410 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



and conveyed by that gentleman to trustees in the 

 United States of America about a hundred years ago, 

 where the Smithsonian Institution has vastly aided the 

 spread of science. Another valuable endowment which 

 has been administered by special trustees for a still 

 longer period is that of the celebrated physician Radcliffe, 

 to whom we owe the scientific and medical library, an 

 astronomical observatory, and travelling fellowships in 

 the University of Oxford. The greatest sum dedicated 

 to scientific research in England of late years is the 

 noble gift of a quarter of a million sterling made by 

 Lord Iveagh to the Lister Institute of Preventive 

 Medicine. There have been not a few generous donors 

 of smaller sums for like purposes. 



An inquiry was set on foot a few years ago in 

 America in order to obtain the opinions of those who 

 had experience of scientific research and the institutions 

 intended to promote it in different countries, as to the 

 best methods to adopt in order to effect such promotion. 

 I do not know whether any report was published, but I 

 remember that I was consulted on the subject by the 

 late Professor Simon Newcomb, a foreign member of the 

 Royal Society and one of the most distinguished 

 scientific discoverers in the United States. I am quite 

 sure that no general agreement or conclusion on the 

 subject has been arrived at. So far as I can see, when- 

 ever any high-minded philanthropist desires to devote in 

 this country a large sum of money to the promotion of 

 scientific discovery, he is liable to come under the 

 influence of highly respectable and eminent persons 

 who, although they have no acquaintance with the 

 nature of scientific discovery and the way in which 

 it actually takes place, do not hesitate to fix up a 

 scheme based on some antiquated and mistaken model. 



