NADORE 
THURSDAY, APRIL “7, 1870 
LHE SOCEDNY OF ARTS CONFERENCE 
“ae Society of Arts is entitled to the thanks of the 
community for the service it performs in holding from 
time to time conferences for the discussion of public 
questions of immediate interest. Technical education, 
street tramways, the sewage question, and the Channel- 
spanning problem, have all been recently discussed in 
this way. Last Thursday another national movement, of 
greater importance than even any of those we have 
named, was brought under discussion at one of these use- 
ful gatherings, namely, the Relation of the State to 
Science,—a movement that could not have a more 
natural or more influential supporter than the Society 
whose special province it is to advance the practical 
application of science to the needs of our daily life. 
The Conference was opened by a paper by Colonel 
Strange, “On the proposed inquiry, by a Royal Com- 
mission, into the Relation of the State to Science.” The 
part which deals with the scope of the intended inquiry 
we reproduce in another column: we published some time 
ago a narrative of events. 
It is easy to see that in the paper which formed the 
subject for debate, the writer aimed at giving to the discus- 
sion a practical direction, calculated to assist those inte- 
rested, including the Government, in determining what 
objects should claim the attention of the Royal Commis- 
sion which will probably soon be issued. The Con- 
ference, though not numerously attended, included many 
of our most eminent men of science, and the speakers 
were all of that class. Professor Williamson, of Univer- 
sity College, and Dr. Miller, of King’s College, addressed 
themselves chiefly to the educational side of the question, 
and insisted on the rights of independent teaching of 
which they are the recognised champions—rights which 
Colonel Strange in his paper mentions prominently as 
demanding examination. Professor Williamson forcibly 
deprecated any cut-and-dried scheme, thus endorsing 
Colonel Strange’s recommendation that the fullest pos- 
sible inquiry into all existing scientific agencies should 
be made first and foremost. Dr. Balfour Stewart sug- 
gested a very comprehensive classification of scientific 
work into Observational work, Experimental work not 
involving time as an essential element, and Experimental 
wo:k involving time as an essential element. Of these, he 
stated that the first and last require the permanence and 
continuity of State institutions, and have been much 
neglected in England, while the second can to a great 
extent be achieved by individuals labouring independently. 
No doubt this classification will more or less form the 
basis of the scientific system of the future. 
The Astronomer Royal, speaking with an evident sense 
of the weight that must attach to his opinions on such a 
subject, and in a tone that might almost be called official, 
announced his belief that much good would come of the 
proposed Royal Commission. He illustrated the confused 
state of our scientific officialism by a humorous descrip- 
tion of the accounts of the Royal Observatory, of which 
three distinct sets were required, one for the Admiralty, 
another in a different form for the Treasury, and a third 
“to reconcile the other two.” He considered that the 
present movement tended to the creation of a salaried 
Academy, to which he did not seem opposed, though he 
pointed out that there are some kinds of inquiry 
which such a body would never have initiated, as 
for instance the discovery of Neptune, and Mr. 
Lockyer’s solar researches. Dr. Mann, Mr. De la 
Rue, and the Rev. Arthur Rigg warmly supported 
the recommendation that the inquiry should be full. 
Mr. Edwin Chadwick particularly dwelt on the ad- 
vantage of official concentration in science, in a speech 
full of practical sagacity. The discussion was summed 
up most ably by the chairman, Lord Henry Lennox, Pre- 
sident of the Society of Arts, who, in responding to a 
pointed appeal made to him by Mr. Chadwick, told the 
meeting how, on one occasion, desiring to ask in the 
House of Commons a question regarding some scientific 
matter, he found that it affected four different departments, 
and should therefore elicit a quadruple reply, the horrors 
of which he evaded by most informally putting the in- 
quiry to the Premier himself. He did not add that his 
desire for information was gratified. 
The proceedings of the Conference were brought to a 
practical issue by the following resolution :—‘ That this 
Conference desires emphatically to affirm the conclusion of 
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
that a Royal Commission to inquire into the relations of 
the State to Science is very desirable, and to recommend 
that the scope of the inquiry be made as wide as possible.” 
This motion obviously conveyed the sense of the meeting 
with accuracy, and it was carried unanimously. The chair- 
man announced that the resolution and a full report of 
the conference would be forwarded by the Council of 
the Society of Arts to the Government. 
Armed with so competent and united an expression of 
opinion, following up that already given by the British 
Association, the Government will, no doubt, invest the 
Commission with very full powers. A little consideration, 
indeed, will show that the wider the scope given to the 
inquiry, the more easy will it be to conduct it. Nothing 
would be so difficult as to confine inquiry to selected por- 
tions of such a subject, all the parts of which are so in- 
timately connected as to preclude the possibility of 
entering on one without trespassing on those which sur- 
round it. The whole field of science must be submitted 
to a comprehensive survey, before any project for its 
effectual cultivation can possibly be devised. The plain 
assertion made in Colonel Strange’s paper, that at present 
we have not even the nucleus of a scientific system, re- 
ceived the tacit assent of the Conference, no speaker 
thinking it worth while to do more than incidentally 
illustrate its truth. Comprehensive confusion needing 
comprehensive remedies must first undergo compre- 
hensive examination. We agree with those who think 
it will be difficult for the Commission to construct a 
new and complete system. A good and durable sys- 
tem must, as Dr. Mann expressed it, be built up by 
degrees—brick by brick, as it were. This work is admini- 
strative, not deliberative, and should therefore properly 
devolve on the Minister entrusted with the Department 
of Science. If, with the materials furnished by the Royal 
Commission to his hand, he cannot work them into shape, 
the course is simple—change him ! 
