152 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



piece of land in Kensington Gore, on which are built the South Ken- 

 sington Museum, Schools of Science and Art, the Natural History 

 Museum, the Museum of Scientific Instruments, and others that I need 

 not mention. In addition to this many science scholarships have been 

 provided. 



From 1850 Government gave an annual grant of /^ 1,000 (increased by 

 jC^,ooo a year in 1877) to the Royal Society for the promotion of scientific 

 enquiries, which went to aid research in mathematics, physics, astronomy, 

 biology, chemistry and general purposes. The Society also benefited 

 from many donations from its own Fellows. And from time to time 

 private individuals, by donations or bequests, endowed fellowships. 



But in Great Britain original research continued to be mainly the task 

 of individual scientists, chiefly at their own expense. Industry had 

 certainly not yet recognised its value, and it was to be a full generation 

 before it was fully and practically accepted that scientific and industrial 

 research is an essential factor in our industrial and national existence. 



In Germany greater progress had been made. The lessons learnt in 

 the Franco-Prussian War led to the institution in 1872 cf the Reichsanstalt 

 and the Materials Testing Department. The former was established in 

 two divisions : the one devoted to pure science and the other to its applica- 

 tion to the advancement of industry and manufacture. At the same time 

 technical colleges for research and the training of research students were 

 founded at Charlottenburg, Darmstadt and other centres. German 

 industrialists quickly recognised the value of the work of these institutions. 

 The A. E.G., Siemens and Halske and such great companies at an early 

 date set up private research laboratories. The development of the dye 

 industry is a perpetual warning and incitement, for it was Perkin who 

 first discovered, in 1857, the manufacture of aniline blue ; but it was left 

 to the Dye Company of Germany to create from his discover}' the great 

 German dye industry, for which purpose huge sums were spent in 

 developing new methods and evolving new dyes. 



To return to our own country and engineering. In 1893 Sir William 

 Anderson wrote : ' The days are past when an Engineer can acquit himself 

 respectably by the aid of mother wit alone or of those constructive in- 

 stincts, which in the past led our predecessors to such brilliant results.' 

 Four years later the Government appointed a Committee under the 

 chairmanship of Lord Rayleigh to consider and report upon the desira- 

 bility of founding a National Physical Laboratory. The setting up of 

 this committee was incidentally largely due to the agitation, led by 

 Sir Oliver Lodge, at meetings of the British Association and elsewhere. 



In 1898 Lord Rayleigh's committee issued its report, recommending 

 that a public institution should be founded ' for the standardising and 

 verifying of instruments, for testing materials and for the determination 

 of physical constants," and that it should be under the control of the 

 Royal Society. The scheme was drawn up in 1899 and Dr. Glazebrook, 

 F.R.S., (afterwards Sir Richard Glazebrook) was appointed its first 

 Director, a position which he held until 1918. 



