TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 519 
professorships, and curatorships together)—a total of 38 in all England with 
its 25,000,000 inhabitants, as against the 300 in Germany with 45,000,000 in- 
habitants. In proportion to its population (leaving aside the consideration of its 
greater wealth), England has only about one-fourth of the provision for the advance- 
ment of biological research which exists in Germany. 
It would not be fair to reckon in this comparison the various biological pro- 
fessorships in small colleges recently created, and paid to a small extent by stipends 
derived from endowments, in the provincial towns of England: for the holders of 
these chairs are called upon to teach a variety of subjects, for instance, zoology, 
botany, and geology combined; and not only is the devotion of the energies of their 
teaching staff to scientific discovery not contemplated in the arrangement of these 
institutions, but, as a matter of fact, the large demands made on the professors in 
the way of teaching must deprive them of the time necessary for any serious inves- 
tigation. Such posts, in the fact that neither time, assistants, nor proper laboratories 
are provided to enable their holders to engage in scientific research, are school- 
masterships rather than professorships, as the word is used in German universities. 
One result of the exceedingly small provision of positions in England similar 
to those furnished by the German university system, and of the irregular, uncer- 
tain character of many of those which do exist, is that there isan insufficient supply 
of young men willing to enter upon the career of zoologist, botanist, physiologist 
or pathologist as a profession. The number of posts is too small to create a pro- 
fession, 7.e. an avenue of success; and consequently, whereas in Germany there is 
always a large body of new men ready to fill up the vacancies as they occur in the 
professorial organisation, in England it very naturally does not appear to our 
‘ university students as a reasonable thing to enter upon research as a profession, 
when the chances of employment are so few and far between. 
Before stating, as I propose to do, what appears to me a reasonable and proper 
method of removing to some extent the defect in our national life due to the want 
of provision for scientific research, I will endeavour to meet some of the objections 
which are usually raised to such views as those which I am advocating. The 
endowment of research by the State, or from public funds of any kind, is opposed 
on various grounds. One is that such action on the part of the Government is well 
enough in continental States, but is contrary to the spirit of English statecraft, 
which leaves scientific as well as other enterprise to the individual initiative of the 
people. This objection is based on error, both as to fact and theory. It is well 
enough to leave to individual effort the conduct of such enterprises as are remuner- 
ative to the parties who conduct them; but it is a mistake to speak of scientific 
research as an ‘enterprise’ at all. The mistake arises from the extraordinary 
’ pertinacity with which so-called ‘invention’ is confounded with the discovery of 
scientific truth. New knowledge in biological or other branches of science cannot 
be sold; it has no marketable value. Koch could not have sold the discovery of 
the Bacterium of phthisis for as much as sixpence, had he wished to do so. 
Accordingly, we find that there is not, and never has been, any tendency among the 
citizens of this country to provide for themselves institutions for the manufacture 
of an article of so little pecuniary value to the individual who turns it out as isnew 
knowledge. On the other hand, as a matter of fact, the providing of means for the 
manufacture of that article is not only not foreign to English statecraft, but is largely, 
though not largely enough, undertaken by the English State. The Royal Observa- 
tories, the British Museum, the Royal Gardens at Kew, the Geological Survey, the 
Government grant of 4,000/. a year to the Royal Society, the 3002. or 4007. a year 
(not a large sum) expended through the medical officer of the Privy Council upon 
the experimental investigation of disease, are ample evidence that such providing 
of means for creating new knowledge forms part of the natural and recognised re- 
sponsibilities of the British Government. Such a responsibility clearly is recognised 
in this country, and does fall, according to the present arrangement of things, upon 
the central Government. What we have to regret is, that those who temporarily 
hold the reins of government fail to perceive the lamentable inadequacy of the mode 
in which this responsibility is met. 
A second objection which is made to the endowment of research by public 
