142 



NATURE 



[Dec. 23, 1875 



"The real advancement of science needs, as Lord 

 Derby says, leisure, and the power and opportunity of 

 purely disinterested study. In this sense all scientific 

 men will agree with Lord Derby that science needs more 

 help. We have, indeed, in England, some very illus- 

 trious living examples of men who not only teach, as 

 a daily and laborious duty, the methods and results 

 of scientific investigation, but who have themselves, in 

 a precious and hard-earned leisure, carried that inves- 

 tigation far forward along paths hitherto untrodden. But 

 it has occurred to every reader of their writings to ask 

 what they might have added to the world's knowledge 

 had they been able to devote their whole time and strength 

 to their favourite pursuit. There is a growing conviction 

 that investigation of this kind, as apart from teaching, 

 ought to be encouraged by the State. Lord Derby would 

 not grudge it help, even from national resources ; but he 

 throws out a suggestion which may be commended to the 

 notice of men who, like the late member for Bridport, 

 have money to leave, and are on the look-out for 

 heirs. We have, as Lord Derby says, bequests of all 

 kinds ; and it would be a welcome sign that science had 

 been made popular, even in a sense he would approve, if 

 bequests of large sums to endow original research should 

 come into fashion." 



The Daily Telegraph says : — 



"And here the speaker could not but touch on the 

 question of the better endowment of scientific research, 

 which he disposed of by heartily wishing that such bene- 

 volent people as give half a million to a charity, or to the 

 Kirk of Scotland, would turn the stream of Pactolus upon 

 the dry ground of natural science. There is no soil which 

 would yield back more profitable harvests. A discovery 

 in mechanics or physics benefits all mankind ; and great 

 investigations are undoubtedly kept in abeyance for want 

 of the help which society does not, and the Government 

 cannot, bestow. Lord Derby, indeed, expressed himself 

 willing to advocate all that could be done in this direction 

 by a Government ; but his opinion is that the community 

 must take up the question, if anything really large was to 

 be hoped for, though something might, perhaps, be 

 effected by the careful application of old endowments, 

 upon which point the Lord Rector uttered some observa- 

 tions balanced so finely that a pinch of the dust of a 

 ' dead founder ' would turn his well-trimmed scales." 



The Globe speaks as follows : — 



" Valuable as were the hints suggested on what may be 

 described as the conduct of intellectual life, still greater 

 interest attaches to Lord Derby's observations on the 

 subject of scientific research and University Reform. On 

 the former topic scientific men have sometimes talked 

 rather wildly of late, as if it were the duty of the State to 

 provide an elaborate scheme for the endowment of 

 science. Lord Derby did not accept this view ; but he 

 distinctly laid it down that the community has not yet 

 realised the vastness of its obligations to science, and 

 that, when it does so, much larger funds will be devoted 

 to its encouragement than are now available. He also 

 declared that, for his own part, he would not object to the 

 State doing something to foster original research. These 

 utterances will be eagerly fastened on by scientific men, 

 but it may perhaps be questioned whether the difficulties 

 in the way of defijiite action are not somewhat underrated. 

 By what test would it be possible to select the men who 

 should be supported for the purpose of extending the 

 bounds of science ? And if this difficulty were overcome, 

 how could an assurance be given that the opportunities 

 secured would be applied to the best advantage ? Wou] d 

 it not be necessary to associate duties with the righ ts 

 conferred on successful candidates ? These and other 

 obstacles may not be insuperable ; but they will have to 

 be thoroughly considered before a large additional expen- 

 diture is undertaken on behalf of science. Perhaps the 

 best solution would be a generous endowment of scien- 



tific professorships — by private liberality, if possible— in 

 connection with which there would be teaching to some 

 slight extent, but not so much as would interfere with 

 work of a high kind." 



According to the Hour — 



" Perhaps that which will seem to English readers the 

 most important part of Lord Derby's address is that rela- 

 tive to the importance of scientific research." 



The Scotsman has the following : — 



" Lord Derby does not know much about science, but 

 he knows enough to have a clear view of the truth that 

 ' science, in the strict sense of the word, can never be 

 popular.' He also sees plainly enough that, as a conse- 

 quence of this, science as a pursuit can never pay. 

 Nothing in his address is more important or more just 

 than his plea for the endowment of science, coupled as i^ 

 is with an expresson of his individual willingness that 

 some aid should be given to science by the State. It is 

 plain, too, that Lord Derby thinks that something might 

 be got from our older endowments for this object, without 

 doing injustice to anyone, living or dead." 



The Glasgow Herald thus writes : — 



" Scientific culture seems to command the largest share 

 of Lord Derby's sympathies. Those who have the taste 

 for the investigation of material objects ' have the satis- 

 faction of knowing that while satisfying one of the deepest 

 wants of their own nature, they are at the same time 

 promoting, in the most effectual manner, the interests of 

 mankind.' There is, in other words, the investigation 

 of the unknown, and a service of utility rendered to man- 

 kind. Then, the charm of scientific studies to Lord 

 Derby lies in their definiteness. The student is held 

 down to the facts of nature ; if he investigates them at all 

 he must investigate them thoroughly. He knows nothing 

 till he knows all that the facts reveal. Popular science 

 is, to his mind, a misnomer. Science can never be 

 popular, for its study involves leisure, careful industry, 

 and patient waiting and watching. He is so convinced 

 of the advantages of cultivating the study of nature that 

 he would not be averse to a Government endowment." 



It wiU thus be seen that public opinion, so far as we 

 at present have been able to glean it, approves of the 

 views expressed by Lord Derby ; we cannot therefore 

 doubt that Government will take an early opportunity 

 of giving them practical effect. 



AFRICAN HANDIWORK 

 Aries Africanae. By Dr. Georg Schweinfurth. With 

 twenty-one lithographic plates. (London : Sampson 

 Low and Co., 1875.) 



•T^'HE title of this work may perhaps be thought too 

 -L comprehensive, the author having, wisely as we think, 

 confined himself to the arts of the negro tribes visited by 

 him in the vicinity of the White Nile between the equator 

 and about 12^ north latitude. 



Africa may be divided into three regions, correspond- 

 ing to the movements of trade. In the northern half of 

 the continent where Islamism and firearms have pene- 

 trated, home-made goods have been supplanted by Euro- 

 pean commodities and the last traces of native industry 

 threaten shortly to disappear. An intermediate zone in 

 which the cotton stuffs of Europe are made the chief 

 articles of trade intervenes between this and the interior, 

 where European goods are unknown and native arts are 

 found in their most primitive condition. It is to a portion 

 of this latter region that Dr. Schweinfurth's work relates. 

 The tribes of the White Nile were first visited by 

 Consul Petherick in 1857-8, and many specimens of their 

 arts which were brought home by him have since been 



