454 



NATURE 



[September io, 1908 



factorily, unless it was understood that he was only ex- 

 pected to undertake routine analysis or work outside the 

 research laboratory. By thus extending the period of 

 training, and making research work compulsory as far 

 as possible, a great deal would be gained ; pure science 

 would reap an immediate benefit from the investigations of 

 the students — as has been the case abroad — and this 

 stimulus would necessarily react on industrial chemistry ; 

 the manufacturers could be assured that they were being 

 supplied with men of the right type ; they would soon come 

 to recognise that fact, and the demand for w'orks-chemists 

 would expand. In the laboratory of the works the manu- 

 facturer would then have the opportunity of gauging the 

 capabilities and special leanings of every chemist on his 

 staff. Those who were best fitted for directing operations 

 in the works could be trained on the spot, as they could 

 not possibly hope to be trained in any university or poly- 

 technic ; those who proved to be the best research chemists 

 would, of course, remain in the laboratory working out 

 scientific problems. Organisations of this kind could not 

 fail to command success, and the opsonic curve of our 

 chemical industries would soon begin to rise. 



There is one institution, not a teaching body, which 

 might greatly assist in this movement ; I refer to the 

 Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland. This 

 body desires and claims to represent chemistry, not only 

 in these islands, but in all our dominions, and also to 

 e.xercise some supervision or control over public appoint- 

 ments. It examines in chemistry and grants diplomas, 

 and claims that its examinations are a test of practical 

 ability rather than of theoretical knowledge. I have not 

 a word to say against the character of these examinations, 

 but to imagine that the Institute of Chemistry qualifica- 

 tion is the hall-mark of a chemist is ridiculous. An 

 average student can obtain the diploma after three, or at 

 the very most four, years' work subsequent to matricula- 

 tion, and more easily than the London B.Sc. (external). 

 Here, again, it should be recognised that the present Insti- 

 tute of Chemistry qualification is only a step in the train- 

 ing of a chemist ; the permission to present a thesis for 

 the Associate examination should be withdrawn, and good 

 research work should be insisted on in the case of all 

 candidates for the Fellowship. It would then be possible 

 to distinguish between those who are capable routine 

 chemists and those who might be expected to advance pure 

 and applied science. It is certainly a grave matter for an 

 Institution entirely controlled by chemists to set such a 

 bad example by ignoring the necessity of research work ; 

 if all our official chemical appointments and many of our 

 posts in works are to be filled by men who have done no 

 independent scientific work, the results will be most 

 serious ; the research habit and the research method are 

 not easily acquired without assistance, and therefore it is 

 all the more important to make use of this assistance 

 while it is within reach, and before the budding chemist 

 begins to believe that he has nothing more to learn. 



.'V'; a necessary corollary to making research compulsory 

 in the training of works-chemists, all our important teach- 

 ing institutions must afford ample opportunities for such 

 work, and measures must be adopted to guard against that 

 failure of some of our universities as centres of research 

 which was pointed out by Prof. Meldola. 



Such failure, whatever may be the contributory causes, 

 must be principally due to the absence of sufficient interest 

 in research work on the part of the professor, and it 

 certainly seems surprising, at first sight, that in these days 

 many such professors are to be found ; but it must be 

 remembered that although by members of this Section 

 research work is regarded as the highest and most 

 important of all professorial duties, this is not always the 

 view of those who make an appointment to a Chair. 



In selecting a professor there are many other considera- 

 tions which come into play : his ability as a teacher in 

 the class-room and laboratory ; his qualifications as a 

 popular exponent of science ; his power of organisation ; 

 his bearing towards his colleagues and his students — all 

 these matters are of great and direct importance to a 

 university, and it is not to be wondered at that a man 

 highly qualified in these accessories may sometimes be 

 chosen even though he may take no special interest in 

 research work. 



NO. 2028, VOL. 78] 



The results of such an appointment, however, cannot 

 fail to be most prejudicial to the highest interests of the 

 university and of the country ; the chemistry department 

 becomes a chemistry school, but not a school of chemistry. 



Unfortunately, moreover, the results extend over a long 

 period ; this raises another question which certainly 

 requires attention if we are to become more efficient. 



It is far from my object to create any gratuitous in- 

 security of tenure in chairs of chemistry, but is it not 

 desirable that in our teaching institutions the conditions 

 of all appointments should include a superannuation clause? 

 Not that a rigid age-limit should be introduced, but there 

 should be a possibility of bringing about the retirement 

 of those who for any reason can no longer adequately fulfil 

 their duties. When, owing to the lapse of time, such 

 retirement became necessary, the aged and honoured pro- 

 fessor, pensioned by a grateful university, might still re- 

 tain an intimate connection with its scientific life ; as 

 emeritus professor, with a research laboratory at his dis- 

 posal, he might remain to advise and encourage his 

 youthful successor even when the duties of teaching and 

 the general supervision of a department had become too 

 arduous. 



it cannot be suggested that my remarks on this delicate 

 topic are inspired by the impatience of youth or by freedom 

 from personal consequences ; the time when superannuation 

 becomes desirable mav arrive for one and all, and I have 

 ventured to direct attention to the matter simply and 

 solely because of its grave importance in connection with 

 the subject of my Address. The country cannot afford to 

 allow periods of inactivity or decadence in our seats of 

 learning, and the interests of the individual must be sub- 

 ordinated to those of the nation. 



Even if by adopting the above suggestions the training 

 of our chemists is improved, and all our higher educa- 

 tional institutions become permanent and active centres of 

 research, the manufacturers may still remain unresponsive, 

 what can be done in other ways to bring about the active 

 cooperation of pure and applied science ? 



The great proportion of the original work now done in 

 this country, judging from the published records, is abso- 

 lutely free from any utilitarian bias ; the time, brain-power, 

 and money devoted' to this work are considerable, and the 

 results from a scientific point of view eminently satisfac- 

 tory. If even a fraction of the same skill and energy 

 were brought to bear under proper conditions on problems 

 of applied science, who can doubt but that the effect on 

 our chemical industries would be one of vast importance? 

 .And yet it is the rarest possible occurrence to find any 

 record of research work undertaken with a commercial 

 object even in the natural home of such records, the Journal 

 of the Society of Chemical Industry. 



One reason for this may be that the discoveries made 

 in the works-laboratories are not given to the world at 

 large, but are quietly and lucratively applied in some secret 

 manufacturing process. Another reason, unfortunately the 

 more probable one, may be that nearly all the principal 

 research . workers are completely shut off from any 

 industrial influences. 



Now the worker in pure science, unaided by the advice 

 of the manufacturer and business man, has little chance 

 of solving any important technological problem, except as 

 the result of accident ; he has not the requisite acquaint- 

 ance with commercial conditions, does not realise the 

 enormous difference between operations on the laboratory 

 and the manufacturing scales, or, if he does so, is unable 

 to enter fully and with confidence into questions of fuel, 

 labour, and so on which often determine the success or 

 otherwise of a process. Further, much of the research 

 work of direct commercial value concerns methods for 

 reducing the cost of processes already in operation, and 

 demands an intimate practical knowledge of these pro- 

 cesses. 



It is obvious, therefore, that, even if all the research 

 capacity of the country were henceforth devoted to purely 

 technical matters, any great improvement in our industries 

 could hardly be anticipated without the active cooperation 

 of the manufacturers. 



Now it has been stated ' that the authorities of the Man- 

 chester Municipal School of Technology intend to under- 

 1 Levinstein, /tf«^-«. Soc. Cftem. I}id., 1903, 845. 



