August 31, 191 1] 



NATURE 



28- 



The first to hive off from the Royal Society was the 

 Linnean Society for the promotion of botanical studies, 

 founded in ijSn b) sir James Edward Smith, Sir Joseph 

 Banks, and other Fellows of the Royal Society ; in 1807 

 it was followed by the Geological Society ; at a later date 

 the Society of Antiquaries, the Chemical, the Zoological, 

 the Physical, the Mathematical, and many other Societies 

 were founded. And it was felt by those capable of form- 

 ing a judgment that, as well expressed by Lord Playfair 

 at Aberdeen in 1885, " Human progress is so identified 

 with scientific thought, both in its conception and realisa- 

 tion, that it seems as if they were alternative terms in the 

 history of civilisation." This is only an echo through the 

 ages of an utterance of the great Englishman, Roger 

 Bacon, who wrote in 1250 a.d. : " Experimental science 

 has three great prerogatives over all other sciences : it 

 verifies conclusions by direct experiment ; it discovers 

 truths which they could never reach ; and it investigates 

 the secrets of Nature, and opens to us a knowledge of the 

 past and of the future." 



The world has greatly changed since 1831; the spread 

 of railways and the equipment of numerous lines of steam- 

 ships have contributed to the peopling of countries at that 

 time practically uninhabited. Moreover, not merely has 

 travelling been made almost infinitely easier, but com- 

 munication by post has been enormously expedited and 

 cheapened ; and the telegraph, the telephone, and wireless 

 telegraphy have simplified as well as complicated human 

 existence. Furthermore, the art of engineering has made 

 such strides that the question " Can it be done? " hardly 

 arises, but rather " Will it pay to do it? " In a word, 

 the human race has been familiarised with the applica- 

 tions of science ; and men are ready to believe almost any- 

 thing if brought forward in its name. 



Education, too, in the rudiments of science has been 

 introduced into almost all schools ; young children are 

 taught the elements of physics and chemistry. The 

 institution of a Section for Education in our Association 

 (L) has had for its object the organising of such instruc- 

 tion, and much useful advice has been proffered. The 

 problem is, indeed, largely an educational one ; it is being 

 solved abroad in various ways — in Germany and in most 

 European States by elaborate Governmental schemes deal- 

 ing with elementary and advanced instruction, literary, 

 scientific, and technical ; and in the United States and in 

 Canada by the far-sightedness of the people : both 

 employers and employees recognise the value of training 

 and of originality, and on both sides sacrifices are made 

 to ensure efficiency. 



In England we have made technical education a local, 

 not an Imperial, question ; instead of half a dozen first- 

 rate institutions of University rank, we have a hundred, 

 in which the institutions are necessarily understaffed, in 

 which the staffs are mostly overworked and underpaid ; and 

 the training given is that, not for captains of industry, but 

 for workmen and foremen. " Efficient captains cannot 

 be replaced by a large number of fairly good corporals." 

 Moreover, to induce scholars to enter these institutions, 

 they are bribed by scholarships, a form of pauperism 

 practically unknown in every country but our own ; and 

 to crown the edifice, we test results by examinations of a 

 kind not adapted to gauge originality and character (if, 

 indeed, these can ever be tested by examination), instead 

 of, as on the Continent and in America, trusting the 

 teachers to form an honest estimate of the capacitv and 

 ability of each student, and awarding honours accord- 

 ingly. 



The remedy lies in our own hands. Let me suggest 

 that we exact from all gainers of Universitv scholarships 

 an undertaking that, if and when circumstances permit, 

 they will repay the sum which they have received as a 

 scholarship, bursary, or fellowship. It would then be 

 possible for an insurance companv to advance a sum re- 

 presenting the capital value, viz. 7,464,931!., of the scholar- 

 ships, reserving, say, twenty per cent, for non-pavment, 

 the result of mishap or death. In this wav a sum of over 

 six million pounds, of which the interest is now expended 

 on scholarships, would be available for Universitv pur- 

 poses. This is about one-fourth of the sum of twentv-four 

 millions stated by Sir Norman Lockyer at the Southport 

 meeting as necessary to place our University education on 



NO. 2183, VOL - 87] 



a satisfactory basis. A large part of the income of this 

 sum should be spent in increasing the emoluments of the 

 chairs ; for, unless the income of a professor is made in 

 some degree commensurate with the earnings of a pro- 

 fessional man who has succeeded in his profession, it is 

 idle to suppose that the best brains will be attracted to the 

 teaching profession. And it follows that unless the 

 teachers occupy the first rank, the pupils will not be stimu- 

 lated as they ought to be. 



