24 EEPORT— 1903. 



banknotes, amounting to 200,000 francs, and place them on the table. 

 Finally, lie was able to say that he had been with the Prince-President 

 since eight o'clock that morning, discussing the possible improvement of 

 French science and industry ; and that Napoleon had finally given him 

 the money, requesting him to do all in his power to aid the State. 

 Foucault ended by saying that, on realising the greatness of the task thus 

 imposed upon him, his fears and feelings had got the better of him, for 

 the responsibility seemed more than he could bear.' 



The movement in England to which I have referred began in 1872, 

 when a society for the organisation of academical study was formed in 

 connection with the inquiry into the revenues of Oxford and Cambridge, 

 and there was a famous meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern, Mark 

 Pattison being in the chair. Brodie, Rolleston, Carpenter, Burdon- 

 Sanderson, were among the speakers, and the first resolution carried was, 

 ' That to have a class of men whose lives are devoted to research is 

 a national object.' The movement died in consequence of the want of 

 sympathy of the University authorities.^ 



In the year 1874 the subject was inquired into by the late Duke of 

 Devonshire's Commission ; and after taking much remarkable evidence, 

 including that of Lord Salisbury, the Commission recommended to the 

 Government that the then grant of 1,000Z., which was expended, by a 

 committee appointed by the Royal Society, on instruments needed in 

 researches carried on by private individuals, should be increased, so that 

 personal grants should be made. This recommendation was accepted and 

 acted on ; the grant was increased to 4,000^., and finally other societies 

 were associated with the Ptoyal Society in its administration. The 

 committee, however, was timorous, possibly owing to the apathy of the 

 Universities and the general carelessness on such matters, and only one 

 personal grant was made ; the whole conception fell through. 



Meantime, however, opinion has become more educated and alive to the 

 extreme importance of research to the nation, and in 1891 a suggestion was 

 made to the Royal Commission which administers the proceeds of the 1851 

 Exhibition that a sum of about 6,000?. a year available for scholarships 

 should be employed in encouraging post-graduate research throughout the 

 whole Empire. As what happened is told in the Memoirs of Lord Play- 

 fair, it is not indiscreet in me to state that when I proposed this new form 

 of the endowment of research it would not have surprised me if the 

 suggestion had been declined. It was carried through by Lord Playfair's 



' In order to show how history is written, what actually happened on a fateful 

 morning may be compared with the account given by Kinglake : ' Prince Louis rode 

 home and went in out of sight. Then for the most part he remained close shat up 

 in the Elysde. There, in an inner room, still decked in red trousers, but with his 

 back to the daylight, they say he sat bent oTer a fireplace for hours and hours 

 together, resting his elbows on his knees, and burying his face in his hands.' — 

 Crimean War, vol. i. p. 245. 



» gee Nature, November and December, 1872. 



