NATURE 
129 
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1869 
SCIENCE REFORM 
A MOVEMENT has been for some time on foot, of a 
character so important to the Science of England, 
that we can no longer delay consideration of its object 
and prospects. It is proposed to submit to a Royal Com- 
mission the entire question of the relation of Science to 
the State ; both what now is, and what should be, that 
relation. 
In order to centre the attention of the scientific world 
on the leading features of the proposed inquiry, we will 
confine this present opening of the subject, as much 
as possible, to a narrative of the events which have 
brought the movement to its present stage. 
At the meeting of the British Association at Norwich in 
1868, a paper was read by Lieut.-Colonel Strange, in the 
Mathematical and Physical Section, entitled, “Ox the 
Necessity for State Intervention to Secure the Progress of 
Physical Science ;” an abstract of which was published 
in the Report of the Association of that year. Colonel 
Strange stated verbally that he desired to be considered 
as merely putting into language the thoughts which had 
long occupied the minds of many eminent men of science. 
No one who mixes much in the scientific circles, indeed, 
can fail to recognise in his paper ideas which, in one form 
or other, have for some years been gathering strength. 
Discussion followed the paper, but, as might be expected, 
it branched off into many of the innumerable details which 
are involved in so large a question. A practical result, 
however, was arrived at by the Section, namely, that a 
committee should investigate the whole matter during the 
_recess, and report to the Association at its next meeting. 
This committee accordingly presented its report to the 
Association this year, at its late meeting at Exeter; and, 
since the future steps that may be taken must be based, 
more or less, on this document, we cannot do better than 
here print it 27 exfenso. 
The Recommendation adopted by the General Committee at 
the Norwich Meeting was, that Lieut-Col. Strange, F.R.S., Pro- 
fessor Sir W. Thomson, F.R.S., Professor Tyndall, F.R.S., 
Professor Frankland, F.R.S., Dr. Stenhouse, F.R.S., Dr. Mann, 
F.R.A.S., Mr. Huggins, F.R.S., Mr. Glaisher, F.R.S., Pro- 
fessor Williamson, F.R.S., Professor Stokes, F.R.S., Professor 
Fleeming Jenkin, F.R.S., Professor Hirst, F.R.S., Professor 
Huxley, F.R.S., and Dr. Balfour Stewart, F.R.S., be a Com- 
mittee* for the purpose of inquiring into, and of reporting to the 
British Association the opinion at which they may arrive con- 
cerning the following questions :— 
I. Does there exist in the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland sufficient provision for the vigorous prose- 
cution of Physical Research ? 
II. If not, what further provision is needed? and what 
measures should be taken to secure it? 
and that Dr. Robert James Mann be the Secretary. 
The Report was as follows :— 
Your Committee, having sought the counsel of many of the 
most eminent men of science of the United Kingdom upon these 
questions, so far as it was found practicable to do so, and having 
carefully deliberated thereon, have arrived at the following 
conclusions :— 
I. That the provision now existing in the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland is far from sufficient for the vigorous 
prosecution of Physical Research. 
II. It is universally admitted that scientific investigation is 
* The following names have since been added to the Committee :—Alfred 
ae son, F.R.S.; Lyon Playfair, F.R.S., M.P.; J. Norman Lockyer, 
productive of enormous advantages to the community at large ; 
but these advantages cannot be duly reaped without largely ex- 
tending and systematising Physical Research. Though of opinion 
that greatly increased facilities are undoubtedly required, your 
Committee do not consider it expedient that they should attempt 
to define categorically how these facilities should be provided, 
for the following reason :— 
Any scheme of scientific extension should be based on a full 
and accurate knowledge of the amount of aid now given to 
science, of the sources from which that aid is derived, and of the 
functions performed by individuals and institutions receiving 
such aid. Your Committee have found it impossible, with the 
means and powers at their command, to acquire this knowledge. 
A formal inquiry, including the inspection of records to which 
your Committee have not access, and the examination of witnesses 
whom they are not empowered to summon, alone can elicit the 
information that is required; and, as the whole question of the 
relation of the State to Science, at present in a very unsettled 
and unsatisfactory position, is involved, they urge that a Royal 
Commission alone is competent to deal with the subject. 
Your Committee hold that this inquiry is of a character suffi- 
ciently important to the nation, and sufficiently wide in its scope, 
to demand the most ample and most powerful machinery that can 
be brought to bear upon it. 
Your Committee therefore submit, as the substance of their 
Report, the recommendation that the full influence of the British 
Association for the advancement of Science should at once be 
exerted to obtain the appointment of a Royal Commission, to 
consider :— 
1. The character and value of existing institutions and 
facilities for scientific investigation, and the amount 
of time and money devoted to such purposes. 
2. What modifications or augmentations of the means and 
facilities that are at present available for the main- 
tenance and extension of science are requisite ; and, 
3. In what manner these can be best supplied. 
To proceed with our historical narrative. The report 
passed through the ordeal to which all such matters are 
subjected according to the rules of the British Associa- 
tion ; namely, First, the consideration of the committee of 
the Section in which it originated (Section A) ; Secondly, 
that of the Committee of Recommendations ; Thirdly, 
that of the General Committee. By this last it was 
submitted to the Council of the Association, “for considera- 
tion and action if it seems desirable,” and the report was 
considered by a sub-committee of the Council on Saturday 
last. 
As the matter now stands, it is for the Council of the 
British Association to determine whether science in this 
country stands, or does not stand, on a settled, satisfac- 
tory foundation; and if not, then the further question, 
whether anything short of an inquiry conducted by the 
State will suffice to redress existing evils and to initiate 
desirable reforms. 
If we refer to the list of names of the Norwich Com. 
mittee, given above, we find that it includes men of the 
highest eminence in almost every branch of scientific 
inquiry,—men whose whole lives are, and have long 
been, devoted to actual scientific work—professors, inves- 
tigators, and writers, members of many learned societies, 
and of universities, leaders of philosophical thought, and 
persons possessing every available means of insight into all 
that passes in the scientific world,—and what do they tell 
us? Why, virtually this, that the provision for extending 
science in England is derived from so many sources, is 
subject to so many authorities, is so entirely without con- 
sistency and system, that even their joint knowledge fails 
to grasp and arrange the heterogeneous mass of confusion ; 
they say, however, with an absence of circumlocution that 
bears the stamp of well-founded conviction, that this 
L 
