604. REPORT— 1894. 



that the student has successfully attacked some unknown problem, and added to 

 the store of knowledge. 



The influence of science on the nation's industry has been recognised and 

 insisted on by those who can make their voices heard. The country has at length 

 awakened to the fact that something is wanting, and cries out for Technical 

 Instruction. It is not afraid of spending money : indeed, many well-meaning 

 bodies are spending — and in some cases, I fear, wasting — money with a prodigal 

 band. And what, after all, is the great need ? Speaking for the subject I know 

 best, I say unhesitatingly that we want scientific chemists who can and will make 

 discoveries : we want men trained, not only in what hns been done, but taught how 

 to set about winning new knowledge. The Universities, I urge, should teach the 

 art of research. This is what is wanted, and this, as all experience shows, is what 

 the Universities can do better than anyone else. And no exorbitant amount of 

 time need be demanded for this purpose. If the student has learnt the elements of 

 science at school, three j'ears at most should suffice for the preliminary degree 

 course. The graduate, armed with the necessary manipulative skill, would then start 

 research work under proper guidance as the second and more valuable portion of 

 his University training. And here the new research degree (by whatever name it 

 may be called) may give us most valuable help. I hope that serious work will be 

 demanded for it, aud that the research course will become the recognised avenue to 

 science fellowships and lectureships in the University. Two years would show what 

 the man had in him. In that time either he would have proved himself no chemist, 

 <jr he would have made some useful advance in our knowledge, and would have 

 secured a testimonial of fitness such as no examination could confer. Five years in 

 all — the minimum time now laid down for a medical qualification — would surely 

 be not too much to ask for the chemist's training. 



No extra expense need be incurred to carry out this plan. Some of the college 

 scholarships at present oSiered on entrance might be reserved for research student- 

 ships on graduation. These studentships should be the reward of the successful 

 undergraduate career. On this point, which I have urged for many years, I am 

 glad to find myself in entire agreement with the President of the Chemical 

 Society. At Owens College our most successful endowment in Chemistry has 

 been the Dalton Scholarship, awarded for a research done in the College labora- 

 tories. In the Victoria University we have lately founded scholarships for the 

 encouragement of research, which are awarded on the results of the final exami- 

 nation in the several Honours Schools. The winners are entitled to hold their 

 scholarships at any university at home or abroad where they can continue their 

 special studies. 



I plead, then, for greater encouragement of chemical research in Oxford. Make 

 it part of the normal course of training for everyone who wishes to be a chemist in 

 fact as well as in name. Consider, not only the country's need, but the value of 

 research itself as a mental training, as stimulating and strengthening the activities, 

 as creating that sense of devotion and discipleship which becomes the tradition of 

 every great school of learning. 



Lastly, let us own that we ourselves — the teachers here — have been perhaps too 

 critical, too much afraid of making mistakes, forgetting that the witty American's 

 remark — that he who never makes mistakes never makes anything — has a far 

 wider application in science than in politics. Only by practice and drill can we 

 learn to collect our strength and swing it with precision into acts. Without that 

 training, no matter how much faculty of seeing a man has, ' the step from knowing 

 to doing ' is rarely taken. There is nothing, I believe, in O.xford antagonistic to 

 our cause. The genius of the place has not declared against scientific research ; 

 and if it be a true saying that men here imbibe a liberal education from the very 

 air breathed by Locke and Berkeley, surely we also may draw scientific inspiration 

 from this air, not only breathed, but first explained by Boyle and Hooke and 

 Mavow. 



