Commerce from 

 which I have already quoted, expressed his opinion that such bodies 

 do not exercise so much influence as might be expected of them. But 

 if commercial men do not use all the power their organization provides, 

 do they not by having built up such an organization put us students 

 of science to shame, who are still the most disorganized members of the 

 community ? 



Here, in my opinion, we have the real reason why the scientific 

 needs of the nation fail to command the attention either of the public 

 or of successive governments. At present, appeals on this or on that 

 behalf are the appeals of individuals; science has no collective voice 

 on the larger national questions; there is no organized body which 

 formulates her demands. 



During many years it has been part of my duty to consider such 

 matters, and I have been driven to the conclusion that our great crying 

 need is to bring about an organization of men of science and all in- 

 terested in science, similar to those which prove so efEective in other 

 branches of human activity. For the last few years I have dreamt of a 

 Chamber, Guild, League, call it what you will, with a wide and large 

 membership, which should give us what, in my opinion, is so urgently 

 needed. Quite recently I sketched out such an organization, but what 

 was my astonishment to find that I had been forestalled, and by the 

 founders of the British Association ! 



At the commencement of this address I pointed out that one of the 

 objects of the Association, as stated by its founders, was 'to obtain a 

 more general attention to the objects of science and a removal of any 

 disadvantages of a public kind which impede its progress.' 



Every one connected with the British Association from its be- 

 ginning may be congratulated upon the magnificent way in which the 

 other objects of the Association have been carried out, but as one 

 familiar with the Association for the last forty years, I can not but 

 think that the object to which I have specially referred has been too 

 much overshadowed by the work done in connection with the others. 



A careful study of the early history of the association leads me to 

 the belief that the function I am now dwelling on was strongly in 

 the minds of the founders; but be this as it may, let me point out 

 how admirably the organization is framed to enable men of science 

 to influence public opinion and so to bring pressure to bear upon 

 governments which follow public opinion. (1) Unlike all the other 

 chief metropolitan societies, its outlook is not limited to any branch or 

 branches of science. (2) We have a wide and numerous fellowship, 

 including both the leaders and the lovers of science, in which all 

 branches of science are and always have been included with the utmost 

 catholicity — a condition which renders strong committees possible on 



