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into consideration the important question, whether any measures 

 could be adopted by the Government or Parliament that would im- 

 prove the position of science in this country ? and that, having 

 elicited and duly weighed the opinions of all those most competent 

 to give advice on the subject, we had finally adopted those resolutions 

 and forwarded them to Lord Palmerston. This step was taken in the 

 beginning of this year. The measures recommended by them relate, 

 first, to education, and they are contained in Nos. 1 to 4 inclusive ; 

 secondly, there are others which have for their object the encourage- 

 ment of scientific discovery and research, and these are Nos. 5 to 9 

 inclusive ; and thirdly, Nos. 10 to 12 suggest measures, which, while 

 they are calculated to confer great benefit on cultivators of science, 

 are yet of still greater importance, when viewed in their bearings 

 upon the interests of the nation at large. Although I shall have 

 occasion to allude to some of the other recommendations, it is with 

 respect only to the last-mentioned that I shall trouble you with any 

 detailed observations. 



Many here present will doubtless be able to recall to their recol- 

 lection instances in which great mistakes have been committed for 

 want either of access to competent scientific advice, or from reluct- 

 ance to refer to it, when access was easy ; but those who are fa- 

 miliar with the mode of conducting public affairs in this country, 

 and at the same time duly appreciate the value of scientific research, 

 are best able to estimate the extent of this evil ; and to such persons 

 it is distressing sometimes to witness the injudicious expenditure of 

 large sums of money, while the same sums bestowed upon other and 

 more generally beneficial objects, and under proper advice, might 

 have been productive of very valuable results. But this is not all ; 

 for, side by side with this wasteful expenditure, we are compelled to 

 witness the most rigid parsimony, where a little money timely be- 

 stowed upon the furtherance of some measure recommended by com- 

 petent authority might have borne fruit a hundredfold. 



Your President and Council have ventured to think, that, if the 

 Government could be induced to consult some responsible body of 

 scientific men, either one already existing, or to be specially con- 

 stituted for that purpose, some of these evils, so far as they affect 

 science at least, might be averted ; and happy indeed would it be for 

 those researches and investigations in which we all take so deep an 



