H 



NATURE 



[NOVEMBZR 3, I91O 



be taken as an indication of the official attitude, and 

 the memorial as the attitude of the professed man 

 of science, towards agricultural research, and it is 

 interesting to compare them, to see what they have 

 in common and how far their differences are funda- 

 mental. 



From the fact that both publications, after a few 

 preliminary statements, come straight to one and the 

 same point, we may take it that this is regarded as 

 the real issue : Does Research pay ? The position of 

 the Board of Agriculture is thus set out : — 



A pviblic department when authorising the expenditure 

 of money on research is bound to take into consideration 

 the probable value of the work to the State. It cannot 

 rest satisfied with the assurance that sooner or later all 

 accessions to knowledge will benefit the country. The 

 taxpayer of to-day naturally wishes to see a return for 

 his contribution, if not in his own lifetime at least in that 

 of his children. It is obvious therefore that, as a matter 

 of elementary justice, the question of time must receive 

 consideration from any department entrusted with the 

 expenditure of State funds on research. 



On the other hand, the memorial states : — 



The committee of the British Science Guild would urge 

 very strongly that the value of investigation can rarely be 

 translated directly into terms of pecuniary gain. The 

 benefits lie more in the method of thought that is induced 

 among the farmers and those concerned in advising them, 

 in the stimulus it gives to a more exact conduct of the 

 business of farming, in the confidence with which men 

 take up the fresh resources which science and the indus- 

 tries are always putting at the disposal of agriculture, than 

 in any sudden revolutions effected by research. The fact 

 that the countries whose agriculture has made the greatest 

 advances in recent years are those which pay the greatest 

 attention to research is itself sufficient justification for 

 the action of the British Science Guild in urging the 

 British Government to move in this direction. 



Between these two positions there is a great gulf, 

 but one may hope that it will not prove impassable. 

 The Board of Agriculture has recently appointed a 

 committee, including several distinguished men of 

 science, to advise on questions dealing with research, 

 and doubtless a broad view will be taken of "the 

 probable value " of a piece of really good research 

 work. The memorial gives several instances where 

 research has directly resulted in financial gain to 

 farmers. An outstanding case is the use of super- 

 phosphate, which w'as discovered by Sir John Lawes, 

 and has been of enormous benefit to farmers. Den- 

 mark affords at least two good illustrations. Sonne's 

 work on barley has resulted in the general adoption 

 of a particular type of malting barley, so that the 

 yield has gone up three or four bushels per acre, and 

 the malting quality has become more uniform. The 

 whole butter industry is founded on scientific control. 

 Nilson's work in Gothland, Sweden, is also mentioned. 

 More than 30,000 hectares of this island consisted 

 of sterile swamps. Nilson proved by careful investi- 

 gations that the factor causing sterilitv was deficiencv 

 of phosphates ; when these were supplied the richest 

 crops of corn, rape, and sugar-beet could be 

 secured. He further devised a suitable phosphatic 

 manure out of a rather poor phosphatic mineral in 

 the north of Sweden. Coming to our own Colonies, 

 the control of live stock diseases in the Transvaal 

 furnishes an illustration. 



At the end of the war the whole country was ravaged 

 by various diseases, which had reached the country at an 

 earlier period, but had been distributed broadcast by the 

 movements of horses and stock during the war — rinder- 

 pest, redwater. East Coast fever, in succession had 

 attacked the cattle, until few were left in the colony, and 

 importations died as rapidly as they were introduced. 

 Sheep and horses were equally affected, until stock raising 



NO. 2140, VOL. 85] 



of any description seemed an impossibility. The invest, 

 gations, however, conducted by Dr. Theiler for the Trani 

 vaal Department of Agriculture into the causes of thes. 

 diseases have resulted in a number of methods of immuni 

 sation, which, coupled with veterinary regulations as 

 the movements of stock, are now rendering the countr 

 habitable by cattle again and the business of agricultui^ 

 once more possible- 

 Many other instances might have been given, but! 

 the memorialists very wisely do not allow themselves 

 to be drawn into a false position, and repeatedly urge 

 that the results of research work cannot usually be 

 translated direct into terms of general practice. They! 

 decline, in short, to regard the probable financial value 

 of a particular piece of work as the only criterion of 

 its usefulness. This is, of course, the position one 

 expects from the British Science Guild, but it must 

 also be remembered that the attitude of the Board is.] 

 unquestionably that of a large body of the public. 



In reading the two publications it becomes evident,! 

 that the word "research" is used in rather a different 

 sense in each of them. The Board's report states that 

 "research must satisfy one or both of two conditions 

 (i) it must, as a result of observation or experiment, 

 result in the collection of fresh facts ; (2) it must 

 involve an examination of the facts collected, or 

 phenomena observed, and the reduction of them to a 

 form in which they constitute an addition to know- 

 ledge." This definition is not adhered to, and work 

 that is primarily educational, such as demonstration 

 trials and tests, is apparently classed as research. 

 The memorial recognises the difficulty of drawing a 

 hard and fast line, but adopts this as a working 

 definition: — "Work which is published only in the 

 annual reports of the institution may be regarded as 

 educational, work also published by one of the learnedj 

 societies or in the Journal of Agricultural Science 

 may be treated as research." 



This difference of view explains why the memc 

 rialists only put the number of colleges where researct 

 has been done at seven, whilst the Board consider 

 that research is being done at all the colleges. So fai 

 as the demonstration trials are concerned the Board's 

 position is sound ; such demonstrations are intended 

 to improve practice, and must obviously be judged on 

 their profitableness. Only in regard to researchj 

 proper is there any difference of opinion, and here the 

 difference is fundamental. It would, however, be 

 premature and ungracious to labour this point ; the 

 Board's advisory committee is only just appointed^ 

 and it is clear that an open mind prevails : — " It is noti 

 usually a difficult task to distinguish research from 

 spurious imitations, on the other hand it may at times, 

 be difficult to say whether a particular piece of re-' 

 search is, or is not, entitled to receive aid from agri-^ 

 cultural funds. One may be permitted to express the 

 hope that the public interested will not take a narroV 

 view on this point." 



The object of the British Science Guild memorii 

 was to urge the necessity of "granting adequate^ 

 assistance for the continuous conduct of scientific 

 investigations having for their object the development 

 of agricultural production." No scheme is fore- 

 shadowed ; indeed, any attempt would have been out 

 of place, 



. The report of the Board of Agriculture, whilst it 

 does not set out a scheme, discusses the general lines 

 on which one might be based. In the first instance, 

 "At the present time the number of well-qualified 

 men engaged in agricultural Investigation in this 

 country is relatively small and one of our chief aims 

 in expending additional funds should be to establish 

 a system which will bring agricultural science suit- 

 able recruits." But when we come to inquire the 

 meaning of " suitable recruits," we learn that " the 



