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SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1433 



tion and co-action, the Conjoint Board of Sci- 

 entific Societies. As to the separate categories 

 composing the triple system itself, they also 

 are in wide touch one with another. Between 

 the scientific and professional societies on one 

 hand and the universities on the other, contact 

 and inter-relation are secured by some degi-ee 

 of free and rightful overlap, both as regards 

 general subject-matter of research and of their 

 personnel. Finally, there is excellent contact 

 between both these categories and the third, the 

 state subventioned institutions. A special fea- 

 ture of the policy and administration of these 

 state organizations secures this, a feature which 

 makes the whole of this subject the more 

 cognate to the purview of our own society. To 

 exemplify I may turn, for instance, to the 

 Development Commission. Its program of 

 fishery research, avoiding the terms "pure" re- 

 search and "applied" research in view of the 

 possible implication that pure research does 

 not lead to practical result, directs research not 

 alone to the solving of particular economic 

 problems. It supports more especially what it 

 terms "free" research, investigation in this ease 

 of the fundamental science of the sea and of 

 laarine life. 



Again, with the Advisory Council of Scien- 

 tific and Industrial Research, its program, 

 gradually defined during the past six years, is 

 laid down as having four main points: (1) the 

 encouragement of the individual research work- 

 er, particularly in pure science; (2) the organ- 

 ization of national industries into cooperative 

 research associations; (3) the direction and co- 

 ordination of research for national purposes; 

 and (4) the aiding of suitable researches under- 

 taken by scientific and professional societies 

 and organizations. It recruits researchers by 

 giving financial opportunity to promising stu- 

 dents to be trained in research, attaching them 

 to experienced researchers. In short, it ap- 

 prentices to research a number of selected 

 younger workers in universities, colleges and 

 other institutions scattered throughout the 

 eountry. 



So, similarly, the Medical Research Council. 

 Its secretary, Sir Walter Fletcher, in an illum- 

 inating presidential address to Section I of the 

 British Association meeting this summer, said, 



Icing of the nexus between scientific re- 

 search and the progi'ess of medicine, "It is the 

 accumulating knowledge of the basal laws of 

 life and of the living organism to which alone 

 we can look for the sure establishment either of 

 the study of disease or of the applied sciences 

 of medicine." 



It is evident, therefore, that, with a policy 

 based on such principles as these, the third 

 category in the triple system constituting the 

 organization for scientific research in this 

 country is one which has common aim and solid 

 touch with both the others, the universities and 

 the scientific and professional societies. One 

 sees in short that the organization which has 

 come into existence and is maintaining scien- 

 tific research in this country is a real organiza- 

 tion. It did not spring fully eciuipped from 

 the head of Zeus. It has grown up rather 

 than been planned. In that respect it is an 

 organization essentially British, and it seems 

 qualified to do its work for the country well. 

 We hear of adventures, political and other, the 

 offspring of the day. But these were no adven- 

 tures, these, to my mind, v/elcome, long-overdue 

 steps forward by the state toward the succor 

 of science and its welfare, steps that help to 

 strengthen and consolidate the organization 

 for research by such adjuncts as the Medical 

 Research Council and the Department of Scien- 

 tific and Industrial Research. One of the 

 strengths of this organization that has arisen 

 is, in my view, that it interlocks with the edu- 

 cational system of the country. It is an organ- 

 ization which proceeds on the wise premise 

 that, in the case of science, the best way to get 

 the fruit is to cultivate the tree. It is an or- 

 ganization which is proving successful and 

 economical. Its output has proved a more than 

 liberal return on the funds at its disposal. 



But essential to its continuance is continu- 

 ance of adequate financial support from the 

 government. A tripod can not stand upon two 

 legs. The state-contribution in this country is 

 relatively not large, but it is most important. 

 Important as it has been in the past, it has 

 novi' an importance most especially great. The 

 cost of investigation is now higher, much high- 

 er than it has been. Endowment funds carry 

 less far than they did carry. Private benefac- 



