Sept. i6, 1875] 



NATURE 



43 i 



" 2. That it would be liable to come into collision with 

 Ministers. 



" 3. That it would not work harmoniously with our 

 general system of administration. 



" The evidence of three eminent statesmen possessing 

 great administrative experience — Lord Derby, Lord Salis- 

 bury, and Sir Stafford Northcote — is in strong contrast 

 (so far as the proposal to establish a Council of Science 

 is concerned) with that which we have received from many 

 persons holding official positions in various branches of 

 the public service. The opinions of these latter, as to the 

 inefficiency of the organisation of their respective services 

 in regard to questions affecting science, we have already 

 quoted in the first part of this Report, and it will be seen 

 from the quotations we are now about to give, that they 

 in general consider the creation of a Council to be the 

 proper remedy." 



The Commissioners preface their extracts from the 

 evidence laid before them on this subject by saying : — 



" We fear that no mere extracts from the evidence of 

 Col. Strange would represent in an adequate manner the 

 views which have led him to recommend the formation of 

 a large and highly-paid Council of Science. It would 

 scarcely be fair to him, as the most prominent advocate 

 of the proposed measure, to do otherwise than refer to 

 his evidence at length, pp. 75 to 92, arid 125 to 135, "vol. 

 ii. of Evidence." 



When we say that Col. Strange's evidence constitutes 

 a complete and carefully arranged scheme for the scien- 

 tific administration of the country, it will be readily under- 

 stood why the Commissioners refer to it as a whole, rather 

 than cite detached portions of it from which no concep- 

 tion of its systematic and comprehensive character could 

 be formed. With respect to the Council, Col. Strange 

 first points out its necessity and then defines its functions. 

 His next step is to so construct it as to fit it for perform- 

 ing these functions satisfactorily. And finally, he enters 

 fully into the mode of its election, its remuneration, and 

 its relation to the Minister of Science and to the various 

 departments and institutions concerned with scientific 

 questions. 



Though, like the Commissioners, we find it impossible 

 to give a just idea of this scheme by means of extracts, 

 we think that as the composition, of the Council suggested 

 by Col. Strange was made by the' Commission the foun- 

 dation of their examination of almost every witness who 

 spoke on that subject, it is desirable that the sketch of 

 Col. Strange's Council should precede the short extracts 

 from evidence on the subject which we shall lay before 

 our readers. It stands thus : — 



Sketch of Proposed Council. 



Pure Mathematician (the Professor of Mathematics at Oxford 

 and Cambridge alternately. These should be " Regiui 



Professorships ") I 



Mixed ditto (Astronomer Royal for the time being) i 



Chemists (one to be the Director of the proposed Chemical 



Laboratory) 2 



Meteorologist (Director of Meteorological Department) i 



Physical Astronomer (Director of proposed Physical Obser- 

 vatory) I 



Metallurgist (Director of proposed Metallurgical Laboratory) I 



Geologist (Director of Geological Survey) I 



Physicists (one to be an Electrician) 3 



Naturalist (Head of Natural History Department of British 



Museum) X 



Physician (Medical Officer of the Privy Council) I 



Surgeon I 



Physiologist I 



Naval Architect X 



Civil Engineer i 



Mechanical ditto x , 



Mining ditto .. i 



Statist I 



Royal Engineer Officers 2 



Royal Artillery ditto (one for Field Artillery, the other for 



heavy Ordnance) ... 2 



Royal Navy ditto (one for Navigation, the other for Gunnery) 2 



Infantry Officers 2 



Merchants (one a shipowner) 2 



Agriculturist i 



30 

 Colonel Strange remarks on the above : — 



" Of course I give that sketch of the Council as a 

 mere indication of the sort of Council that I think is 

 desirable. It is something that I put before the Com- 

 mission in order to be torn to pieces and put into shape ; 

 it is a mere sketch of a possible Council. I have given 

 it a great deal of thought, and it does not appear to me 

 that there are any superfluous members in it, nor do I 

 know of any that have been omitted. I may say gene- 

 rally that one of my great objects was to place in this 

 Council the heads of institutions, in order that they might 

 be concerned in the directions given to their various 

 institutions. I think it would hardly do (in a former part 

 of my evidence this matter was alluded to) to have a 

 separate body directing men of eminence as heads of 

 institutions ; it would be felt to be an interference, but if 

 those heads were part of the governing body, then the 

 interference would not be felt." 



Though Colonel Strange's sketch was freely discussed 

 and criticised, no witness pointed out specifically its 

 omissions or redundancies, nor was any definite counter- 

 proposal submitted to the Commission. 



Sir W. Thomson's evidence with reference to the esta- 

 blishment of a Council of Science contains the follow- 

 ing :— 



" Do you think that a single body would be better than 

 a number of small committees for advising the Govern- 

 ment on the great variety of questions which from time 

 to time would be likely to arise ? Yes, certainly." 



" The questions which might be referred to such a 

 Council would differ very much from one another, and 

 extend over a wide range, would they not.'' Yes, but 

 there would be an unity of design and action, with a 

 multiplicity of knowledge and skill at command, secured 

 by a single Council, and those conditions cannot, in my 

 opinion, be secured at all by occasional committees, or 

 committees working separately and independently of 

 each other. . . . 



" A scientific Council would relieve the Government of 

 all responsibility in such matters, and would be respon- 

 sible itself in a general way for all its proceedings to a 

 political chief and to Parliament. . . ." 



" Would you be so good as to inform us whether you 

 have formed any opinions as to the best system of 

 appointing such a Council ? — The Council ought to repre- 

 sent the different branches of science and the practical 

 applications of science. Pure mathematics ought to be 

 represented in the Council ; mixed or applied mathe- 

 matics, according to the old-fashioned nomenclature as 

 generally understood, ought also to be represented ; che- 

 mistry cannot be shut out ; physics must of course be 

 represented, and ought to be represented separately ; 

 astronomy, both what was formerly called physical 

 astronomy and of course the new science of astronomical 

 physics, ought to be represented. I do not believe that 

 astronomy could be properly represented under one head j 

 astronomical physics must, in my opinion, be separately 

 represented. Geology should be separately represented, 

 and also the various branches of natural history ; physio- 

 logy also, and medical practice in general, should be 



