548 



NATURE 



[January 14, 19 15 



rearranged, amalgamated, or split up until their 

 history can no longer be followed with accuracy. 



It will thus be seen that the determination of the 

 exact amount contributed by the State for the further- 

 ance of science is not altogether an easy matter. 

 Moreover it cannot be settled by turning to Class IV. 

 of the Estimates, which deals with the amount allotted 

 for education, science, and art — three subjects prob- 

 ably entirely distinct in the official mina. For in 

 Class II. of the Estimates dealing with public oftices 

 there will be found under the head of the Board of 

 Agriculture items for agricultural education and for 

 advances to societies for experimental purposes and 

 for research. This is only one example to show that 

 the money voted annually for education, science, and 

 art does not represent the total of the State's assist- 

 ance either to education or to science. We need not 

 inquire on the present occasion if it is more complete 

 in regard to art. 



Again, from time to time the State, goaded into 

 action by outside pressure, grants sums of money for 

 specific scientific inquiries, such as the loooZ. allotted 

 in 1873 and following years to the Sub-Wealden Ex- 

 ploration, the 15,000/. granted for observing the 

 transit of Venus in 1882, the annual grants for suc- 

 cessive years of varying sums from 2000/. to 5000L 

 for the Deep-Sea Exploring Expedition in 1877-87. 

 The recent National Antarctic Expedition also received 

 the substantial help of 45,000/. The International Geo- 

 detic Conference was aided for a number of years, 

 and so also was, and is, the North Sea Fisheries 

 inquiry. These are genuine examples of the aid given 

 by the State for science purposes, but they are from 

 their very nature variable in amount, and not assigned 

 as part of a definite policy of encouraging systematic 

 scientific research as a continuous and necessary part 

 of national organisation. They owe their existence to 

 external forces, and if these were withdrawn or 

 lessened they would disappear. 



The grants of this character are generally, but not 

 universally, to be found under Class IX. of the 

 Estimates labelled " Miscellaneous or Temporary." 



Another series of grants are to be found under the 

 heading "Public Buildings," where the sums voted 

 for the Natural History Museum, the Royal College 

 of Science, the Edinburgh Industrial Museum, the 

 National Physical Laboratory, the Edinburgh Observa- 

 tory, and other buildings may from time to. time be 

 discovered and their progress followed by noting the 

 sums annually voted towards their commencement, 

 continuation, and completion. These sums also are 

 not voted as part of a settled, thought-out scheme of 

 scientific equipment for the nation, but are granted 

 more or less piecemeal, according to the pressure 

 which can be brought to bear to get a particular vote 

 included in the Estimates. 



Class IV. (Education, Science, and Art) does not 

 therefore, include anything like all the State aid given 

 to science, nor does it include all that is given for 

 educational purposes. The War Office Vote includes 

 large sums spent, not merely on the technical train- 

 ing of officers, but also on the general elementary 

 education of the rank and file of the Army, and of 

 their children, both in day schools and in evening 

 classes. Similarly, the Admiralty Vote includes the sums 

 spent on the educational institutions at Osborne and 

 Dartmouth, and less important places. The Vote for 

 educational purposes in the Army Estimates for 

 1914-15 amounts to more than a quarter of a million, 

 while that for the Navy is slightly less than this 

 amount. Probably a greater proportion of the Navy 

 Vote is spent on science instruction than is the case 

 with the Army. This might naturalh^ be expected. 

 Nor is this all. From time to time a Government 



NO. 2359, VOL. 94] 



Department embarks on a little scientific investiga- 

 tion on its own account. Though started with a 

 purely utilitarian aim, the results cannot but be of 

 some permanent scientific value. The expense attend- 

 ing these investigations must be sought for among 

 the votes taken for the office specially concerned in 

 the inquiry. Such cases will be found under the 

 Public Health Department of the Privy Council, the 

 Chief Secretary for Ireland's Department, the Board 

 of Trjide, and the Local Government Board. 



For the sake of completeness mention should be 

 made of the sums expended by Royal Commissions 

 and Select Committees, such as the Royal Commission 

 on Scientific Instruction, which was appointed in 1870, 

 that on Technical Instruction in 188 1, and the Select 

 Committee to report on the Museums of the Science 

 and Art Department in 1898. 



All these have the same characteristic of indefinite 

 variabilit}', and a consideration of their annual fluc- 

 tuations would lead to no definite result. Without, 

 therefore, ignoring or depreciating the valuable if 

 erratic assistance the State gives from time to time 

 for scientific purposes by providing buildings, appoint- 

 ing commissions, financing expeditions, and carrying 

 out inquiries, it is only by restricting attention to the 

 sums voted year by year in pursuance of a more or 

 less settled scheme that we can truly determine if 

 science instruction is really increasing in volume 

 and effectiveness, and is being made more and more 

 available for all w-ho could derive profit from it. In 

 this connection it may be worth while to recall the 

 words of the Queen's Speech in 1853 : — ''The advance- 

 ment of the fine arts and of practical science will be 

 readily recognised as yvorthy the attention of a great 

 and enlightened Nation, and I have directed that a 

 comprehensive scherrse should be laid before 50U 

 having in view the promotion of these objects towards 

 which I invite your aid and co-operation." 



The Rise and Fall of the Science and Art Department. 



Before the first International Exhibition of 185 1 

 State aid to education of any type had been prac- 

 tically restricted to an annual grant for elementary 

 schools, which in 1850 had reached the modest sum of 

 125,000/. ; to a grant to the University of London of 

 about 4000/. spent on examiners, scholarships, exhibi- 

 tions, and prizes, with practically nothing on salaries ; 

 grants for the teaching of drawing in schools of 

 design ; and grants to the Royal Dublin Society. The 

 grants for schools of design had crept up year by 

 year from 1300/. in 1838 to 14,755/. i" 1850. The 

 Royal Dublin Societv received annually about 6000/., 

 sometimes a little more, sometimes less, and this was 

 supposed to be expended very largely in the promotion 

 of science and art. 



In 1853 the new Department of Science and Art was 

 launched, and the G^o'ogical Survey, the Geological 

 Museum, and the Museum of Industry, Dublin, put 

 under its charge. The infant South Kensington 

 Museum and the well-established School of Design 

 were also included, and the new organisation began 

 its task of encouraging science instruction. But 

 whatever mav have been the views of far-sighted 

 men like Sir Henry Cole, who then, as Mr. Cole, was 

 making history as director, those in actual control 

 were singularlv blind to the future. Thus the Board 

 of Trade in a 'letter to the Treasury in March, 1853, 

 state that " in the proposed Department of Science and 

 Art the motive power will be local and voluntarj- — 

 the svstem in the main self-supporting." 



In regard to the Geological Survey, it is stated : — 

 " It is important to bear in mind that the expenses 

 incurred on account of the Geological Survey are not 

 permanent in their character, and will ultimately cease 



