174 TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. 



mathematics. It was tliought necessary to obtain external support for 

 the opinions of those who advocated this step. An appeal was made 

 to Professors De Morgan and Stokes. The former reported that a 

 "course of experimental physics is in itself desirable;" the latter, that 

 "there would be work enough in a large institution for a mathemati- 

 cian and a physicist." 



In the end the chair of natural philosoj^hy was established, and the 

 fact that our host of to-day, Professor Clifton, was its first occupant 

 reminds us how little we have advanced in time and how far in educa- 

 tional development from the days when propositions such as those I 

 have cited were only accepted on the authority of the names of Stokes 

 and De Morgan. 



The other fact to which I would refer is that the Clarendon Labora- 

 tory, in which the meetings of Section A are to be held, though erected 

 barely a quarter of a century ago, was the first laboratory in this coun- 

 try which was specially built and designed for the study of experimen- 

 tal physics. It has served as a type. Clerk Maxwell visited it while 

 planning the Cavendish Laboratory, and traces of Professor Clifton's 

 designs can be detected in several of our university colleges. 



But though our surroundings remind us of the improvement which 

 has been effected in the equipment of our science, it would not be diffi- 

 cult to indicate weak j^oints which should forthwith be strengthened. 

 On these, in so far as they affect education, I will not dwell — and that 

 for two reasons. In the first place, we meet to-day not as teachers, 

 but as students; and, secondly, I think that whereas we have as a 

 nation awoke — though late in the day — to the importance of education, 

 we are not yet fully awake to the importance of learning. Our attitude 

 in such matters was exactly expressed by one of the most eminent of 

 the witnesses who gave evidence before the "Gresham Commission." 

 In his opinion the advancement of knowledge must in a university in 

 London be secondary to the higher instruction of the youth of London. 

 If this be so — and I will not now dispute it — we shall surely all agree 

 that somewhere or other, in London or out of it, included in our univer- 

 sities or separate from them, there ought to be institutions in which the 

 advancement of knowledge is regarded as of primary and fundamental 

 interest, and not as a mere secondary by-product thrown off in the 

 course of more imjiortant operations. 



It is not essential that in such an institution research should be the 

 only task. Investigation may be combined with the routine work of 

 an observatory, with teaching, with the care of standards, or with 

 other similar duties. It is however essential that, if the advancement 

 of knowledge is seriously regarded as an end worth attaining, it should 

 not be relegated to a secondary place. 



Time and opportunity must be found for investigation, as time and 

 opportunity are found for other tasks. It is not enough to refer to 

 research in a prospectus and then to leave it to be accomplished at odd 



