NATURE 



297 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1872 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



THE recurrence of our annual Congress of Science 

 naturally leads us to reflect on the position which 

 the British Association occupies in our social economy, 

 and on the part it is qualitied and, perhaps, destined to 

 play. Whilst other scientific societies occupy themselves 

 in giving publicity to results and speculations, and in re- 

 warding with their medals successful labours, the British 

 Association alone systematically undertakes to distribute 

 the greater part of its income, about 2,000/. per annum, in 

 grants to enable men of science to conduct scientific in- 

 vestigations, and to institute inquiries with a view to 

 possible future action. Stated briefly, this constitutes the 

 broad distinction between the British Association and 

 other scientific societies. As a publishing society it can- 

 not vie with some other bodies, as, for instance, with the 

 Royal Society. The great bulk of the papers it receives 

 are published in abstract and but few in cxte)iso ; and it 

 allows a greater latitude than other societies with regard 

 to the reception of subjects which have been elsewhere 

 made public, thus constituting its proceedings, to a great 

 e.xtent, a resume o{ the year's work — a characteristic 

 quite in keeping with its practice of meeting but once a 

 year. 



It is distinguished also by the wide range of subjects 

 admissible in its various sections, by the facility with 

 which membership is granted, by its attractiveness to 

 foreign men of science, and, above all, by the tendency 

 which its practice of meeting each year in a diflerent 

 town has to disseminate Science throughout the kingdom. 



All these characteristics combine to make the British 

 Association a truly national body. And the feeling that 

 it is so has always made its leaders more ready to inte- 

 rest themselves in large national objects connected with 

 Science, than, as members of other societies, the same 

 men have elsewhere shown themselves to be. The British 

 Association has thus always exhibited more self-assertion, 

 and, in its communications with Government, more bold- 

 ness, than other societies. In other scientific circles there 

 is a disposition to regard any assistance given by the 

 State as a favour to Science, and a timid reluctance to 

 point out plainly cases in which the aid of the State is 

 really necessary. The total Solar Eclipse of 1871 is a 

 case in point. The Astronomical Society had not the 

 heart to place before the Government a clear statemen 

 of what was required. The duty of doing this, which 

 obviously devolved on that Society, being thus neglected 

 by it, was at once, without a moment's hesitation, success- 

 fully performed by the British Association, to the great 

 benefit of knowledge. 



But a more striking and far more important example of 

 the wise vigour which has generally characterised its 

 counsels, is afforded by the steps it took to obtain a 

 thorough inquiry through a Royal Commission into the 

 whole condition of scientific action and administration in 

 England. Whether that inquiry leads to immediate re- 

 form and expansion of our scientific institutions, as it is 

 generally expected it will, or not, the inquiry itself has 



VOL. VI. 



already been productive of incalculable good. It will 

 probably be found, when the evidence is published, that 

 our " system " at present consists of a mass of incon- 

 sistencies, and deficiencies, of the existence of which not 

 even those who originated the movement could have had 

 any clear idea, much less any reliable proof. The utter 

 absence of any guiding principle in the dealings of suc- 

 cessive Governments with Science, and of any system for 

 administering such imperfect and dislocated institutions 

 as we possess, which we are convinced the inquiry must 

 also establish, will so startle all thinking men, whether 

 scientific or not, that sooner or later reform must come, 

 although the causes of this state of things are not far to 

 seek. 



Another good result of the inquiry is that it has forced 

 the large body of men of Science who have been 

 examined to turn their attention from that too rapt con- 

 templation each of his own labours to which English 

 philosophers are addicted, towards the great fields which 

 others are cultivating ; and by forcing them to regard 

 Science as a whole, to recognise and duly appreciate the 

 individual value and the interdependence of its several 

 parts. The change in scientific thought which has taken 

 place in the course of the two years during which the 

 Royal Commission has been sitting, is quite perceptible 

 to those whose attention is turned to the subject. 



But no change of thought is perceptible in the Ministry 

 of the day. It is perfectly clear that now, as ever, any 

 aid given to Science is a mere question of pressure. 

 Sometimes it is yielded with apparent promptitude to the 

 external force of numbers, importunity, or probable popu- 

 larity. At othertimes it is as stubbornly refused. An example 

 of each is of recent occurrence. Aid was given to expe- 

 ditions to observe the two last total Solar Eclipses, in the 

 shape of several thousand pounds, and the use of ships. 

 The aid of 150/. was refused to the British Association 

 for completing tidal investigations, on which that body had 

 spent 600/. As it is impossible to refer these two acts to 

 one and the same guiding principle, we must assume that 

 different motives prompted each, and that, as no properly 

 instructed mind could consider EcUpse Observations 

 many times more important to a great naval and mari- 

 time country than Tidal Researches, compliance with the 

 one demand cannot be set off against refusal of the other in 

 assessing the real regard for Science to be credited to the 

 Government. 



These two well-marked cases, the miserable Hooker- 

 Ayrton wrangle, the treatment of the Society of Antiquaries 

 recorded in our last number, and the declaration of Mr. 

 Gladstone at the Royal Society's anniversary dinner that 

 .Science must suffer if aided, or as he expressed himself, 

 if " interfered with," by the State, are all indications that 

 the Government do not yet know that it is possible to 

 draw a boundary line separating the regions of scientific 

 activity which should be occupied respectively by indi- 

 viduals or private bodies and by the State. And the 

 truth does not yet seem to have dawned on them that the 

 prolonged neglect of those scientific objects which State 

 resources alone can attain is a positive dereliction of 

 duty, the effect of which in overweighting England in the 

 race of European civilisation is already perceptible. 



Our immediate object in drawing attention to the un- 

 settled and phlegmatic views of the Government with 



