324 



NA rURE 



[August 4, 1892 



in our old Universities, made partly for the purpose of 

 fitting their graduates for the conduct of original research, 

 or to the national laboratory proposed by my pre- 

 decessor in this chair for carrying out a certain kind of scien- 

 tific investigation, which at present is left undone, or is done by 

 private enterprise. Even our own Association has not escaped 

 the evil eye of the reformer, and, like other institutions, it may 

 be capable of improvement. But in choosing the direction in 

 which a change may best be made, I think we may learn some- 

 thing from the way in which Nature improves its organisms. 

 We are taught by biologists that natural selection acts by de- 

 veloping those qualities which enable each species best to survive 

 che .struggle for existence ; useless organs die off or become rudi- 

 mentary. Nature teaches us, therefore, how a beautiful com- 

 plex of beings, mutually dependent on each other, is formed by 

 improving those parts which are best and most useful, and letting 

 the rest take care of itself. But in many of the changes which 

 have been made or are proposed the process of reform is very 

 different. The weakest points are selected, our attention is 

 drawn to some failure or something in which we are excelled by 

 other nations, and attempts are made to cure what perhaps had 

 better be left to become rudimentary. The proceeding is not 

 objectionable as long as the nourishment which is applied to 

 develop the weaker organs is not taken from those parts which 

 we should specially take care to preserve. To apply these 

 reflections to the questions with which we are specially con- 

 cerned, I should like to see it more generally recognized that 

 although there is no struggle for existence between different 

 nations, yet each nation, owing to a number of circumstances, 

 possesses its own peculiarities, which render it better fitted than 

 its neighbours to do some particular part of the work on which 

 the progress of science depends. No country, for instance, has 

 rivalled France in the domain of accurate measurement, with 

 which the names of Regnault and Amagat are associated, and 

 the International Bureau of Weights and Measures has its fitting 

 home in Paris. ^ The best work of the German Universities 

 seems to me to consist in the following up of some theory to its 

 logical conclusions and submitting it to the test of experiment. 

 I doubt whether the efforts to transplant the research work of 

 German Universities into this country will prove successful. 

 Does it not seem well to let each country take that share of work 

 for which the natural growth of its character and its educational 

 establishment best adapt it ? Is it wise to remedy some weak 

 point, to fill up undoubted gaps, if the soil that fills the gaps has 

 to be taken from the hills and elevations which rise above the 

 surrounding level ? 



As far as the work of this section is concerned the strongest 

 domain of this country has been that of mathematical physics. 

 Bat it is not to this that I wish specially to refer. Look at the 

 work done in Great Britain during the last two centuries ; the 

 work not only in physics, but in astronomy, chemistry, biology. 

 Is it not true that the one distinctive feature which separates 

 this from all other countries in the world is the prominent part 

 played by the scientific amateur, and is it not also true that our 

 modern system of education tends to destroy the amateur ? 



By amateur I do not necessarily mean a man who has other 

 occupations and only takes up science in his leisure hours, but 

 rather one who has had no academical training, at any rate in 

 that branch of knowledge which he finally selects for study. He 

 has probably been brought up for some profession unconnected 

 with science, and only begins his study when his mind is 

 sufliciently developed to form an entirely unbiassed opinion. 

 We may, perhaps, best define an amateur as one who learns his 

 science as he wants it and when he wants it. I should call 

 Faraday an amateur. He would have been impossible in 

 another country ; perhaps he would be impossible in the days 

 of the Science and Art Department. Other names will occur 

 to you, the most typical and eminent being that of Joule. It 

 is not my purpose to discuss why distinguished amateurs have 

 been so numerous in this country, but I am anxious to point 

 out that we are in danger of losing one great and necessary 

 factor in the origination of scientific ideas. 



