22-2 



N^T^i/^E 



[April 22, 1920 



rightly transferred to the Privy Council, where 

 it had independence from any one administrative 

 Department, and could serve all Departments alike. 

 But the council of scientific men became a purely 

 advisory body, as it now is, and the Committee 

 of Privy Council under which the work was to 

 be done was not purely Ministerial and formal, 

 but received the addition of other personally ap- 

 pointed lay members in a position constitutionally 

 superior to that of the scientific members of the 

 Advisory Council. A strong- staff of lay officers 

 was progressively appointed upon the executive 

 side as a Department under the Privy Council 

 Committee, not under the direct control of the 

 scientific members of the Advisory Council, and 

 neither appointed nor removable by them. 



When the Ministry of Health for England and 

 Wales was constituted in 1919, with correspond- 

 ing Boards of Health in Scotland and Ireland, 

 the disbanding of the four National Health 

 Insurance Commissions made a new con- 

 stitution necessary for the Medical Research Com- 

 mittee, the work of which in science has no 

 national boundaries. It could not properly be 

 attached to the Ministry of Health, because, alto- 

 gether apart from the general arguments against 

 placing a system of free research work under a 

 strong administrative Department, a Committee 

 serving the whole of the United Kingdom could 

 not fittingly be attached to a Ministry responsible 

 only for England and Wales. The obviously 

 right course was to bring the medical research 

 service under the Privy Council, the range of 

 which not only covers the United Kingdom, but 

 also allows easy constitutional relationship with 

 systems of research work throughout the Empire. 

 The problem was to bring the Medical Research 

 Committee into close relationship with the scien- 

 tific and industrial research system already under 

 Privy Council direction, and equally with other 

 systems that may hereafter be placed there, so as 

 to allow the greatest possibility of co-operation 

 along the innumerable boundary lines of scientific 

 work; at the same time it was necessary to do this 

 without sacrificing any of the freedom which the 

 Committee had already enjoyed in its first con- 

 stitution, or had worked out in experience and 

 established in its traditions. 



The solution of this was given when the new 



Committee of Privy Council for the work of the 



Committee — now the Medical Research Council — 



was established by Order in Council on March 1 1 



NO, 2634, VOL. 105] 



last. This Committee provides the formal Minis- 

 terial responsibility for moneys provided by par- 

 liament, and at the same time it represents and 

 brings together the interests of all the fouf parts 

 of the Kingdom. In the absence of the Uord 

 President, the Minister of Health will act as 

 Vice-President of the Committee. The Secretary 

 appointed by the Medical Research Council for its 

 own scientific and administrative purposes, is to 

 be ipso facto Secretary of this Privy Council Com- 

 mittee, so that the chief executive officer of the 

 Research Council will have direct access to the 

 Minister in charge, without the intervention of 

 lay officials either now or in the future. 



The Medical Research Council itself has been 

 incorporated by Royal charter in perpetual suc- 

 cession with legal powers to hold money or other 

 personal property, whether voted by Parliament 

 or derived from other sources, and to accept trusts 

 for the furtherance 6f medical research. It has. 

 licence to purchase and hold land or to receive 

 it by gift or bequest up to an annual value of 

 50,oooL, determined at the time of acquisition. 



The personal constitution of the Medical Re- 

 search Committee upon becoming the new Council 

 is little changed. At least two of its members must 

 always be Members of Parliament, one each in the 

 House of Lords and the House of Commons. 

 Lord Astor and Dr. Addison, holding office 

 in the Ministry of Health, retired from the 

 Committee before the change was effected, and 

 one additional scientific member was appointed, 

 to bring the total number from nine to ten. The 

 constitution of the final Medical Research Com- 

 mittee and of the new Medical Research Council 

 is as follows : — The Viscount Goschen ; Mr. 

 William Graham, M.P. ; the Hon. Edward Wood, 

 M.P. ; C. J. Bond, C.M.G., F.R.C.S. ; Prof. W. 

 Bulloch, F.R.S. ; Dr. T. R. Elliott, F.R.S. ; 

 Dr. Henry Head, F.R.S.; Prof. F. Gowland 

 Hopkins, F.R.S. ; Major-Gen. Sir William 

 Leishman, K.C.M.G., F.R.S.; and Prof. D. Noel 

 Paton, F.R.S. 



It is laid down that three of these members shall 

 retire on September 30, 192 1, and thereafter three 

 at intervals of two years. Vacancies so caused or 

 arising casually are to be filled by appointment 

 by the Committee of Privy Council, but only after 

 consultation with the President for the time being 

 of the Royal Society and with the Medical Re- 

 search Council. This provision will bring into 

 effective bearing upon the constitution of >the 



