;8o 



NATURE 



[December 3, 1914 



would none ihe less impress upon him and upon 

 people in general the importance of encouraging 

 and assisting in every possible way investigations in 

 pure science, which of themselves bring no pecuniary 

 reward to the investigator, but which may neverthe- 

 less prove of inestimable value to the community. 

 The labourer is worthy of his hire — but the hire 

 which the scientific labourer is considered worthy of 

 is a mere pittance when compared with the colossal 

 incomes which result from the application of his 

 researches. It should be the aim of Governments to 

 attract the best intellects to the pursuit of science, 

 but few, if any, offer inducements to such to devote 

 themselves to this study, a fact which fortunately 

 does not always deter them from engaging in it. 

 Virtue is, we know, her own reward, but the re- 

 wards offered by the pursuit of commerce, of law, 

 and even of medicine are gilded with something much 

 more tangible than the self-gratification which 

 follows the pursuit of pure science. The first neces- 

 sity of life is to be able to live, and unless a man 

 can live, and not only live, but live comfortably and 

 sure of freedom from pecuniary anxiety, he is not 

 likely to produce the best work his intellect is cap- 

 able of. I wonder when this will be understood. Be 

 sure that the nation which first understands it will 

 come to the front. Unfortunately, we find that 

 things are in this respect no better, but rather worse. 

 In democratic communities than in some of the sup- 

 posedly effete monarchical systems of the Old World. 

 Democracy must look to her laurels, or she will find 

 herself left behind in the race for knowledge — and 

 knowledge will always be power, as long as man- 

 kind continues to exist. 



The remedy lies in the education of the people. It 

 is certainly remarkable how little importance seems 

 to be attached to scientific instruction as a part of 

 general education. Science is, indeed, incidentally 

 tacked on to education schemes, and a certain pro- 

 portion of the coming generation are taught a little 

 physics and chemistry, and sometimes a still smaller 

 modicum of biology and geology; but our children, 

 although trained in many subjects which are interest- 

 ine in themselves, are, as a rule, not instructed in 

 those which have a close relationship to the 

 problems of their dailv life. How few people know 

 anything of the constitution and properties of things 

 around them, things which are essential to their 

 existence, such as air and water, and substances 

 which serve them for food. How few know any- 

 thiner about themselves ! If the proper study of man- 

 kind is man, how great is the neglect of that studv ! 

 Surelv it is more important that a man should under- 

 stand how the world around him is constituted and 

 how he himself lives and moves and has his being 

 within it than that he should be eflficient in ancient 

 and modern languages, or in mathematics, or that 

 his knowledge of history and geography should be 

 as extensive and peculiar as Sam Weller's acquaint- 

 ance with London ! The appreciation of science by 

 the people cannot come until the general ignorance 

 regarding: matters scientific is dispelled. And there 

 is so much to learn, and so little time to learn it, 

 that no child should be considered too voung to be 

 taught something about himself and his environment. 

 Doubtless this would Involve a change in the svstem 

 of education which now evervwhere prevails, but that 

 It would be a change for the better and would con- 

 duce to the health and happiness of mankind cannot, 

 I believe, be gainsaid. 



We know what the past of science has produced: 

 we have the evidence all around us. But what of 

 the future? What Is In store for our successors? 

 Speculation regarding this Is even more fascinating 



NO. 2353, VOL. Odl 



than the study of the past. Can we form any kind 

 of anticipation regarding possible discoveries? In 

 pure science I imagine not. Discoveries in this 

 always come unexpectedly ; at any rate, they are 

 always unexpected so far as the world in general is 

 concerned; which, indeed, only very slowly recog- 

 nises them as real discoveries. Our speculations re- 

 garding the future must therefore be mainly confined 

 to applications of what is already known, ,or to 

 extensions along the lines which recent investigations 

 have been laying down. But even so, the possibilities 

 which are opening out to us are almost limitless. 

 We are proud of the progress of what we Englishmen 

 call the Victorian era, but is it not likely that this 

 will be vastly eclipsed by the second Georgian? It 

 took more than half a century to develop the steam 

 engine, nor have we by any means as yet exhausted 

 Its possibilities. But the internal combustion engine 

 has made more progress in less than half that time, 

 and to it we already owe the supersession of animal 

 traction on our roads, and the use of the air as the 

 medium by which locomotion is or very soon will 

 be effected. The applications of electricity which are 

 already in use are dazzling in their variety, but we 

 have scarcely touched the fringe of the applicability 

 of the Hertzian waves, and the vast possibilities of 

 radio-activity are still terra incognita. Who can 

 reasonably doubt that we shall soon be flying safely 

 through the air faster than the swiftest bird, and 

 that our means of Intellectual communication will be 

 at least as much advanced as that of the transporta- 

 tion of our goods and bodies? 



The rate of progress of chemical knowledge 

 at the present time is no less extraordinary 

 than that of physics. Every day shows an 

 advance in our acquaintance with the structure 

 of the molecules of which the elements and 

 their compounds are built up. Our information re- 

 garding the complex molecules which compose living 

 substance is receiving such continual additions and ^ 

 so much is already known about it that we cannot 

 fail to recognise that the problems of life itself must 

 sooner or later find their complete solution within 

 the scope of physical chemistry. The attempts of 

 science to solve the mysteries of the universe recog- 

 nise no limitation : " thus far shalt thou go and 

 no farther " is a command which can never be obeyed 

 by the scientific inquirer. But to attempt to foretell 

 coming scientific events even In the near future 

 —merely to endeavour to guess at the kind of truths 

 which are likely to be discovered — is a futile task. 

 For the Investigations of modern science are being 

 extended to depths which have hitherto been regarded 

 as unfathomable, and we can have no idea 

 to what they will eventually lead us. Neither the 

 infinitely great nor the infinitely small any longer 

 presents serious difficulties to the Investigator, by 

 whom both the stars in their courses and the atoms 

 which compose the molecules of matter — nay, even, 

 the all-pervading and Imponderable aether Itself — are 

 called to yield up their secrets. 



We may be justly proud of what has been 

 achieved, but let us not fail to remember 

 with Newton that "the vast ocean of truth" 

 still "lies " for the most part " undiscovered before us." 

 However marked may be the progress of science, 

 her Individual votaries must always feel a sense of 

 humility at the little the best of them is able to con- 

 tribute towards the general result. Not that this 

 thought need dishearten any scientific worker. For 

 there is no other way of erecting an edifice, however 

 stately, but by . laboriously piling brick upon brick, 

 stone upon stone, girder upon girder. And if our 

 successors assemble here at the end of another century, 



