260 



NATURE 



[November 6, igig 



type. It was pointed out in these columns in 1872 

 that great laboratories had been erected in 

 Berlin, Leipzig, Bonn, Aix-la-Chapelle, Karlsruhe, 

 Stuttgart, Griefswald, and other places, at the 

 expense of the State, and special provision had 

 been made in them /or original scientific research, 

 but no like developments had taken place here. 

 When a deputation of the Council of the British 

 Association waited upon Earl Grey, Lord Presi- 

 dent of the Council, in 1870, to urge on the 

 Government the issuing of a Royal Commission 

 to inquire into the state of science in England, 

 Lord Grey thought that the whole inquiry was 

 fraught with difficulties, but the object was 

 worthy of a statesman's ambition. The Commis- 

 sion was appointed in the same year, with the 

 seventh Duke of Devonshire as president and Sir 

 Norman Lockyer as secretary ; and the volumes 

 of its reports issued from 1871 to 1875 are filled 

 with convincing evidence and far-seeing sugges- 

 tions. 



The terms of reference of the Commission were 

 "to make inquiry with regard to scientific instruc- 

 tion and the advancement of science, and to in- 

 quire what aid thereto is derived from grants 

 voted by Parliament, or from endowments belong- 

 ing to the several Universities in Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and the colleges thereof, and whether 

 such aid could be rendered in a manner more 

 effectual for the purpose." The whole position of 

 science in the United Kingdom was surveyed in 

 the volumes of the report of the Comrnission ; and 

 had the recommendations of the Commissioners 

 been acted upon, we should easily have been in 

 advance of all other countries in the applications 

 of science to industry, and have been strongly 

 equipped for all eventualities of peace or of war. 

 Our statesmen had not suflficient knowledge of 

 science to understand its relation to national 

 advancement, or suflficient faith in scientific dis- 

 covery to believe that provision for it would ulti- 

 mately benefit the community industrially and 

 politically ; and we lost ground in consequence of 

 their neglect. 



One of the recommendations of the Commission 

 was that a special department of science should 

 be entrusted with the duty of promoting the 

 scientific interests of the country. It was pro- 

 posed that a Ministry of Science should be con- 

 stituted, with a permanent and well-paid scientific 

 council to advise the Government on scientific 

 questions, consider inventions tendered for the 

 use of the State, and conduct or superintend ex- 

 perimental investigations relating to such matters. 

 The Department of Research and Information out- 

 lined in the Report on the Machinery of Govern- 

 ment issued by the Ministry of Reconstruction a 

 few months ago is intended to serve much the 

 same purposes as were contemplated by the Duke 

 of Devonshire's Commission. It is permissible 

 in this connection to recall a communication to 

 Nature of June 15, 1871, in which Lt.-Col. 

 A. Strange described the work which a Ministry 

 of Science could undertake, and added, in words 

 NO. 2610, VOL. 104] 



which are as apt to-day as they were when they 

 were written : 



When we have all scientific national institutions 

 under one Minister of State, advised by a permanent, 



independent, and highly-qualified consultative body 



when we have a similar body to advise the Ministers 

 of War and Marine in strategical science — then the 

 fact that, in accordance with our marvellous constitu- 

 tion, these ministers must almost necessarily be men 

 without pretension to a knowledge of the affairs which 

 they administer, need cause us no alarm. When these 

 combinations have been, as thev assuredly will be, 

 sooner or later, effected, the wealth, resoiirces, and 

 intelligence of the nation, having due scope, will 

 render us unapproachable in the arts of peace and 

 unconquerable in war — but not till then. 



Though the Ministry of Science advocated fifty 

 years ago has not been realised, the Department 

 of Scientific and Industrial Research established 

 in igi6 fulfils many of its functions and is likely 

 to undertake further work for the co-ordination 

 and development of national scientific activities 

 if the recommendations of the Report on the 

 Machinery of Government are ever carried out. 

 The Department has a fund of one million pounds 

 voted by Parliament as a block grant to be ex- 

 pended over a period of five or six years. This S 

 fund is being used to make grants towards the 

 foundation and maintenance of approved associa- 

 tions for research on a co-operative basis. In 

 addition, the Department has at its disposal an 

 annual Parliamentary vote to cover the cost of 

 researches not undertaken by the research asso- 

 ciations, to provide grants to research workers, 

 and for administration. The Department also now 

 administers the National Physical Laboratory, 

 which was founded in 1899, and to which the 

 sum of 155,000/. is allocated in the Civil Service 

 Estimates for the current financial year. 



National provision for scientific work has thus 

 been considerably extended in recent years. The 

 oflficial attitude of earlier days was represented 

 by a reply which the Lords Commissioners of 

 H.M. Treasury made to an application from the 

 British Association in 1872 for a grant of 150I. 

 to secure the continuance of some important tidal 

 observations. The reply was : 



I am to state that their Lordships have given their 

 anxious attention to the memorial, and that they are 

 fullv sensible of the interesting nature of such in- 

 vestigations, but that they feel that if they acceded 

 to this request it would be impossible to refuse to 

 contribute towards the numerous other objects which 

 men of eminence may desire to treat scientifically. 

 Their Lordships must, therefore, though with regret, 

 decline to make a promise of assistance towards the 

 present object out of public funds. 



It will be evident from this example of the 

 position of State support for science in England 

 in 1872 that much remained to be done in order 

 to change the oflficial mind which after "anxious 

 attention" had to express "regret" that the 

 Government of these islands could not provide 

 the sum of 150L for tidal observations because 



