8 REPORT 1873. 



of this clearness and completeness to such aljstract mathematical theories as those 

 of the electrical potential, the action of capillaiy forces, and the definition of absolute 

 temperature. A great object will have been attained when an education in physi- 

 cal science on the basis laid down in these treatises has become generally accepted 

 in our schools. 



I do not wish to close this Address without adverting, though only for one 

 moment, to a question which occupies the minds of many of the friends of science 

 at the present time — the question. What should be the functions of the State in 

 supporting or organizing scientific inquiry ? I do not mean to touch on any of 

 the difficulties which attend tliis question, or to express any opinion as to the con- 

 troversies to which it has given rise. But I do not think it can be out of place for 

 the President of this Section to call your attention to the inequality with which, 

 as between different branches of science, the aid of Government is afforded. Na- 

 tional observations for asti'onomical purposes are maintained by this as by every 

 civilized country. Large sums of money are yearly expended, and most rightly 

 expended, by the Government for the maintenance of museums and collections of 

 mineralogy, botany, and zoology. At a veiy recent period an extensive chemical 

 laboratory, with abundant appliances for research as well as for instruction, has 

 been opened at South Kensington. But for the physical sciences — such sciences 

 as those of heat, light, and electricity — nothing has been done ; and I confess I do 

 not think that any new principle would be introduced, or any great burden 

 incurred, capable of causing alarm to the most sensitive Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer, if it should be determined to establish, at the national cost, institutions 

 for the prosecution of these bi-anches of knowledge, so vitally important to the 

 progress of science as a whole. Perhaps, also, upon this general ground of fairness> 

 even the pure mathematicians might prefer a modest claim to be assisted in the 

 calculation and printing of a certain number of Tables, of which even the physical 

 applications of their science are beginning to feel the pressing need. 



One word fm-ther on this subject of State assistance to science, and I have done. 

 It is no doubt true that for a gi'eat,. perhaps an increasing, number of pui-poses 

 science requires the assistance of the State ; but is it not nearer to the truth to say 

 that the State acquires the assistance of science ? It is my conviction that if the 

 true relations between science and the State are not recognized, it is the State, rather 

 than science, that will be the gi-eat loser. Without science the State may build a 

 ship that cannot swim, and may waste a million or two on experiments, the futile 

 result of which science could have foreseen. But without the State science has 

 done very well in the past, and may do very well in time to come. I am not sure 

 that we should know more of pure mathematics, or of heat, of light, or electricity 

 than we do at this moment if we had had the best help of the State all the time. 

 There are, however, certain things which the State might do, and ought to do, for 

 science. It, or corporations created by it, ought to undertake the responsibility of 

 carrying on those great systems of observations which, having a secular character, 

 cannot be completed Mathin the lifetime of a single generation, and therefore cannot 

 be safely left to individual energy. One other thing the State ought to do for 

 science. It ought to pay scientific men properly for the services which they render 

 directly to the State, instead of relying, as at present, on their love for their work 

 as a means of obtaining their services on lower terms. If any one doubts the justice 

 of this remark, I would ask him to compare the salaries of tlae officers in the British 

 Musevmi with those which are in other departments of the Civil Service. 



But what the State cannot do for science is to create the scientific spirit or to 

 control it. The spirit of scientific discovery is essentially voluntary ; voluntarj^, 

 and even mutinous, it will remain : it will refuse to be bound with red tape, or rid- 

 den by officials, whether well meaning or perverse. You cannot have an Estab- 

 lished Church in science ; and if you had, I am afraid there are many scientific men 

 who would turn scientific nonconformists. 



I venture upon these remarks because I cannot help feeling that the gi-eat desire 

 which is now manifesting itself on the part of some scientific men to obtain for 

 science the powerful aid of the State may perhaps lead some of us to forget that it 

 is self-reliance and self-help which have made science what it is, and that these are 

 the qualities the place of wnich no Government help can ever supply. 



