NATURE 



361 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1875 



THE SCIENCE COMMISSION REPORT ON 

 THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE* 



WE now proceed to indicate the tenor of the evidence 

 received by the Royal Commission on the last two 

 heads under which they have classified that part of their 

 inquiry- which relates to the Advancement of Science. 

 III. — T/ie Assistance ivhich it is desirable the State should 

 Qive towards that object [the promotion of Scientific 

 Research.] 



On this head the evidence is enormously voluminous, 

 and it may be said to be practically unanimous in 

 demanding a very great increase to the aid now given 

 towards original scientific investigation and observation. 

 In order to afford some idea of the general tendency of 

 this mass of testimony, we cannot do better than sum- 

 marise the extracts appended in their Eighth and Final 

 Report to the recommendations of the Commission. 



As to the general question, which must precede all 

 others, whether the State should aid science, the Com- 

 mission refers first, with great propriety, to the opinions 

 of eminent statesmen on what is as much a problem of 

 statescraft as a question of science. 



The evidence of Lord Salisbury is emphatic : — 



" Do you hold that the State may legitimately interfere 

 in giving aid to the advancement of science ? — I certainly 

 do. It is a very orthodox doctrine to hold, and one which 

 could be supported if necessary by quotations out of 

 Adam Smith, the essence of the doctrine being, that the 

 State is perfectly justified in stimulating that kind of 

 industry which will not find its reward from the preference 

 of individuals, but which is useful to the community at 

 large." 



" The State has already, to a considerable extent, recog- 

 nised, has it not, that duty ; and there are a considerable 

 number of scientific institutions supported more or less 

 by the State ?— No doubt the State, in the money that it 

 gives, and has given in past times, to the best Uni- 

 versities, has recognised that duty." 



" There are the Observatory at Greenwich, the British 

 Museum, and Kew Gardens ; you would consider those as 

 instances in which the State aids the promotion of 

 science ? — They would be all instances in point ; and I 

 do not apprehend that as to the abstract doctrine itself 

 there has ever been any serious contest." . . . 



Lord Derby's evidence in favour of State aid to science 

 is all the more weighty from the limitations by which he 

 guards it : — 



"I think there has been a very general consent 

 amongst a large number of men of science who have been 

 examined before this Commission that in the present state 

 of science there are many branches as to which there is 

 no probability of their being advanced to the degree to 

 which they are capable of being advanced by private 

 effort, and without the assistance of State funds in some 

 shape ; what is your lordship's opinion upon that sub- 

 ject ?— I am, as a general rule, very strongly in favour of 

 private effort, and very decidedly against the application 

 of State funds to any purpose that can be accomplished 

 without them ; but I think that if there is any exception 

 to that which I venture to call a sound and wholesome 

 rule, it is in the case of scientific research, because the 

 results are not immediate, they are not popular in their 



* Contmued from p. 285. 



Vol. XII.— No. 305 



character, and they bring absolutely no pecuniary advan- 

 tage to the person engaged in working them out. A great 

 mathematical or a great astronomical discovery is a 

 benefit to the whole community, and in a certain sense to 

 mankind in general ; but it is productive of absolutely no 

 benefit, in a pecuniary point of view, to the person who 

 has given his labour to it." 



Sir Stafford Northcote thus states his opinion on ths 

 point : — 



"... The State should do what it can both to promote 

 scientific education and also to assist in the prosecution 

 of scientific experiments and inquiries when they can be 

 best prosecuted by the aid of the State." 



It is a matter of congratulation that these opinions, 

 though expressed when out of office, are held, and will 

 doubtless be maintained, by three of the foremost 

 members of Mr. Disraeli's Cabinet. Nor can we forget 

 that the Premier himself some time ago forcibly descanted 

 on the extreme value of sanitary science, or that the 

 Home Secretary,"who has laboured so zealously in many 

 departments of social reform, reminded the House of 

 Commons, during the late session, that the proper method 

 of paving and cleansing our wretched London streets 

 really involved difficult scientific problems, at present 

 neglected, and with nobody to undertake their solution. 



The Commissioners observe that " on the proposition 

 that it is the duty of the State to encourage original re- 

 search they might'multiply their extracts from the evidence 

 indefinitely," and they refer to the scientific testimony of 

 Dr. Frankland, Sir W. Thomson, Dr. Joule, Mr. Gore, 

 Dr. Carpenter, Prof. A. W. Williamson, Mr. Reed, Sir E. 

 Sabine, Dr. Siemens, Dr. Sclater, Mr. Farrcr, Admiral 

 Richards, and numerous others, to show that the aid of 

 Government to scientific research has been beneficial, so 

 far as it has gone, but that it. has been insufficient and 

 should be increased ; and as representing the opinions of 

 public servants occupying high official positions in Go- 

 vernment departments, they refer to the evidence of 

 Admiral Richards, late Hydrographer of the Admiralty, 

 and to that of Mr. Farrer, Secretary to the Board of 

 Trade. 



The broad- general principle that 'the State should aid 

 original research, and that it at present does so insuffi- 

 ciently, being established, the next question is in Vi'hat 

 direction is additional aid required.? The evidence on 

 this question is classified by the Commissioners under 

 the heads Laboratories, Physical Observatories, Meteoro- 

 logy, Tidal Observations, the Government Grant adminis- 

 tered by the Royal Society, and Payment of Scientific 

 Workers. 



Evidence relating to the Establishment 0/ Laboratories, 

 — Amongst the witnesses who are in favour of the erection 

 of new laboratories for research is Colonel Strange, whose 

 view of the national requirements in these respects is 

 thus given :— 



" Will you be so good as to enumerate the institutions 

 which you think should be under the State?— (i) an 

 observatory for physics of astronomy ; (2) an observatory 

 for terrestrial physics, namely, meteorology, magnetism, 

 &c. ; (3) a physical laboratory ; (4) an extension of the 

 Standards Office; (5) a metallurgical laboratory; (6) a 

 chemical laboratory ; (7) an extension of collections of 

 natural history, and an able staff of naturalists ; (8) a 

 physiological laboratory ; (9) a museum of machines, 

 scientific instnxments, &c. I believe that under one or 



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