]82 



NATURE 



[November 8, 1917 



for Scientific and Industrial Research provides for 

 the establishment and award of research student- 

 ships and fellowships, as well as for the under- 

 taking of specific researches and the assistance 

 of institutions, or departments of Institutions, for 

 the scientific study of problems affecting- 

 particular industries and trades. In the first 



report of this committee it was stated that grants 

 had been recommended to an amount not exceed- 

 ing 6000Z. for about forty individual students and 

 research workers, but the actual amount expended 

 was only about 3550^. upon thirty-six workers ; 

 and the committee said in its second report: 

 "Throughout our work has suffered in amount 

 owing to the war, and we were unable to expend 

 NO. 2506, VOL. 100] 



more than 14,524/. out of the 40,000^ placed at 

 our disposal by Parliament for the financial year 

 1916-17." The committee recognises that a 

 largely increased supply of competent researchers 

 is necessary for the success of its work, and 

 points out that the output of the universities is 

 altogether insufficient to meet even a moderate 

 expansion in the demand for research. It adds : — 



" The annual number of students graduating 

 with first- and second-class honours in science and 

 technology (including mathematics) in the univer- 

 sities of England and Wales before the war was 

 only about 530, and of these but a small pro- 

 portion will have received any serious training in 

 research. We have frequently found on inquiry 

 that the number of workers of any scientific stand- 

 ing on a given subject of Industrial Importance is 

 very limited. . . . The responsibility for dealing 

 with the grave situation which we anticipate rests 

 with the Education Departments of the United" 

 Kingdom. We shall be able to do something to 

 encourage a longer period of training by the offer 

 of research studentships and the like; but that 

 will not suffice. It is useless to offer scholarships 

 If competent candidates are not forthcoming, and 

 they cannot be forthcoming in sufficient numbers 

 until a larger number of well-educated students 

 enter the universities. That is the problem which 

 the Education Departments have to solve, and on 

 the solution of which the success of the present 

 movement, in our opinion, largely depends." 



The report of the Consultative Committee 

 already referred to suggests how the number of 

 students might be increased by the State providing- 

 maintenance grants to enable selected scholars 

 to continue their secondary education from the 

 age of sixteen to that of eighteen or nineteen, by 

 scholarships to universities from secondary 

 schools and senior technical schools, and by the 

 prolongation of scholarships for the purpose of 

 training in research. Sir William Ramsay thought 

 It preferable to subsidise teachers and teaching 

 institutions with the object of Increasing efficiency 

 and reducing fees, rather than to add to the pecu- 

 niary resources of the student. His objection to 

 the scholarship system was based chiefly on the 

 method of award by competitive examination, by 

 which it Is Impossible to estimate justly the capa- 

 city of candidates to deal with unfamiliar problems 

 or ultimately to undertake research. This defect, 

 however, may be obviated at the universities by 

 placing the responsibility for the nomination for 

 scholarships upon the professors under whom a 

 student has been trained and making capacity for 

 research a condition of award. 



A considerable impetus to scientific study and' • 

 training In research was given by the establish- 

 ment of the now well-known science scholarships 

 of the Roval Commissioners for the Exhibition of 



