Sept. 7, 1876] 



NATURE 



397 



atmospheres. Among the many elements that make up the 

 ordinary aerolite, not one has been discovered which does not 

 occur upon this earth. On the whole, we arrive at the grand 

 conclusion that this mighty universe is chiefly built up of the 

 same materials as the globe we inhabit. 



In the application of science to the useful purposes of life, 

 chemistry and mechanics have run an honourable race. It was 

 in the valley of the Clyde that the chief industry of this country 

 received, within the memory of many here present, an extra- 

 ordinary impulse from the application by Neilson of the hot 

 blast to the smelting of iron. The Bessemer steel process and 

 the regenerative furnace of Siemens are later applications of high 

 scientific principles to the same industry. But there is ample 

 work yet to be done. The fuel consumed in the manufacture of 

 iron — as, indeed, in every furnace where coal is used — is greatly 

 in excess of what theory indicates ; and the clouds of smoke 

 which darken the atmosphere of our manufacturing towns, and 

 even of whole districts of country, are a clear indication of the 

 waste, but only of a small portion of the waste, arising from 

 imperfect combustion. The depressing effect of this atmosphere 

 upon the working population can scarcely be ovei rated. Their 

 pale — I had almost said etiolated — faces are a sure indication of 

 the absence of the vivifying influence of the solar rays, so essential 

 to the maintenance of vigorous health. The chemist can furnish 

 a simple test of this state of the atmosphere in the absence of 

 ozone — the active form of oxygen — from the air of our large 

 towns. At some future day the efforts of science to isolate, by 

 a cheap and available process, the oxygen of the air for industrial 

 purposes may be rewarded with success. The effect of such a 

 discovery would be to reduce the consumption of fuel to a frac- 

 tional part of its present amount ; and although the carbonic acid 

 would remain, the smoke and carbonic oxide would disappear. 

 But an abundant supply of pure oxygen is not now within our 

 reach ; and in the meantime may I venture to suggest that in 

 many localities the waste products of the furnace might be carried 

 off to a distance from the busy human hive by a few horizontal 

 flues of large dimensions, terminating in lofty chimneys on a 

 hill-side or distant plain? A system of this kind has long been 

 employed at the mercurial mines of Idria, and in other smelting- 

 works where noxious vapours are disengaged. With a little care 

 in the arrangements the smoke would be wholly deposited, as 

 flue- dust or soot, in the horizontal galleries, and would be avail- 

 able for the use of the agriculturist. 



The future historian of organic chemistry will have to record 

 a succession of beneficent triumphs, in which the efforts of 

 science have led to results of the highest value to the well-being 

 of man. The discovery of quinine has probably saved more 

 human life, with the exception of that of vaccination, than any 

 discovery of any age; and he who succeeds in devising an arti- 

 ficial method of preparing it will be truly a benefactor of the 

 race. Not the least valuable, as it has been one of the most 

 successful, of the works \oi our Government in India has been 

 the planting of the cinchona-tree on the slopes of the Himalaya. 

 As artificial methods are discovered, one by one, of preparing 

 the proximate principles of the useful dyes, a temporary derange- 

 ment of industry occurs, but in the end the waste materials 

 of our manufactures set free large portions of the soil for the 

 production of human food. 



The ravages of insects have ever been the terror of the agri- 

 culturist, and the injury they inflict is often incalculable. An 

 tnemy of this class, carried over from America, threatened lately 

 with ruin some of the finest vine districts in the south of France. 

 The occasion has called forth a chemist of high renown ; and in 

 a classical memoir recently published, M. Dumas appears to have 

 resolved the difficult problem. His method, although imme- 

 diately applied to the Fhylloxeia of the vine, is a general one, 

 and will no doubt be found serviceable in other cases. In the 

 apterous state the Phylloxera attacks the roots of the plant ; and 

 the most efficacious method hitherto known of destroying it has 

 been to inundate the vineyard. After a long and patient investi- 

 gation, M. Dumas has discovered that the sulphocarbonate of 

 potassium, in dilute solution, fulfils every condition required from 

 an insecticide, destroying the insect without injuring the plant. 

 The process requires time and patience ; but the trials in the 

 vineyard have fully confirmed the experiments of the laboratory. 



