30 president's address SECTION B. 



James Watt, or Daltoii, or Faraday has done more to shape our 

 modern social and economic life than that of any statesman or 

 so-called "social reformer" — dare one in this free country, even 

 with bated breath, add " or labour leader " — who ever lived. Yet 

 there is too much reason to doubt whether so much as five per cent, 

 of the elected representatives of the people in Britain or Aus- 

 tralia could give an intelligent answer, if they were asked who 

 Dalton and Faraday were, or ^hat they did. 



As Mr. H. G. Wells, in his Oaf line History of the. World, so 

 forcibly and clearly points out, the present cultural ascendancy of 

 the European peoples does not necessarily prove their racial superi- 

 ority over the ]:)eoples of Asia. This ascendancy dates back only 

 some four hundred years, and is due primarily to the command 

 over the forces of nature achieved by a relatively small numbei of 

 devoted men of science. There is good reason to believe that 

 amoingst the Asiatic peoples men not inferior in ability may be 

 found who, given suitable environment, might produce similar 

 results. Already the Asiatic peoples are beginning to realize this 

 possibility; and, when their awakening is complete, the ascendancy 

 of the European peoples may disappear as quickly as it arose. 

 The progress made by Japan alone in one generation shows that 

 our comfortable belief in the fundamental superiority of the 

 Euroipean may be a dangerous delusion, and that any weakening 

 in the pursuit of scientific knowledge means risk of losing our 

 present lead, possibly for ever. 



However, in Australia we may congratulate ourselves that some 

 progress is being made. The Institute of Science and Industry 

 has at last been" put upon an apparently permanent basis and 

 has been voted an income of £15,000 per annum. Carping critics 

 may say that for the task of co-ordinating and organizing the ap- 

 plication of exact knowledge to the industries of Australia this 

 sum, in view of the depreciated value of our currency, is ludic- 

 rously inadequate. But, on the other hand, it amounts to nearly 

 one-third as much as the involuntary contribution which our 

 grateful country is making to increases in Commonwealth Par- 

 liamentary salaries ; so obviously science has no reasonable ground 

 to complain. 



The unsatisfactory status in British ccnimunities of science 

 in general is, unfortunately, shared by chemistry and chemisls. 

 This does not mean that British chemists have to admit inferiority 

 to those of other countries. Far from it. On the contrary, they 

 may justly claim that in the quality, and in proportion to their 

 numbers in the quantity also, of their contributions to know- 

 ledge, especially those of a pioneering nature, they need not fear 

 comparison with the chemists of any other nation. Yet up to. and 

 even after, the outbreak of war, their efforts to secure adequate 

 recognition of their science from manufacturers. Government and 

 people were met^ for the most part with contemptuous indifference. 



