NATURE 



277 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1874 



A MINISTER FOR SCIENCE 



'\\J'E. are glad to see that the Times has at last opened 

 V V its pages to the question of the propriety of ap- 

 pointing a responsible Minister, whose duty it shall be to 

 look after the interests of Science and of scientific re- 

 search and education, and take charge of the scientific 

 institutions of the country — institutions whose efficiency 

 is at present sadly crippled from the want of a single re- 

 sponsible head. ' The whole question could not be better 

 stated than in Colonel Strange's letter which appeared in 

 the Ttnus of the 6th inst., and which we consider so ad- 

 mirably to the point, that we gladly reproduce it here. 

 We hope the IcUer will lead to further discussion, and 

 that whatever Government may hold the reins in the 

 forthcoming Parliament, the important question now 

 raised may meet with serious attention. Colonel Strange's 

 communication runs as follows : — 



" No subject affecting the material interests of England 

 is more important at the present day than that discussed 

 at Manchester by Lord Derby, and by yourself in your 

 leader of the 12th ult. 



" ' Scientific industry' is one of those clever phrases cal- 

 culated to catch the eye and ear by its novelty, while it 

 expresses what is already well known by other antiquated 

 names. Lord Derby defines it and explains its meaning 

 in a variety of ways ; but throughout his whole speech he 

 is talking, while never naming it, of nothing more nor less 

 than scientific research. The utilisation of redundant 

 natural forces and of waste substances, on which he in- 

 sists as a primary object of the new movement, is to be 

 brought about by patient, continuous, systematic research, 

 and by nothing else. I own I prefer the old words to the 

 new, but if by using new words old wants come to be 

 recognised and supplied, I shall not complain. 



" I, and many who think with me, maintain that scien- 

 tific research must be made a national business ; that the 

 point at which Science, in most of its leadmg branches, 

 has now arrived and the problems presented for solution 

 are such as to need for their adequate treatment, perma- 

 nent well-equipped establishments with competent staffs 

 worked continuously and systematically. Lord Derby 

 truly describes it as a case in which what is 'everybody's 

 business is nobody's business.' We must make it some- 

 body's business. We must make it the State's business. 

 We have tried individual enterprise, which so many hold 

 to be all-sufficient. There is more individual enterprise 

 in England than in any country in the world, and yet we 

 are being rapidly outstripped by nations who, though 

 they encourage private exertion, are wise enough not to 

 rely on it, but to establish a system free from the caprice, 

 the incompleteness, the liability to interruption and ces- 

 sation incident to all individual labour in whatever field. 

 If asked to describe the system we propose to establish, 

 our reply is in one word, ' completeness.' A steam-engine 

 is a system, composed of many parts, each and all essen- 

 tial to its useful action. Furnace, boiler, cylinder, pistons, 

 connecting rods, beam, and fly-wheel — all controlled by 

 a governor. Tested by the condition 'completeness, 

 what is Lord Derby's new society ? What is any private 



t society ? A mere connecting rod — a most useful hnk in 

 Vol, IX. — No 224 



the system, not to be dispensed with, but still a mere 

 link. Where are the other parts.' Is there a trace of 

 them in England ? 



" The first essential to any system is a head. No 

 domestic household, no manufactory, no ship, no army 

 or nav) , no public or private establishment of any kind, 

 and these are all ' systems,' can hold its own for a day 

 without a head. But at the present hour there is no head 

 to the science of England. The proposed remedy for 

 this deficiency will have been anticipated as obviously a 

 Minister of State, who shall be responsible to the nation 

 through Parliament for everything connected with the 

 scientific business of the country. For want of this head 

 what have we done ? The various scientific institutions 

 at present maintained by the State are distributed ac- 

 cording to the following list, which was correct some time 

 since, but may have undergone recent changes : — i. Royal 

 Observatory, Greenwich, under the Admiralty ; 2, Royal 

 Observatory, Edinburgh, under the Office of Works ; 3, 

 Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, under the Colo- 

 nial Office ; 4, 5, 6, the Observatories at Madras, Calcutta, 

 and Bombay, under the India Office ; 7, Ordnance Sur- 

 vey of Great Britain, under the Office of Works ; 8, the 

 Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, under the India 

 Office ; 9, Exchequer Standards Office, under the Board 

 of Trade ; 10, the Royal School of Mines, under the 

 Privy Council : II, British Museum, under 50 irrespon- 

 sible trustees ; 12, Meteorological Office, governed by 

 an unpaid, and therefore irresponsible. Committee of the 

 Royal Society, under the Board of Trade ; 13, the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens of Kew, Edinburgh, and Dubhn, under 

 the Board of Works ; 14, the Geological Survey, under 

 the Privy Council. My list is perhaps not quite com- 

 plete, but as it stands it shows that we place our scientific 

 institutions under no less than seven different Depart- 

 ments of State, all of which have other matters besides 

 science to attend to. Can anyone pretend there is any 

 trace of a system here .' Is it not a grotesque caricature 

 of State administration ? 



" Granted that there must be a Minister for Science — 

 and I am happy to say that those who have given most 

 attention to the question now admit that there must — 

 then the whole of the institutions I have named, besides 

 some others now in existence, and many others that must 

 before long be founded, would be placed under him. 

 This would secure the great object of harmony and 

 unity of parts, of provision for modification and exten- 

 sion, and of definite responsibility to the nation through 

 Parliament, none of which objects are obtainable or seem 

 even dreamt of at present. 



" Whether such a Ministry should be created as addi- 

 tional to what we at present possess, or whether some 

 existing Minister should be charged with Science ; 

 whether the Science Minister should not also take Edu- 

 cation, Art, and Music under his care ; whether he should 

 not have permanent unparliamentary advisers, and if so 

 on what scale and how constituted, besides many other 

 points, are all extremely important questions, admitting 

 of a great variety of answers ; but compared with the 

 fundamental necessity for a Minister at the head of a 

 Department controlling the whole public scientific 

 activity of the kingdom, they are matters of subordinate 

 detail. 



