NATURE 



[October 28, 191 5 



exigencies of modern warfare than a first-year 

 course in physics, chemistry, and mathematics, 

 varied in some cases by medical and biological 

 studies, and if this course can be followed by a 

 second-year course including physical applications 

 of the infinitesimal calculus, so much the better. 

 It is true that we have military colleges, but the 

 instruction in these would appear to be carried 

 on by rule-of-thumb methods to a greater extent 

 than in our universities, and therefore less cal- 

 culated to produce the type of individual who can 

 think and act in an emergency. 



But all modern university colleges are largely 

 attended by women, and with a growing demand 

 for women's work in posts hitherto occupied by 

 men, some increase in the numbers of these 

 students may be anticipated. In any case, it 

 would be a fatal misfortune if anything were done 

 which could in any way interfere with this side 

 of the university work. 



Even if our colleges were entirely depleted of 

 their students, there would still be grave objec- 

 tions to a proposal for disestablishing and dis- 

 endowing them. The claims of the professor who 

 lectures only six or eight hours a week and devotes 

 the rest of his time to research are very well put 

 forward by Prof. Grant Showerman in the 

 Popular Science Monthly for June, 191 5, in an 

 article entitled "The Liberal Arts and Scientific 

 Management." A professor may receive fourteen 

 dollars for every hour that he is down to lecture 

 in the time-table, but it is pointed out that his 

 connection with his work never ceases throughout 

 the day or the year, and when this is taken into 

 account his princely salary reduces to about 1.2 

 dollars per hour for expert service in a profession 

 requiring unusually protracted preparation and 

 involving social relations with the best paid 

 classes of the community. 



As soon as lectures are over, the average pro- 

 fessor devotes his attention to research, and not 

 only does he receive no remuneration for this 

 work, but he frequently pays the cost of apparatus 

 or publishes books at his own expense. Not only 

 in the northern universities, but also in nearly 

 every other university in the kingdom, laboratories 

 and college staffs have been generously placed at the 

 disposal of the Government. While the nation is 

 paying high wages for unskilled labour, it is not 

 only paying nothing for assistance the value of 

 which may be reckoned in millions, but it is even 

 receiving income tax and other dues from the 

 donors at a rate calculated in many cases to place 

 considerable anxiety on their shoulders. 



The reason why the college professor engages 

 NO. 2400, VOL. 96] 



in research, even at the risk of stinting himself 

 and family in the necessities of life, is that he 

 cannot help himself. He has an object to per- 

 form, and his happiness depends mainly on its 

 accomplishment. It is certain that a falling off, 

 should such occur, in the amount of class work 

 would lead to an increased amount of research at 

 a time when that research is urgently needed by 

 the Government — more urgently needed than the' 

 Government or any similar body can possibly 

 appreciate. Not only are mathematics, physics, 

 and chemistry needed in connection with such 

 varied applications as aeroplanes, wireless tele- 

 graphy, poisonous gases, periscopes, and explo- 

 sives, but entomology, leather-making, economics, 

 modern languages, botany, law, and history all 

 have their uses in connection with the war. 



The suggestion that certain members of the 

 college staffs should be released and that they 

 should be asked to find temporary paid work 

 elsewhere, is one that ought only to be carried 

 out with extreme caution. At the present 

 time many professors and lecturers have under- 

 taken temporary military or other duties, and the 

 colleges are already effecting savings by the 

 amounts of the salaries thus set free. It would \ 

 thus appear that the system has already been 

 adopted on a voluntary basis by the college staffs 

 themselves. It is not evident from the circular 

 whether, and if so how far, the Treasury con- 

 templates the possibility of exercising pressure in 

 the same direction, but we should be sorry to 

 think that it has any desire to do so. Such 

 an attempt would necessarily involve one of two 

 alternatives, either "putting a round man into a 

 square hole " — in which case good-bye to all the 

 usefulness of his work, perhaps an irreparable 

 loss to the community — or payment for research. 



Now it would undoubtedly be of great advan- 

 tage that persons engaged in valuable investiga- '. 

 tions should receive some compensation for the 

 loss of income they may incur in carrying on the 

 work. But it would be quite impossible for any 

 Government at the present time to carry through ■ 

 any scheme which Labour leaders would distort 

 into a proposal to put money into the pockets of 

 the "idle rich." Even if this difficulty were ov'cr- 

 come, payment for research would be sure to be 

 made conditional on a clear statement being made 

 as to the results aimed at and the practical uses 

 to which they were to be applied. Now the main 

 essence of research is that something has to be 

 found out, the result of which is unknown, and 

 it cannot be possibly anticipated at the outset 

 what practical applications may arise. Any 



