NA TURE 



653 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1920. 



THE ORGANISATION OF SCIENTIFIC 

 WORK IN INDIA. 



THE reorganisation and development of scien- 

 tific work in India are now under considera- 

 tion, and important and far-reaching decisions on 

 these questions will shortly be made by the Secre- 

 tary of State. It has already been decided, both 

 by the Government of India and by the Secretary 

 of State, that large sums of money must be 

 found at the earliest possible moment for the 

 purpose of fosterinr^ the development of the Indian 

 Empire by means of scientific research. The prin- 

 ciple of State aid on a generous scale has been 

 accepted, but the important question of the best 

 method of utilising this form of assistance in 

 the future development of India remains to be 

 settled. These matters were referred to by the 

 Viceroy on January 30 last in his speech opening 

 the present session of the Imperial Legislative 

 Council at Delhi. It is evident from the report 

 of Lord Chelmsford's remarks which appeared 

 in the Times of February 6 that the Government 

 of India is now considering large schemes of 

 expansion in regard to the scientific activities of 

 the State. 



Two policies at present hold the field : 

 (a) Centralisation under a proposed Imperial De- 

 partment of Industries of the Government of India 

 in which chemists, botanists, zoologists, and so 

 on will be formed into distinct, water-tight, 

 graded services, each under the control of a 

 departmental head ; and (b) decentralisation under 

 which the scientific workers at the various uni- 

 versities and research institutes will be given as 

 free a hand as possible. 



The policy of centralisation and the creation of 

 graded scientific services have been strongly advo- 

 i cated by the Indian Industrial Commission, which 

 I was presided over by Sir Thomas Holland, for- 

 merly Director of the Geological Survey of India. 

 It is favoured by a number of administrators in 

 India who consider that some measure of official 

 control is necessary for all scientific investigators, 

 and it has also received the support of several 

 of the scientific witnesses examined by the Com- 

 mission. The arguments advanced by Sir Thomas 

 Holland and his supporters in favour of centralised 

 scientific services are set out in detail in chap. ix. 

 of the Report of the Indian Industrial Commis- 

 sion, published last year (H.M. Stationery Office; 

 Cmd. 51). The nature of these arguments 

 NO. 2625, VOL. 104] 



will be evident from a study of the prin- 

 ciples and the rules which they suggest should 

 be adopted for the formation and control of the 

 new Chemical Service. It is proposed to proceed 

 with the creation of this service as soon as the 

 committee now dealing with this matter in India 

 has submitted its report. 



The Industrial Commission considers that for 

 administrative purposes the chemists now em- 

 ployed by the State in India, and at present dis- 

 tributed among the cadres of various services, 

 should be brought together into one service to 

 be called the Indian Chemical Service, and should 

 be under the control, so far as their scientific work 

 is concerned, of a senior officer styled Chief 

 Chemist to the Government of India. The remain- 

 ing members of the service would be divided into 

 three groups — agricultural, mineral, and organic 

 chemists — each group being under the supervision 

 of a Deputy Chief Chemist located at a suitable 

 centre. The junior members of the groups would 

 be lent to Local Governments and to various 

 Government Departments for periods normally 

 limited to five years; they would carry out the 

 routine duties required, in some cases including 

 teaching, and undertake certain forms of research 

 with the approval of the head of the service. All 

 the members of the Chemical Service would carry 

 on their duties on the following lines : (i) When- 

 ever it is possible to lay down for any oflficer a 

 programme of research work, such programme 

 would not be sanctioned without the consent of 

 the head of the service ; (ii) thf liead of the 

 Chemical Service would have power to inspect the 

 scientific work of any of his transferred officers 

 and to report thereon to the local authority ; 

 (iii) the results of scientific investigations would 

 be reviewed by the head of the service, and would 

 not be published without his consent. Ordinarily, 

 such results would be given their first formal 

 publication in the official journal of fhe service. 



These details will enable men of science in 

 Great Britain to understand how it is proposed 

 that most of the future scientific work in India 

 should be conducted. As soon as the organisa- 

 tion of chemists is completed, the Industrial Com- 

 mission suggests that the botanists, zoologists, 

 and entomologists working in India should be 

 formed into similar centralised services. 



The present system under which research is 

 conducted in India may be described shortly as 

 one of decentralisation, the work being carried 

 out at the various university colleges and at a 

 number of independent research institutes under 



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