Research 9 



these lines should be omitted. No inducement to the research worker 

 should be lacking and every possible assistance should be rendered to 

 him in this great and noble work. 



The only other subject on which I shall touch to-night is that of 

 Historical Research. 



After all, what is History? I speak subject to correction, but I 

 believe I am right in saying that the word is derived from the Greek 

 "l<TTopia'' which was used by the lonians in the 6th century B.C. to 

 designate the search for knowledge in its widest sense. It meant 

 inquiry, investigation, not narrative, and it was not till two centuries 

 later that the historian — the reciter of stories — superseded the historian, 

 the searcher after knowledge. 



Even if we use the word in the more restrictive sense we have a vast 

 field for the research worker. Human interest and activity is constantly 

 broadening with the ever-increasing complexity of modern society and 

 the more or less rapid emergence of social and economic conditions. We 

 look to historic research to enlighten us as to how the corresponding 

 needs were met in earlier times and how they developed into their present 

 relative importance. 



By a thorough study of the capacities and limitations of human 

 nature we must search for the most progressive and practical means for 

 the betterment of individual life and the improvement of social con- 

 ditions, and it is to history — the record of human experience — that we 

 must turn for guidance in that study. 



I am afraid, ladies and gentlemen, that I have done no more than 

 touch the fringe of this great subject of research. Many of you who are 

 here this evening, I know, are giving their best attention to the problems 

 which present themselves in this connection. Chief among these prob- 

 lems, in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others, is that of the 

 supply of research workers. How and where are we to get the men and 

 women qualified to carry on this work of research? This is a problem 

 which not only we in Canada but the people in the Old Country and in 

 the United States are seeking a solution for. 



Here I should like to quote a memorandum of Dr. Macallum, Chair- 

 man of the Honorary Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial 

 Research. The memorandum in question referring to the problem just 

 mentioned reads as follows: 



"The Research Council found, as indicated in the memorandum 

 referred to, that there is a great scarcity of researchers in Canada. The 

 number is greatly less than the Dominion requires in order to develop 

 scientific research, not only in the Universities but also more especially 

 in the utilization of the natural resources of the country. 



