rRKSIDKNTlAl. ADDRESS SECTION B. 63 



who commence to apply the science, and carry out research in 

 the zone between abstract truth and downright utiHty. These 

 are the pioneers of the profession to follow. This phase of 

 the development, also, can not safely be left to look after itself, 

 since in its early stages it must suffer from many failures, and 

 can offer no assurance of a livelihood. It will not attract those 

 " in search of a career," and will therefore suffer neglect. It is 

 a phase of development which is highly specialised, but which 

 has not yet obtained full recognition. It is still " pure science " 

 —pure science doing its best to get itself applied. State endow- 

 ment is imperative, either direct in the form of grants to Univer- 

 sities for " research fellowships " and " research professorships," 

 or indirect by encouragement of such work in State institutions of 

 a scientific character. This latter method is important, and 

 should not be overlooked, since such institutions are usually well 

 off for apparatus and material for research, and it costs but little 

 to encourage " human quality." 



Thirdly comes the every-day application of the results and 

 methods to utilitarian ends. The new science finds its feet, 

 demonstrates its utility to the " layest " of minds, and is no longer 

 so dependent upon endowment. It is self-supporting, obviously 

 adds to the wealth or well-being of the world, and provides 

 careers for whomsoever cares to take it up. The tools are 

 there, the lines of application mapped out, and the journeyman 

 can do the rest. The applied science passes over into a trade. 

 If Britain had spent a trifle in encouraging pure scientific research 

 half a century ago, she would have saved herself the ignominv 

 of having to spoon-feed her industries to-day. 



It must never be lost sight of that the purely scientific 

 investigator lays the foundation-stones for the superstructure. 

 Science cannot be applied until there is science to apply, and 

 the genesis of science is always pure in the sense that each link in 

 the chain of development must be forged independently of any 

 purpose to which the whole chain may finally be put. As Huxley 

 put it " What people call Applied Science is nothing but the 

 application of Pure Science to particular classes of problems." 



But Applied Science is something anyone can understand, 

 since it touches every-day experience, and there is a danger that 

 applied science will be endowed to the detriment of pure science. 

 The aims of the pure researcher are not so easy to grasp, for 

 the very training in science tends to exalt the idea of knowledge 

 for its own sake, and shed a halo round an hypothesis. It is. 

 perhaps, not easy for the utilitarian to realise the glow of 

 satisfaction which suffuses the mind of the investigator when he 

 feels that his work has opened up a fresh line of thought, or added 

 some cardinal piece of truth to the body of human knowledge, or 

 pricked some current fallacy. The glow is not so very much 

 more intense when the work obviously has an immediate practical 

 application — at anv rate, he can glow quite satisfactorily without 

 that! None the less, it is very much to the interest of even the 

 most pure-minded investigator if he keeps an open eye upon any 



