I 



NATURE 



285 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1875 



THE SCIENCE COMMISSION REPORT ON 

 THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



SINCE our last week's issue two Reports of the above 

 Commission have been issued, one of them, the 

 Eighth and Final Report, dealing especially with the 

 Advancement of Science. 



We attach so much importance to this branch of the 

 inquiry entrusted to the Commission, that we shall deal 

 with the Eighth Report first ; and as the Recommendations 

 which the Commission make and the Considerations which 

 have led up to them have long been anxiously looked for, 

 we shall defer any remarks of our own this week, in order to 

 give the Considerations and Recommendations in extcnso. 

 The following are the various branches into which the 

 Report is divided : — 



1. The Scientific Work carried on by Departments of 

 the Government. 



2. The Assistance at present given by the State towards 

 the promotion of Scientific Research. 



3. The Assistance which it is desirable the State should 

 give towards that object. 



4. The Central Organisation which is best calculated 

 to enable the Government to determine its action in all 

 questions affecting Science. 



The general remarks made by the Commission on the 

 evidence adduced on the first three heads are as follows : — 



" The great advances in physical science which have 

 been made in this country, and within this century, by 

 such men as Dalton, Davy, and Faraday, without aid 

 from the State ; the existence of our numerous learned 

 societies, and the devotion of some few rich individuals 

 to the current work of science, at first sight appear to 

 reduce the limits within which State aid to research is 

 required in this country. 



" But whilst we have reason to be proud of the contri- 

 butions of some great Englishmen to our knowledge of 

 the aws of nature, it must be admitted that at the present 

 day scientific investigation is carried on abroad to an 

 extent and with a completeness of organisation to which 

 this country can offer no parallel. The work done in this 

 country by private individuals, although of great value, is 

 small when compared with that which is needed in the 

 interests of science ; and the efforts of the learned societies, 

 not excepting the Royal Society, are directed to the dis- 

 cussion and publication of the scientific facts brought 

 under their notice ; these societies do not consider it any 

 part of their corporate functions to undertake or conduct 

 research. 



"It will have been seen, from the extracts from the 

 evidence, that amongst the witnesses who have advocated 

 an increase of State assistance are some who have made 

 great sacrifices in time and money in the cause of scien- 

 tific research. 



" But whatever may be the disposition of individuals to 

 conduct researches at their own cost, the advancement of 

 modern science requires investigations and observations 

 extending over areas so large and periods so long that 

 the means and lives of nations are alone^ commensurate 

 with them. 



" Hence the progress of scientific research must in a 

 great degree depend upon the aid of Governments. As a 

 nation we ought to take a share of the current scientific 

 work of the world ; much of this work has always been 

 voluntarily undertaken by individuals, and it is not desir- 

 able that Government should supersede such efforts ; but 

 Vol. XII.— No. 302 



it is bound to assume that large portion of the national 

 duty which individuals do not attempt to perform, or 

 cannot satisfactorily accomplish. 



" The following considerations have been suggested to 

 us by the heads of evidence relating to (i) Laboratories, 

 (2) Observatories, (3) Meteorology, (4) Tidal Observa- 

 tions, and (5) the Payment of scientific workers. 



" I. The first condition of scientific investigation is that 

 there should be collections, laboratories, and observatories 

 accessible to qualified persons. The evidence has shown 

 that at present, for certain branches, these do not exist or 

 are incomplete. 



" Moreover, there can be no doubt that the Govern- 

 ment service should, to a great extent, contain within 

 itself the means of carrying on investigations specially 

 connected with the departments. Even having regard 

 only to the current wants of the State, additional appli- 

 ances are necessary. 



" Three distinct ways have been suggested in which the 

 State might assist in providing the aids to investigation 

 which are required by private individuals. It has been 

 proposed : first, that competent investigators should 

 receive grants in money enabling them to provide 

 themselves with means for conducting their researches ; 

 secondly, that laboratories, designed primarily for the 

 service of the State, and those of Universities and other 

 similar institutions receiving aid from the State, should be 

 placed, under proper conditions, at the disposal of such 

 inquirers ; thirdly, that laboratories should be erected by 

 the Government specially designed for the use of private 

 investigators, though of course also available for the ser- 

 vice of the State. Wherever the first of these methods 

 can be conveniently and economically adopted, we are 

 disposed to consider that it is the simplest and the best ; 

 but it must be remembered that for many researches 

 apparatus of a costly but durable character are among 

 the primary requisites ; and that to provide these sepa- 

 rately for each investigator would involve a large and 

 unnecessary expenditure. It appears to us that the diffi- 

 culty thus arising might be adequately met by the adop- 

 tion of the second of the above suggestions. Our atten- 

 tion has, indeed, been called to the inconveniences which 

 might arise from the admission of independent workers 

 into University or State laboratories. But, notwith- 

 standing this difficulty, we think the experiment is one 

 which ought to be tried, and till it has been tried we 

 should hesitate to recommend the erection by the State, 

 for the especial use of private investigators, of laboratories 

 which would certainly be costly, and might possibly be 

 only imperfectly utiHsed. 



" 2. Upon a review of the whole of the evidence 

 relating to the subject of Astronomical Physics, we 

 are of opinion that an observatory for that branch of 

 science should be established by the State. In the study 

 of Solar Physics, continuity of the observations is of the 

 greatest importance ; and owing to our variable climate, 

 continuous observations of the sun in this country are 

 subject to pecuhar difficulties which should be duly con- 

 sidered in the site for such an observatory. The neigh- 

 bourhood of London is less favourable to physical obser- 

 vations than many other sites which might be found, and 

 for this reason we should prefer that a physical obser- 

 vatory should be placed elsewhere than at Greenwich. 

 On other grounds, also, we think that the Observatory for 

 Astronomical Physics should be an institution entirely 

 distinct from any of the national observatories for Mathe- 

 matical Astronomy. The subject of Mathematical Astro- 

 nomy is vast enough to occupy adequately the whole 

 energies of a director, and it is especially important that 

 Astronomical Physics should have the undivided atten- 

 tion of the head of an observatory, because its methods, 

 which are of very recent invention, are as yet incom- 

 pletely developed, and because, depending, as they do, on 

 a continual comparison of Celestial phenomena with the 



