628 KEPORT— 1892. 



and new ones are suggested wliich are to serve the purpose of a more rapid accumu- 

 lation of knowledge. I need only allude to the alterations in the curriculum of the 

 science schools in our old Universities, made partly for the purpose of fitting 

 their graduates for the conduct of original research, or to the national laboratory 

 proposed by my predecessor in this chair for carrying out a certain kind of scien- 

 tific investigation, which at present is left undone, or is done by private enterprise. 

 Even our own Association has not escaped the evil eye of the reformer, and, like 

 other institutions, it may be capable of improvement. But in choosing the direc- 

 tion in which a change may best be made, I think we may learn something from the 

 way in which Nature improves its organisms. We are taught by biologists that 

 natural selection acts by developing those qualities which enable each species best to 

 survive the struggle for existence ; useless organs die off or become rudimentary. 

 Nature teaches us, therefore, how a beautiful complex of beings, mutually depend- 

 ent on each other, is formed by improving those parts which are best and most 

 useful, and letting the rest take care of itself. But in many of the changes which 

 have been made or are proposed the process of reform is very different. The 

 weakest points are selected, our attention is drawn to some failure or to some- 

 thino- in which we are excelled by other nations, and attempts are made to cure 

 what perhaps had better be left to become rudimentary. The proceeding is not 

 objectionable as long as the nourishment which is applied to develop the weaker 

 organs is not taken from those parts which we should specially take care to pi-eserve. 

 To apply these reflections to the question with which we are specially concerned, I 

 should like to see it more generally recognised that although there is no struggle 

 for existence between different nations, yet each nation, owing to a number of cir- 

 cumstances, possesses its own peculiarities, which render it better fitted than its 

 neighbours to do some particular part of the work on which the progress of science 

 depends. No country, for instance, has rivalled France in the domain of accurate 

 measurement, with which the names of Regnault and Amagat are associated, and 

 the International Bureau of Weights and Measures has its fitting home in Paris.^ 

 The best work of the German Universities seems to me to consist in the following 

 up of some theory to its logical conclusions and submitting it to the test of experi- 

 ment. I doubt "whether the efforts to transplant the research work of German 

 Universities into this country will prove successful. Does it not seem well to let 

 each country take that share of work for which the natural growth of its character 

 and of its educational establishments best adapts it ? Is it wise to remedy some weak 

 point, to fill up undoubted gaps, if the soil that fills the gaps has to be taken from 

 the hills and elevations which rise above the surrounding level ? 



As far as the work of this section is concerned the strongest domain of this 

 country has been that of mathematical physics. But it is not to this that I wish 

 specially to refer. Look at the work done in Great Britain during the last two 

 centuries ; the work not only in physics, but in astronomy, chemistry, biology. Is 

 it not true that the one distinctive feature which separates this from all other 

 countries in the world is the prominent part played by the scientific amateur, and 

 is it not also true that our modern system of education tends to destroy the 

 amateur ? 



By amateur I do not necessarily mean a man who has other occupations and 

 only takes up science in his leisure hours, but rather one who has had no aca- 

 demical training in that branch of knowledge which he finally selects for study. 

 He has probably been brought iip for some profession unconnected with science, 

 and only begins his study when his mind is sufficiently matured to form an entirely 

 unbiassed opinion. We may, perhaps, best define an amateur as one who learns his 

 science as he wants it and when he wants it. I should call Faraday an amateur. 

 He would have been impossible in another country ; perhaps he would be impos- 



' Much of the good work done by this Bureau remains unknown, owing to the 

 miserly way in which their publications are circulated. No copies are supplied even 

 to the University libraries. The explanation, of course, is ' want of funds.' In other 

 words, England, France, and Germany, together with other nations, unite to do a 

 certain kind of work, but cannot afford to distribute a few copies of the publication 

 to the public for whose benefit the work is undertaken. 



