504 report— 1878. 



has been proposed ; but I do not approve of it. The original worker is, as a rule, the 

 best teacher, and the rising generation of students should not be deprived of the 

 advantage of his instruction. Moreover, as I said before, the professor may be 

 greatly assisted by bis pupils. 



No doubt the Government grant fund does a good deal for science, but the field 

 of its operations is, under present conditions, limited. Professors, as a rule, are so 

 occupied with teaching that they cannot avail themselves of the fund ; and of those 

 students who might be competent and willing, very few can afford to do so. Instead 

 of trusting to the precarious and insufficient support of the fund, they must endeavour 

 to settle themselves permanently in life. 



It is much to be regretted that the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, with 

 such splendid revenues at their disposal, should contribute so little to the advance- 

 ment of physical science. I hope the day is not far distant when the fellowships — 

 or at least a few of them — which now go to reward young men for merely passing 

 a good examination, shall be given xuithout examination to men who shall have ad- 

 vanced human knowledge in any department. At present, a fellowship of 250/. or 

 300/. a year, lasting ten or twelve years, and in some cases for life, may be obtained 

 on showing proof of a good memory — or, at most, a capacity for assimilating other 

 men's ideas. To make discoveries — to follow out a new train of thought, and estab- 

 lish it by experiments specially devised to that end, has been left not only without 

 reward, but almost without recognition, in our two principal seats of learning. Is 

 it to be so always ? The world at large, ignorant as it is, has a sounder instinct on 

 this subject, and the man who makes the humblest addition to the stock of know- 

 ledge in the world rarely fails to receive the world's respect and honour. 



The suggestions I have ventured to make could not, of course, be well carried 

 out unless the Government take into its own hands the appointment to all scientific 

 chairs. Of this I think I see indications. I believe that sooner or later the Govern- 

 ment will assume the supreme direction of education in this country. It has already 

 taken primary education under its control, and quite recently, herein Ireland, inter- 

 mediate education to a great extent. And does the .appointment of so many 

 University Commissions not show a disposition on the part of the Government to 

 assume the direction of higher education also ? 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. Report of Committee on some of the lesser-lcnoivn Alkaloids. 

 See Reports, p. 105. 



Report on the best means of Developing Light from Coal Gas, part I. 

 See Reports, p. 108. 



3. On the Amounts of Sugar contained in the Nectar of various Flowers, 

 By Alex. S. Wilson, M.A., B.Sc. 



Nectar, the sweet-tasted liquid found within the cups of insect-fertilised 

 flowers, is of service to the plant possessing it by affording an inducement whereby 

 nsects are attracted to visit the flowers. By this means cross-fertilisation is 

 effected, as bees, butterflies, and other insects, in their search for the nectar, bring 

 with them pollen from other flowers adhering to their bodies which they deposit 

 on the stigmas. Mr. Darwin has shown experimentally what an additional amount 

 of vigour is thus conferred on the resulting seeds in contrast with the degenerat- 

 ing effect of continuous inbreeding or self-fertilisation. Very often this sweet 

 fluid is exuded from special glands, but in other cases from portions of the flower 

 that do not seem to have been specially adapted for this purpose. Morphologically, 

 nectaries may represent very different structures, but not unfrequently they are of 



