TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. 597 



university in its Metropolis, and engaged upon the task of tardily patching one 

 together out of those heterogeneous elements of uncertain valency which are to 

 hand. Is the completion of this structure, on a scale challenging comparison with 

 the universities which are to be found in the other great capitals of Europe, to be 

 delayed until a millionaire, or rather series of millionaires, can be induced to 

 finance it ? To this work, and to other works like it, is it not fitting that every 

 inhabitant of this country should contribute ? For these are works which 

 assuredly benefit all classes, not only of this generation, but of those which are to 

 come — at least as much as the acquisition of territory at a distance of 8,000 miles 

 from home, and for which purpose the nation is apparently willing to pay at 

 the rate of one and a quarter million sterling per week for an indefinite period of 

 time. 



It is sometimes urged that this higher education does not benefit the masses ; 

 but could any contention be more erroneous ? The poor have really a far greater 

 stake in the prosperity of our home industries and commerce than the rich ; for 

 whilst the decay of our producing power will remove the very means of subsist- 

 ence from the poor, it matters very little to many of the rich whether their 

 dividends are derived from home-enterprises or from those of a Billion Dollar 

 Combine or some similar transatlantic Trust or Corporation. 



Higher education and true universities are also amongst the most potent factors 

 in breaking down the hereditary stratification of society and in minimising the 

 advantages depending upon the accident of birth, so that, with the greatly 

 enhanced facilities which must be provided for students without means, they 

 should afibrd in the future, even more than they have done in the past, an avenue 

 for the humblest boy of talent to that position which he is by natural endowment 

 and by his own exertion best fitted to fill in the iuterests of the State. 



Is this great work of raising up a worthy system of national higher education, 

 and of creating a living interest and widely diffused enthusiasm for knowledge and 

 for the increase of knowledge in all its branches, going to be accomplished durin" 

 the century of which we have but crossed the threshold ? Even the most sanguine 

 among us dare not unhesitatingly say Yes ; but assuredly upon the answer, Avhich 

 is hidden by the veil of the inscrutable future, depends in the very highest degree, 

 not only the material and intellectual welfare of the rising generations, but also 

 the good name and reputation of the Empire in our own time and the gratitude 

 which, above all things, we should strive to earn from that immortal part of us 

 which we call Posterity. 



The following Papers and Report were read : — 



1. Duly-free Alcohol for Chemical Research. By W. T. Lawrence. 



' The present occasion seems opportnne to direct attention to the fact that one of 

 the most familiar, most readily jfTocurahle, and most cheaply produced of all organic 

 material is placed heyond the reach of many students hy the heavy duty levied upon it. 

 May I, in the name of teachers of orcjanic chemistry, appeal to the Hoard of Inland 

 Mevemte, on behalf of scientific and technical education, to provide institutions for 

 higher education in science with a limited quantity of pure alcohol free of duty, 

 thereby placing schools of chemistry in this country in the same jtosition as those 

 on the Continent? '—Dr. Julius B. Cohen, ' Practical Organic Chemistry,' Introduc- 

 tion, p. vi. 



The remarkable success attained by the Baden Soda and Aniline Factory 

 in the modification and commercial adaptation of laboratory syntheses, a 

 success which has lately resulted, after some nine years of experimental work, in 

 the manufacture of indigo, &c., has demonstrated that organic research work, 

 which possessed at the time a merely theoretical interest, may ultimately find 

 valuable application in the chemical industry. English manufacturers have 

 gradually awakened to an appreciation of the value of research, and the chemist 

 who has published a considerable amount of original work will command a high 



1901. R» 



