152 RESEARCH 



of the society either in compensation of labour or in 

 defraying the expense of apparatus or otherwise. It 

 is recommended to the committees to confine their 

 selection to definite as well as important points, and 

 where they may think proper, to designate individuals 

 to undertake the investigation of such points and to 

 state their reasons for the selection/ 



It is probably true to say that fully one-half of 

 the total receipts for membership tickets for annual 

 meetings has been devoted to scientific investigations 

 by way of grants l : members may therefore feel that 

 by attending meetings they have advanced science 

 in at least equal measure as they have improved their 

 own minds. It is true that the sum of 83,000 

 distributed in aid of research on over six hundred 

 subjects does not connote large subsidies as a rule, 

 and indeed many of the subjects in the list of grants 

 have only trifling sums set against them payment 

 for postage and stationery, perhaps, or for a few 

 cheap materials. It is true, also, that the grants 

 made by the Association are not uncommonly sup- 

 plemented from other sources, provided that a 

 research committee obtains the leave of the Associa- 

 tion for such a course. But when this is said, the 

 tale of researches undertaken under the guidance 

 of the Association whether with subsidies or with- 

 out should be regarded (by the layman) as an 

 astounding monument to the devotion of seekers 

 after scientific knowledge without material recom- 

 pense. It is appropriate here to cite the opinion 

 of one of our most famous presidents as to the value 



1 There is no record of receipts for tickets for annual meetings 

 down to 1847. But from 1848 to 1920 a total sum of 145,132 10s. 

 was received on account of tickets, and during that period 79,750 

 was expended on grants. 



