— ,*s . a 
Aye 
DECEMBER 28, 1916] 
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, WITH SPECIAL 
REFERENCE TO THE WORK OF THE 
NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY.! 
FTER a reference to the work of the Privy Council 
Committee, the speaker pointed out that, in the 
words of their first report, ‘‘the object of the scheme 
is to bring scientific knowledge to bear practically 
upon our everyday industrial and commercial life.” 
He continued :—In this process, as we shall see, and as 
has been well pointed out by various recent writers— 
see Dr. Rosenhain’s paper before the West of Scotland 
Iron and Steel Institute, ‘*“The National Physical 
Laboratory: its Work and Aims,” and Dr. Mees’s 
pamphlet on “Science and Industry,”’ issued by the 
Advisory Committee of the Privy Council—three dis-° 
tinct stages may be observed. We need :— 
(1) The work of the man of science in his research 
laboratory. 
(2) Investigations which go on in an industrial re- 
search laboratorv, developing new processes or intro- 
ducing new products. 
(3) The works laboratory proper, controlling the 
quality of raw materials, finished products, and pro- 
cesses, 
Let us note then, in the first place, we must have 
scientific knowledge. That point I need not labour, 
but note also that to be successful that knowledge 
must be pursued for its own sake. Each of the modern 
practical applications of science had its foundations in 
purely scientific work, and, to quote Prof. Gregory, in 
his recent book, ‘* Discovery; or, The Spirit and Service 
of Science,’ *‘ was not the result of deliberate intention 
to make something of service to humanity.” It is 
scarcely necessary to illustrate this; let me, however, 
give one classical example. ‘The discovery of the laws 
of electromagnetic induction is due to Faraday, and is 
described in his first three series of ‘* Experimental 
Researches,’ published in 1831-33. Oersted, Ampére, 
and Arago had investigated some of the phenomena 
connected with the magnetic force produced by an 
electric current, and to Faraday it appeared clear that, 
conversely, it should be possible to produce electricity 
from magnetism, as he put it. It is difficult to picture 
the world to-day without electric power, and yet the 
whole development of electrical machinery, as we know 
it, rests on the laws described in these brief scientific 
papers. Each advance of knowledge brings its benefits 
to mankind, and in a general way Faraday may have 
hoped to be a benefactor to his race by widening the 
sphere of knowledge, but it was the desire to know 
the truth which led him on and to which we owe such 
tremendous consequences, 
We must have the student of pure research, the 
genius who goes on his way discovering new 
truths, irrespective of consequences, laying bare 
more and more of Nature’s secrets and unravelling her 
mysteries, 
In England we have never lacked such men; our 
roll of great discoverers has been a glorious one. Too 
frequently their lives have been hard and difficult, 
prophets without honour they have lived; to-night it is 
not my task to speak of them beyond urging the 
importance of giving every encouragement to such men 
by supporting, in the most generous spirit, any among 
you here in your University or elsewhere who are 
advancing the bounds of knowledge, searching for 
truth in some of its difficult byways.. The endowment 
of pure science is essential; without it the attempt to 
apply science to industry fails. 
This, however, is not my subject to-night; let us 
1 Abridged from an address deli d irmi idl: 
Institute, on December 4, by Dr. ro ek = ae 
NO. 2461, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
2 
339 
turn for a short time to the third need among those 
enumerated above—the works laboratory proper. My 
‘audience will appreciate perhaps more fully than I can 
the need for this. 
It is necessary, if for no other reason, to maintain 
the standard of the output, to secure that the proper 
grade of material is supplied to the works, to check the 
instruments in use, and to test the product in its 
various stages of smanufacture. The days are gone 
when successful manufacture could be carried on 
entirely by rule of thumb, trusting to the skill of some 
trained workman for the success of each delicate opera- 
tion, when the hereditary instinct, passed down from 
father to son, was sufficient to produce each year practic- 
ally the same results. New processes come, which appear 
likely to improve production or to reduce its cost; the 
works laboratory serves to test these. New products are 
suggested, which may or may not have the advantages 
claimed for them; this can be investigated in the 
works laboratory, and all these investigations and 
tests must go on in the works themselves under the 
eyes of men familiar with the process of manufacture 
in its every stage. The works laboratory must extend, 
and others are more competent than I to outline the 
direction of extension and to guide its growth. 
Now between these two—the man of sciencé re- 
searching in his university or college, and the works 
chemist toiling in his shop—there is a gap. Some 
means. are needed to make the discoveries of science 
available to the manufacturer, to secure to him the ad- 
vantages which come from the growth of knowledge 
to keep him in the forefront of his trade. This, if I 
grasp the problem aright, is the function of a labora- 
tory of industrial research, and among such labora- 
tories the National Physical Laboratory should hold a 
prominent place. The National Physical Laboratory 
has another function to fulfil—it is a great standardis- 
ing and testing institution. I will recur again to that 
aspect of its work; for the present let us consider what 
is required in a laboratory for industrial research and 
see how far these requisites are supplied at Tedding- 
ton. Quoting again from Dr. Mees’s paper, already 
referred to, “‘This kind of research work,’ he says, 
“involves a laboratory very different from the usual 
works Jaboratory, and also investigations of a different 
type from those employed in a purely industrial 
laboratory. It means a large, elaborately equipped 
and heavily staffed laboratory engaged largely 
on work which for many years will be un- 
remunerative, and which for a _ considerable 
time after its foundation will obtain no results which 
can be applied by the manufacturer.” 
This work clearly needs a special home; it cannot be 
done in the laboratory of a technical institute. The 
main work in a laboratory such as that of a technical 
institute must be educational. The object of the pro- 
fessor is to educate his pupils so that each may apply 
his knowledge to his lifework in the future. For this 
he will teach them to research. They will help him 
in his own investigations, and these may well have a 
bearing on the industry of the district. They may 
commence to solve for themselves simple problems akin 
to those they will meet with in their future work, but 
their power and opportunity to apply the new dis- 
‘coveries of science to the manifold problems of industry 
must be limited. For such work training is required, 
and full and elaborate equipment; the plant of a tech- 
nical schoo] laboratory must be designed to serve many 
purposes, all aimed at educating the pupils to apply 
science, and at teaching them the methods to follow. 
It is not their work, while still at college, to solve the 
conundrums of the manufacturer. The research labora- 
tory is necessary if progress is to be made. Abbe 
realised somewhere about 1876 that British optical in- 
