504 



NA TURE 



[September 19, 1901 



makers of scientific history in almost every other country in the 

 world. Thus the opportunities for the investigations which are 

 recorded in the Transactions of our Chemical Society have, for 

 the most part, not been provided out of the public purse, but by 

 private individuals or by institutions which have been created 

 by private benefaction. 



This unique condition of things is well illustrated by taking 

 up a volume of the Chemical Society's lournal and glancing at 

 the table of contents. 



Thus in the volume for 1881, taken at random, we find that, 

 out of the seventy-five original communications which it con- 

 tains, only thirteen emanate from Government laboratories, 

 whilst what will surely not a little surprise the scientific his- 

 torian of some centuries hence is the circumstance that there are 

 only four communications from the so-called "ancient seats of 

 learning" of the United Kingdom, no fewer than three of 

 which are by one and the same investigator. Again, most note- 

 worthy is the fact that as many as five contributions are from 

 distinguished amateurs. We have been told, on what many 

 persons regard as high authority, that England is suffering from 

 amateurism in all departments of life ; and however true this 

 may be as a general proposition, the amateurs of British science, 

 like Gladstone, Schunck and Perkin amongst living chemists, 

 are assuredly some of the most valued possessions of this 

 country. 



On looking back a quarter of a century into the past it is at 

 once apparent how greatly during that short period of time — less 

 than a generation of men— have the opportunities for higher 

 chemical training been extended and multiplied in our midst. I 

 think I shall not be far wrong in saying that until twenty-five 

 years ago practically the only public laboratories in which the 

 higher study of chemistry could be pursued were those of the 

 Royal College of Chemistry, the Royal Institution, of University 

 and King's Colleges, London, the University laboratories of 

 England, Scotland and Ireland, as well as those of the Queen's 

 Colleges and of the Royal College of Science in the sister 

 island ; to which must be added the laboratories of two institu- 

 tions of a somewhat different type, viz. Owens College, Man- 

 chester, and Anderson's College, in this great city of the north. 

 It is the rapid multiplication of institutions of the Owens College 

 type that constitutes probably the most important feature in the 

 higher intellectual development of the population of this 

 country during the past quarter of a century ; indeed, it may 

 very possibly be found in the future that this constitutes the most 

 striking landmark in the history of British intellectual progress 

 during recent times. A glance at the following table will show 

 the remarkably rapid growth of these institutions during the last 

 quarter of the nineteenth century : — 



Opening of University Colleges. 

 University College, London 

 King's College, London 

 Owens College, Manchester 

 Durham College of Science, Newcastle 

 University College, Aberystwyth ... 



York.shire College, Leeds 



University College, Bristol... 

 University College, Nottingham ... 

 Firth College, Sheffield 

 Mason College, Birmingham 

 University College, Liverpool 

 University College, Dundee 

 University College, Cardiff .. 



University College, Bangor 



Finsbury Technical College^ ^-.-^ ,- -u 

 Central Institution /^"^ *^"'''^^- 



1851 



1S72 

 1875 



1877 

 1879 



18S4 

 fi883 

 \18S5 



Thus the opening of the greater number of these institutions 

 falls within the decade 1875-1S84. 



The benefits arising from the creation of these numerous 

 institutions have not, however, been by any means limited to 

 those persons who have actually taken advantage of their instruc- 

 tion, for their existence has stimulated the establishment of 

 many other institutions, some of which, like the two colleges 

 founded and maintained out of the resources of the City and 

 Guilds of London, although more limited in their scope, afford 

 equal or even greater opportunities for higher scientific training 

 in the particular branches which are represented. 



The foundation of these University Colleges and of other 

 institutions for higher education by private initiative, and with- 



NO. 1664, VOL. 64] 



out a particle of assistance from the public exchequer, is quite 

 in keeping with the history of a country in which it is recognised 

 that the Government does not lead, but only follows where it is 

 drawn or propelled. 



It would certainly be anticipated that such a large addition 

 to the machinery for higher scientific training as is represented 

 by the creation of these numerous local colleges during the past 

 twenty-five years would have had a marked influence on the 

 output of scientific discovery in this country. We will endea- 

 vour to ascertain whether such a result is discernible in the case 

 of chemical science. Turning to the Transactions of the 

 Chemical Society, I have compiled the following table in the 

 hope of obtaining some information on this point : — 



Original Communications in the Transactions of the Chemical 

 Society. 



The activity displayed in chemical research, as measured by 

 the number of original communications to the Chemical Society, 

 is, however, best followed by a consideration of the aggregate 

 number of papers contributed during the three following 

 decades : — 



■ Tola] Number of Papers 

 Decade in TransactioTis of 



Chemical Society 



1855-1864 352 



1865-1874 422 



1875-1884 641 



1885-1894 847 



From these figures it is manifest, even without the applica- 

 tion of any of those mathematical processes in which modern 

 chemists are becoming so expert, that the most remarkable 

 increase in the number of original investigations is indeed 

 coincident with that decade, 1S75-1884, in which the great 

 majority of the institutions to which I have referred began to 

 throw their prismatic rays of knowledge on many thousands who 

 until then were sitting in shadow or even in darkness. 



That these new institutions should have so immediately borne 

 fruit in the manner I have indicated cannot fail to be surprising 

 to those who have been associated with the early years of almost 

 any of these colleges, for when a faithful record of the experi- 

 ences of their first professors is written the extraordinary 

 obstacles which these pioneers had to encounter, and which in 

 so many cases they successfully overcame, should afford material 

 for a most remarkable, instructive, and even amusing volume. 

 The worthy founders and their executors or trustees appear in 

 general to have supposed that it was only necessary to provide a 

 spacious building, and then appoint a staff of professors who 

 were to do the rest, whilst the necessity of funds for annual 

 upkeep, for libraries, and for assistants was almost overlooked. 



It has indeed been learnt by bitter experience that the cost of 

 efficiently maintaining institutions of this most ambitious 

 character is enormously greater than was supposed in this 

 country twenty-five years ago, and that founding a college, far 

 from resembling the inauguration of a remunerative business, is 

 very like entrance into the bond of matrimony, with its- 

 attendant annually increasing demand upon the pecuniary 

 resources of the paterfamilias. 



It would not indeed be surprising if some of these modern 

 colleges had been long debarred from contributing directly to- 

 the progress of scientific investigation in this country, for this 

 was often assuredly considered amongst the least of the many 

 arduous duties imposed upon their first professors. Ascertained 

 capacity to enrich science was in some cases almost a presump- 

 tive disqualification for their chairs, or at any rale took a back. 



