PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Ixxxvii. 



inaugurated last October, under high patronage, to impress 

 upon the inhabitants of the British Empire. 



Mainly through the munificent gift of 100,000 by Messrs. 

 Wernher, Beit, and Co., a Royal College of Science is to be 

 established at South Kensington, where the highest specialised 

 instruction will be given, and the fullest equipment for the most 

 advanced training and research provided in various branches of 

 science, especially in its application to industry. Much has 

 been lost to us through the want of scientific appreciation on 

 the part of capitalists and others, as in the coal tar colour 

 industries, which had their birth in a British invention of 

 50 years ago, but have practically gone to make an extensive 

 manufacture for Germany. We can only hope, however, that 

 the new college will give a great impulse to scientific training in 

 this country. It is satisfactory that the advantages of such a 

 training are felt by the Secretary of State for War in the case of 

 our officers. 



Besides this central scheme, Sheffield is to have a University ; 

 the University College of South Wales is in course of erection at 

 Cardiff, which is also the town chosen to contain the future 

 National Welsh Museum, the National Welsh Library being 

 destined to be located at Aberystwith, and the New Museum 

 and Laboratories of Zoology at Liverpool were opened last 

 November. On the other hand, Oxford estimates her require- 

 ments at something more than half a million, as well as a large 

 yearly increase of income, which there seems no present means 

 of obtaining. 



A Government inquiry was ordered recently to discover to 

 what extent the high duty on pure alcohol had a depressing 

 effect on certain trades in which that substance was employed, 

 especially in regard to the anilime dye manufacture, which has 

 been almost lost to this country, but the evidence did not prove 

 this to be the chief cause. In many manufactures methylated 

 spirit is equally as good as pure spirit, and the price is far lower, 

 but in some the finished article cannot be well made unless 

 the alcohol is pure. The question is still under consideration, 



