10 



the aspirations of those who advocate such endowment 

 be ever fully realised or not, there can, I think, be no 

 doubt whatever that the Association in the matter of 

 these grants has afforded a most powerful stimulus to 

 original research and discovery. 



Eegarded from another point of view these grants, 

 together with others to be hereafter mentioned, present 

 a strong similarity to that useful institution, the 

 Professoriate Extraordinary of Germany, to which there 

 are no foundations exactly Corresponding in this country. 

 For, beside their more direct educational purpose, these 

 Professorships are intended, like our own grants, to 

 afford to special individuals an opportunity of following- 

 out the special work for which they have previously 

 proved themselves competent. And in this respect the 

 British Association may be regarded as supplying, to 

 the extent of its means, an elasticity which is wanting 

 in our own Universities. 

 Other Funds. Besides the funds which through your support are 

 at the disposal of the British Association there are, 

 as is well known to many here present, other funds 

 of more or less similar character at the disposal, or 

 subject to the recommendations, of the Eoyal Society. 

 There is the Donation Fund, the property of the Society ; 

 the Government Grant of <£ 1,000 per annum, adminis- 

 tered by the Society ; and the Government Fund of 

 <£4,000 per annum (an experiment for five years) to be 

 distributed by the Science and Art Department, both 

 for research itself, and for the support of those engaged 

 thereon, at the recommendation of a Committee con- 

 sisting mainly of Fellows of the Royal Society. To these 

 might be added other funds in the hands of different 

 Scientific Societies. 