The application of artificial cold to practical purposes is rapidly 

 extending ; and, with the improvement of the ice machine, the 

 influence of this agent upon our supply of animal food from 

 distant countries will undoubtedly be immense. The ice machine 

 is already employed in paraffin-works and in large breweries ; 

 and the curing or salting of meat is now largely conducted in 



vast chambers, maintained throughout the summer at a constant 

 temperature by a thick covering of ice. 



I have now completed this brief review, rendered difBcuIt by 

 the abundance, not by the lack of materials. Even confining our 

 attention to the few branches of science upon which I have 

 ventured to touch, and omitting altogether the whole range of 

 pure chemistry, it is with regret that I find myself constrained to 

 make only a simple reference to the important work of Cayley on 

 the Mathematical Theory of Isomers, and to elaborate memoirs 

 which have recently appeared in Germany on the reflection of 

 heat- and light-rays, and on the specific heat and conducting- 

 power of gases for hea^, by Knoblauch, E. Wiedemann, Winkel- 

 mann, and Buff. 



The decline of science in England formed the theme, fifty 

 years ago, of an elaborate essay by Babbage ; but the brilliant 

 discoveries of Faraday soon after wiped off the reproach. I will 

 not venture to say the alarm which has lately arisen, here and 

 elsewhere, on the same subject will prove to be equally ground- 

 less. The duration of every great outburst of human activity, 

 whether in art, in literature, or in science, has always been short, 

 and experimental science has made gigantic advances during 

 the last three centuries. The evidence of any great failure is 

 not, however, very manifest, at least in the physical sciences. 

 The journal of Poggendorff, which has long been a faithful 

 record of the progress of physical research throughout the world, 

 shows no sign of flagging ; and the Jubelband by which Germany 

 celebrated the fiftieth year of Poggendorff 's invaluable services 

 was at the same time an ovation to a scientific veteran who has 

 perhaps done more than any man living to encourage the highest 

 forms of research, and a proof that in Northern Europe the phy- 

 sical sciences continue to be ably and actively cultivated. If in 

 chemistry the case is somewhat weaker, the explanation, at least 

 in this country, is chiefly to be found in the demand on the part 

 of the public for professional aid from many of our ablest 

 chemists. 



But whatever view be taken of the actual condition ot 

 scientific research, there can be no doubt that it is both the 

 duty and the interest of the country to encourage a pursuit so 

 ennobling in itself, and fraught with such important consequences 

 to the well-being of the community. Nor is there any question 

 in which this Association, whose special aim is the advancement 

 of science, can take a deeper interest. The public mind has also 

 been awakened to its importance, and is prepared to aid in 

 carrying out any proposal which offers a reasonable prospect of 

 advantage. 



In its recent phase the question of scientific research has been 

 mixed up with contemplated changes in the great Universities of 

 England, and particularly in the University of Oxford. The 

 national interests involved on all sides are immense, and a false 

 step once taken may be irretrievable. It is with diffidence that 

 I now refer to the subject, even after having given to it the most 

 anxious and careful consideration. 



As regards the higher mathematics, their cultivation has hitherto 

 been chiefly confined to the Universities of Cambridge and Dublin, 

 and two great mathematical schools will ^ probably be suffi- 

 cient for the kingdom. The case of the physical and natural 

 sciences is different, and they ought to be cultivated in the 

 largest and widest sense at every complete university. Nor, in 

 applying this remark to the English Universities, must we forget 

 that if Cambridge was the alma matiroi Newton and Cavendish, 

 Oxford gave birth to the Royal Society, The ancient renown of 

 Oxford will surely not suffer, while her material position cannot 

 fail to be strengthened, by the expansion of scientific studies and 

 the encouragement of scientific research within her walls. Nor 

 ought such a proposal to be regarded as in any way hostile to 

 the literary studies, and especially to the ancient classical studies, 

 which have always been so carefully cherished at Oxford. If, 

 indeed, there were any such risk, few would hesitate to exclaim 

 — let science shift elsewhere for herself, and let literature and 

 philosophy find shelter in Oxford ! But there is no ground for 

 any such anxiety. Literature and science, philosophy and art, 

 when properly cultivated, far from opposing, will mutually aid 

 one another. There will be ample room for all, and by judicious 

 arrangements all may receive the attention they deserve. 



A University, or Studium Generale, ought to embrace in its 

 arrangements the whole circle of studies which involve the 

 material interests of society, as well as those which cultivate 

 intellectual refinement. The industries of the country should 

 look to the universities for the development of the principles of 

 applied as well as of abstract science ; and in this respect no 

 institutions have ever had so grand a possession within easy 



