LXX THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



That the German university however, was not, and is not, 

 lacking in one valuable qualification is shown by the fact that Oxford 

 by a nearly unanimous vote in Congregation a few weeks ago decided 

 to establish the Ph.D. degree on practically the basis on which it is 

 given in German universities, an innovation which three years ago 

 would have been regarded as impossible because of the strongly 

 entrenched conservatism of that university. 



I must also make it plain that in crusading for scientific research 

 the object aimed at is not only to develop the industries of the Empire, 

 although in view of the superhuman task that Great Britain, the 

 Dominions and the Commonwealth must undertake, the attainment 

 of that object is vitally urgent. 



The international competition in trade, which will follow this 

 war, as already pointed out, will be a pitiless one, and it may be that 

 the future of the Empire, though unaffected by the war, may be 

 jeopardized in the trade struggle. Industrial research is, therefore, 

 of imperative urgency, but it can only be furthered by research in 

 pure science. The two are, indeed, inseparable, for the practical 

 is only the application of the knowledge which has been acquired in 

 the vast majority of cases without any practical result in view. It 

 would be very rash for any one to-day to predict that any discovery 

 in pure science would not in some way be of service in practical life. 

 Hundreds of instances of the futility of so predicting could be cited 

 from the history of pure science. 



But while research in pure science should be supported because 

 of its utility, proved and possible, the most powerful plea for its 

 advancement comes from the purely intellectual side. The world 

 of nature and the physical world teem with problems of profound 

 interest, some of them involving mysteries that will stimulate the 

 human intellect till life on earth ceases after countless millions of 

 years. There are, physiologists claim, certain portions of the frontal 

 "association areas" of the human brain in which the full development 

 of function has not yet been attained, "association areas" in which 

 also the highest intellectual activities of which man is now capable 

 have their location. In these "fallow fields" of the brain cortex are 

 possibilities which can only be realized by the exercise, in all the 

 ages to come, of the intellectual powers in earnestly facing these 

 problems in the quest for ultimate truth. The solution of some 

 may never be attained. The phenomena we designate under the 

 terms life and energy are the profoundest of these. What life itself 

 is has engaged and will long engage the interest of the scientific philo- 

 sopher, and it is maintained by some thinkers that it involves an 

 ultimate mystery. Of vastly profounder mystery is the element 



