134 



NATURE 



[December 6, 1900 



international catalogue of scientific literature, in which all 

 rscientific memoirs and publications will be catalogued. 



I quote these instances as they are those which have 

 fallen more immediately under my own observation, but 

 manufacturers can tell a similar tale. The visit of the 

 Iron and Steel Institute and of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers to Paris, the visit of the Electrical 

 Engineers to Switzerland, and the travels of the Naval 

 Architects all show that the great professions are be- 

 ■coming more and more international. It is essential 

 that a young man who intends to keep abreast of what 

 is being done abroad should be prepared to read foreign 

 periodicals, and to make the most of any opportunity 

 which may occur of going abroad himself. To do this 

 he must study modern languages. This will be directly 

 useful, and it will also have the great educational advan- 

 tage that it tends to keep alive an interest in something 

 other than the science or technology to which I am 

 -supposing that the attention of the student is chiefly 

 (turned. 



As matters stand at present, a number of the most 

 intelligent of our youth, after the more elementary parts 

 •of their education are completed, devote themselves 

 chiefly to science. Many of the best of them come 

 under my personal observation in the Royal College of 

 Science. Some of them develop such marked scientific 

 ability that they pursue the more theoretical side of their 

 studies, and aim at taking a degree with honours. Their 

 ■education has often been carried on chiefly by means of 

 State or municipal grants made to the schools or colleges 

 •in which they have been educated. In the system of 

 education under which they have been brought up, no 

 effort has been made to induce them to study classics. 

 Yet when they have proved themselves worthy of a high 

 University training in science, they are suddenly stopped 

 in the middle of their career, and told that no further 

 progress towards a degree is possible unless they go back 

 to school again and learn the Latin grammar. I think 

 that the time has come when this should be changed, 

 ^nd a knowledge of modern languages should be allowed 

 to replace Latin. 



The hard and fast line of separation which has too 

 ■often been drawn between the earlier education of those 

 who do and of those who do not propose to go to the 

 University would thus be obliterated. Both should be 

 taught modern languages, both should be taught science, 

 -and both would then have acquired a literary and scien- 

 tific training which could be developed in the further 

 •stages of a technical or a University education. 



Do not misunderstand me. I am not advocating the 

 abolition of the system of classical education which is 

 predominant in the public schools. But it is too often 

 forgotten that there is another great system of education 

 growing up side by side with that which is based on 

 ■classics. This system is based on a knowledge of 

 science. The study of classics is introduced into it 

 neither at the beginning as a foundation nor at the end to 

 complete it. It is introduced as a patch in the middle. 

 •Of two things one. If Latin is essential, let the State 

 and the municipalities supply funds for it as lavishly as 

 they do for science. If it is not essential, do not insist 

 ■on introducing it at the most inconvenient moment of the 

 student's career. 



But if I would take away something from the burden 

 now laid on beginners, I would also modify the later 

 stages of scientific or technical education. 



Up to the present the general training of students of 

 science at the University has ceased with their matricu- 

 Jation. The modicum of Latin which they have then 

 obtained, with a little history and geography, and perhaps 

 some French, is abandoned. The University takes no 

 ifurther note of their progress in these subjects. If I am in 

 favour of ceasing to make Latin compulsory, I also desire 

 (that the more advanced students of science or industry 



NO. 1623. VOL 63] 



should carry on the study of modern languages, which 

 should be regarded as an integral part of a scientific 

 education. Too exclusive attention to one subject would 

 thus be less probable ; but nevertheless the student 

 would be directed to what he himself would regard as 

 matter germane to the central interest of his life, for a 

 knowledge of French and German is essential to the 

 proper cultivation of science. These views I have long 

 held, and I am glad to learn that they are very similar to, 

 if not identical with, the views of Lord Rosebery. If the 

 politicians determine on the reform it will become a 

 practical question. 



But though anxious that this reform should take place, 

 I am well aware that the matter of immediate, pressing 

 and vital importance for our national welfare is that the 

 knowledge of science should not only be more widely 

 spread among us, but also that the scientific method 

 should be more widely applied to industry. 



I have no intention of attempting to read Bradford a 

 lesson on business methods. But you will allow me to 

 congratulate both the scientific and the business worlds 

 on the fact that they are drawing nearer together. A 

 profound knowledge of the secrets of nature may be 

 combined with knowledge of the world, while the busi- 

 ness man is often a highly cultivated scholar, and is 

 learning the lesson that he who is quickest to apply new 

 knowledge to old problems is most likely to win and to 

 keep the markets of the world. 



Day by day the workshops are growing more and more 

 like scientific laboratories, except that the appliances are 

 on a scale which few laboratories have the means to 

 command. On the other hand, the laboratories are 

 becoming more and more like the homes of scientific 

 industry. 



Germany has for some years had a national physical 

 laboratory — the Reichsanstalt — in which scientific ques- 

 tions likely to be useful to industry are investigated. The 

 organisation for which that country is remarkable, and in 

 which we are deficient, was shown by the way in which 

 the scientific exhibits at the Paris Exhibition were dealt 

 with. Those of our scientific instrument makers who 

 sent specimens of their work, each selected and exhibited 

 what seemed to him good. Their exhibits were distinct 

 and separate, and the English exhibit as a whole was a 

 patchwork, with no well-defined scheme or pattern. In 

 Germany the scientific exhibit was supervised by the 

 officials of the Reichsanstalt. Instruments of the same 

 class were exhibited together, whoever their maker might 

 be ; and the visitor could see at a glance the best that 

 Germany could produce of each particular type. As- 

 sistants were ready to open the cases and to display the 

 wares. Catalogues of the different firms were furnished 

 if the visitor signed a written request, and a central office 

 had been established where orders could be booked. This, 

 of course, was an exceptional piece of work, but the 

 general uses of a national laboratory are permanent ; 

 and, owing to the efforts of the British Association and 

 the Royal Society, the Government have lately asked the 

 Royal Society to undertake the management of an insti- 

 tution similar to the Reichsanstalt. The sum granted is 

 very small, as compared with the resources of the German 

 institution, but I do not quarrel with that decision. If 

 the thing is good it will grow, and it is perhaps better 

 not to begin on too large a scale. A year ago we were 

 ready to get to work. Six of the great technical societies 

 are represented on the governing body. Committees 

 have formulated a scheme of work, but grave delay has 

 been occasioned by opposition to the erection of the 

 laboratory at Richmond. 



But, gentlemen, putting our difficulties aside, I believe 

 that the foundation of a National Physical Laboratory, 

 and the establishment of a municipal technical school at 

 Bradford are both signs of the growing recognition of 

 the ties between science and industry ; and I take it as 



