694 



NATVkE 



[February 



1 (j I (d 



the same field "of work. Such reports, if made 

 anniiaily, "would come to possess immense value and 

 form a solid basis for suggested practical reforms. 



It has sometimes been suggested that the State 

 should make pecuniary rewards for scientific dis- 

 coveries or inventions, but this is not a very practic- 

 able proposal. It is extremely difficult in most cases 

 to appraise the value of a scientific discovery or inven- 

 tion in its early years, and in the next place there 

 are pieces of scientific work the real value of which 

 does not appear until long after the death of the 

 originator. 

 ' Who, for instance, could have set a value on 

 Faraday's discovery of induced currents or magneto- 

 electric induction, when in ten days of intermittent 

 work at the Royal Institution in the autumn of 183 1 

 he gathered in new knowledge of surpassing import- 

 ance to mankind? These facts had no apparent value 

 at the time, yet their application has brought wealth 

 in untold millions into the exchequer of nations. 



1 remember speaking, shortly after Clerk Maxwell's 

 death in 1879, with an eminent Cambridge mathe- 

 matician concerning Maxwell's great paper published 

 in 1865 " On the Dynamical Theory of the Electro- 

 magnetic Field." He told me in all seriousness that 

 the impression produced on his mind by this great 

 paper was that it was one of the most exalted pro- 

 ductions of the human intellect. Yet it was twenty 

 years, and long after Maxwell's death, before this 

 paper brought forth its fruit in Hertz's work, and 

 thirty-five years betore we saw the final outcome of 

 it in the achievements of wireless telegraphy. 



How would it have been possible for contemporaries 

 properly to give a value to that suggestive paper in 

 terms of current coin ? I believe the only practical 

 method of assisting scientific research is by a well- 

 devised system of research scholarships, fellowships, 

 and professorships renewable annually or at longer 

 intervals, and in any case held subject to productive 

 work. 



If we combine such a system with the above 

 suggested advisory boards, there is a possibility of 

 creating a workable system for the endowment and 

 encouragement of scientific investigation which will 

 be kept in close contact with practical necessities as 

 well as with the most fertile regions of scientific 

 thoughts. 



Provision of the Means for Conducting Scientific 

 Research. 



One rather startling experience at the outset of 

 this great war was the discovery of the extent to 

 which we had become dependent on Germany and 

 Austria for these implements of research. We found 

 that our sources of supplv of chemical glass such as 

 flasks, beakers, tubes, giaduated vessels, and more 

 complicated pieces of analytical apparatus was cut 

 off. Also porcelain crucibles, basins, tubes and 

 retorts, filter papers, and large numbers of research 

 chemicals were not produced in England of the 

 requisite quality. 



Amongst pharmaceutical chemicals a very large 

 number have been unobtainable, or obtainable with 

 difficulty, since the war — ^such as salicvlates, salvar- 

 san, veronal, and phenaoetin. My colleague. Prof. 

 Cushny, informs me that all the more complex syn- 

 thetic chemicals, such as those used as indicators, 

 stains in microscopic work, etc., have been obtained 

 from Germany and are now unobtainable. 



In physical and electrical work there has also been 

 the same difficulty. Before the war we obtained many 

 necessary materials from Germany which ought to 

 have been made here. I instance such things as types 



NO. 2416, VOL. 96] 



of electric resistance furnaces for laboratory and ass 

 work. Kathode fav oscillographs and the proper t\ ^ 

 of electrostatic influence machines for working thci 

 Certain types of mechanical pumps for making hi; 

 vacua. Extremely fine wires ot different materi. 

 necessary for thermo-electric ammeters for hif;' 

 frequency current measurements in wireless tt ] 

 graphy, ' and also special alloy wires for electrical 

 resistances, and many other similar materials. 



We were at one time even entirely dependent on 

 Germany and Austria for electric arc carbons, and 

 only the enterprise of one British firm saved the 

 situation. We are even .low in difficulties as regards 

 some electric fittings and appliances. 



As an instance of the way in which the Germans 

 look forward and anticipate the future, we may note the 

 case of tungsten ore. When, after prolonged scientific 

 researches, the metallic filament electric lamp made 

 with drawn or pressed tungsten wire had ousted the 

 carbon lamp, and when the immense importance of 

 tungsten-steel had been recognised for high-sfjecd 

 tools and magnet manufacture, German interests sef 

 to work to secure the control of sources of supply of 

 tungsten, even within the British Empire. One of ' 

 the chief sources of supply of wolframite, an ore 

 from which tungsten is obtained, is in Burma, which 

 produces about one-fifth of the world's supply. Bcfor.- 

 the war the Germans used to secure nearly all tlii-. 

 ore and carry out the reduction in Germany. Con- 

 sequently, when the war broke out there were few 

 or no reduction works in England capable of supply- 

 ing tungsten or ferro-tungsten. 



In spite of this extremely valuable tungsten supply 

 in Burma, which is the largest mineral-producing 

 province of India, the local government was not pro- 

 vided with any mining expert who could have advised 

 them in this matter. 



It is satisfactory to note, however, that steps have 

 been taken to remedy the state of affairs. Tlie 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Harcourt Butler, visited 

 Tavoy, the centre of the industry, last December and 

 addressed the Chamber of Mines. He urged the con- 

 cessionnaires to do all that was possible to obtain the, 

 wolframite required at present for the making of 

 munitions, and represented that If private owners did 

 not meet the British demand, concessions would be 

 cancelled and the Government would take possession. 

 Nevertheless, the Germans have provided themselves 

 with large stocks of this valuable material already, 

 without which it is impossible to make modern high- 

 efficiency incandescent electric lamps or high-speed 

 cutting tools for engineering work. This is only om: 

 out of many instances which might Ix? quoted to show 

 our extraordinary want of scientific foresight in allow- 

 ing absolutely essential materials to be taken by Ger- 

 many both before and during the war. 



This partial famine in essential scientific materi.ilN 

 and apparatus is not due to any real want of scientific 

 ability on the part of British inventors or manufac- 

 turers. It is due to causes which are very deeji- 

 seated. For one thing, our easy-going national tem- 

 perament has found it less trouble to buy from abroad 

 than make for ourselves. Labour difiPiculties, our 

 fiscal i^licy, and other causes have rendered it difficult 

 to compete with German prices. 



Above all, the mistakes and ignorance of politicians 

 who allowed themselves and others to believe that 

 there was no real danger of a rupture of peace, and 

 that Germany's tremendous preparations for war had } 

 no other object than defence a."-ainst sudden attack.; 

 by jealous neighbours, act^^d like an opiate on our j 

 spirit of commercial enterprise and dulled our instinct j 

 of self-preservation. Meanwhile, it is to be hoped we j 

 are now aWake to facts, and that scientific men, manu- ( 



