76 Serioiis sacrifice of national iv el fare to private gain. 



remedy, and meanwhile the health of the entire 

 population of this country is suffering. If we so 

 neglect the fundamental means of ameliorating our 

 condition we deserve to suffer. One would suppose 

 that cholera, contagious diseases, colliery accidents, 

 pollution of air and water, enormous waste of heat 

 from fires, and a multitude of other evils which depend 

 upon physical and chemical conditions, are of but 

 little importance, that we should so neglect one of the 

 most effectual means of preventing them ; and it is 

 perfectly clear that by neglecting to aid research, those 

 who gain so much money and advantage from original 

 science, and render no return, are unwittingly sacrifi- 

 cing national interests upon a large scale to personal 

 benefit. 



The practice of some manufacturers using and 

 deriving great profit from new knowledge evolved 

 by research, without recompensing the discoverers, 

 sometimes causes injury to the public welfare by 

 preventing the publication of discoveries which have 

 an immediate practical application. Experience of 

 tliis kind has constrained me to postpone the publica- 

 tion of a method I have found of readily and quickly 

 converting lumps of white phosphorus into the red 

 variety in a state of powder without protracted heat 

 or grinding. 



" What will be the next chapter of British enterprise 

 and invention, and who and where the men to perform 

 the chief part in it ? As to the work to be done, there 

 can be no doubt or mystery, for not a day passes 



