president's address. — SECTION D. 143 



obvious and urgent during war, it is no- less important during 

 peace, which a cynic has described as a period of exhaustion and 

 recuperation, necessary to recover from the last war and to prepare 

 for the next. Evidence of the awakened interest in science, a 

 realization of its importance was afforded by the establishment of 

 the Bureau of Science and Industry. The Bureau still remiain-s 

 in a condition of little more than suspended animation, and 

 cannot possibly do the great things that were expected from it, 

 so long as the funds required are not available. No public protest 

 has been made against the non-fulfilment of the promise to raise 

 Australian science through the Bureau to a high standard of 

 activity and excellence. Ovei"worked University teachers are still 

 expected toi bear the main burden of scientific research and to 

 keep the torch of science burning, often at their own cost. The 

 general public usually considers that it is the duty of a scientific 

 man to cari-y on research for the general benefit in his spare time, 

 whether he has any or not, and often has the impertinence to 

 criticise him if he turns his endeavcurs to' problems which interest 

 him, instead of to those which are of obvious and immediate 

 practical utility, but which do- not happen to interest him. A.s a 

 matter of fact, by attacking problems which are of scientific 

 interest, he is usually doing what will ultimately be of the greatest 

 benefit, for it is well known that the difficult abstract scientific 

 problems of one generation often become the commonplace utili- 

 tarian realizaticjis of the next. • If scientific work were confined to 

 those problems which were of immediate practical unity it would 

 soon reach a series of dead ends from which no further progress was 

 possible. 



This is, in fact, one of the dangers of allocating scientific work 

 wholly to government departments, which must, of necessity, largely 

 or wholly confine themselves to econcinic and directly utilitarian 

 scientific work. The organization of a government department is 

 not well adapted for the discovery of new scientific truths, and owe 

 can quite easily conceive the possibilitv of a zealous young officer 

 discovering some new fact which came within the scope of another 

 sub- department, being reproved for interference, while if he 

 discovered a new principle the adoption of which would involve 

 the re-organization of a department, he would probably be 

 prom.ptly suppressed. 



Science cannot be worked in rigidly water-tight compartments, 

 and scientific research is always essentially individualistic. 

 Bureaus and committees, as such, never have done, and never 

 will do, any scientific research. What they can do is to encourage, 

 to correlate, to subsidize, to guide and control, to make public 

 new work, and toi bring new principles into practical use. If 

 government bureaus and scientific departments turn their energies 

 in this direction they can do- great and useful work for science, 

 but if they are expected to take over all scientific work, academic 



