THE ROYAL SOCIETY AND THE STATE 



many objects of public concern which are at the 

 present time either directly promoted or assisted by the 

 Society. 



The establishment in this country of a National 

 Physical Laboratory, for the purpose of bringing scientific 

 knowledge to bear practically upon the industries and 

 commerce of the nation, was due in no small measure 

 to the action of the Society, and has certainly thrown 

 upon it much additional permanent responsibility. The 

 necessity for such an Institution in this country, which 

 was clearly shown by the marked influence of a similar 

 Institution on the improvement of technical science and 

 the manufacturing interests of Germany, had been already 

 strongly advocated by individual Fellows, in particular, 

 by Sir Oliver Lodge at Cardiff in 1891, and Sir Douglas 

 Galton at Ipswich five years later ; but the first practical 

 step towards its realisation was taken by the Council in 

 1896, when they decided that the Royal Society should 

 join the British Association and other kindred Societies 

 in a Joint Committee, under the Chairmanship of the 

 President of the Royal Society, to take such action as 

 they find desirable. 



In the following year this Committee waited upon 

 Lord Salisbury, who was then Prime Minister, and as a 

 result a Treasury Committee was appointed by the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, with Lord Rayleigh as 

 Chairman, to consider the desirability of establishing a 



National Laboratory. That Committee, after hearing 



76 



