632 ENDOWMENT FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



them possess talents, wbicli, if well cultivated, might do hom)r and 

 good to science. - - - These difficulties are increased every day by 

 the marked advance of the exigencies of life. 



''We must hud a prompt remedy for this state of things, if we do not 

 wish to see an eud of the recruitment of science. This truth is begin- 

 niug to be generally felt. The Governuieiit has already created insti- 

 tutions, scholarships, and encouragements, wliich partly meet the neces- 

 sity. Some geuerons donors are also working in this manner. I will 

 mention specially the noble foundation of Mile. Dosne, in accordance 

 with whose instructions a hall is at this moment being built, where 

 young men, having shown distinguished aptitudes for high administra- 

 tion, for the bar, or for history, will receive for three years all the 

 means of carrying on high and peaceful studies. Let us say then 

 plainly (and in speaking thus we only feebly echo the words of the 

 most illustrious members of the Academy), that it is by following the 

 way so nobly opened by Cahours, that the interests and prospects of 

 science will be most efficaciously served."* 



Huxley is said to have once stated that " any country would And it 

 to its interest to spend $100,000 in first finding a Faraday, and then 

 putting him in a position where he could do the greatest amount of 

 work." It is the post-graduate endowments that must lirst find and 

 retain to science the Faradays of the future. 



A notable instance of the need and value of such aid is found in the 

 recently appointed head of a great university, who by such endowments 

 alone, here and abroad, it is said, Avas enabled to prosecute his studies 

 for ten years successively, reaching thereby the front rank in his chosen 

 department of philosophy. 



111. 



Another department in great need of i>ecuinary support is that of the 

 learned and scientific societies. Jn these England is pre-eminent. Our 

 own societies ha\'e endeavored to follow, so far as they could, their 

 English models. The English societies have rendered ti) science inval- 

 uable service in three main lines: 



1. In providing ample means for the pnblication of scientific papers, 

 showing the progress and the results of their scientific work. In this 

 every society has taken part. 



2. In the direct maintenance of original research, in which the lloyal 

 Institution has been most conspicuous. 



3. In the a^ard of prizes for scientific distinction; but still more 

 important, in the distribution of pecuniary aid, for the prosecution of 

 special scientific researches. 



(1) Of these, 1 regard publication as, i)erhaps, the most important; 

 not only because it puts the world in possession of what has been done 

 by investigators; but because the very fact that there are means of 

 * Nature, May 7, 1891; vol. xftv, p. 17. 



