50 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute 



we define industrial research as scientific investigation economically 

 directed towards improvements in production, we may say that industrial 

 research has been more or less actively employed in the civilized world 

 for centuries. Discovery and invention have, in all ages, fostered existing 

 industries and developed new ones. Consequently, there is nothing new 

 in the broad principles of industrial research. The novelty in recent 

 industrial research lies in the emphasis upon, and the organization of, the 

 process. 



Until machinery came to dominate the processes of production, manu- 

 factures of all kinds depended mainly upon the manual skill of the work- 

 man. This skill had to be imparted from master to apprentice, from the 

 experienced to the inexperienced. There was a charm of individuality 

 in go,od workmanship under those conditions, which is now very difficult 

 to retain in the modern factory system; but, in compensation for that 

 loss of manual dexterity and of artistic production, W\e have gained the 

 power of greatly increased rapidity and uniformity of output. Under 

 the old system of hand work, there was but little opportunity for the 

 application of science to production. Under the modern system of rapid 

 mechanical work, scientific methods are constantly capable of effecting 

 economic improvement. It is now generally recognized that the scientific 

 method not only cajn be made to pay ; but that no industry is safe from 

 competition unless maintained by perpetual good management and per- 

 petual scientific study. 



In Great Britain, the manufactujers have always maintained a 

 reputation for very conservative action in regard to production. The 

 superintendents, foremen and workmen were proud of their experience 

 and practical training. Very few of them, in times past, received any 

 scientific or technical training. On the other hand, the British scientists 

 of a generation ago rarely came into conta,ct with the industries. Their 

 work was largely confined to the college lecture rooms and laboratories. 

 Between the factories and the colleges, a great gulf was fixed. The men 

 of affairs naturally often regarded the scientists as unpractical. The 

 scientists often regarded the mapiufacturers as untutored. Nevertheless, 

 by the very necessities of the industries, scientific processes slowly filtered 

 into the factories, in spite of the disjunction between the engineers and 

 the factory men. Gradually, the colleges and the works began to under- 

 stand each other, through intermediaries. At first, the technical colleges 

 had great difficulty in finding even the lowest positions for their gradu- 

 ates in the industrial establishments. Slowly, it began to be recognized 

 that the young college men could be trained by practical experience into 

 valuable industrial designers, superintendents and executives. The 

 world war has, moreover, completely changed the relative aspects of 



