52 Small amount of aid by Government to research. 



attended to, but the foundations are left to decay. 

 A very small proportion of the money which is ex- 

 pended upon military affairs would, if devoted to 

 research, save a great deal of expense in warfare : 



" Were half the power, that fills the world with terror, 

 Were half the wealth, bestowed on camps and courts, 

 Given to redeem the human mind from error, 

 There were no need of arsenals nor forts." LONGFELLOW. 



Our Government has as yet made but little pay- 

 ment for the labour of pure research in experimental 

 physics or chemistry; it has, however, given four 

 thousand pounds a year for five years to be distributed 

 by the Royal Society among scientific investigators, 

 partly as personal payment. Income tax is deducted 

 from these grants. 



Want of recognition of the value of science has 

 been so general in this country, that it is quite 

 pleasing to quote a somewhat different case from the 

 Illustrated London News, January 4th, 1873, viz., that 

 of the late Archibald Smith, L.L.D., F.R.S. That 

 gentleman was an investigator in pure mathematical 

 science, and devoted the latter part of his life to the 

 application of mathematics in the computation, reduc- 

 tion, and discussion of the deviation of the mariners' 

 compass in wooden and in iron ships, and made 

 practical deductions therefrom in the construction of 

 those vessels. He published those practical applica- 

 tions of his scientific knowledge in the form of an 

 Admiralty Manual, which was afterwards reprinted 

 in various languages. Her Majesty's Government 



