C60 TKANSACTIONS OF SECTION R. 



luigLt meet with some respouse, and it is also possible that public bodies might 

 render assistance. If the Government of Bengal, under the spur of dire 

 necessit}^, can subsidise research work on indigo, and if our county councils can 

 ofter scholarships for dairy work, and grants for experiments on turnip-growing, 

 bee-keeping, and so on, our city and borough councils might award scholarships 

 in applied chemistry for subjects of especial importance to the dominant trades of 

 the district. By so doing they would be utilising to the best advantage the 

 chemistry departments of our universities and polytechnics. 



I noted a few moments ago that practically all the published research work 

 of this country has no direct reference to any industrial problem ; nevertheless 

 the results of this work are often of such a character that they might be of 

 considerable technological importance. Xew reactions are discovered; new or 

 improved methods of preparing known compounds; new facts as to the conditions 

 under which important general reactions occur ; and, needless to add, a great 

 many new compounds are prepared. 



Now, abroad, all or nearly all such matters are protected by patents, generally 

 taken out by some firm of manufacturers. To the uninitiated it seems absurd to 

 think that there is money in the great majority of such patents, and yet it is 

 obvious that the employment of this system must pay in the long run. Why 

 should it not be adopted in this country — at any rate to a limited extent to start 

 with ? 



If all those who are engaged in purely scientific research work would seriously 

 consider the desirability of obtaining provisional protection for any discovery 

 which they may make, and would then consult some manufacturer or industrial 

 expert with whom the further development of the matter might be undertaken, 

 there is reason to believe that in some cases at least the patent might prove to 

 be a commercial success. 



The examination of the therapeutic action of compounds discovered in our 

 laboratories is also a possible means of assisting our chemical industries ; the 

 matter is not sO trivial as it may seem ; a monopoly in the manufacture of some 

 valuable medicinal preparation would serve as a ])oint (Vappui from which more 

 important operations could be undertaken. 



Unfortunately the investigation of the physiological action of new prepara- 

 tions is a matter of some difficulty in this country, as it is to some extent 

 connected with vivisection in the public mind ; we may poison rats with 

 impunity, and even create an organisation for their extermination, but we may not 

 individually try the efifect of a new compound on a rabbit. 



In drawing this Address to a conclusion I cannot but feel that my suggestions 

 may seem utterly inadequate to the attainment of those important results which 

 are so greatly to be desired. If so, I can only plead that more drastic measures 

 are hardly available, and that even under the most favourable circumstances 

 improvement can talie place only very slowly. Whatever differences of opinion 

 may be held as to the details of any scheme for regaining our lost ground, the 

 main lines seem to be clearly indicated. The workers in pure science must 

 recognise that it is their duty to do all they can to promote the industrial welfare 

 of their country ; the manufacturers must concede the paramount importance of 

 science and the impossibility of dispensing with its counsels. Guided by these 

 principles and by a spirit of cordial co-operation, a sustained and strenuous effort 

 on the part of the leaders of chemical industry and of chemical science can 

 hardly fail to accomplish the end in view. 



In elaborating this Address I have enjoyed the advantage of the criticisms and 

 suggestions of my friend and relative Professor Perkin, F.IJ.S., to whom my 

 sincere thanks are here expressed. 



