TEANSACTIONS OF SECTION A. 



629 



.ible in the clays of the Science and Art Department. Other names will occur to 

 vou, the most typical and eminent being that of Joule. It is not my purpose to 

 Jiscuss why distinguished amateurs have been so numerous in this country, but 1 

 am anxious to point out that we are in danger of losing one great and necessary 

 factor in the origination of scientific ideas. . 



One of the distinctive features of an amateur is this, that he carries not the 

 weight of theories, often not the weight of knowledge, and, if I am right, there is 

 a distinct advantage in having one section of scientific men beginning their 

 work untrammelled by preconceived notions, which a systematic training in science 

 is bound to instil. Whatever is taught in early years must necessarily be taught 

 in a more or less dogmatic manner, and, in whatever way it is taught, experi- 

 -ence shows that it is nearly always received in a dogmatic spirit. It seems 

 important, therefore, to confine the early training to those subjects in which pre- 

 conceived notions are considered an advantage. It is to me an uncongenial task to 

 sound a note of warning to our old Universities, for the chief ditficulties in which 

 they are placed at present are due to the fact that they have given way too much 

 to outside advice ; but I cannot help expressing a strong conviction that their liighly 

 specialised examinations for entrance scholarships are a curse to all sound school 

 education, and will prove a still more fatal curse to what concerns us most nearly, the 

 progress of scientific knowledge. If school education could be more general, it 

 scientific theories could only be taught at an age when a man is able to torm an 

 independent judgment, there might be some hope of retaining that originality ot 

 ideas which has been a distinctive feature of this country, and enabled our amateurs 

 to hold a prominent position in the history of science. At present a knowledge ot 

 scientific theories seems to me to kill all knowledge of scientific facts. 



It is by no means true that a complete knowledge of everything that has a 

 bearing on a particular subject is always necessary to success in an original inves- 

 tio-ation. In many cases such knowledge is essential, in others it is a hindrance. 

 Different types of men incline to diflerent types of research, and it is well to pre- 

 serve the dual struggle. The engine which works out the great problems ot nature 

 may be likened to a thermodynamic machine. The amateur supplies the steam 

 and the Universities supply the cold water ; the former, boding over often with ill- 

 considered and fanciful ideas, does not like the icy bath, and the protessioual 

 scientist rebels against the latent heat of the condensing steam, but nevertheless 

 the hotter the steam and the colder the water the better works the machine. 

 Sometimes it happens that boiler and cooler are both contained in the same brain, 

 and each country can boast of a few such in a century, but most of us have to 

 remain satisfied with forming only an incomplete part of the engine of research. 



But while it is necessary to recognise the great work done by the amateur, 

 it seems not untimely to draw their attention to the damage done to themselves 

 if they overstep their legitimate boundaries, and especially if they seek popular 

 support for such of their theories as have not received the approval ot those who 

 are competent to judge. An appeal from Philip sober to Philip drunk will not 

 prove successful ia the end. - 



The gradual disappearance of the amateur may be a necessary consequence ot 

 our increased educational facilities, and we must inquire whether any marked 

 advantages are offered to us in exchange. There is one direction m which it would 

 seem at first sight, at any rate, that a proper course of study could do mucli to 

 facilitate the progress of research. 



On another occasion I pointed out that two parties are necessary lor every 

 advance in science, the one that makes it and the one that believes in it. It 

 the discoverer is born, and cannot be made, would it not be possible to tram 

 the judgment of our students so that they may form a sound opinion on the 

 new theories and ideas which are presented to them ? It is too early as yet to 

 judge in how far our generation is better in this respect than the one that has gone 

 before it, but on closer examination it does not seem to me to be obvious that any 

 marked improvement is possible. Every new idea revolutionising our opinions 

 on some important question must necessarily take time before it obtains a proper Hold 

 on the scientific world. Is it not true that anyone who can at once see the lull 