Again, having made the profession of a teacher so 

 lucrative as to tempt the best intellects in the country to 

 enter it, it is clear that such men are alone capable of 

 testing their pupils. The modern system of " external 

 examinations," known only in this country, and answer- 

 able for much of its lethargy, would disappear ; schools of 

 thought would arise in all subjects, and the intellectual as 

 well as the industrial prosperity of our nation would be 

 assured. As things are, can we wonder that as a nation 

 we are not scientific? Let me recommend those of my 

 hearers who are interested in the matter to read a recent 

 report on Technical Education by the Science Guild. 



I venture to think that, in spite of the remarkable pro- 

 gress of science and of its applications, there never was a 

 time when missionary effort was more needed. Although 

 most people have some knowledge of the results of scientific 

 inquiry, few, very few, have entered into its spirit. We 

 all live in hope that the world will grow better as the 

 years roll on. Are we taking steps to secure the improve- 

 ment of the race? I plead for recognition of the fact that 

 progress in science does not only consist in accumulating 

 information which may be put to practical use, but in 

 developing a spirit of prevision, in taking thought for the 

 morrow ; in attempting to forecast the future, not by vague 

 surmise, but by orderly marshalling of facts, and by 

 deducing from them their logical outcome ; and chiefly in 

 endeavouring to control conditions which may be utilised 

 for the lasting good of our people. We must cultivate a 

 belief in the " application of trained intelligence to all 

 forms of national activity." 



The Council of the Association has had under considera- 

 tion the formation of a Section of Agriculture. For some 

 years this important branch of applied science, borrowing 

 as it does from botany, from physics, from chemistry, and 

 from economics, has in turn enjoyed the hospitality of each 

 of these sections, itself having been made a sub-section of 

 one of these more definite sciences. It is proposed this 

 year to form an Agricultural Section. Here there is need 

 of missionary effort ; for our visits to our colonies have 

 convinced many of us that much more is being done for 

 the farmer in the newer parts of the British Empire than 

 at home. Agriculture is, indeed, applied botany, chemistry, 

 entomology, and economics, and has as much right to 

 independent treatment as has engineering, which may be 

 strictly regarded as applied physics. 



The question has often been debated whether the present 

 method of conducting our proceedings is the one best 

 adapted to gain our ends. We exist professedly " to give 

 a stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to 

 scientific inquiry." The Council has had under considera- 

 tion various plans framed with the object of facilitating 

 our work, and the result of its deliberations will be brought 

 under your attention at a later date. To my mind, the 

 greatest benefit bestowed on science by our meetings is the 

 opportunity which they offer for friendly and unrestrained 

 intercourse, not merely between those following different 

 branches of science, but also with persons w-ho, though 

 not following science professionally, are interested in its 

 problems. Our meetings also afford an opportunity for 

 younger men to make the acquaintance of older men. I 

 am afraid that we who are no longer in the spring of our 

 lifetime, perhaps from modesty, perhaps through careless- 

 ness, often do not sufficiently realise how stimulating to a 

 young worker a little sympathy can be ; a few words of 

 encouragement go a long way. I have in my mind words 

 which encouraged me as a young man, words spoken by 

 the leaders of Associations now long past — by Playfair, by 

 Williamson, by Frankland, by Kelvin, by Stokes, by 

 Francis Galton, by Fitzgerald, and many others. Let me 

 suggest to my older scientific colleagues that they should 

 not let such pleasant opportunities slip. 



Since our last meeting the Association has to mourn the 



