326 



NATURE 



[May 13, 1920 



a crime. There is not a single technical teaching 

 institute in the whole of India. In the universities 

 and Government colleges there is very meagre pro- 

 vision for research work. The universities are just 

 trying to emerge from mere examining bodies into 

 centres of education, and the demand for State aid 

 for founding chairs in experimental and industrial 

 subjects is very great. In Bengal, the most advanced 

 province in India, there are, technically speaking, no 

 endowed chairs at all (except one or two founded by 

 the generosity of patriotic citizens). Altogether we 

 have five or six high posts in the Government col- 

 leges, but the occupiers of these posts are required 

 only to teach, and not to do any research work. The 

 number of research scholarships is only three or four. 

 But the man who has done good original work, and 

 has the good fortune to be taken into the Service, 

 has no better prospects before him than the man who 

 has nothing to his credit except his original degree 

 in the university ; for under the Service system pro- 

 motion is by favour and seniority, not by work and 

 efficiency. 



It appears to me that the most pressing needs for 

 InHia at the present moment are : (i) The foundation 

 by the Government of a number of chairs in various 

 branches of pure and applied chemistry in the uni- 

 versities, and also a large number of readerships, 

 assistant professorships, and research scholarships. 

 (2) The establishment of a number of technical insti- 

 tutes and the strengthening of the laboratories and 

 scientific libraries. (3) The organisation of the posts 

 so created and of the posts already existent on a 

 professional rather than on a Service basis. (4) The 

 replacement of the director by boards of recruitment 

 composed chiefly of university professors, one official, 

 and one or two non-official representatives of the 

 public. (5) The encouragement of the foundation of 

 scientific societies. 



There should be no watertight separation between 

 those who are engaged in special tvpes of work in 

 Government research institutes and those working in 

 the university laboratories. The officials in the re- 

 search institutes should be asked to maintain a life- 

 long connection with the university in some shape or 

 other; and the researchers in the universities may be 

 invited, when an occasion arises, to avail themselves 

 of the opportunities afforded in the research institutes. 

 Prafulla Chandra RAy. 



Universitv College of Science, 92 Upper 

 Circular Road, Calcutta. 



The Cost of Scientific Publications. 



In the timely leading article in Nature of May 6 

 on the cost of scientific publications a note is struck 

 which goes deep to the heart of many scientific 

 workers — editors, secretaries, and members of councils 

 on one hand, struggling to make inadequate funds 

 meet the greatly increased expenses, and on the other 

 the young investigators whose papers on the results 

 of research are being held up by the impossibility of 

 paying for publication. It Is difficult to see the 

 remedy at the moment. Most of us will, I think, 

 agree with you that increased subscriptions to the 

 publishing societies, on any adequate scale, would be 

 a hardship to many, and probably defeat _ the 

 end in view by choking ofif members. My experience 

 as an officer of the British Association and of several 

 scientific societies has shown me that It is difficult 

 enough for our younger scientific workers, such as the 

 demonstrator class at the universities, to aflford the 

 necessary expense of joining such societies and attend- 

 ing the meetings. Recognising the great pleasure and 

 advantage that one enjoyed in seeing and hearing the 

 NO. 2637, VOL. 105] 



senior men in the subject at the first scientific meet- 

 ings one attended (British Association and LInnean 

 Society), it would be deplorable that anything should 

 be done to render it still more difficult than it is for 

 the younger men of to-day to attend and take part in 

 such gatherings. 



You suggest that we may have been unduly extrava- 

 gant In the past in the production of our scientific 

 publications. This may have been so to some slight 

 extent in a few cases, but I am by no means con- 

 vinced that it is general, or material, and I would 

 deprecate any drastic change. A judicious and kindly 

 editor, secretary, referee, or communicator of a paper 

 may usefully do something to moderate the exuberance 

 of a youthful author and to keep note-book details 

 within reasonable bounds ; but the scientific value of a 

 paper may be spoilt by ruthless excision. It is not 

 enough, in many cases, to give end-results unless con- 

 clusions are to be accepted uncritically like text-book 

 statements. To be of value to workers on the subject 

 In the future, the details of experiments and the 

 statistics of observations are essential. I see there- 

 fore no remedy except the provision of considerably 

 Increased funds for oubllcatlon, not from the members 

 of the publishing societies, but from outside sources — 

 either private benefactors or the State. 



We already have certain endowments and certain 

 annual grants for the promotion of scientific research, 

 but I would urge the emphatic opinion that adequate 

 publication is an essential part — the necessary com- 

 pletion — of any important and successful research. 

 Some administrators of scientific funds— for example, 

 the trustees of the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund — 

 have acted on that view, and so far as their limited 

 resources allow they try to see through to complete 

 publication the researches which they have supported; 

 but, of course, this limits to some extent their activi- 

 ties In subsidising further research. 



The provision of a considerable endowment from 

 which grants might be given in aid of the publication 

 of worthy papers by the principal scientific societies 

 would be a noble benefaction which would doubtless 

 have an effect upon the advancement of knowledge 

 second onlv to the endowment of the research Itself. 



W. A. Herdman. 



The University, Liverpool, May 9. 



I heartily agree with the opinion expressed 

 in the leading article in Nature of May 6 

 that a Government subsidy Is necessary at the 

 present time to lessen the sudden shock of 

 war conditions to our scientific societies, especially 

 in the matter of printing. The case was 

 well put by Sir Joseph Larmor in a letter to the Times 

 some months ago : the blow strikes at the very roots 

 of scientific advance, and the risk of vital damage^ is 

 thus the greater because roots are apt to be burled 

 out of sight. If the mischief be not remedied in tinie, 

 It will become clearly manifest only when the fruits 

 begin to fail. 



In societies with which I am connected, and especi- 

 ally in the British Association, anxious study has been 

 made of all possible economies in printing, and any- 

 thing which could be regarded as a luxurv Is being 

 rigidly excluded; but the printing bill will still be 

 heavv^ — much heavier than before — and the excess will 

 Inevitably be subtracted from funds formerly devoted 

 to research. Moreover, we cannot be quite easy about 

 the omission of the items regarded as luxuries. It is 

 a common experience that life-long Influences rnay 

 hang on trifles, and the natural accretions^ which 

 gather round an old-established association like the 

 British Association are peculiarly liable to contain just. 



