CHAPTER IX 



ORIGINAL RESEARCH 



Original Research as a means of Education University Colleges, 

 Dundee, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield Scottish Universities 

 Commission British Association, Montreal Visit to America 

 Knighthood Presidency of British Association at Manchester 

 Queen's Jubilees Queen's Funeral King's Coronation. 



FOR the last quarter of a century I have, without 

 cessation, been preaching the doctrine of the import- 

 ance of our manufacturers understanding, not only the 

 value of original research, but its absolute necessity, 

 if we are successfully to withstand the attacks upon 

 our commerce and industries made by continental 

 nations. In 1874 I published an essay in a volume of 

 Owens College Memoirs entitled " Original Research 

 as a Means of Education," in which I summed up by 

 showing that if freedom of inquiry, independence of 

 thought, disinterested and steadfast labour, habits of 

 exact and truthful observation, and of clear perception, 

 are things to be desired as tending to the higher 

 intellectual development of mankind, then original 

 research ought to be encouraged as one of the most 

 valuable means of education ; and that on this 

 ground alone, and independent of the enormous 

 material benefits such studies confer on the nation, it is 

 the bounden duty, not only of the Government, but of 

 every educational establishment, and of every citizen 



