B.—CHEMISTRY. 87 
establishments to which the State affords partial support, such as those 
under the Development Commission and the Research Associations, the 
corresponding numbers are 150 and 50. In addition, grants are made to 
145 research students and to 11 independent research workers, involving 
a yearly sum of about £50,000. 
From the foregoing account of the connection of the Departments of 
State in the United Kingdom with chemistry, it is possible to trace a gradual 
development and ultimately a change in attitude, in passing through the 
stages of compulsion, expediency, and assistance. 
From motives of security the State was compelled to give heed to chemi- 
cal matters involved in its defence, such as those which appertained to muni- 
tions of war, including metals used in their manufacture; it was constrained 
to uphold the standard of its currency; and it was obliged to secure a 
revenue. As a consequence, the first chemical departments were set up 
in connection with these activities, and from them have emanated notable 
additions to chemical knowledge, improvements in methods of manufacture, 
and specifications for Government requirements that have led to improved 
_ material becoming available for civilian use. Although mostly conducted 
oa = = 
with inadequate staff, the study of these questions, it can be claimed, 
proved of national advantage when the time of need arose. 
In the next stage, the public conscience having been awakened by the 
pioneering work of Playfair, it appeared expedient to safeguard health by 
attention to sanitation, and, as the quality of food was unsatisfactory, to 
_ set upachemical control. Although a start was made by Davy, a member 
_ of the then Board of Agriculture, progress in this subject passed to private 
enterprise, and a century elapsed before direct assistance was afforded 
to this important matter. Out of these activities come our present system 
of supervision over the purity of air, water, and food, and also the recent 
progress made in the application of chemistry and physics to problems of 
the soil. 
The last and more recent stage is in the nature of a recognition that the 
State is under an obligation to assist science, and in this case the science 
of chemistry, on which so many important industries are based. It took 
the war to bring home the danger that, although the record of the country 
as regards discovery in pure science was unrivalled, itssystematic application 
was too often left to other countries, with the result of lamentable short- 
ages during war and the risk of many industries being ineffective in peace. 
A measure of Government intervention and action appeared requisite, 
and research became the business of a Government Department. Outside 
of the great firms which maintain progressive chemical staffs, the firms in 
numerous industries have been encouraged and assisted to co-operate in 
the betterment of their manufactures by the application of the methods of 
science, and from these associations and the organisations dealing with 
national problems begins to flow a stream of communications indicative 
of useful work accomplished. Nor is the foundation of it all neglected, 
for encouragement is given to workers in the academic field to follow out 
their ideas, whithersoever they may lead them, in accordance with the 
truth that ‘ research in applied science might lead to reforms, but research 
in pure science leads to revolutions.’ 
