TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 515 
words, are able to aid in the growth of biological science, must feel something 
more than regret—even indignation—that England should do so small a proportion 
of the laborious investigation which is necessary, and is being carried on for our 
profit by other nationalities. It must not be supposed, because we have had our 
Harvey and our Darwin, our Hunter and our Lister, that therefore we have done 
and are doing all that is needful in the increase of biological science. The posi- 
tion of this country in relation to the progress of science is not to be decided by 
the citation of great names. 
We require to look more fully into the matter than this. The question is not 
whether England has produced some great discoverers, or as many as any other 
nationality, but whether we might not with advantage to our own community and 
that of the civilised world generally, do far more in the field of scientific investiga- 
tion than we do. 
It may be laid down as a general proposition, to which I know of no important 
exception, that scientific discovery has only been made by one of two classes of 
men, namely—(1) those whose time could be devoted to it in virtue of their pos- 
sessing inherited fortunes; (2) those whose time could be devoted to it in virtue 
of their possessing a stipend or endowment especially assigned to them for that 
PurpOte. ; 
ow it is a very remarkable fact that in England, far more than in any other 
country, the possessors of private fortunes have devoted themselves to scientific in- 
vestigation. Not only have we in all parts of the country numerous dilettanti! who, 
especially in various branches of biology, do valuable work in continually adding 
to knowledge, quietly pursuing their favourite study without seeking to reach 
to any great eminence, but it is the fact that many of the greatest names of 
English discoverers in science are those of men who held no professional _posi- 
tion designed to maintain an investigator, but owed their opportunity simply 
to the fact that they enjoyed a more or less ample income by inheritance. 
Thus, Harvey possessed a private fortune, Darwin also, and Lyell. Such also is 
true of some of the English naturalists, who more recently have most successfully 
devoted their energies to research. Those who wish to defend the present neglect of 
the Government and of public institutions to provide means for the carrying on 
of scientific research in this country, are accustomed to declare as a justification 
for this neglect that we do very well without such provision, inasmuch as the 
cultivation of science here flourishes in the hands of thoge who are in a posilion 
of pecuniary independence. The reply to this is obvious. If those few of our 
countrymen who by accident are placed in an independent position show such 
ability in the prosecution of scientific research, how much more would be 
effected in the same direction were the machinery provided to enable those also 
who are not accidentally favoured by fortune to enter upon the same kind of work. 
The number of wealthy men who have distinguished themselves in scientific 
research in England is simply evidence that there is a natural ability and liking for 
such work in the English character, and is a distinct encouragement to those who 
have it in their power to do so, to offer the opportunity of devoting themselves to 
research to a larger number of the members of the community. It is impossible to 
doubt that there are hundreds of men amongst us who have as great capacity for 
scientific discovery as those whom fortune has favoured with leisure and opportunity, 
It cannot be doubted that were the means provided to enable even a proportion 
of such men to give themselves up to scientific investigation, great discoveries 
of no less importance to the world than those relative to the causes of disease and 
the development of living things from the erg—which I have cited—would be made 
as a direct consequence of their activity, whereas now we must wait until in due 
eourse of time these discoveries shall be made for us in the laboratories of Germany, 
France, or Russia. 
It should further be pointed out that it is altogether a mistake to suppose that 
I use this word in its best and truest sense, and would refer those who have 
been accustomed to associate with it some implication of contempt, to the wise and 
appreciative remarks of Goethe on * Dilettanti.” 
LL2 
