NATURE 



643 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1916. 



DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 



WHEN, thirteen years ago, Sir Xorrnan 

 Lockyer delivered before the British 

 Association his address on "The Influence of 

 Brain Power on History," it is not too much to 

 say that his statement of the need for the pro- 

 motion of intimate relations between statecraft, 

 industry, science, and education fell mostly on 

 inattentive ears. The lessons in modern history 

 taug-ht by that address were unmistakable, and 

 the statement of consequences of continued neglect 

 of scientific factors of national progress was 

 prophetic, yet little heed was given to these sub- 

 jects until the outbreak of hostilities revealed the 

 weakness of our industrial position in comparison 

 with the powerful and highly-organised forces 

 fighting- against us. War has caused an awaken- 

 ing- which the pleasant times of peace failed to 

 bring- about; and our newspapers and magazines 

 — general and technical, trading and scientific — 

 are now giving- attention to the subject and are 

 publishing- articles by men of science, manufac- 

 turers, and others on the provision to be made to 

 ensure that close co-operation between scientific 

 research and industrial development which is 

 essential to the advance of a civilised community. 



The points which are being discussed, and the 

 views expressed, have been familiar to most men 

 of science for many years; and Prof. E. B, 

 Poulton was good enough to say in his recent 

 Romanes lecture : '* It would not be right to speak 

 on the national neglect of science without acknow- 

 ledging with gfratitude the patriotic position taken 

 for many years by the journal Nature. If only 

 the warnings given again and ag-ain in its pages 

 had been heeded, I am confident that long before 

 this time Germany's complete defeat and the 

 freedom of the world would have been achieved." 



We have waited a long time for public en- 

 lightenment as to the relation of science to 

 national affairs, knowing that while considera- 

 tion of the subject was confined to scientific 

 circles, it would remain outside the realm of prac- 

 tical politics, where measures and administrative 

 action are not determined by foresight so much 

 as by expediency. Now that the war has shown 

 the truth of the predictions of our scientific Cas- 



ndras, there is more reason to believe that 

 ion will be taken to avert the consequences of 



-lect in the past and to provide the conditions 

 advance in the future. 



.\ letter signed by a number of distinguished 

 NO. 2415, VOL. 96] 



men of science, published in the daily papers a 

 few days ago, and referred to in our issue of 

 February 3 (p. 640), directed attention to some of 

 the defects in our national organisation as regards 

 what may be termed scientific equipment. Though 

 , science enters into every part of modern life, and 

 scientific method is necessary for success in all 

 undertakings, the affairs of the country are in the 

 hands of legislators who not only have little or no 

 acquaintance with the fundamental facts and prin- 

 ciples signified by these aspects of knowledge, but 

 also do not understand how such matters can be 

 best used to strengthen and develop the State. Our 

 administrative officials are also mostly under the 

 same disabilities, on account of their want of 

 scientific training. They and army officers are 

 educated at schools where science can receive 

 little encouragement : " Of the thirty-five largest 

 and best-known public schools thirty-four have 

 classical men as headmasters " — they do not take 

 up scientific subjects in the examinations for the 

 Civil Service, because marks can be much more 

 easily gained by attention to Latin and Greek; 

 they need not take science for entrance into the 

 Royal Military College, Sandhurst, which is 

 "probably the only military institution in Europe 

 where science is not included in the curriculum"; 

 and the result of it all is that science is usually 

 regarded with indifference, often with contempt, 

 and rarely with intelligent appreciation by the 

 statesmen and members of the public services 

 whose decisions and acts largely determine the 

 country's welfare. 



The defects of a system that places the chief 

 power of an organisation which needs under- 

 standing of science in every department, in the 

 hands of people who have not received any 

 training in scientific subjects or methods, are 

 obvious. Some remedies are suggested in the 

 recent statement to which we have referred ; and 

 the signatories anticipate the time when the 

 Board of Trade will be replaced by a Ministry 

 of Science, Commerce, and Industry, while lead- 

 ing scientific men and inventors are admitted to 

 the Privy Council, and are given influential posi- 

 tions in the State service. 



We are in complete sympathy with the views 

 to which the men of science who signed the 

 statement have given their support; indeed, all 

 the points to which public attention has now been 

 directed have on many occasions been dealt with 

 in these columns. The British Science Guild was 

 founded to urge all responsible authorities to give 

 science its rightful place in national affairs, and 

 it has persistently put forward these claims for 



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