Sept. 5, 1 872 J 



NATURE 



by the Association to the Government, with sucli advice as to the 

 l)est mode of conducting them as may seem necessary ; and that 

 I'reviuus to each annual meeting the Association should request 

 the Government to state wliat had been done with respect to such 

 researches, the result being published in their annual volume of 

 Proceedings. 



It is not by any means my object nor my wish to bring the 

 Association into collision with the Government. .Such a result is 

 strongly to be deprecated. But I do not believe it would follow 

 from the course I suggest, whilst I see no other mode of putting 

 in a practical form before the administration those urgent require- 

 ments of science on which so much of the material economy of 

 the State rests. 



The Association has undoubtedly the right to distribute funds 

 entrusted to it by private individuals as may seem best for sci- 

 ence. And being the most powerful scientific body in the king- 

 dom, both intellectually and numerically, the duty properly 

 devolves on it of endeavouring to remedy evils arising from im- 

 perfect knowledge of science wherever discernible. These two 

 considerations afford an ample justification for the course I 

 suggest, should it seem otherwise judicious. 



It may be objected that no definite test exists by which we may 

 discriminate between the two classes of scientific objects which 

 for brevity I will call Public and Private. I therefore propose 

 the following : — 



Public science should be characterised by three principal fea- 

 tures — (i) Continuity; (2) Probability of Expansion ; (3) Un- 

 remuner.ativeness to the individual cultivating it, combined with 

 profit or adv,antage to the community generally ; (4) Ccstliness. 

 Each individual research, properly Public, may not present all 

 these three features in equal prominence, liut with the great mass 

 of questions which come before the Association there will be no 

 difficulty, in most cases, in arranging each under the proper 

 category. Cases of doubtful cliaracter must be classified accord- 

 ing to the discretion of the Association, than whom no one can 

 be more competent for the task. 



I would here, in order to illustrate my meaning, mention a 

 few typical cases of Public Science which the Association and 

 other private bodies and persons have attempted to deal with. 

 The Kew Observatory was one such case. An institution of 

 that kind satisfies exactly all the three conditions constituting it, 

 according to my definition. Public Science. It v\ as discontinued 

 chielly on the ground that the cost of its maintenance, 600/. per 

 annum, absorbed an undue proportion of the income of the Asso- 

 ciation. I was one of those who assented to its discontinuance, 

 but on other grounds besides the one I have named. I con- 

 sidered that the annual sum spent upon it, though a large one 

 relatively, was quite insufiicient for such a puipose, that it 

 needed great expansion, and finally that as long as such an insti- 

 tution existed, even on so contracted a scale. Government would 

 not found a really sufficient one, as I considered they ought to 

 do. After its relinquishment by the Association, Mr. Gassiot 

 came forward and undertook the cost of its continuance. While 

 oHfering my humble meed of admiration of such rare liberality, I 

 must still say, what I urged when the arrangement was first pro- 

 posed, that, though supplying to a certain extent a temporary 

 want, it could not do so on the requisite scale, and that its effect 

 would be to postpone the period at which Government would be 

 able to see that such institutions must be maintained on the 

 most liberal and comprehensive scale at the public e.xpense. I 

 also instance the subjects of Sew.agc, of Rainfall, of the Map of 

 tlie Moon, and of the Tides, as bearing all the three characteris- 

 tics of Public Science — and many others could be added. As to 

 the .Sewage question, the committee wliich undertook it no sooner 

 began their labours than they perceived the utter inefficiency of 

 the funds allowed by the Association. They sought to supple- 

 ment these by appeals for help to the large towns, and questions 

 of a delicate nature respecting the personal expenses of the mem- 

 bers of the committee led to unpleasant consequences — the whole 

 showing clearly that the subject was far too extensive, costly, and 

 arduous for the ])Owers and resources of private enterprise, and 

 that it was, in fact, a national question which could be grappled 

 with by national agercy only. 



As to the Rainfall question, it is well known that for several 

 years Mr. Symons has devoted the greatest energy and skill to 

 it, and that he has established a considerable number of rain- 

 gauges all over the kingdom. He has received annual grants of 

 money from the Association, but, unless I am misinformed, he 

 considers the system which he has created still incomplete, and I 

 believe he has incurred very considerable sacrifices in bringing it 



to its present condition. Now this case strongly illustrates the 

 evil on which I have dwelt. 



