NA TURE 



385 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 1883 



DECENTRALISA TION IN SCIENCE 



THE increasing recognition of the importance of the 

 natural sciences in education, the daily augmenting 

 numbers of those who devote themselves to the practical 

 cultivation of these sciences, and the still more rapid 

 growth of a widespread general interest in and sympathy 

 with such pursuits have been noticed with no small satis- 

 faction by all to whom the progress of natural knowledge 

 is dear. It is impossible even plausibly to conjecture 

 what changes this awakening may eventually involve. At 

 the conclusion of the disastrous Prusso-Austrian war one 

 of the members of the Austrian Reichsrath began his 

 speech by insisting that the first question to be decided in 

 the reconstruction of his country was whether the doctrines 

 of Darwin were true or not. This may have been an 

 exaggerated way of putting the matter, but already we see 

 in how many directions the doctrine of evolution is 

 capable of application to social problems. 



There is one aspect of the increasing attention to the 

 cultivation of science which perhaps the students of science 

 have not sufficiently considered, but which certainly 

 merits their careful attention — the growing tendency to 

 decentralisation which is in progress among us. To 

 realise what this tendency is and what it is leading to we 

 should contrast the present condition of things with what 

 existed twenty years ago or more. For one school in 

 which science was taught then, there are a hundred 

 wherein it is taught now. New colleges have been 

 founded in various centres of industry for special instruc- 

 tion in science. New professorships for the cultivation of 

 different branches of science have been established at 

 some of the older seats of learning. Parliament votes 

 an annual sum of 4000/. for the encouragement of original 

 research. New journals for the illustration of scientific 

 progress have been started. Almost every large publish- 

 ing firm has organised a series of science class-books. 



As a result of this accelerated activity a great stimulus 

 has been given to local effort in the prosecution of scien- 

 tific studies. Field clubs and societies have sprung up 

 all over the country. From modest beginnings some of 

 these organisations have attained not inconsiderable im- 

 portance. Their membership has steadily grown. Their 

 funds have proportionately increased. They have not 

 contented themselves with merely meeting for pleasant 

 gossip, though this too they have been far from despising. 

 They have encouraged original observation among their 

 members, and have published in their annual volumes of 

 Proceedings some really valuable contributions to science. 

 Year by year these volumes make their appearance, until 

 they now form a notable feature in the scientific literature 

 of our time. The local character of the organisation 

 stimulates a local esprit de corps. The flora, or fauna, or 

 geology of the locality attracts the activity of the mem- 

 bers, who are proud to add to what may already have been 

 known on the subject. But topics of a more general 

 kind are likewise included, and sometimes a paper of 

 high importance makes its appearance side by side with 

 the local contributions. In this way an outlet is furnished 

 for the scientific ardour of the district. The meetings 

 and discussions keep alive a general interest, and the 

 Vol. xxviii.— No. 721 



publication of the Proceedings encourages the working 

 members to continue their researches. 



The rapid appearance and multiplication of these local 

 centres of scientific activity must materially influence the 

 future progress of science among us. In what variou ; 

 directions this influence may make itself felt remains to 

 be seen. But there is one in which it cannot but be 

 potent, and to which brief allusion may be made here. 

 Not many years ago the metropolitan scientific societies 

 were justly regarded as the great centres of progress in 

 science— the heart that sent its intellectual life-blood to 

 the remotest parts of the kingdom. But even their most 

 devoted champions must admit that in this respect they 

 do not now generally fulfil the part they formerly played, 

 and that they are doing so less and less every year. Of 

 course the Royal Society has always stood and will always 

 stand alone and without rival. But such a society as the 

 Geological has competitors all over the country, which, 

 though they may not be individually formidable, yet col- 

 lectively withdraw not a little of the energy which would 

 otherwise have gone to recruit the parent society here. 

 Every English geologist is proud of the part which the 

 Geologi:al Society of London has taken in the progress 

 of geology, and would like to see the Society retain its 

 influence and position. But the circumstances under 

 which it was founded seventy-six years ago have entirely 

 changed, and its preeminence and continued usefulness 

 must depend upon other conditions than those which gave 

 it so honoured a place in the early part of the century. 



It would of course be absurd to speak of the existence 

 of any rivalry between the provincial and metropolitan 

 societies. There is ample room for all. But if there is 

 no rivalry among them there is just as little cooperation. 

 They all act with the most complete independence of each 

 other, and if in some cases they occupy the same ground 

 and do the same work, there is no means at present of 

 preventing this. Now the question arises, whether the 

 general progress of science could not be benefited by the 

 establishment of some concert between the older or 

 mother societies here and the numerous societies, insti- 

 tutes, field clubs, and other organisations of the provinces. 

 These provincial associations have increased and are it - 

 creasing so rapidly, they are becoming so important a 

 factor in the cultivation of the natural sciences through- 

 out the country, absorbing as they do so much of the 

 talent, energy, and money of the well-wishers of these 

 science;, that the time has probably come for asking 

 whether some scheme of cooperation might not now be 

 devised whereby they and the London societies would in 

 some way be conjoined for the furtherance of their com- 

 mon objects. Obviously subjects which are preeminently 

 local should be left in the hands of the local organisa- 

 tions. On the other hand, general questions, especially 

 those bearing on scientific theory or classification, might 

 be most effectually dealt with by the more important 

 metropolitan bodies. VVe refer of course mainly to pub- 

 lication. The local societies would feel justly aggrieved 

 were they asked to deprive themselves of the pleasure of 

 starting new hypotheses and running down old ones. 

 But they might be content with this pleasure at their 

 meetings without wasting their funds and loading scien- 

 tific literature by printing their vagaries in the Proceed- 

 ings. The central societies also, by giving up the publi 



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