96 



NATURE 



[October 21, 191 5 



The unbusinesslike methods of Government de- 

 partments have received severe criticism lately, 

 but nothing has been said about the unscientific 

 method of appointing committees of experts 

 without well-qualified officers to direct or co- 

 ordinate their work. The reason is that, with 

 scarcely an exception, no daily paper has anyone 

 on its staff possessing the most elementary know- 

 ledge of the meaning of scientific research. Our 

 guides and counsellors, both on the political plat- 

 form and in the periodical Press, can scarcely be 

 expected to interest themselves greatly in subjects 

 beyond their mental horizon, so when scientific 

 matters are involved they confine themselves to a 

 few platitudes, or say nothing at all. They are 

 unable to distinguish a quack from a leading 

 authority in science, and prefer to exercise their 

 imaginations upon sensational announcements, 

 rather than discuss the possibilities of sober 

 scientific discovery. In all that relates to the 

 interests of science — and that means in the end the 

 interests of the nation — the men who influence 

 public opinion and control the public Services are 

 mostly unenlightened and therefore unsympathetic. 



The tacit assumption that public committees or 

 departments concerned with scientific problems 

 must have at their head oflficers of the Army, 

 Navy, or Civil Service is responsible for delay 

 in taking advantage of available expert know- 

 ledge and for the neglect to make effective use 

 of science In national affairs, whether in times of 

 war or peace. Just as a member of the Govern- 

 ment may serve In turn as president of the Board 

 of Education, Board of Agriculture, Board 

 of Trade, or any other department, with- 

 out possessing any special qualifications to 

 comprehend the work of either, so a public 

 oflScial may be placed In a position to 

 dominate activities of which he cannot under- 

 stand the significance. Some day we hope that 

 this mad system will be swept away, and that the 

 men who exert control in all Government offices 

 will be those whose training or experience make 

 them most capable of doing so effectively. 



Neither the political nor the official mind in this 

 country yet realises the power which science can 

 give to the modern State; because classical and 

 literary studies still form the chief high-road to 

 preferment in Parliament or in public oflfices. 

 From the elementary school to the university 

 truly scientific work occupies but a very secondary 

 position in comparison with the humanities. In 

 these days the material advancement of a nation 

 must depend upon the developments of science 

 and technology; and care should be taken, there- 

 NO. 2399, VOL. 96] 



fore, to create interest in these subjects and 

 foster attention to them throughout the curricu- 

 lum or course of school and college. Many people 

 no doubt believe that this Is being done, but it is 

 far from being the case, and the promise of a 

 generation ago is likely to be unfulfilled while 

 the power over expenditure upon practical educa- 

 tion remains in the hands of men who have no 

 sympathy with it. Men who are distinguished 

 for their scientific work, or have had a practical 

 training in science, are on the staff of the Board 

 of Education, but they are all subordinate to 

 officers whose interests are in other fields ; and 

 scientific education suffers accordingly. Thus it 

 comes about that Mr. C. A. Buckmaster, late 

 Assistant Secretary under the Board of Educa- 

 tion, could say In an address to the Educational 

 Science Section of the British Association last 

 year : — • 



"There can be no doubt that there is less real 

 systematic science teaching in our elementary 

 schools than was the case twenty years ago, and 

 that the proportion of the total expenditure on 

 elementary education which can be looked upon 

 as spent In promoting science instruction is de- 

 cidedly less, not only in proportion, but in amount. 

 ... It is not too much to say that the weight of 

 official recognition has passed from the scientific 

 to the literary side of the secondary school, and 

 that the time and energy devoted to Instruction 

 and practical work in science have shown a re- 

 markable decrease." 



Was there ever a more severe Indictment of the 

 literary official's Inability to prepare the citizens 

 of a modern State for the struggles before them 

 than Is contained in these conclusions as to the 

 position of science in our schools? A quarter of 

 a century ago scientific studies were gaining In- 

 creased attention in the curriculum, and there was 

 reason to hope that one generation would succeed 

 another with greater ability to compete with other 

 progressive peoples, and with increased distrust 

 of political obscurantists and the pretensions of 

 literary culture. We have not gained this power 

 because the control of our educational system 

 from bottom to top has been, and Is, in the hands 

 of men without knowledge of modern needs or 

 of the essential difference between the study of 

 words and of things. To the deadening influence 

 of these official representatives of the humanities 

 must be ascribed the deplorable fact that public 

 Interest In scientific matters or appreciation of the 

 worth of scientific research is less intelligent, and 

 relatively less extensive, than it was fifty years 

 ago. 



To the literary mind, a man of science is a 



