34 



DISCOVERY 



practical application, are understood only by men of 

 science themselves. 



It would be a revelation to people endowed with a 

 larger share of worldly riches to be present at a meeting 

 of the Committee of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science concerned with the allocation 

 of grants for scientific purposes. Thirty or forty of the 

 leading men of science in the British Isles debate for 

 several hours how to divide the sum of about 1,000 

 which represents the amount available from the sale 

 of tickets at each annual meeting. There are many 

 applications for grants from committees of each of the 

 twelve sections of the Association, and the amount 

 required has usually to be whittled down to 5 or 10, 

 which often does not cover the expense of stationery 

 and postage of a research committee. Not one penny 

 goes into the pockets of the men who are conducting the 

 researches, yet claim after claim has to be passed, or 

 reduced to its lowest limits, because the fund is miserably 

 inadequate to meet the demands made upon it. 



The Royal Society was unable to find the money 

 required to print Newton's Principia a work which 

 will always be regarded as one of the most remarkable 

 products of the human intellect that the world has 

 ever seen and it was published at the expense of his 

 friend Halley. Our scientific societies are in little better 

 position to-day. Their members most of whom possess 

 but very slender means pay by their own subscriptions 

 for the publication of the results of their investigations. 

 They sacrifice their leisure, and draw upon their limited 

 resources, not only that knowledge may be increased, 

 but also that the gain may be published to the world, 

 which is free to make use of it. 



It is difficult for the man of the world to understand 



