: 
NATURE 
157 
THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1873 . 
THE ENDOWMENT OF RESEARCH 
I, 
4 Ben are not wanting signs that ere long the whole 
question of the present condition of research in 
this country, and of its amelioration, will undergo a com- 
plete discussion. Those who are best acquainted with 
this condition, and the position occupied by England at 
the present moment in the Science of the world, will be 
the first to acknowledge the importance of general at- 
tention being directed to the subject. 
When the matter comes to be considered by minds 
free from the trammels alike of tradition and of preju- 
dice, it will doubtless be found strange that such a funda- 
mental question should have waited so long before it 
should have asserted itself; on the other hand, it is 
perfectly clear that many who are even now considering 
it have utterly failed to grasp it as it will have to be 
grasped. 
This lack of clearness in the appreciation of the vast 
bearings of the question is quite pardonable, and is, 
doubtless, to a large extent, the natural consequence of 
the manner in which physical science has been added on 
to, the older knowledge. It would seem, however, that a 
mere statement of a few fundamental positions should 
clear the view. These positions, most fortunately, are 
rapidly asserting themselves. 
First, we have the generally acknowledged fact that a 
nation’s progress depends upon its Science. Science, in 
fact, is the engine which must be as ever active in peace 
as the cannon’s mouth is in war, and a nation may just as 
safely neglect one as the other. 
This brings us to the second position. Does Eng- 
land as a nation pay as much heed to the one as 
the other? or as much as other nations? To ask 
this question is to answer it. England as a nation 
does next to nothing for this peace armament, and 
on all hands it is acknowledged that the nation’s 
progress from this point of view is in great danger, 
because the decline of research in England, not only 
relatively, but absolutely, is so decided, that it is already 
a matter of history. We have long ago in these pages 
referred to Dr. Frankland’s evidence on this point ; he 
is the acknowledged head of chemical science in this 
country and should surely know; and other men who cul- 
tivate other sciences have expressed the same opinions 
with regard to them. ; 
To what then is this decline to be attributed? The 
reply to this question brings us to the third point, 
There is absolutely no career for the student of Science, 
as such, in this country. True scientific research is 
absolutely unencouraged and unpaid. The original in- 
vestigator is of course the man here intended, not the 
man who turns Science into a means of livelihood, how- 
ever honourable, either as a teacher or a manufacturer. 
There can be no doubt that to this state of things our 
present condition is to be ascribed, and this point is, 
according to us, the key of the whole position. A glance 
at the condition of things in France and Germany will 
strengthen our view. Why was Germany till lately the 
acknowledged leader in all matters connected with the 
No. 191—VOL, VIIt. 
4 
Se a = 
advancement of knowledge? Because there were no 
such brilliant and highly paid careers open there as here 
to those who choose politics, the bench, the bar, or 
commerce, in preference to Science. And what is happen- 
ing there at present? a decline visible not alone to the 
far-sighted, because Germany is getting rich as England 
has long been rich. Why is France now endowing re- 
search on a large scale, and even proposing that the most 
successful students in her magnificent Polytechnic School 
should be allowed to advance Science as State servants ? 
Because in France there is a government instructed 
enough to acknowledge that a decline of investigation 
may bring evil to the State, and that it is the duty of the 
State to guard against this condition of things at all cost, 
this condition till lately, there as here, being that outside 
of the State service, and outside of the professoriate, no 
means of existence are provided for a student of Science ; 
hence men of the most excellent promise are yearly 
lost to research, which undoubtedly also is the case 
with us. 
What course then does it behove us to pursue in this 
country, in order that Science may take up its true 
position in our midst ? 
Here again opinion is rapidly forming itself. It is 
obvious to all who have thought about the matter, that it 
is absolutely indispensable that an employment, neces- 
sary for the public good, which is neglected to the 
State’s detriment because in itself it does not bring 
in a livelihood, should be artificially supported, and 
artificially supported at the public expense. It would be 
quite justifiable, both from an economical and also a 
political point of view, to provide for the needs of know- 
ledge out of the taxation of the country ; because the tax- 
payer gets back his guzd fro quo for the taxes he pays in 
the form of the amelioration of the conditions of living, 
as he gets it back in the form of security and good 
government. 
It will probably be a considerable time before 
this truth is brought home to the public mind so 
completely as to render possible any large grant of 
national income for this purpose; but there are not 
wanting indications that statesmen of all parties are 
awakening to its reality, which in point of fact has long 
been ‘conceded in principle. Still, such a source of 
support for Science to any very large extent must appear, 
even to the most sanguine, a thing of the future. 
The area of knowledge will probably, in the future, 
increase beyond the means of any artificial support less 
than the national one ; but perhaps it cannot be said that 
this state of things exists at present. 
What, then, are we to do in the mean time? Have 
we no means which are at hand and immediately avail- 
able, which may suffice to support the present claims of 
knowledge, without drawing too extensively upon the 
long-suffering or the intelligence of the taxpayer ? 
We have the means, if we will only employ them— 
nay more, some of them are now, for the most part, 
lying idle—of not only supplying all the needs of the 
physical and other sciences, but of supplying them 
magnificently. To mention no other sources of supply 
there is the Patent Fund, and the endowments of the 
colleges of the old Universities. 
As to the Patent Fund, it is not too much to say that a 
K 
