PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 21 



Britain and Ireland, which is to be supplied with large sums 

 of money for carrying out its objects. Scientific Research 

 has been hitherto so little valued in this country that it has 

 been left almost entirely to voluntary effort, and it is only 

 comparatively few who could afford to devote to it the energy 

 and time it requires. It is to be hoped that the lesson of 

 the war will remain with us, and that Research will never 

 be allowed to sink into its former condition. The results 

 of Research are, in their nature, necessarily uncertain, and 

 many of the investigations undertaken are apparently un- 

 productive, but a certain small proportion are of such 

 immense value as fully to justify the whole. Many of the 

 great companies in America support a large Research 

 laboratory, but in England they have been very few up to 

 the present. They will doubtless, however, now increase 

 in numbers and efficiency. Science is also becoming more 

 prominent in school work, which will in time cause its true 

 value to be more generally appreciated, and, it may be hoped, 

 diminish the short-sighted policy of obstruction to Research 

 amongst Labour organizations, which often proves a hindrance 

 to progress. The metric and decimal systems have been 

 adopted by various firms in America with a view to facilitating 

 the supply of goods to France and other countries whers they 

 are used, and the same thing seems to be on the increase in 

 this country. Much as we may dislike the idea of parting 

 with our old-established yards and inches, it would probably 

 make a considerable difference in our trade if we were to 

 make up our minds to do so. It would probably be long 

 before the old measures absolutely died out, for, as has lately 

 been pointed out, even in France the old Paris inch is pre- 

 served in the sizes of stockings, the width of cloths, and 

 elsewhere. A step in another direction is the establishment 

 of a School of Oriental Studies, which will doubtless serve 

 to bind us more closely to our vast Asiatic possessions and 

 to our talented Eastern Ally, Japan. In this connection 

 it is interesting to note the preparation of a series of gramo- 

 phone records of several Indian languages, by order of the 



