72 BIOLOGY AND THE STATE H 



discovery has only been made by one of two classes 

 of men, namely — (1) those whose time could be devoted 

 to it in virtue of their possessing inherited fortunes ; 

 (2) those whose time could be devoted to it in virtue 

 of their possessing a stipend or endowment especially 

 assigned to them for that purpose. 



Now it is a very remarkable fact that in England, 

 far more than in any other country, the possessors of 

 private fortunes have devoted themselves to scientific 

 investigation. Not only have we in all parts of the 

 country numerous dilettanti ^ who, especially in various 

 branches of biology, do valuable work in continually 

 adding to knowledge, quietly pursuing their favourite 

 study without seeking to reach to any great eminence, 

 but it is the fact that many of the greatest names of 

 English discoverers in science are those of men who 

 held no professional position designed to maintain an 

 investigator, but owed their opportunity simply to the 

 fact that they enjoyed a more or less ample income 

 by inheritance. Thus, Harvey possessed a private 

 fortune, Darwin also, and Lyell. Such also is true of 

 some of the English naturalists, who more recently 

 have most successfully devoted their energies to re- 

 search.- Those who wish to defend the present neglect 

 of the Government and of public institutions to pro- 

 vide means for the carrying on of scientific research in 



1 I use this word in its best and truest sense, and would refer 

 those who have been accustomed to associate with it some implication 

 of contempt, to the wise and appreciative remarks of Goethe on Dilettanti. 



2 I had in mind my friend Professor Frank Balfour of Cambridge, 

 whose untimely death has been an irreparable blow to the progress of 

 science in this country. December 1889. 



