July 29, 1920* 



NATURE 



671 



peculiar that it is impossible to judge the scheme 

 from an ordinary point of view. A number of 

 those who contributed to the recent correspond- 

 ence in Nature appear to fear that the liberty 

 of the subject engaged in research work may 

 be improperly interfered with and curtailed by 

 the institution of a separate Chemical Service. 

 This should not be the case. It is to be supposed 

 that the studies undertaken will be strictly utili- 

 tarian in character — the primary objective being 

 the encouragement of " industrial research " and 

 to secure the co-operation of science and industry. 

 The fact is, the term " research " were better put 

 aside altogether in the present connection — it 

 now has so many meanings, if any meaning in 

 particular : it should be confined to strictly 

 original inquiry and regarded as a word of 

 sacred import. Organised scientific inquiry into 

 industrial problems is what is aimed at by 

 the promoters of the scheme : therefore Central 

 Scientific Institute would be a better title than 

 Central Research Institute, " Research " being a 

 word unknown to the multitude and one for 

 which it never can have any feeling. 



India is a country of vast size and is broken up 

 into an infinitude of small holdings : its problems 

 are more than numerous : the nature and extent 

 of its raw materials must be surveyed without 

 loss of time : very little has been done to develop 

 industries. The one crying need seems to be an 

 organisation of effort. A service is required if 

 only in protection of the workers. 



Perhaps the chief objection to be taken to the 

 scheme is its magnitude and therefore its costli- 

 ness ; it involves the simultaneous establish- 

 ment of so many district institutes, to satisfy the 

 desire of the several provinces to exercise ad- 

 ministrative control in their own areas. The real 

 difficulty will be to find men who are competent 

 to act as directors — men who are not only tech- 

 nically competent but also sufficiently imagina- 

 tive and broad in outlook, able to hold their own 

 socially and to manage men. Such men have been 

 in constant demand here of late and too rarely 

 forthcoming. Indeed, the complaint is frequent 

 that, though those entering technical careers may 

 be chemists by training, they lack initiative <inH 

 are unable to shoulder responsibility. Science 

 does not at present attract the right type of in- 

 telligence to its ranks. Do not let us delude our- 

 selves into thinking that we can repair our past 

 errors and become a scientific nation at will — by 

 admitting large numbers to the schools and creat- 

 ing numerous new posts : without acumen and 

 NO. 2648, VOL. 105] 



experience, nothing can be done. The success 

 of the Indian scheme will depend largely on the 

 man first chosen to fill the post of Director of the 

 Central Institute : he must be gifted with a 

 liberal spirit and with ideas; his time must not 

 be unduly taken up in attending to administra- 

 tive details ; he must himself be a skilled scientific 

 worker. Only such a man will be able to assist 

 the work of the universities and be a generous 

 and capable critic of the men they educate for the 

 purposes of industry and the State service. 



Sir P. C. Ray would in all cases start industries 

 by means of technical experts imported from 

 abroad and would not attempt to work them up 

 locally with the aid of the Research Institutes, as 

 proposed by the Committee. He is unquestion- 

 ably right in so far as large industries, well estab- 

 lished elsewhere, are concerned ; and as a matter 

 of fact the Committee advises that this course 

 should be taken in all such cases. The proposals 

 of the Committee apply specially to small-scale 

 industries in which it is desirable to encourage 

 native activity ; the work done by Sir Alfred 

 Chatterton in Madras in developing the use of 

 aluminium may be quoted in illustration. The 

 Indian is eminently conservative and is not 

 easily persuaded to do new things — but he can 

 often be led by ocular demonstrations ; it will 

 be the function of the provincial institutes to 

 give these. 



In its reference to the exploitation of forest 

 products, the Committee mentions match-making 

 as an industry which it understands the Forest 

 Department has under contemplation and seems 

 to give its approval. Here Sir P. C. R^y's 

 criticism is to the point. Match-making is so 

 thoroughly understood that it seems undesirable 

 that academic workers should take it in hand : 

 in such a case, it were better at once lo call in 

 the expert. The suitability of various fibres for 

 paper-making is quite another question : it is 

 clearly desirable that these should be first tested 

 on the spot, so that the many variations to which 

 the raw material would be subject could be 

 taken into account. 



The great value of the Report lies in the 

 recommendation of an all-India scientific service 

 — the directions in which the service can be made 

 of most avail will be gradually discovered as the 

 service comes into operation. That the industrial 

 future of India can be secured only with the aid 

 of the scientific inquirer and by placing industry 

 on a scientific footing is beyond all question. 

 Thanks are due to Prof. Thorpe and his col- 