When, on the death of Admiral FitzRoy, the present Meteoro- 

 logical Office was established, no provision whatever was made 

 for ascertain'ng the general rainfall of the kingdom. This, it 

 was found, was being done by private enterprise, and the excuse 

 for excluding one of the most important of meteorological ele- 

 ments from the programme of the State Meteorological Depart- 

 ment was eagerly seized, although a little reflection would have 

 shown that the very existence of the private system depended on 

 the zeal and life of a single individual ; indeed, it was threatened 

 with total collapse that winter, in consequence of Mr. Symons' 

 health failing from overwork. 



The Map of the Moon was another large subject to which 

 many eminent astronomers — of whom the late Sir John Herschel 

 was one — attached much importance. The funds which the 

 Association was able to furnish for the purpose being utterly in- 

 adequate, the project was abandoned. It is still kept alive by 

 the zeal of Mr. Birt, assisted by a few friends ; but its complete 

 realisation by such means may be considered as indefinitely post- 

 poned. I am justified in assuming that the fact that the Associa- 

 tion did make the attempt will be used, when the subject is pressed 

 on the Government, as a proof that it is one properly devolving 

 on private enterprise. I liave already described the position of 

 the Tidal question, which constitutes the most conclusive demon- 

 stration of the effect on the Government of such undiscriminating 

 application of private funds and private enterprise. 



1 trust I shall not be considered, in consequence of what I 

 have said on the subject, to depreciate or undervalue private en- 

 terprise. It is one of the just boasts of Englishmen that in no 

 nation are there to be found such wonderful examples of indivi- 

 dual zeal for high and unremunerative objects as here. Our 

 colonisation, libraries, museums, hospit.als and charities, the 

 missionary agencies — all supported by voluntary means —surpass 

 those of all the world put together. In some instances — as in 

 that of our charities — priv.ate beneficence, for want of due direc- 

 tion, has actually gone too far and done harm. In science, also, 

 England is pre-eminent for the number of observatories, labora- 

 tories, and other forms of activity maintained by individuals ; 

 whilst no civilised nation is so backward in its State organisa- 

 tion for science. The question I wish to raise is whether our 

 private science, exuberant as it is, sufiices for the national wants 

 in the present age ; and if not, whether the indiscriminateness of 

 private scientific enterprise in England has not tended to induce 

 the feeling that science is already sufficiently provided for, and 

 does not need what Mr. Gladstone calls " the interference of the 

 State." 



I would strongly urge that no State organisation of science 

 can possibly chill the zeal of private enterprise. The love of 

 individual exertion, the pride of persona prowess, and the libe- 

 rality of private wealth, are sentiments too deeply imbedded in 

 the genius of Englishmen to be capable of such easy eradication. 

 Nor will the Association find, that by the classification of scien- 

 tific objects which I have recommended, there will remain of 

 those which may properly devolve on individuals a number 

 insufficient to absorb the moderate income which it has at its 

 disposal. 



The only other effect of such classification that appears to me 

 open to possible objection is that some of the scientific objects 

 which would otherwise be, however imperfectly, advanced by 

 the help of the Association, m.iy, by being referred to the Go- 

 vernment, suffer total neglect. I at once admit that this effect 

 will at first very probably take place in some instances. But for 

 my own part I should be prepared to incur the risk of that sacri- 

 fice, in order to expedite a full consideration of the great question 

 of the duty of Government towards science. The measure I 

 propose is avowedly not intended to meet at once pressing tem- 

 porary want, but to contribute to the creation of a great perma- 

 nent system. It is my wish, not to ease, by small local applica- 

 tions, the sufferings of the patient, but to effect a radical cure. 

 Tlie treatment has as yet consisted of small expedients which, 

 though they have given occasional relief, have not touched the 

 seat of the disorder. I do not shrink from recommending, in- 

 stead, a bold, if painful, operation that shall strike at the very 

 root of the malady. 



Report of the Committee for Discussing Obsen'ations of Lunar 

 Objects Suspected of Change, by W. R. Birt. 



The Committee have pleasure in presenting their .Second 

 Report on tlie above subject. It will be remembered that the 

 Report of last year was confined principally to the discussion of 



