NATURE 



97 



THURSDAY DECEMBER 5, 1895. 



THE ORGANISATION OF SCIENCE. 



AS we are accustomed in this country to look on the 

 Times as a political barometer, the appearance in 

 it of the very admirable article to which we drew attention 

 last week must be regarded as proof that the exigency of 

 the situation in which the nation is placed is likely soon 

 to attract some share of the attention it imperatively 

 demands. And the question arises how we may best 

 secure that " scientific organisation in the field, in the 

 workshop, in the laboratory, and in the conduct of 

 national policy" which the Times so fully and justly 

 recognises to be essential to our national safety. 



It is just twenty years since the Royal Commission on 

 Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science, 

 presided over by the Duke of Devonshire— father of the 

 present Duke — issued their final report in which they 

 emphatically recommended the appointment of a 

 Ministry and Council of Science. The report is full of 

 evidence of a most convincing character, given by 

 witnesses of the greatest eminence and wide experience ; 

 and when we recollect that it was signed by such men as 

 the late Duke of Devonshire, Lord Lansdowne, Huxley, 

 Sharpey, Henry Smith, Stokes, Bernhard Samuelson 

 and Lubbock, it is more than surprising that its pro- 

 visions should have been so completely neglected. In 

 point of fact, and most unfortunately, nothing has yet 

 been done to bring the State thoroughly into touch 

 with science, and to lead it to regularly avail itself on all 

 possible occasions of the services of qualified scientific 

 advisers. 



Had such a Council been called into existence, it would 

 undoubtedly have operated in two ways. In the first 

 place, its members would inevitably have had their 

 attention drawn to public affairs, and the narrowness of 

 purview which too often characterises the work and 

 thoughts of men devoted to science, as well as of business 

 men, would have given place to broad conceptions of civil 

 duty, so that an ever-widening influence would have been 

 secured to them. On the other hand, by gradually 

 bringing about the introduction of scientific methods of 

 regarding and treating State problems, they would have 

 conferred inestimable service on the nation, and the 

 growth of a system of rational statesmanship woulc> 

 have been encouraged. We are indeed able to form an 

 effective estimate of what might have been the result of 

 their labours — for, having commenced to organise our 

 public service at about the same time, and pursued similar 

 methods, we should not improbably have attained to a 

 position comparable with that in which the Japanese 

 appear now to be placed. 



It would certainly have been impossible for the minister 

 at the head of our educational affairs to gravely argue 

 in 1895 in favour of granting to a small group of irre- 

 sponsible individuals a post-card veto on the finding of a 

 Statutory Commission, which his Government are begged 

 to appoint to finally adjust the claims of the various 

 parties concerned in the foundation of a University in 

 London. Nay more, our minister would have been in a 

 NO. 1362, VOL. 53] 



position to say that sheer force of circumstances com- 

 pelled him to recognise that it was of the utmost national 

 importance to immediately secure the effective organi- 

 sation of all the higher educational interests of the capital 

 of the empire — indeed, our Government would long 

 since, at the instigation of its scientific council, have 

 taken the matter into its own hands, and have brought 

 about such organisation, instead of requiring to be posi- 

 tively compelled to act. 



The existence of such a national council of scientific 

 advisers — the words are used intentionally, as we are 

 thinking of a council of men scientifically trained and of 

 proved ability and originality — would infallibly have 

 exercised a most potent influence on public opinion : in 

 forming it and educating it. It would have spread abroad 

 the spirit of inquiry by making it operative in every 

 branch of the public service. The manufacture of red- 

 tape would have fallen into oblivion instead of that of 

 aniline dyes ; agriculture would have been cared for, as 

 it would have been foreseen that the lowering of freights, 

 consequent on improvements in shipbuilding and the 

 introduction of steam, made it necessary to relinquish 

 wheat-growing into the hands of those who can command 

 cheap labour and constant sunshine ; and probably we 

 should have learnt to make butter and grow onions at 

 home. 



Each of our public departments would have had a 

 scientific staff, charged not merely with the duty of carry- 

 ing out its routine work, but also expected to contribute 

 to the growth of scientific knowledge, in order both to 

 maintain touch with the outside world, and preserve and 

 extend their interest in the subjects with which they were 

 concerned. Only those can institute progress who them- 

 selves progress, and it is clear that this was fully recog- 

 nised to be the case by the Duke of Devonshire's Com- 

 mission, as it is stated in so many words in the report, 

 that there was a general concurrence of opinion that, even 

 in the interests of the Government Departments them- 

 selves, more ought to be done by the Government in the 

 way of investigation. 



The condition of our public service in these respects 

 is nothing less than deplorable, and yet, when the 

 example set by Kew — which, during many years past, has 

 always been in the hands of highly-qualified scientific 

 administrators — is taken into account, the advantages to 

 be derived are so obvious. Where are the scientific men 

 connected with our great departments of national defence 

 in evidence .'' Most important researches on explosives 

 have issued from Woolwich in days gone by ; and 

 Froude's great work under the Admiralty was epoch- 

 making. What is being done at the schools where naval 

 and military officers are being trained to make an 

 atmosphere of research not only possible but essential ? 

 And when we pass to our colossal Indian empire, what 

 is being done there to encourage the growth of the 

 scientific spirit among those concerned in the administra- 

 tion of its affairs ? We believe that at the present moment 

 there is but a single agricultural expert available for the 

 whole of India, and yet agriculture is the one industry on 

 which the country is practically dependent. Why is 

 engineering considered to be the only branch of science 

 worthy of introduction into the public service ? 



As the present President of the British Association 



F 



