on 
di 
Ronald Ross met with considerable local opposi- 
tion from officials, but repeated efforts have finally 
resulted in the Indian and African Government 
departments taking action which has vastly im- 
proved the public health, and thus caused a large 
saving of life and of the financial resources of the 
countries. 
In view of these facts, Sir Ronald Ross applied 
to the India Office for a pension on the higher 
scale, but this has been refused, and he has thus 
not only received no reward for his services to 
the country, but has been penalised by losing the 
pension which he would have received after full- 
time service. 
We cannot help comparing this treatment to 
that which was meted out to the Pied Piper by 
the people of Hamelin, and the story is not 
unlikely to have a somewhat parallel sequel in the 
withdrawal of young enthusiasts from the field of 
scientific research. : The © Liverpool. Tropical 
School is, we are told, in some danger of losing 
its staff because they are beginning to lose en- 
thusiasm now that they realise that their duties 
offer them no prospects for the future, and no 
recognition of their work. The highest salaries 
now paid are 6ool. a year with no fees, and much 
of the work is done voluntarily, or for a small 
honorarium. Had these people engaged in clini- 
cal work their possible incomes, if successful, 
would have been far greater. 
Passing to the discussion in Science Progress, 
we are glad to see that that journal is instituting 
an inquiry into the salaries of university teachers 
and other persons holding paid appointments for 
work in science. The junior posts range gener- 
ally from about 1201. to 200!., with a minimum of 
8s5l. and maximum of 300l. For full professor- 
ships the most that a candidate has a reasonable 
prospect of securing is about 600l., with a small 
contributory pension on compulsory retirement at 
the age of sixty-five. In the colonies, salaries 
are not much higher, and not higher in propor- 
tion to the cost of living. 
It must also be remembered that these salaries 
are in every case paid for teaching and lecturing 
work to classes of students, and the necessary 
routine work associated with the performance of 
these duties. The only way in which research 
can be benefited is by the appointment to such 
chairs of men of scientific distinction, and the pro- 
vision of assistant lecturers sufficient in number 
to reduce the actual teaching of the professor to 
a limit that will allow him free time for under- 
taking scientific investigations outside the lecture 
hours. It is only when supervising and initiating 
work for research students that his scientific work 
can be included in the duties for which he receives 
direct payment. If the classes become larger 
without a corresponding increase in the college 
finances, his facilities for research are reduced. 
And such appointments are often only obtained 
after many years’ waiting or tenure of junior 
appointments, a not inconsiderable portion of the 
salary of which has been spent in printing testi- 
monials. A further burden on the junior lecturers 
NO. 2327, VOL. 93] 
2 NATURE 
[JUNE 4, 1914 
is the necessity of writing researches or even 
books published at great expense with a view to 
the better recognition of their claims for the 
senior posts. 
Many professors do no research, and these 
probably secure the largest numbers of examina- 
tion successes and the smallest numbers of pupils 
who distinguish themselves after leaving college. 
A professor with fifteen hours a week lecturing 
may manage in a summer holiday to contribute a 
short note on a new application or modification of 
a known principle. With six or eight hours a 
week he may do more substantial work, but he 
will still cling to the development of known fields 
of study rather than proceed to the initiation 
of new fields. But occasionally a scientific worker 
lights on such a new and far-reaching idea that 
its development is incompatible with even three 
efficient lectures a week, not because of the time 
taken, but because it monopolises his brain to the 
exclusion of other thoughts. He has the alter- 
native choice between abandoning the research or 
postponing it indefinitely or living on a reduced 
income in changed conditions of life calculated to 
unfit his health for the task he has taken. 
Now there are undoubtedly many researches 
which can be delayed without any very obvious 
immediate loss to the community, but once an 
investigator has lighted on a well-defined plan of 
attacking such a problem as the- spread of 
malaria, it becomes an enormous waste of national 
efficiency to allow anything to stand in his way of 
solving it at the earliest possible instant. He 
should have all facilities and appliances provided 
by the State, and it is the further duty of the 
State to reimburse him for any loss of salary 
which he has incurred by abandoning his previous 
career with this object in view. 
The State grant in aid of scientific investigation 
is. 4000]. a year to one learned society, and 
toool. for publications! The grants are, we be- 
lieve, in every case contingent on returns of 
expenditure being made, and the actual scientific 
workers are unpaid. The money all goes into 
the pockets of mechanics, instrument makers, and 
printers who receive union rates of pay. The 
mechanism which drives the whole of the machin- 
ery receives nothing ; and not only does he receive 
nothing, but, as our contemporary points out, he 
is often asked to give the Government gratuitous 
advice on scientific points without receiving any 
thanks for his services :— 
For example, a Government department wishes for 
expert advice on some matter—it ought to form a 
commission of its own and honestly pay the expert 
members of it. Instead of doing this, the Govern- 
ment department goes to some learned society and 
asks it to advise on the scientific question at issue. 
The society is honoured by the request, and obtains 
the advice gratis from its own members. Thus the 
Government gets what it requires for nothing; the 
learned body is overpowered with the honour rendered 
to it; and the unfortunate worker is the loser. 
No system of emoluments could ever be suffi- 
cient to induce properly informed students to take 
