118 president's address SECTION B. 



Stock ; these researches are the moi-e welcome as coming- from labora- 

 tories in which the amount of routine work is so great as to compel all 

 research work to be carried out under conditions of the greatest 

 difficulty. The names which I have mentioned by no means conclude 

 the list of our chemical investigators. They suffice, however, to show 

 that our people are not lacking in the power to do good research work. 

 (3.) Are our educational systems to blame for the compara- 

 tively small amount of attention which has been paid to 

 research 1 

 To a large extent I believe that tliey arfe to blame. The trail of 

 the examination has mined many courses of study. The Australasian 

 is a great lover of examinations, and to many parents it seems more 

 important that their childi-en should receive certificates of com- 

 petency without being proficient rather than that they should possess 

 the proficiency without the certificate. It is, to my mind, absurd that 

 the degree of B.Sc. should be conferred upon any student until he lias 

 shown that he has the ability to carry out a simple investigation in 

 some experimental science. I am not an extreme advocate of the 

 heuristic method, but I do believe that very early in a student's career- 

 he should leani that he has the power of finding out things for him- 

 self, that these things are wortli finding out, and tliat he commits an 

 immoral act if he does not make it his business to find them out. To 

 those who raise objections I would remark that the knack of investiga- 

 tion, like dancing, can only be leanit by doing it. 



(4.) Are our professors and teachers responsible for tlie present 

 state of affairs 1 



Some portion of the blame undoubtedly rests at our door, for, 

 with the exception of Orme Masson, none of us has succeeded in form- 

 ing a recognised research school. Unquestionably, the most important 

 function of a university professor is to set the ideal towards which his 

 students must strain. In too many cases, however, teachers of 

 chemistiy have taken the path 'of least resistance, and accepted as 

 inevitable the lack of ideals on the part of their less privileged fellow- 

 men. I have even heard professors maintain that no student should be 

 allowed to think about research work imtil after graduation ; an 

 attitude of mind calculated to destroy all youthful enthusiasm. The 

 student whose attention is not directed to the importance of research 

 work leanis to look upon the text book and the examination as the 

 two most important factors in a university education, and I fear that 

 many of us have been satisfied that this should be the case. After all, 

 research students cause some inconvenience to a professor; they stick 

 so tenaciously to the laboratoiy, and they are for ever asking- ques- 

 tions. If we can postpone their research work until the time when 

 they can have no opportunity for doing it we shall be saved much 

 wony and inconvenience. 



If a professor does not himself engage in research work it is 

 imlikely that his students wi'.l wish to do so. In his early researches 

 a student needs much sympathy and encouragement. Apparent 

 failures do much to discourage the youthful investigator, but a little 

 sympathetic advice readily impresses the lesson that the failures teach 

 as important lessons as the successes. 



