September 19, 1918] 



NATURE 



55 



in French. There is, however, nothing to be said in 

 favour of publishing lists oi new species with no 

 description or reference to such, as is don., foi 

 example, in the cas< oi a numbei oi Spruce's speci- 

 mens from tropical South America. The Fascicles are 

 d, and an index to each would facili- 



SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IND NATIONAL 

 PROSPERIl I ■' 



MANY, no doubt, do noi comprehend whal funi 

 tions the research chemist can exercise in South 

 , and whal m"|»' the countrj can offer for liis 

 labours. Following the United States principle oi the 

 men in the best |ki>i-, where, they ask, can we 

 place him so thai the country may, through his instru- 

 mentality, reap th. greatesi idvantage? To answei 

 such questions one needs, first oi all, to consider how 

 an. I therefoi 1 . inferential!} , 1 hi mi 

 • ai 1. search ma) l»- distributi d \s a matter oi oon- 

 venieno a threefold grouping 1- adopted — university 

 irch, industrial research, and national research. 

 Adopting tla definitions given b\ Mr. C. E. Skinner 

 months am, .n .1 nn . 1 : . hi \m. > ican In- 



stitute of El ) ngineers, we may say thai 



university research includes the pure scientific research, 

 which naturally finds its homi in the university, and 

 all other research done there foi the purpose of train- 

 ing nun. Industrial research comprises all that don. 

 bj or for industrial concerns with the purpose of ad- 

 vancing industry. National research is that carried on 

 by the Government for the purpose of benefiting the 

 as a whole. Now it i- plain that between 

 these three types ol research there can be no sharp 

 lines of demarcation, but university research is often 

 th. stepping-stone to industrial advancement, while 

 national research is rep. ai.<ll\ industrial in its 



Mr. Skinner rightly hold- thai the primary function 

 of the university in research -hould be the training of 

 research men, and that universities should be equipped 

 to turn out research men just as they are now 

 equipped to turn out men with academic and en- 

 gineering decrees. Prof. G. G. Henderson has laid 

 down the principle that the training of the chemist, 

 so far as that training can be given in a teaching 

 institution, must be regarded as incomplete unless it 

 - -ore reseat ch work. 1 



The demand for research in almost every field is 

 growing with a rapidity wholly unprecedented, and 

 to the universities alone ran we look for men able 

 and readv to take their places in the strenuous effort 

 that is bound to be put forth on every side. We have 

 just inaugurated a triple university system : Prof. 

 Crawford, in his presidential address to this asso- 

 ciation at Maritzburg, asked, and sought to answer, 

 what South Africa expects from :i- universities, and 

 referred, in particular, to. the need of encouraging the 

 Study of science and of furthering research. In de- 

 veloping this theme he asked us to remember that 

 the highest form of research is nol made to order, and 

 that there is more in genius than industry and oppor- 

 tunitv. It would benefit us to bear this in mind and, 

 in juxtaposition with Prof. Crawford's words, to place 

 . nee from Mr. Skinner's address : — 



■■ If it takes a genius to recognise a genius vet 

 undevelooed, and properlv to stimulate and direct that 

 genius, how necessarv it is thai we place men of 



1 From the presidential addreej delivered by Dr. C. F. Juriti before the 

 South African Association for the Advancement of Science at Johannesburg 



>rt British Association, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 1916, p. 374. 



genius at the head ol thi i - ., ch departments of our 

 universities ! 



It comes to this, then, thai ,v< should see to it that 

 our universities are well equipped with scietitili. 

 n search workers, and it is pre-i |i sirable that 



a system ol research professorships -aould be insti- 

 1 ui. ,1, the chairs to be occupied by mi n of i nthusiasm, 

 men who will inspire a like zeal and di ' otion amongst 

 thos, of the younger generation whom they gather 

 around them, men of personality and character, who 

 will kindle in the breasts of the research students 

 lei lings of admiration and respect for them and their 

 work. 



" In training research men," says Mr. Skinner 

 again, "the university will naturally become the cus- 

 todian and the promoter of pure scientific research." 

 Il.re is the fountain-head whence we shall ultimately 

 draw our men for industrial research and for national 

 research; how important is it, then, that the source 

 of all our supplies should be of crystal purity ! What- 

 ever more utilitarian form of research one may after- 

 wards take up, research in pure science is invaluable 

 in the earlier part of the research student's career, 

 for it will give him a zest and a stimulus that will 

 remain with him throughout, enrich his scientific 

 imagination, and adorn all his later work. 



At the same time, university research may lead to 

 the most utilitarian results; some of the most impor- 

 tant dyes, artificial alizarin, the phthaleins, indigo, and 

 such drugs as phenacetin, antipyrin, and aspirin, were 

 all discovered in university chemical laboratories. 



Now why have ■ we so few persons doing research 

 work in South Africa? Is it in part because no re- 

 search geniuses are born, or is it that we fail to 

 recognise them, and neglect to provide them with the 

 essential facilities? — youths, maybe, on whose humble 

 birth fair Science frowned not, flowers born to blush 

 unseen and waste their sweetness on the desert air, 

 mute, inglorious Miltons whose genius remained latent 

 because we took no trouble to draw it out? 



Dr. P. G. Nutting about a year ago said that some 

 writers have spoken of the investigator as a rare indi- 

 vidual, to be sifted out from educational institutions 

 with great care for a particular line of work. My 

 personal opinion is that a large percentage of the men 

 students are fitted for research work if properl) started 

 along the right line. 



What we in South Africa lack — next to the facilities 

 for research — is not so much the research students as 

 the men to start them on right lines. I think that 

 Principal Beattie, at the inauguration of the University 

 of Cape Town three months ago, sounded the correct 

 note in observing that the youth of South Africa did not 

 lack enthusiasm or ability for research, but they lacked 

 opportunity, and, he added, much depended on the 

 men thev had as professors. That is the secret of it 

 all. In this dread war South Africans have more than 

 once exhibited a physical courage and a pertinacity 

 equal to anvthing that Australia or New Zealand 

 could show; why should not South Africa, then, pro- 

 duce a Bragg or a Rutherford as well as Australia 

 and New Zealand, seeing that intellectual courage 

 and pertinacitv are two indispensable qualities in a 

 successful research worker? The position is analogous 

 to that which war has developed in Europe and 

 America : there the opportunity has made the man. 



\n Vmerican chemist said that " the German 

 General Staff has learned, if others have not, 

 that German chemical achievement, which ; - gnat 

 indeed, is no sign that equal ability does nor exist 

 lure. The Allies and America improvise.! a 

 munitions industry in two years to match their 

 machine of forty vears' preparation"; and then he 



N( 1. 



r 5 5 1 . vol. 102] 



