410 Prof. H. E. Armstrong on Loiv-Temperature Research 



Civil List pension of £800 was granted to Faraday in l<S5o and was 

 continued during twenty-seven years of active work and five years of 

 retirement. Thirty-two years in all, at £300 a year, make a sum of 

 £9600, representing the national donation ; added to the amount 

 of expenditure just stated, this brings up the total cost of a 

 century of scientific work in the laboratories of the Royal Institution, 

 together with public demonstrations, to £119,800 ; an average of 

 £1200 per annum. 



Such expenditure has only been made possible by frequent dona- 

 tions from members and friends of the Institution. 



Up to the present time, the work has been done by men who 

 have been prominent as philosophers ; the problem of the future 

 will be to maintain continuity with the past, which must prove very 

 difficult in face of an ever-growing outside competition and the 

 increasing cost of experimental inquiry. 



Future workers should not only ha^'e the necessary working space 

 and adequate means of meeting the expenses of the position and of 

 all inquiries which it may appear desirable to undertake ; they will 

 also need the assistance and society of competent associate Avorkers. 

 It should not be forgotten that the Institution will probably afford 

 the one haven of rest open to an inquirer in our country, where 

 original work can be done under proper conditions, undisturbed by 

 outside influences. In all our Colleges the burden of teaching now 

 cast upon the Professoriate is such as to render the task of research 

 very difficult, the necessary leisure for quiet reflection and study 

 being secured, if at all, with utmost difficulty ; and student assist- 

 ants are no sooner trained to the point of efliciency than they are 

 tempted away to some remunerative post, usually before they have 

 developed sufficient judgment and independence to become original 

 inquirers themselves. 



It is to be hoped that in the near future a sufficient staff of 

 student assistants may be at the disposal of the Professor in charge 

 of the Institution laboratories to aid him in the promotion of in- 

 quiry, by association with whom he will be able also to secure 

 scientific companionship and the inspiration which naturally springs 

 from intercourse with active youthful minds anxious to exploit the 

 genius of their teacher. It is more than unfortunate that such 

 assistance has not been at the disposal of the Professor of late years, 

 both to enable him to utilise more fully the invaluable experience 

 which he has accumulated and to have preserved this for the use of 

 future workers. 