One of the distinctive features of an amateur is this, that he 

 carries the weight of theories, often not the weight of know- 



' Much of the good work done by this Bureau remains unknown, owing to 

 the miserly way in which their publications are circulated. No copies are sup- 

 olied even to the University libraries. The explanation, of course, is " want of 

 funds." In other words, England, France, and Germany, together with 

 other nations, unite to do a certain kind of work, but cannot afford to dis- 

 tribute a few copies of the publication to the public for whose benefit the 

 work is undertaken. 



ledge, and, if I am right, there is a distinct advantage in having 

 one section of scientific men beginning their work untram- 

 melled by preconceived notions, which a systematic training in 

 science is bound to instil. Whatever is taught in early age 

 must necessarily be taught in a more or less dogmatic manner, 

 and, in whatever way it is taught, experience shows that it is 

 nearly always received in a dogmatic spirit. It seems important, 

 therefore, to confine the early training to those subjects in which 

 preconceived notions are considered an advantage. It is to me 

 an uncongenial task to sound a note of warning to our old 

 Universities, for the chief difficulties in v/hich they are placed at 

 present are due to the fact that they have given way too much to 

 outside advice ; but I cannot help expressing a strong conviction 

 that their highly specialised entrance examinations are a curse to 

 all sound school education, and will prove a still more fatal 

 curse to what concerns us most nearly, the progress of scientific 

 knowledge. If school examinations could be more general, if 

 scientific theories could only be taught at an age when a man is 

 able to form an independent judgment, there might be some 

 hope of retaining that originality of ideas which has been a dis- 

 tinctive feature of this country, and enabled our amateurs to 

 hold a prominent position in the history of science. At present 

 a knowledge of scientific theories seems to me to kill all know- 

 ledge of scientific facts. 



It is by no means true that a complete knowledge of everything 

 that has a bearing on a particular subject is always necessary to 

 success in an original investigation. In many cases such know- 

 ledge is essential, in others it is a hindrance. Different types of 

 men incline to different types of research, and it is well to pre- 

 serve the dual struggle. The engine which works out the great 

 problems of nature maybe likened to a thermodynamic machine. 

 The amateur supplies the steam and the Universities supply the 

 cold water ; the former, boiling over often with ill-considered 

 and fanciful ideas, does not like the icy douche, and the 

 professional scientist does not like the latent heat of 

 the condensing steam, but nevertheless the hotter the steam 

 and the colder the water the better works the machine. 

 Sometimes it happens that the boiler and cooler are both con- 

 tained in the same brain, and each country can boast of a few 

 such in a century, but most of us have to remain satisfied 

 with forming only an incomplete part of the engine of research. 



But while it is necessary to recognize the great work done by 

 the unprofessional scientists, it seems not untimely to draw their 

 attention to the damage done to themselves if they overstep 

 their legitimate boundaries, and especially if they seek popular 

 support for their theories, which have not received the 

 approval of those who are competent to judge. An appeal from 

 Alexander sober to Alexander drunk will not prove successful 

 in the end. 



The gradual disappearance of the amateur may be a neces- 

 sary consequence of our increased educational facilities, and we 

 must inquire whether any marked advantages are offered to us 

 in exchange. There is one direction in which it would seem at 

 first sight, at any rate, that a proper course of study could do 

 much to facilitate the progress of research. 



On another occasion 1 pointed out that two parties are 

 necessary for every advance in science, the one that makes it 

 and the one that believes in it. If the discoverer is born, and 

 cannot be made, would it not be possible at any rate to train 

 the judgment of our students so that they may form a sound 

 opinion on the new theories and ideas which are presented to 

 them ? It is too early as yet to judge in how far our generation 

 is better in this respect than the one that has gone before them, 

 but on closer examination it does not seem to me to be obvious 

 that any marked improvement is possible. Every new ideii 

 revolutionizing our opinions on some important question must 

 necessarily take time before it takes a proper hold on the scien- 

 tific world. Is it not true that anyone who can at once see the 

 full importance of a new theory, and accept it in place of the 

 one in which fie has been brought up, must stand at a height 

 almost equal to that of the originator ? The more startling and 

 fresh the new conception the fewer must be those who are 

 ready to adopt it. But looking back at the history of 

 science during the present century, is there much evi- 

 dence that great discoveries have been seriously delayed 

 by want of proper appreciation ? We may hear of cases where 

 important papers have been rejected by scientific societies, and 

 occasionally a man of novel ideas may have been too much 

 neglected by his contemporaries. I doubt whether such cases 

 of apparent injustice can ever be avoided, and, simply looking 



NO. 1X88, VOL. 46] 



