So8 RADFORD MATHER LECTURE 



are not heard, the petty physical jars and discomforts of life, will confer 

 the greatest blessing on the modern community in health and peace of 

 mind and enrich the quality of life itself. 



Here I submit a warning. I recently had to exchange views with an 

 admirably inspired friend on a disease in which he was keenly interested. 

 He was in a hurry for results of the investigation which I was able to assure 

 him from my own knowledge had already been begun by the Medical 

 Research Department. A scientific inquiry into the causes and treatment 

 of the simplest malady entails experiments the results of which cannot 

 as a rule be forced. A trustworthy scientific conclusion requires time to 

 build up. This is caused neither by the laziness nor the indifference of 

 the man of science, but by the nature of his task, and, if anyone is to be 

 blamed for delay and uncertainty, it is the Creator himself. Experiments 

 fail as well as succeed, and the work has too often to be begun all over 

 again. The story of some of the apparently simplest discoveries of science 

 is often as marvellously complex as, say, the life history of the eel. 



Not only have great firms extended and developed their own research 

 establishments, but many of the leaders of industry have given lavishly 

 of their time and thought to the formation of the Research Associations 

 to which I have referred. 



This afternoon, I must limit both the length and the width of my 

 excursion into those fields whither modern scientific discoveries are lead- 

 ing us. Some of the most important have been interestingly dealt with 

 in papers read at recent meetings of the Association. They also find a 

 place in some most challenging articles in recent issues of the scientific 

 press. Nor will scientists fail to observe the meaning of that most 

 significant resolution passed by the recent Trade Union Congress agreeing 

 to a Committee of Scientists with whom Congress can consult on policy, 

 outlook and methods of handling their special work. Thus not only is a 

 scientific front being created to encourage scientific inquiry, but it is 

 receiving the co-operation of all classes and interests, in applying its 

 discoveries to advance communal well-being. 



Although I have devoted much of my time to the work of the Govern- 

 ment departments concerned in the development of that scientific know- 

 ledge which applies to industry and health, I should be loth to give the 

 impression that I do not appreciate the research of other well-known 

 public bodies and institutions, and the public service rendered by work 

 done in other scientific territories — chemistry in all its many-sidedness, 

 for instance. I have been thinking to-day mostly of the laboratories 

 I have so frequently visited. But they are only a corner of the scientific 

 life of our day. 



Applied science is nearly always based on academic discoveries and such 

 discoveries are often made in Universities where research is generally 

 pursued without any view to results of practical application. Everyone 

 must be keenly conscious of the fine achievements in scientific research 

 of our Universities. It is literally impossible, for instance, to exaggerate 

 the consequences on modern life of the work on the constitution of the 

 atom pioneered and directed by our late friend. Lord Rutherford, whose 

 parting from us moves us all with sorrow. 



Before I conclude, I must refer to certain aspects of applied science. 



