NA TURE 



217 



THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1894. 



A LABORATORY FOR PHYSICAL AND 

 CHEMICAL RESEARCH. 



IT is now about twenty years since the Duke of 

 Devonshire's Commission pointed out that the needs 

 of chemical and physical investigators, upon whose work 

 our national industries so largely depend, were entirely 

 neglected by the Government. Money has been freely 

 lavished that artists may have all they require ; biology 

 and archsology have been well equipped, and students of 

 literature have been provided with the finest library in 

 the world : but such is the chaos and disorganisation of 

 our scientific system that many industries are languishing, 

 and some have already left the country because those who 

 are able to foster them by making new discoveries find 

 absolutely no help, and have neither places to work in 

 nor instruments to use, although the sum which the 

 Government has not hesitated to give for one picture 

 would have been more than is needed to correct a con- 

 dition which is really disastrous from the national point 

 of view. 



We rejoice to learn that this state of things, so little to 

 the credit of successive ministries, is now to be partially 

 corrected by the munificence of an individual. Dr. Ludwig 

 Mond, one who, though not an Englishman by birth, has 

 already aided English science by large endowments in 

 other directions. 



We learn from a communication which wc have re- 

 ceived from the Royal Institution, that Mr. Mond last year 

 bought the large freehold house. No. 20 Albemarle .Street, 

 contiguous to the Royal Institution, and formerly the 

 residence of the Earl of Albemarle, and has resolved to 

 convey it in fee simple to the Royal Institution. He 

 farther proposes to defray the whole expense of convert- 

 in;' it from its present uses into a laboratory of chemical 

 and physical research, to be called the Davy-Faraday 

 Research Laboratory, and of equipping it with everything 

 needful for the conducting of scientific research upon a 

 large scale. In addition to this, he proposes to endow 

 the new laboratory first with an income sufficient to 

 defray all local expenses ; and, secondly, with a further 

 and of course much larger in:omc, sufficient to pay the 

 salaries and incidental expenses of a trained scientific 

 staff. 



Mr. Mond thus realises an idea which engaged the 

 attention of Faraday and lirande and the managers of 

 the Royal Institution half a century ago. In the year 

 1843 a proposal was made to establish at the Royal 

 Institution a school of practical chemistry, which was 

 not only to give practical and systematic instruction to 

 students, but was also to provide a place where original 

 ycscarchcs could be conducted by individuals skilled in 

 manipulation, and where the professors could work out 

 their problems by the aid of many qualified hands. 



In a letter addressed to the managers of the Royal 

 Institution, Mr. Mond writes : — 



'■ I have felt that the need for such a laboratory has 

 become greater and greater since the work of the 

 scientific investigator has become more and more su!;tle 

 and exact, and, in consequence, requires instruments of 

 precision and a variety of facilities which a private 



NO. I 2SS, VOL. 50] 



laboratory can only very rarely command ; and surely 

 this need exists nowhere to a greater extent than in 

 England, and nowhere can such a laboratory be expected 

 to bear more abundant fruit than in this country, which 

 possesses such an unrivalled record of great scientific 

 researches, which have emanated from private labora- 

 tories not connected with teaching institutions, and 

 amongst which the laboratory of the Royal Institution 

 stands foremost, and has kept up its reputation for 

 nearly a hundred years. 



" It has been my desire for many years to found a 

 public laboratory which is to give to the devotees of 

 pure science, anxious and willing to follow in the foot- 

 steps of the illustrious men who have built up the proud 

 edifice of modern science, the facilities necessary for 

 research in chemistry, and more particularly in that 

 branch of the science called physical chemistry. 



" I have come to the same conclusion as the promoters 

 of the scheme of 1843, viz. that such laboratory would 

 still have the greatest prospect of success under the segis 

 of the Royal Institution, that in fact it would be the con- 

 summation of the work which this great Institution has 

 been fostering in its own laboratory, with such remarkable 

 results, by the aid of the eminent men whose services it 

 has always been fortunate enough to procure. 



"As only want of space prevented the Royal Institu- 

 tion undertaking this task fifty years ago, I took the 

 opportunity which offered itself last year of acquiring 

 the premises, No. 20 Albemarle Street, adjoinmg the 

 Institution. This property I found very suitable for the 

 purposes of such a laboratory, and large enough to 

 aftbrd, besides, facilities to the Royal Institution for a 

 much needed enlargement of its present laboratory and 

 its libraries and reception rooms, which I should with 

 great pleasure put at the disposal of the Institution. 



" Being convinced that the managers of the Royal 

 Institution will give all the encouragement and aid in 

 their power in the foundation and working of such a 

 research laboratory, I hereby offer to convey to the Royal 

 Institution the freehold of No. 20 Albemarle Street, and 

 also the lease 1 hold from the Institution of premises 

 contiguous thereto, to be held by them for the purpose of 

 a laboratory, to be named ' The Davy-Faraday Research 

 Laboratory of the Royal Institution,' and also for the 

 purpose of providing increased accommodation for the 

 general purposes of the Royal Institution, as far as the 

 available space will allow, after providing for the require- 

 ments of the research laboratory. 



" I also offer to make, at my own expense, all structural 

 alterations necessary to fit the premises for these 

 purposes, and to equip the Davy-Faraday Research 

 Laboratory with the necessary apparatus, appliances, &c., 

 and to make such further adequate provision as will hold 

 the Royal Institution free from all expense in connection 

 with the premises and the working of the said 

 laboratory 



" I am aware that my ofTer will not provide for the 

 third object of the scheme of 1843, viz. to enable the 

 professors to workout their problems by the aid of many 

 qualified hands ; but I trust that if the laboratory which 

 I offer to found proves successful, others will come 

 forward who will supply the means for attaining this end, 

 by the foundation of scholarships and bursaries to 

 qualified persons willing to devote themselves to 

 scientific work and not in a position to do so without 

 assistance." 



It is almost impossible to overrate the importance of 

 the results which may be expected to naturally follow this 

 noble endowment. The new Institute will not fill the 

 gap to which we have previously referred, but it will em- 

 phasize its existence. It will not fill it because we sup- 

 pose that when it is in full work it will not hold as many 

 workers as are to be found in some of the research 



