4QO 



NATURE 



[December 15, 1921 



of achievement." The task before the boards is 

 not an easy one ; in most cases they can only give 

 advice, though where a research is financed by 

 a board they have more power, and success 

 depends on the friendly co-operation established 

 between the board and those in charge of the 

 work at the various departmental laboratories. 

 The officers of the boards are fully aware of this, 

 and the relations which have been established are 

 thoroughly satisfactory. 



Turning now to the research associations 

 established under clause (ii) of the original scheme 

 as special institutions "for the scientific study of 

 problems affecting industries and trades," there 

 are, as has already been stated, twenty-six of 

 these. The Report gives an account of the work 

 of some, and of these perhaps the most important 

 is the British Cotton Industry Research Associa- 

 tion shortly to find a permanent home at Didsbury, 

 near Manchester. Its programme of research 

 directs attention to two possible lines of advance : 



"(i) To attack problems directly by methods 

 based on past experience without seeking to in- 

 vestigate the fundamental nature of the process. 



" (2) To try to understand the chemical and 

 physical changes produced during manufacture, 

 and so to establish gradually a broad roadway 

 along which future advances may be made." 



The Cotton Association proposes to seek the 

 advance of the industry mainly by the second line. 

 Its directors have realised the necessity of funda- 

 mental research, a matter to which we return 

 below, but this recognition is apparently not 

 shared by all the associations, for a warning given 

 in the last Report against the short-sighted policy 

 of confining research associations to the search 

 for results of immediate commercial value is re- 

 peated. 



The actual results achieved by the twenty-six 

 associations are somewhat meagre, but three 

 years, the time which has elapsed since the first 

 was founded, is too short a period in which to 

 expect much of fundamental value. The Council 

 point out that it is premature to look to the re- 

 search associations yet for convincing proof of 

 the effectiveness of co-operative industrial re- 

 search, and with this view there will probably be 

 general agreement. Still, there are difficulties to 

 be surmounted. Among them one discussed at 

 one of the conferences of associations held at the 

 Department is of great importance : To what ex- 

 tent may an association undertake for its members 

 work of a kind hitherto carried out by the pro- 

 NO. 2720, VOL. 108] 



fessional analyst or testing engineer? The view 

 was urged by some that consulting work was of 

 definite value to the progress of research, while 

 another association felt that research should only 

 be carried to the initial stage of practical applica- 

 tion, the individual firms being left to work out 

 the method of applying the new knowledge to 

 their own particular problems. On this point one 

 may ask the question. Can they do it? Much 

 depends, no doubt,' on the problem; in any in- 

 dustry there are probably a number of large firms 

 with their own scientific staffs who have ample 

 opportunity for working out the details of a new 

 process, and it is likely that this can be done to 

 greater advantage in the works than in the re- 

 search association laboratory. But this does not 

 apply to the small firms to be found in large 

 numbers in any industry, which, if the asso- 

 ciation is to benefit the trade, must be brought 

 in and given the means of utilising the results. 

 Experience shows that a process has to be 

 carried a long way before it can be usefully applied 

 by such firms, and while this is not the same as 

 undertaking consulting work, it must be carried 

 out at the laboratory of the association. It will be^ 

 found, no doubt, in the long run, that no rigid rule| 

 can be laid down. Each association must work] 

 out for itself the problem of combining pure re-j 

 search with industrial practice. 



This naturally leads to a consideration of the] 

 steps the Council is taking to encourage purel 

 research dealt with under (i) and (iii) of thej 

 original scheme, though, did space permit, muchj 

 more might be written about the work of thej 

 other committees and boards of the Departments 

 Encouragement is given (a) by financing specificj 

 researches carried out by competent men, and! 

 (b) by research studentships. The applications] 

 for grants are divided into those (i) for students! 

 in training, (2) for research workers or research! 

 assistants, (3) for laboratory or clerical assistants,! 

 and (4) for equipment. 



The applications numbered 333 in all, ofl 

 which 245 were granted, 36 refused, and ^^x 

 referred elsewhere. Of the 245 granted, 132J 

 went to students in training and 70 tol 

 research workers or assistants; of the 132I 

 students in training, 95 are engaged in chemical 

 work, but comparatively few of these, we ma) 

 surmise, are doing fundamental research ; the] 

 have not yet reached the stage at which this isj 

 possible, being still " in training " ; some few maj 

 in time become research workers and add to thel 



