340 
struments had reached the highest possible develop- 
ment unless a radical change could be produced in the 
optical properties of glass, and the researches of Schott 
and himself, aided by subsidies from the Bavarian 
Government, lasted a number of years before the first 
catalogue of Jena glass was produced. Synthetic in- 
digo was discovered by von Baeyer about the year 
1880; it was not until some twenty years later that it 
was put commercially on the market, and in that time 
it is reported that no less than 1,000,000l. was spent 
by the Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik before this 
desired end was reached. 
Standardisation in all its branches is an important 
function of such a laboratory, and this involves re- 
search. The methods of measurement, the materials 
in which the standards can best be expressed, the 
accuracy of reproduction, and the conditions of use, all 
need investigation. 
One other aspect of the matter remains to be con- 
sidered, though very briefly. If we are to have a 
National Industrial Research Laboratory, who is to 
pay for it, who is to support it? The obvious answer 
is, the nation, but this in some quarters at once raises 
a difficulty. It is claimed that the results of any suc- 
cessful research bring profits, in the first instance, to 
some particular class, and that class ought to pay. 
For example, the discovery of some new and valuable 
alloy would profit, in the first instance, the manufac- 
turer of the alloy and the persons employing it in their 
special trade. Before, therefore, you undertake an 
investigation you must secure, so it is ‘said, the co- 
operation and financial support of a limited class who 
will presumably benefit by the success of the investiga- 
tion. And no doubt, as a general rule, in cases in 
which it can be applied, this principle is a sound one, 
but such cases are limited. If a manufacturer comes 
with a conundrum, which he desires to have answered 
for his own private benefit, he must pay; but if a 
competent committee controlling an industrial research 
laboratory concludes that a research is of importance 
and likely to lead to knowledge of benefit to the whole 
industry with which it is concerned, I would plead 
that the cost of such a research should be met out of 
national funds. It is very difficult to say what indi- 
vidual will profit most in the end. An improvement 
in an industrial process leading to more employment 
and to a cheaper method of manufacture benefits a wide 
circle beyond the man who introduces the process. Ger- 
many—not merely Messrs. Schott and Zeiss—has 
rofited by the labours of Abbe and his co-workers at 
Reni. labours rendered possible in the first instance by 
State help. No doubt there are cases where the co- 
operation of an industry can, and should, be secured; 
sometimes, too, it will be in the public interest to pro- 
tect a discovery by a patent, if only to prevent action 
by a private firm restricting the free use of the dis- 
covery, but, in my opinion, it is not well to hamper 
those who control the laboratory by conditions aimed 
at securing support from industry before any special 
research is commenced. 
The needs of the nation at the present time are too 
serious, the danger of delay too pressing, and the 
State may well devote large sums to industrial research 
without minute inquiry as to whether the research is 
going to benefit Messrs. A. B. specially, and what 
share, therefore, of the expense Messrs. A. B. must 
be asked to guarantee. In America the Bureau of 
Standards, in Germany the Reichsanstalt and the 
Material-Priifungs-Amt, work thus for the national 
good, and this should be the task of our English indus- 
trial research laboratory. a 
And here let us note the importance of keeping the 
test work a live thing by the aid of research. Instru- 
ments are tested to see, among other objects, if they 
NO. 2461, VoL. 98] 
NATURE 
[ DECEMBER 28, 1916 
come up to standard, but the standard of to-day is too 
low some years hence; the tests must be so regulated 
as to tend to a gradual improvement in the product, 
and this can be done only by accompanying the tests — 
with continuous research—research into methods of — 
construction, into the materials most suitable for use, 
into the scheme of tests most helpful towards forming 
a correct opinion of the value, of the instrument. Re- 
search must go hand in hand with testing. Without | 
such close co-operation routine tests grow obsolete and 
cease to be of value; worked thus they prove an impor- 
tant aid’to the manufacturer and a most desirable 
check on his production. 
I trust I have convinced you—probably you did not 
need convincing—that laboratories of 
search are necessary. 
There must be more than one; in many cases an 
industry can be best served by a laboratory near its 
principal centre. Large firms, again, may each prefer 
to have their own; trade secrets and trade jealousies 
may interfere with full co-operation—this must be so 
to some extent—but a private laboratory on a really 
sufficient scale is expensive; too often it becomes little 
more than what I have called a works laboratory for 
testing the products of the factory, and for the smaller 
firms, at least, the only way to secure the full advan- 
tage of scientific advance is by co-operation—co-opera- 
tion in the laboratory, co-operation, with specialisation 
in production, in the works themselves. 
There is much for us all to do, and I ask your active 
support to make the National Physical Laboratory 
more efficient, more worthy of its name. 
Increased funds must be provided, and it is only 
through the aid of the manufacturers, and of those 
who from experience have profited by the work of the 
laboratory, that the authorities can be induced to do 
all that is needed to establish the laboratory in a secure 
position. 
On Friday, December 1, in the hall of the Institution 
of Civil Engineers, some of us listened to an address 
by Lord Crewe, President of the Privy Council Com- 
mittee, on the subject of industrial research. It was 
in reply to a deputation from the Joint Board of 
Scientific Societies. Sir J. J. Thomson, president of 
the Royal Society, had spoken eloquently on the claims 
of pure science, Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice dealt with 
engineering, and Prof. Baker with industrial chem- 
istry. 
Lord Crewe announced that a large sum—the exact 
figure was not mentioned—is to be at the disposal of 
the committee during the next five years, and outlined 
the scheme for its expenditure. Associations are to be 
formed representing various trades or industries; the 
representatives of these will discuss with members of 
the Advisory Committee and other experts questions — 
needing scientific investigation, and when these are 
determined the grant, supplemented in most cases 
by funds raised privately or contributed by the indus- 
try, is to be used to carry them out. Such work needs 
laboratories, and it is here, it seems to me, that the 
future of the National Physical Laboratory lies. Lord 
Crewe spoke in generous terms of the work of 
the laboratory in the past; its many friends who 
heard him were grateful for his cordial recognition 
of our labours, and he indicated a sphere of wider 
usefulness under less difficult conditions in the 
future. Let me picture to you what I trust that 
sphere may be. 
In many cases, no doubt, the researches contem- 
plated must go on in special laboratories arranged and 
equipped for the purpose—laboratories closely con- 
nected with the industry it is desired to help, situated 
| at the great manufacturing centres; but there are many 
other researches of wide interest and great importance 
industrial re-~ 
4 
] 
