480 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION A. 



Tweuty-five years ago there were comparatively few laboratories wliich hekl 

 out any possibility of research to the English student. True, there were giants in 

 those days, men, as a rule, working under difficulties greater than those encoun- 

 tered by their successors of to-day. The better equipment of our laboratories and 

 the growth in the number and activity of our scientific societies haA^e played no 

 small part in stimulating public interest. Nevertheless, much remains to be done. 

 Those who have read Professor Perry's somewhat pessimistic words on England'.s 

 neglect of science must admit that, however rapid our progress, the British people 

 liave not yet so fully awakened to the national importance of this question as some 

 of our competitors. 



The idea that a degree is one of the chief objects of education yet lingers 

 amongst us. The conviction that it is a national duty to seek out and, when 

 found, utilise the latent scientific ability of the rising generation for the purpose of 

 adding to our stores of natural knowledge still needs to be brought home to the 

 ' man in the street.' And here I would venture to indicate my personal belief in 

 the necessity of more free communication between the laboratory and the market- 

 place. It is possible that the language of science is becoming too technical, and 

 that the difficulties with which scientific inquirers have been faced in past times 

 have tended to habits of exclusiveness. For example, complaints are frequent 

 that our manufacturers are less alert in grasping the practical applications of 

 scientific discovery than their competitors in Germany and the United States. I 

 confess, however, that it seems to me possible that the fault is not altogether on 

 the side of the manufacturers. We want missionaries to prejich the doctrine 

 that one of the greatest of national assets is scientific discovery. If we can con- 

 vince the men of business of this country that there are few more profitable 

 investments than the encouragement of research, our difficulties in this matter will 

 bo at an end. 



It is my lot to serve on the education committees of three county councils, 

 and I have been much struck by the readiness of the members of those bodies to 

 extend such encouragement whenever it has been possible to convince them that 

 the results may conduce to the prosperity, the comfort and the safety of the 

 community. 



It has also been my privilege to address meetings of the men who work in the 

 coalfields of South Wales. I have attempted to direct their attention to the 

 advantages which they have derived from the labours of those who have 

 endeavoured to probe the secrets of Nature in the laboratory ; I have tried to 

 show how discoveries based on the researches of Humphry Davy, Faraday, Joule, 

 for example, have not only diminished the dangers to which miners are exposed, 

 but have also, by increasing the demands upon our stores of energy, given employ- 

 ment to thousands of their fellow-workers. 



My experiences lead me to the belief that these men are ready to support the 

 action of their representatives in extending support and encouragement to all 

 efforts to assist the advance of scientific discovery. 



It is possible that in dwelling on this matter I am trespassing on your forbear- 

 ance, but I cannot re^st this opportunity of pleading for the extension of your 

 sympathies beyond the walls of the laboratory. The old toast, ' Here's to science 

 pure and undefiled ; may it never do a ha'porth of good to anybody,' may possibly 

 be an excellent one in the laboratory ; for, so far as I know, no great scientific 

 principle has ever been established by labours prompted solely by desire for financial 

 gain. Nevertheless, if we wish for the support of our fellow-countrymen, that toast is 

 not one for public dinners. There is no scientific society which is brought into such 

 close contact with the public as is the British Association, and affiliated with that 

 Association are some scores of local scientific societies, containing many thousands 

 of enthusiastic observers and inquirers. If this great organisation were seriously 

 to take up the task of bringing home to the minds of the people of this kingdom the 

 enormous value of the results of scientific inquiry, I believe it might be possible 

 to change the indiflPerence and apathy of our public bodies into active interest and 

 encouragement. If each affiliated society would institute a series of public non- 

 technical lectures, of such a nature as to bring home to tlie minds of the hearers 

 some comprehension of the results of the work of Faraday, of Wheatstone, of 



