PKESiDiiN'flAL ADDHESS, 057 



liecesSai^y, the dgod aud hououred professor, pensioued by ii grdtefiii university, 

 might still retain an intimate connection with its scientific life ; as emeritus pro- 

 fessor, with a research laboratory at his disposal, he might remain to advise and 

 encourage his youthful successor even when the duties of t,eaching and the general 

 supervision of a department had become too arduous. 



It cannot be suggested that my remarks on this delicate topic are inspired by 

 the impatience of youth or by freedom from personal consequences; the time 

 when superannuation becomes desirable may arrive for one and all, and I have 

 ventured to draw attention to the matter simply and solely because of its grave 

 importance in connection with the subject of my Address. The countrv cannot 

 afford to allow periods of inactivity or decadence in our seats of learnino-,'and the 

 interests of the individual must be subordinated to those of the nation. 



Even if by adopting the above suggestions the training of our chemists i.s 

 improved, and all our higher educational institutions become permanent and 

 active centres of research, the manufacturers may still remain unresponsive, 

 what can be done in other ways to bring about the active co-operation of pure 

 and applied science ? 



The great proportion of the original work now done in this country, judging 

 from the published records, is absolutely free from any utilitarian bias ; the time" 

 brain-power, and money devoted to this work are considerable, and the results 

 from a scientific point of view eminently satisfactory. If even a fraction of the 

 same skill and energy were brought to bear under proper conditions on problems 

 of applied science, who can doubt but that the effect on our chemical industries 

 would be one of vast importance ? And yet it is the rarest possible occurrence 

 to find any record of research work undertaken with a commercial object even 

 in the natural home of such records, the ' Journal of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry.' 



One reason for this may be that the discoveries made in the works-laboratories 

 are not given to the world at large, but are quietly and lucratively applied in 

 some secret manufacturing process. Another reason, unfortunately the more 

 probable one, may be that nearly all the principal research workers are completely 

 shut off from any industrial influences. 



Now the worker in pure science, unaided by the advice of the manufacturer 

 and business man, has little chance of solving any important technological 

 problem, except as the result of accident ; he has not the requisite acquaintance 

 with commercial conditions, does not realise the enormous difference between 

 operations on the laboratory and the manufacturing scales, or, if he does so, is 

 unable to enter fully and with confidence into questions of fuel, labour, and so 

 on which often determine the success or otherwise of a process. Further, much 

 of the research work of direct commercial value concerns methods for reducing 

 the cost of processes already in operation, and demands an intimate practical 

 knowledge of these processes. 



It is obvious, therefore, that, even if all the research capacity of the country 

 were henceforth devoted to purely technical matters, any great improvement in 

 our industries could hardly be anticipated without the aetive co-operation of the 

 manufacturers. 



Now it has been stated' that the authorities of the Manchester Municipal 

 School of Technology intend to undertake investigations for local manufacturers 

 and merchants in connection with difficulties which may be met with in their 

 works or business. This method of securing the interest and support of those 

 engaged in applied chemistry may or may not be workable according to the con- 

 ditions under which such co-operation is carried out. The staff and the laboratories 

 of a university or polytechnic cannot be placed at the unrestrained and gratuitous 

 disposal of any manufacturer who is in some trivial difliculty, nor can the choice 

 of the subjects to be investigated be decided by the governing body. If how- 

 ever the arrangements, pecuniary and otherwise, are left entirely in the hands of 

 those divectly concerned, namely, the manufacturer and the responsible head of 



' Levinstein, Jb!<n Soc\ Chem, Ind,, 1903, 815. 

 1908. ., n 



