December i, 1904] 



NATURE 



107 



atory, which was drawn up by the executive committee on 

 February 19, was sent to the Treasury by the president 

 and council, who strongly supported the proposals of the 

 committee. 



The main recommendations of the memorandum were 

 (i) that a sum of nearly 30,000/. was required for capital 

 expenditure, and (2) that the annual grant should be raised 

 in the course of four years to 10,000!. ; while, with a view 

 to supporting these proposals, a request was made for an 

 official inquiry into the work and organisation of the 

 laboratory. 



To this request the Financial Secretary of the Treasury 

 replied, stating that the question of the increase must stand 

 over until the estimates for 1905-6 were under consider- 

 ation, and suggesting that meanwhile the executive com- 

 mittee should consider which of the new works were of the 

 most pressing importance, and make application accord- 

 ingly. 



In answer, a further memorandum was prepared, pomt- 

 ing out that the question at issue was whether the labor- 

 atory is to be allowed to remain undeveloped in its present 

 condition, with its limited powers and opportunities, or 

 whether it is to be adequately developed, and ultimately 

 placed on a footing similar to that of the corresponding 

 institutions in other countries, and asking that the First 

 Lord of the Treasury would receive a deputation to support 

 the request already made, " That an inquiry might be in- 

 stituted into the work and organisation of the National 

 Physical Laboratory with a view to laying down the lines 

 that ought to be followed in its future development." 



In consequence of this request, a conference took place 

 early in August at the House of Commons between the Prime 

 Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the President 

 of the Board of Trade on the one hand, and Lord Rayleigh, 

 .Sir F. Hopwood, the treasurer and senior secretary of the 

 Royal Society, wilh the director, representing the laboratory, 

 at which the matter was discussed. 



The donations and subscriptions promised to the labor- 

 atory, in most cases for five years, have increased, and now 

 reach a total of about 2000/. 



While the report is one of progress, the committee of the 

 laboratory feel that with adequate financial support they 

 might do much more. It is not yet sufficiently recognised 

 how substantial is the assistance the laboratory can render 

 to commerce and manufactures. The grant made by the 

 Government is treated by them as one in aid of science itself, 

 although it is applied under the highest scientific direction 

 to facilitate the applications of science to manufacture. 

 This distinction is an important one, which needs to be 

 emphasised ; when it is fully grasped the progress of the 

 laboratory, as an aid to national industry, will be much 

 more rapid. 



In his anniversary address the president referred at 

 first to the scientific careers of the thirteen fellows of 

 the Society lost by death since the previous anniver- 

 sary. He then gave a sketch of the work the 

 society has done and is doing for the nation, and 

 showed how the generous intentions of the founder, 

 Charles II., were never fulfilled. From this survey 

 of the history of the society, we have taken the follow- 

 ing extracts, with the descriptions of the scientific 

 work of this year's medallists : — 



During the last few years a very large amount, increasing 

 each year, of work outside the reading, discussion, and 

 printing of papers, of a more or less public character, has 

 been thrown upon the Royal Society — so large indeed as at 

 present to tax the society's powers to the utmost. A not 

 inconsiderable part of this work has come from the initiation 

 by the society itself of new undertakings, but mainly it has 

 consisted of assistance freely given, at their request, to 

 different departments of the Government on questions which 

 require expert scientific knowledge, and which involve no 

 small amount of labour on the part of the officers and staff, 

 and much free sacrifice of time and energy from- fellows, 

 in most cases living at a distance. 



There is little doubt that this largely-increased amount of 

 public work has arisen, in part naturally from the greater 

 scientific activity of the present day, but also, and to a 



NO. 1 83 I, VOL. 71] 



greater extent, from the fuller recognition by the Govern- 

 ment and the public of the need for scientific advice and 

 direction in connection with many matters of national con- 

 cern. 



It may not be inopportune, therefore, for me to say a few 

 words on the advisory relation in which the society has 

 come to stand to the Government, and to review very briefly 

 the great work which the society has done, and is doing, 

 for the nation. 



Among academies and learned societies the position of 

 the Royal Society is, in some respects, an exceptional one. 

 In the British dominions it holds a unique position, not only 

 as the earliest chartered scientific society, but in its own 

 right, on account of the number of eminent men included in 

 ils fellowship, and the close connection in which it stands, 

 though remaining a private institution, with the Govern- 

 ment. The Royal Society is a private learned body, con- 

 sisting of a voluntary and independent association of students 

 of science united for the promotion of natural knowledge at 

 their own cost. 



The Royal Society, while remaining a purely private in- 

 stitution for the promotion of natural knowledge, has been 

 regarded by the Government as the acknowledged national 

 scientific body, the advice of which is of the highest authority 

 on all scientific questions, and the more to be trusted on 

 account of the society's financial independence ; a body, 

 which, through its intimate relations with the learned socie- 

 ties of the Colonies, has now become the centre of British 

 science. The society's historical position and the scientific 

 eminence of its fellows have made it naturally the body which 

 the scientific authorities of foreign countries regard as re- 

 presenting the science of the Empire, and with which they 

 are anxious to consult and to cooperate, from time to time, 

 on scientific questions of international importance. 



On their part, the fellows of the Royal Society, remember- 

 ing that the promotion of natural knowledge is the great 

 object for which it was founded and still exists, and that 

 all undertakings in the home and in the State, since they 

 are concerned with nature, can be wisely directed and carried 

 on with the highest efficiency only as they are based upon a 

 knowledge of nature, have always recognised the funda- 

 mental importance of the society's work to national as well 

 as to individual success and prosperity, and their own 

 responsibility as the depositories of such knowledge. They 

 have always been willing, even at great personal cost, 

 ungrudgingly to afford any assistance in their power to 

 the Government on all questions referred to them which 

 depend upon technical knowledge, or which require the em- 

 ployment of scientific methods. In particular the society 

 has naturally always been eager to help forward, and even 

 to initiate, such 'national undertakings as voyages of 

 observation or of discovery of any kind, or for the investi- 

 gation of the incidence of disease, which have for their ex- 

 press object the increase of natural knowledge. 



At the same time, as the society is dependent upon the 

 voluntary help of its fellows, whose time is fully occupied 

 with their own work, the society may reasonably expect the 

 Government not to ask for assistance on any matters of 

 mere administration that could be otherwise efficiently pro- 

 vided for. The hope may be expressed that in the near 

 future, with increased official provision in connection with 

 the recognition of science, the position of the society to the 

 Government may not extend beyond that of a purely 

 advisory body, so that the heavy responsibilities now resting 

 upon it, in respect of the carrying out of many public under- 

 takings on which its advice has been asked, may no longer 

 press unduly, as thev certainly do at present, upon the tniie 

 and energy 'of the officers and members of committees. _ The 

 society regards this outside work, important as it is, as 

 extraneous, and therefore as subordinate, and would not be 

 justified in permitting such work to interfere with the strict 

 prosecution of pure natural science as the primary purpose 

 of the society's existence, upon which, indeed, the society's 

 importance as an advisory body ultimately depends. 



The society has accepted heavy responsibilities at the in- 

 stance of the' Government in respect of the control of scien- 

 tific observations and research in our vast Indian Empire. 

 In iSgq, the India Office inquired whether the Royal 

 Society Would be willing to meet the wishes of the Indian 

 Government bv exercising a general control over the scien- 

 tific researche's which it might be thought desirable to 



