at the Royal Institution, 1908-1916 783 



bodies as over those at rest. It therefore does not retard motion or 

 change but is as frequently active in continuing that state as in 

 opposing it. Xow, is this the case with mental inertia ? 



" That I may ask the question more distinctly. I will preface it 

 by two others, which, if disallowed, will give rise to conversation ; if 

 allowed, will prepare for the third. Are there not more passive than 

 active minds in the world ? Is mental inertia as puissant in active 

 as in idle cases ? Then, What is the cause of the state implied by 

 the first question ? or what is the reason why, unlike the material 

 world there is so much more of inanimation than of activity in the 

 intellectual world r " 



Our reply to his long since uttered query unfortunately cannot 

 be very different from the answer of which he was apprehensive. 



It is clear that we have to bear in mind the conditions under 

 which we are forced to work — the more as so much virility is now 

 being sacrificed. The demand for scientific workers in years to 

 come is bound to be excessive : in this very fact lurks danger. It 

 may lead to a great shortening of the course of training ; it may 

 bring far too many into an early state of subservience ; it may involve 

 an undue attention to the field of applied science : consequently to 

 a diminution of effort to widen the boundaries of knowledge and 

 disregard of the pursuit of truth as the primary objective. 



A laboratory such as that of the Royal Institution has been a 

 pearl of great price in the past ; in the future, it may well be a 

 glowing gem in an otherwise featureless casket, if the policy now 

 foreshadowed and advocated of coupling University instruction 

 directly with practical aims be brought into operation ; not only will 

 the outlook of the schools be materialized and commercialized but 

 then* efficiency will also be greatly lowered. I have myself been a 

 witness of the decadence of science, not here but in Germany, 

 through the operation of such a policy : the while I have seen it 

 grow in usefulness — but by continual encroachment upon capital. 



In my student days, before the war of 1870, " free trade " pre- 

 vailed in the laboratory : no two of us were working at the same 

 subject ; a multiplicity of problems were under investigation ; we 

 were all eager to learn each from the others ; we told one another 

 openly our hopes and kept one another constantly informed as to the 

 progress we were making. The value of the training, the experience 

 gained, was proportional, consequently, to the number of students 

 engaged in research work. 



Kolbe's laboratory discovery in 1874 of a practical method of 

 manufacturing salicylic acid and its rapid translation into prac- 

 tice, more than any other work, perhaps, brought confusion into 

 the chemical camp. It became obvious that there was money in 

 chemistry and manufacturers saw that the University Professor might 

 be of value to industry : so they retained him and his assistants and 



