356 FARADAY. 



address, acknowledges that the present time is "momentous." In truth the 

 question of the present condition of Science and the ways of improving it, is 

 occupying men's minds more than it has ever done before ; and it is now 

 conceded on all sides that this is a national question, and not only so, hut 

 one of fundamental importance. Now what is the present condition of English 

 Science? It is simply this, that while the numbers of our professors and their 

 emoluments are increasing, while the number of students is increasing, while 

 practical instruction is being introduced and text-books multiplied, while the 

 number and calibre of popular lecturers and popular writers in Science is 

 increasing, original research, the fountain-head of a nation's wealth, is decreasing. 



Now a scientific man is useful as such to a nation according to the amount 

 of new knowledge with which he endows that nation. This is the test which 

 the nation, as a whole, applies, and Faraday's national reputation rests on it. 

 Let the nation know then that the real difficulty at present is this ; we want 

 more Faradays ; in other words more men working at new knowledge. 



It is refreshing to see this want so clearly stated in the Presidential 

 Address : 



"The first thing wanted for the work of advancing science is a supply of 

 well-qualified workers. The second thing is to place and keep them under the 

 conditions most favourable to their efficient activity. The most suitable men 

 must be found while still young, and trained to the work. Now I know only 

 one really effectual way of finding the youths who are best endowed by nature 

 for the purpose ; and that is to systematise and develop the natural conditions 

 which accidentally concur in particular cases, and enable youths to rise from 

 the crowd. 



" Investigators, once found, ought to be placed in the circumstances most 

 favourable to their efficient activity. 



" The first and most fundamental condition for this is, that their desire for 

 the acquisition of knowledge be kept alive and fostered. They must not merely 

 retain the hold which they have acquired on the general body of their science ; 

 they ought to strengthen and extend that hold, by acquiring a more complete 

 and accurate knowledge of its doctrines and methods ; in a word, they ought 

 to be more thorough students than during their state of preliminary training. 



"They must be able to live by their work, without diverting any of their 

 energies to other pursuits; and they must feel security against want, in the 

 event of illness or in their old age. 



