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NATURE 



[August 4, 192 1 



Another consequence of a strong research school 

 will be to attract from outside those engaged in 

 industry who have special problems of their own to 

 solve which cannot be so well dealt with in the labora- 

 tories to which they have access in works or else- 

 where. This should, of course, receive encourage- 

 ment. The introduction of outsiders of the right kind 

 to the laboratories is of service in several ways. It 

 "spreads the light" by keeping industrials informed 

 as to the progress of science and the improvements 

 of methods of investigation, and as to the precise 

 nature, cost, and limitations of scientific inquiry. It 

 impresses upon them the necessity for experimental 

 accuracy, and shows how closelv the sciences are now 

 interwoven, and how results obtained in one science 

 or branch may be imported to assist progress in 

 another. Better relations are established between the 

 institution and the industries surrounding it, mutual 

 confidence is engendered, and personal acquaintance 

 is encouraged to the advantage, on one hand, of the 

 industries, and, on the other, of the students who 

 may find eventual employment therein. 



A corollary is that in certain cases research by staff 

 or students may be in part carried on in works 

 laboratories outside the university, and the considera- 

 tions just set out apply as well to this case. Care is 

 requisite that industrial research should not de- 

 generate into anything of the nature of routine or 

 testing work. This should be excluded, and the uni- 

 versities should not in any way compete with firms 

 which specialise in this direction. Chily where this 

 class of work involves problems which are new or 

 exceptionally difficult, or need the employment, or 

 even formulation, of new principles, should it be 

 undertaken by university departments. 



The Product. 



The type of man which it should be the aim of the 

 universities to turn out should possess those qualities 

 which distinguish the best type of scientific man — 

 not merely knowledge of his subject and technical 

 ability to use that knowledge, but capability to intro- 

 duce the scientific method into his conduct of every- 

 day life and into his dealings with his colleagues and 

 subordinates. He must be willing to study all the 

 conditions of his problems before he is sufficiently 

 satisfied with their solution to carry them into effect. 

 These conditions require, not a solution, but the solu- 

 tion which can be brought into operation with the 

 least possible disturbance of the things that are, with- 

 out needless change of raw material, machinery, or 

 personnel, but with the advantage of diminished 

 cost, enlarged production, and increased value or 

 efficiency. 



If this is the aim, the product will be the best type 

 of technologist. He will not necessarily be the type 

 of man suited to occupy immediately the highest posi- 

 tion in his business. But the work given him to 



perform will be so well done that it will be impos- 

 sible for his character, competence, and ability long 

 to escape the watchful attention of his chiefs. It will 

 not be long before he is chosen for more and mare 

 responsible work until he attains high rank in his 

 profession. I do not believe it is possible that men 

 of managerial type, captains of industry, will ever 

 be technically trained as such. The universities 

 should endeavour to produce such a type of man that 

 his _ superiors will take him by force, and almost 

 against his will, from his technological work to direct 

 the bigger issues. 



Conclusions. 



(i) As much as in any other walk of life, the educa- 

 tion of the business man must be a liberal one. His 

 mind must be as agile, and he must be as well pro- 

 vided with intellectual weapons, as any other well- 

 educated man. 



(2) A course of technological education thoughtfully 

 laid out is, as an instrument for mind-training and 

 in the nature of the product turned out, in no way 

 inferior to the higher branches of language, litera- 

 ture, history, or philosophy. The work is as hard, 

 the problems to be solved as difficult, the reasoning 

 as acute, the intellectual joy in success as great; 

 while its urgency to the nation and to mankind is one 

 of the most pressing matters that educationists have 

 to face. 



(3) In the multiplicity and complexity of subjects 

 there is no longer timefw the most liberal of educa- 

 tions to be as broad as heretofore. Some universities 

 are even specialising in a single dead language as an 

 honours subject, holding, perhaps rightly, that a 

 thorough knowledge of one is better than what can 

 be attained, in the time available, of two. Techno- 

 logical education has anticipated this specialisation 

 only bv a few years. 



(4) There is no less worthiness and dignity in 

 the newer education than in the old. All higher 

 education is, and always has been, technological. The 

 learning of the older universities has been used, and 

 has even been moulded for the purpose, to equip the 

 parson, the poet, and the politician; and both the 

 peer and the proletarian can gain from the study of 

 classical literature some facts or theories to guide 

 them in their respective vocations. 



(5) The business man has good right to demand 

 that institutions of university rank shall supply his 

 demands as well as they have dealt with education 

 for the professions. The polytechnic system has not 

 had the success that was expected in educating his 

 foremen and workmen. He must not be again dis- 

 appointed when he seeks higher education for him- 

 self. He expects, and has a right to expect, that the 

 type of education he needs shall be, not a. by-play 

 or a by-product, but a worthy aim in itself ; and if 

 the universities will not give it to him, he will take his 

 own steps in the matter. 



The Exploitation of Irish Peit.^ 

 Bv Prof. Hugh Ryan. 



THERE are about 6,000,000 tons of turf used every 

 year in Ireland, but this quantity is almost in- 

 significant in comparison with the total amount, about 

 4,000,000,000 tons, which can be won from the bogs of 

 the country. The Irish Peat Inquiry Committee, of 

 which the present writer was a member, was appointed 



1 " The Winning, Preparation, and Use of Peat in Ireland." Reports and 

 other Documents. (Fuel Research Board. Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research, 1921.) 3s. 



NO. 2701, VOL. 107] 



to suggest what means should be taken to ascertain 

 the conditions under which the peat could be profitably 

 won, prepared, and used in the most favourably 

 situated localities. The main report of the Com- 

 mittee, which is contained in the publications under 

 notice, recommended the purchase by the State of a 

 large bog in which hand and mechanical methods of 

 winning peat could be tried side by side. These tests 

 would require to be continued over a long period if 



