ADDRESS. 2 



^O 



enthusiastic support. This system has been at work ever since, and the 

 good that has been done by it is now generally conceded. 



It is a supreme satisfaction to me to know that in this present year of 

 grace the national importance of the study of the mhne inutile is more 

 generally recognised than it was during the times to which I have referred 

 in my brief survey ; and, indeed, we students are fortunate in having on 

 our side in this matter two members of His Majesty's Government, -who 

 two years ago spoke with no uncertain sound upon this matter : — 



' Do we lack the imagination required to show what these apparently 

 remote and abstract studies do for the happiness of mankind ? We can 

 appreciate that which obviously and directly ministers to human advance- 

 ment and felicity, but seem, somehow or another, to be deficient in that 

 higher form of imagination, in that longer sight, which sees in studies 

 which have no obvious, necessary, or immediate result the foundation of 

 the knowledge which shall give far greater happiness to mankind than 

 any immediate, material, industrial advancement can possibly do ; and I 

 fear, and greatly fear, tliat, lacking that imagination, we have allowed 

 ourselves to lag in the glorious race run now by civilised countries in 

 pursuit of knowledge, and we have permitted ourselves so far to too 

 large an extent to depend upon others for those additions to our know- 

 ledge which surely we might have made for ourselves.' ^ 



• I would remind you that all history shows that progress— national 

 progress of every kind— depends upon certain individuals rather than 

 upon the mass. Whether you take religion, or literature, or political 

 government, or art, or commerce, the new ideas, the great steps, have 

 been made by individuals of superior quality and genius, who have, as it 

 were, dragged the mass of the nation up one step to a higher level. So it 

 must be in regard to material progress. The position of the nation 

 to-day is due to the efforts of men like Watt and Arkwright, or, in our 

 own time, to the Armstrongs, the Whitworths, the Kelvins, and the 

 Siemenses. These are the men Avho, by their discoveries, by their 

 remarkable genius, have produced the ideas upon which others have acted 

 and which have permeated the whole mass of the nation and aflfectcd the 

 whole of its proceedings. Therefore what we have to do, and this is our 

 special task and object, is to produce more of these great men.' ^ 



I finally come to the political importance of research. A country's 

 research is as important in the long run as its battleships. The most 

 eloquent teaching as to its national value we owe to Mr. Carnegie, for he 

 has given the sura of 2,000,000^. to found a system of endowments, his 

 chief purpose being, in his own words, ' to .secure if possible for the United 

 States of America leadership in the domain of discovery and the utilisation 

 of new forces for the benefit of man,' 



• Mr. Balfour, Mature, May 30, IDOl. 



» Mr. Chamberlain, Times, January 18, 1901. 



