president's address — SECTION B. 25 



pugnaaice, instead of the interest which should stimulate him to 

 pursue the subject further for himself. Sir Robert Hadfield has 

 recently ascribed his early interest in science largely to that 

 fascinating- work, J^tppcr's J'lai/Uook of Science; and, in a 

 humbler capacity, I must make the same confession. In this and 

 the companion volume, the Vlaijhook uf Metals, which were not, 

 and, perhaps, never could have been school text-bocks, Pepper 

 developed the art of conveying exact information and sound 

 scientific principles and, at the same time, calling up a spirit 

 of scientific romance, which is peculiarly attractive to the aver- 

 age boy. Sir Robert. Hadfield states that not long ago he pre- 

 sented several hundred copies of a modernized edition of the 

 Pla^jhuok of Science to the elementary schools of Shefiield, with 

 satisfactory results. It would be well if a little of the spirit 

 of that book could be infused into' school science text-boicks gener- 

 ally. But it may be doubted whether any spirit of romance could 

 survive the deadening influence of the examination system. 



Scientific men as a body have suffered in the past from too much 

 reluctance to push their claims to recognition. I do not mean 

 that we ought to rush into a campaign of self-assertion ; but there 

 should be a hap]>y medium, if we oould only find it. In the first 

 place, the frequent practice by scientific men of doing valuable 

 work gratuitously for governments and other public bodies, 

 although it may be clear evidence of moral superiority, is bad busi- 

 ness, and should be discontinued. In the estimation of governments 

 and the public thfe value of scientific, as of other work, is a f auc- 

 tion of the price which they have to pay for it. The function is 

 too complex for complete analysis; but this much is clear, that, as 

 the pric'e paid for scientific work approaches zero, the value set 

 upon that work by those who benefit from it also becomes zero, 

 or even negative. Further, no other class of professional man is 

 expected to work gratuitously for public bodies ; and. when scien- 

 tific men do so. they have only themselves to blame if their modesty 

 is regarded as a confession of professional inferiority. If scientific 

 men do' not stand together to uphold their just claims to adequate 

 reward for their labours, they may be quite certain that neither 

 Govern'ment nor ]}ublic is going to lose any sleep oai their acc'ount. 

 That the matter is urgent is shown by the fact that quitei a. number 

 of prominent chemists, whom I had hoped to see at this meeting, 

 have written to say that they cannot afford the journey. If the 

 effect of the high cost of living and travelling on men with fixed 

 salaries is going toi convert the Australian States into^ water-tight 

 coinpartments, so far as men of science are ccnoerned, the prospects 

 of science in Australia are not encoiuraging. 



On the technical and industrial side chemists have fared un 

 favorably in professional status as compared with engineers. The 

 reasons for this are not far to seek. The products of the engineer's 

 labour are usaalh' of a permanent nature, and appeal to the eye as 



