January 3, 1901] 



NA TURE 



223 



is not sufficient, and that we must do more in these 

 directions ; but the present difference in these respects is 

 not entirely sufficient to account for the present condition 

 of things. 



Continuing our process of exclusion we finally arrive 

 at the possibility that the present superiority of our com- 

 petitors depends as much upon Liebig's introduction of 

 practical scientific work and research into the general 

 higher education as did our former supremacy upon 

 Watt's introduction of the steam engine. Voltaire said, 

 " On etudie les livres en attendant qu'on etudie les 

 hommes." The proper study of Science gives us a third 

 term, the study of things and laws in action ; a study in 

 which the eye and hand and brain must work together to 

 produce the scientific spirit or properly organised common 

 sense. 



The Scientific spirit existed among our European 

 competitors much more generally than it did with us 

 long before Liebig, and it was utilised over a far wider 

 field of knowledge ; but from Liebig's time it has existed 

 among them as the dominant factor in Industry and 

 Commerce, and the closer union between Science and 

 Industry in other countries is, we believe, the true origin 

 of the present difference between them and our own. 



Here, we tried to start chemical industries by employ- 

 ing chemists, as Mr. Perkin has told us, at "bricklayers' 

 wages." In Germany they are now carried on by scores, 

 in one case a hundred, of the best trained chemists the 

 country can produce, in research laboratories attached to 

 all the great works. At this moment German artificial 

 indigo threatens to replace the natural product in all the 

 markets of the world as a result of these scientific 

 industrial methods. So soon as Science was acknow- 

 ledged to be the most important commercial factor, the 

 Reichsanstalt was established by the Government at a 

 cost of 200,000/., and a yearly expenditure of 15,000/. to 

 weld science and industry more closely together. An 

 American professor thus summarises the results : 



" The results have already justified, in a remarkable 

 manner, all the expenditure of labour and money. The 

 renown in exact scientific measurements formerly pos- 

 sessed by France and England has now largely been 

 transferred to Germany. Formerly scientific workers in 

 the United States looked to England for exact standards, 

 especially in the department of electricity, now they go 

 to Germany." And again, " Germany is rapidly moving 

 toward industrial supremacy in Europe. One of the 

 most potent factors in this notable advance is the per- 

 fected alliance between science and commerce existing 

 in Germany. Science has come to be regarded there as 

 a commercial factor. If England is losing her supremacy 

 in manufactures and in commerce, as many claim, it is 

 because of English conservatism, and the failure to utilise 

 to the fullest extent the lessons taught by science." 



Britain, of course, is the country in which such an 

 institution ought to have been established more than 

 half a century ago. We are now compelled to imitate it ; 

 but the new institution which, before long, may be insti- 

 tuted is on such a microscopic scale that its utility in the 

 present struggle is more than doubtful. 



The next conclusion the appeal to the law provides 

 us ■ with is that the improved scientific instruction of 

 NO. 1627, VOL. 63] 



those engaged in Industry is not the only line along 

 which our defences must be strengthened. The scientific 

 spirit must be applied as generally in England as 

 elsewhere. 



The increasing complexity of industrial and national 

 life requires a closer adjustment of means to ends, and 

 this can only be attained by those who have had educa- 

 tion on a scientific basis, and have therefore acquired the 

 scientific habit. In this way only can we lift the whole 

 standard of our national life to a higher plane, and weld 

 the various national activities together. 



We must have a profound change of front on the part 

 of the Ministry and the personnel of Government depart- 

 ments, only very few of whom have had any scientific 

 education and who at present regard all scientific 

 questions with apathy, on the ground, perhaps, that in 

 their opinion the Nation has no direct concern with them. 

 This feeling may be strengthened by the fact that at 

 present, while the laws of the realm are well looked after 

 by the most hig hly paid servants of the State, the laws of 

 Nature are left without anybody to form a court of 

 appeal in difficult questions. It is true that to fill this 

 gap our men of science are always ready, when called 

 upon, to spend time and energy on affording, gratis, to 

 the Government advice on any questions which may be 

 submitted to them ; but because this advice costs nothing 

 its value is, perhaps, estimated by what it costs. 



Our rulers must recognise that, in virtue of the law 

 to which reference has been made, it will not do to 

 confine their energies and the national expenditure, so 

 largely as they do now, to matters relating to the Navy 

 and Army, the functions of which are to protect our 

 world-wide Empire at present well worth conquering, our 

 industries, and our argosies on every sea — products, all 

 of them, of our old scientific and therefore commercial 

 supremacy. 



Several obvious corollaries from the law in question 

 indicate very clearly the proper course to pursue, in our 

 own case to retain our position, in the case of our com- 

 petitors to improve their own in relation to us, and 

 therefore at our expense. There are many signs that 

 our competitors, at all events, have faced this problem 

 and are working on true scientific lines ; of this the 

 heavy subsidy of the German mercantile marine may be 

 given as one instance out of many, and here, indeed, we 

 are brought face to face with the consideration that the 

 scientific outlook should really be as important to those 

 in charge of the Nation's future well-being as that con- 

 cerned with international politics. 



If the other nations, by their scientific activity, increase 

 their commerce and therefore their commercial fleets, 

 their national fleets must be increased also. Our present 

 policy with regard to our fleet is well established, so 

 that we are committed to its continuous and well-defined 

 increase, while it seems to be the duty of no Govern- 

 ment department to look after the scientific advances 

 which are the only bases of the commerce which is 

 to provide for the constantly increasing expenditure. 

 So that if, in the future, a constantly reduced com- 

 merce and commercial marine, and therefore reduced 



