NATURE 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1874 



THE DUTY OF ELECTORS 



IN his address to his Greenwich constituents Mr. 

 Gladstone has undoubtedly attacked a weak point 

 of human nature, by his announcement of a large balance, 

 the promise of the removal of the income-tax, and other 

 reductions in taxation ; but those who really have the 

 welfare of their country at heart cannot help feel- 

 ing that, by making one doubtful good all-prominent, 

 he has placed too far in the background many of those 

 points which are daily becoming of more and more im- 

 portance to the national welfare. Our country depends 

 for its high position among nations, not only on 

 its resources in coal and iron, but also, and more 

 securely, on the liiental capacity of its people, whose pecu- 

 liarity is that they have the power of always using the re- 

 sources at their disposal to better advantage than any others. 

 We in nearly all cases have taken the lead in invention. A 

 discovery, for instance, is made by which the amount of 

 coal required to produce a certain amount of useful work 

 is diminished greatly ; this is adopted by others of our. 

 selves, and is gradually spread to other countries, not 

 however before sufficient time has elapsed to place us on 

 the way to another method, which will have as great ad- 

 vantages over the new one as that had over the one which 

 preceded it. There are those amongst us who, with our 

 national tendency to depreciate our own abilities and 

 resources, carefully compile statistics show that our 

 gradual decline and destruction are inevitable in a certain 

 definite number of years. They, however, inevitably leave 

 out of the question the potentiality, as it may be termed, 

 of the British brain. 



But how is it that we are able to maintain this high 

 position of progressive discovery ? is a question which 

 may be well asked. The answer is not difficult to find. 

 It is on account of the thoroughness of the work done by 

 some of the scientific members of the community, who 

 but too often use their best efforts, involuntarily though 

 it may be, to the working out of those inductions which 

 lead to the discovery of new methods that prove so in- 

 valuable to their fellow-creatures, and so often unre- 

 munerative to themselves. There are many who must 

 feel that it is not too early to make it a part of all Govern- 

 ment legislation, that more stress be laid on and more 

 direct pecuniary assistance given to such unremunerative 

 scientific work, and encouragement offered for the produc- 

 tion of it in greater quantity, so as to secure more of 

 its invaluable results. 



It may be said, and it is said by some, that we have gone 

 on very well as yet without any great encouragement in this 

 direction ; but this is the old argument over again ; we are 

 now in a very different position to what we were formerly. 

 When Science was in its infancy, it was not so essential 

 tu the production of good work that those who made the 

 greatest strides should know much of the investigations 

 of those who preceded them, nor of the principles of the 

 sciences, by the employment of which alone they can 

 expect to advance. But the last half century has been so 

 prolific in scientific method and detail, that any one 

 ignorant of all its branches, however great his ability, can 

 have little or no chance of making fresh improvements or 

 Vol, IX. — No 222 



discoveries. What was not essential formerly is essential 

 now ; and just as the standard of general education is 

 much higher at the present time than it was some years 

 ago, so must the scientir^c education be. 



But there is only one method of improving scientific 

 education satisfactorily, and that is by making scientific 

 work more possible and lucrative. A young man does not 

 commence physics cr chemistry or biology until he has 

 really begun the battle of life ; his mind is scarcely fit for 

 it before ; he must therefore, when he takes them up, see 

 clearly a livelihood ahead. Such a livelihood at present is 

 little more than a phantom. The prospect of a post in any 

 Government institution, such as the British Museum, for 

 example, is, to say the most, to scarcely a pittance, and there 

 are many of the best workers who would undergo many 

 privations rather than have to devote the greater part of 

 their lives to the drudgery of an educational appointment. 

 Most scientific men do not expect to become rich on 

 their avocation; the inherent pleasure of their subject 

 compensates to a certain extent for the diminished in- 

 come ; but they must live, and living means more than 

 obtaining an income which is insufficient to allow of their 

 maintaining the social position to which they are born, 

 or to which their education has brought them. 



Such being the case, ought not the nation in a fresh 

 Parliamentary election to lay some stress on the im- 

 provements that are indispensable for the healthy 

 progress of scientific thought ? Why does Mr. Glad- 

 stone's interest in the higher Education begin and end 

 with Ireland — can it have any reference to party ques- 

 tions ? Why is there all too slight a reference to the 

 University question and no reference at all to the Report 

 of the Royal Commission which has recently been'_issued — 

 is it because Mr. Gladstone knows that there are many 

 Conservatives much more liberal and large-minded than 

 the Liberals themselves on this subject? 



Is there no feeling throughout the country on the sub- 

 ject of Museums, or the ever-growing necessity for a 

 Minister of Education r i\Ir. Gladstone may well be 

 excused from referring to these topics in his "prolix" 

 manifesto, but are all the Constituencies to neglect them ^ 

 Is the Sectarian or the Licensed Victualler to be the only 

 man who shall require his candidate to render a reason — 

 to state his views ? Our point is, that every voter in the 

 kingdom has now an opportunity of helping on the cause 

 of Science and Education by insisting upon his repre- 

 sentative having ideas— and right ideas— on these ques- 

 tions. 



Why should there not, among the numerous influ- 

 ential scienlihc societies which are spread through the 

 country, be formed organised committees whose duty 

 shall be to use their influence in representing their re- 

 quirements to the candidates for parliamentary election, 

 and doing all in their power to get their wants respected 

 and complied with ? Again, why should not those bodies, 

 like the University of London, with a large number of 

 scientific voters, and a representative, do all in their 

 power to return for their member one who has the 

 interests of Science and the higher education at 

 heart, and who will do all he can to put these 

 interests in the best light ? That such will not be done 

 by the University of London at least, will be evident if 

 Mr. Lowe is again returned as their member at the 



