226 



NATURE 



{July 7, 1887 



oyster which might perhaps be cviltivated with advantage 

 by after-dinner speakers in my position. The oyster 

 knows when to shut up. Admonished by that very inter- 

 esting and suggestive fact in natural history, what httle 

 else I have to say upon behalf of literature I shall confine 

 to the expression of a hope that the well-deserved relaxa- 

 tion from his more systematic scientific labours in con- 

 nexion with the Royal Institution may enable my valued 

 and honoured friend Prof. Tyndall to enjoy an increased 

 leisure for the continued cultivation of that department 

 of literature which has already been so richly adorned 

 by his admirable writings. 



Sir F. Leighton, who was to have responded for " Art," 

 had been obliged to leave before this stage of the proceed- 

 ings in order to receive Royal visitors at the Academy. 



Sir Lyon Playfair, M.P., proposed the next toast, 

 "The Public Services in Relation to Science." He said 

 that undoubtedly the public services were intimately con- 

 nected with science and were profoundly affected by its 

 progress, but, unfortunately, the truth was only beginning 

 to be recognized in this country. In the United States 

 scientific men were attached to all public offices, but in 

 this country the attachment was of the loosest possible 

 character. Nevertheless, science had undoubtedly 

 affected our public services in the most profound way. 

 The telegraph had altered the whole system of commerce 

 and also the methods and the powers of government. 

 There was to be a great naval review next month ; it 

 would be interesting to imagine Elizabeth's thirty small 

 ships, which conquered the Armada, sailing through two 

 miles of modern ironclads. The largest piece of ordnance 

 used in the Crimean War cost less than a single shot 

 fired from the huge guns of our ironclads. But it was in 

 peace rather than in war that science rejoiced in aiding 

 government. A strong feeling was arising that we must 

 improve our intellectual position as a nation, and this at 

 last was being recognized by the Government. A material 

 index of progressive civilization had always been desired. 

 Liebig contended that the best index of civilization was 

 the quantity of soap consumed. When the Queen ascended 

 the throne we consumed per head yf pounds of soap, 

 and now we use 10 pounds per head. The consump- 

 tion of paper was a more reliable index. At the com- 

 mencement of the Queen's reign the consumption was 

 li pound of paper yearly ; now it was 12 pounds ; while 

 in the United States it was 10 pounds, in Germany 9 

 pounds, in France 8 pounds, and in Italy 4 pounds. But the 

 main question was whether we were developing the national 

 intellect at the ?ame rate as other nations. Our general 

 intelligence is still high, but our trained scientific intelli- 

 gence is low. Our secondary education in all matters 

 relating to science was far behind that of the United 

 States, Germany, and France. Neither the Government 

 nor the people governed could go on in simple faith on 

 our practical aptitudes by relying on a blind and vain 

 empiricism, like a tree severed from its roots. 



The Earl of Derby, — My Lords and Gentlemen : You 

 have asked me to return thanks on behalf of the public 

 services in connexion with science, and Sir L. Playfair, in 

 relation to that toast, has referred to the increased con- 

 sumption of soap in this country. I have attended a good 

 many public dinners, and I must say that the expenditure 

 of what is vulgarly called soft soap has been great this 

 evening. I am sincerely grateful to him for the quantity 

 of that article which it has pleased him to expend upon 

 me. But really the toast is one which hardly any man is 

 competent to do justice to, and certainly not one who like 

 myself has no connexion with science, except a sincere 

 admiration and respect for its professors, and whose con- 

 nexion with the public service has only been that of a 

 Parliamentary chief. Under our system the Parliamentary 

 head of a department is mainly concerned to keep it in 

 haiTnony with the House of Commons and with the 

 public. He has ta v/arn the permanent officials that 



something that is done, or something that is left undone 

 or proposed to be left undone, is what public opinion wi' 

 resent ; and, on the other hand, he has to tell outsider 

 that the things they ask him and press him to do ar 

 things unwise or impossible from an administrative poin 

 of view. That is useful ; it is certainly laborious, and i 

 is often a difficult function ; but it does not involve mucl 

 more scientific knowledge than is implied in driving : 

 cab through a crowded street. It does require souk 

 knowledge of men, but that is a department of stud' 

 to which, as yet, no scientific formula has been found ti 

 apply. Sir L. Playfair told us, and I was sorry to hear it 

 of the loose connexions which exist between science and th( 

 Government. I can only say that I am entirely ignoran 

 of any such immoral transactions. But if the department 

 were better represented here and if they could speak fo 

 themselves, I am sure that they would not be backward ii 

 acknowledging their obligations to science. The Treasun 

 would tell you that those useful though sometimes un 

 graceful coins in which our dinner is paid for would no 

 circulate through Europe as they do if they had not beer 

 subjected to a careful and complicated process, requiring 

 scientific knowledge. The Excise might tell you, if thej 

 chose, of the frauds that might be perpetrated upon th( 

 revenue and the public if it were not for the careful anc 

 scientific examination of all taxable articles. The Pos 

 Office would find no difficulty in ac- nowledging its 

 obligations to Watt and to Stephenson — for where woulc 

 postal revenue be without railways ? — and in later days tc 

 investigators whose researches made the telegraph 

 possible. But the fighting departments, or the spending 

 departments, which is their more common name ir 

 Downing Street, would have the most to return thanks 

 for. They would point to the modern ironclad, the mosi 

 elaborate, the most complete, and the most costly, of al. 

 contrivances in which the art of construction has been 

 utilized for purposes of destruction. They would tell you 

 how the chemist, metallurgist, the engineer, the electrician, 

 the mathematician, have all contributed their share to that 

 extraordinary result of science and skill. The War 

 Office would follow the Admiralty. They would not say, 

 as Frederick of Prussia did, that Providence is on the 

 side of the biggest battalions, but they might possibly say 

 that Providence was generally on the side of the army 

 which could bring into the field the most scientifically 

 effective weapon in the hands of the most carefully-trained 

 soldier. If I were to turn to the line of business with which 

 I had once something to do, I might ask any diplomatist 

 or any statesman to explain to you how largely the position 

 of Egypt, and, with that, the diplomacy of Europe, has 

 been affected by that little scratch which the genius of 

 M. de Lesseps drew across the Egyptian sands ; and if, as 

 is quite possible, the coal-carrying power of steamers and 

 their speed and their economy are largely increased— I do 

 not speak of those wilder predictions according to which 

 steam is to be superseded as the motor power by something 

 more efficient — suppose I say the large increase of th.^ coal- 

 carrying power of steamers, and the results to which I have 

 referred may be again reversed ; and again, at least in war 

 time, the route to India may lie through the South African 

 seas. If I speak of the colonies, everyone conversant with 

 that department would admit that if we had had the 

 ocean telegraph in existence twenty-five years ago half 

 our little wars beyond the seas would never have taken 

 place, and those that have taken place would have been 

 disposed of in half the time. I know that these 

 things are common-place, but I cannot help that. If I 

 could tell you what the next great discovery was going to 

 be, that would not be common-place. But, unfortunately, 

 that is not in my power ; and if it were I do not think I 

 should be in a hurry about it, because I have observed 

 that those who are the first to announce a discovery are 

 generally rewarded by having a remarkably unpleasant 

 time. But however great may be the gains which we 



