524 REPORT—1883. 
to the young student, and a sufficient field of trained investigators from which to 
select in filling up the vacancies in more valuable positions. 
I am well aware that it will be said that the scheme which I have proposed to 
you is gigantic and almost alarming in respect of the amount of money which it 
demands. One hundred and sixty thousand pounds a year for biology alone must 
seem, not to my hearers, but to those who regard biology as an amusing speculation— 
that is to say, who know little or nothing about it—an extravagant suggestion. 
Unfortunately it is also true that such persons are yery numerous—in fact, 
constitute an overwhelming majority of the community; but they are becoming 
less numerous every day. The time will come, it seems possible, when there will 
be more than one member of the Government who will understand and appreciate 
the value of scientific research. There are already a few members of the House 
of Commons who are fully alive to its significance and importance. 
We may have to wait for the expenditure of such a sum as I have named, and 
possibly it may be derived ultimately from local rather than imperial sources, 
though I do not see why it should be; yet I think itis a good thing to realise 
now that this is what we ought to expend in order to be on a level with Germany. 
This apparently extravagant and unheard of appropriation of public money %s 
actually made every year in Germany. 
I think it is well to put the matter before you in this definite manner, because I 
have reason to believe that even those whom we might expect to be well-informed 
in regard to such matters, are not so, and as a consequence there is not that keen 
sense of the inferiority and inadequacy of English arrangements in these matters 
which one would gladly see actuating the conduct of English statesmen, For 
instance, only a few years ago, when speaking at Nottingham, the present Prime 
Minister, who has taken an active part in rearranging our universities, and has, it 
is well known, much interest in science and learning, stated that 27,0001., the capital 
sum expended on the Nottingham College of Science, was a very important 
contribution to the support of learning in this country, amounting, as he said he 
was able to state, from the perusal of official documents, to as much as one-third 
of what was spent in Germany during the past year upon her numerous 
universities, which were so often held up to England as an example of a well- 
supported academical system. Now, I do not think that Mr. Gladstone can have 
ever had the opportunity of considering the actual facts with regard to German 
universities, for he was in this instance misled by the official return of expenditure 
on a single university, namely, that of Strasburg; the total annual expenditure on 
the twenty-one German universities being, in reality, about 800,000/., by the 
side of which a capital sum of 27,000/. looks very small indeed. I cannot but 
believe that if the facts were known to public men, in reference to the expenditure 
incurred by foreign States in support of scientific inquiry, they would be willing to 
do something in this country of a sufficient and statesmanlike character. As it is, 
the concessions which have been made in this direction appear to me to be in some 
instances not based upon a really comprehensive knowledge of the situation. Thus, 
the tentative grant of 4,000/. a year from the Treasury to the Royal Society 
of London appears to me not to be a well-devised experiment in the promotion 
of scientific research by means of grants of money, because it is on too small a 
scale to produce any definite effect, and because the money cannot be relied upon 
from year to year as a permanent source of support to any serious undertaking. 
The Royal Society most laboriously and conscientiously does its best to use this 
money to the satisfaction of the country, but the task thus assigned to it is one 
of almost insurmountable difficulty. In fact, no such miniature experiments are 
needed. The experiment has been made on a large scale in Germany, and 
satisfactory results have been obtained. The reasonable course to pursue is to 
benefit by the experience, as to details and methods of administration, obtained in 
the course of the last sixty years in Germany, and to apply that experience to our 
own case. 
It is quite clear that ‘the voluntary principle’ can do little towards the 
adequate endowment of scientific research. Ancient endowments belonging to the 
country must be applied thereto, or else local or imperial taxes must be the source 
