May 1, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



635 



with their sisters of the arts, have made a 

 fitting palace for what ought to be a higher 

 race. Yet the payment of the highly qualified 

 men of the same age who were not so unwise 

 and who are still perfecting them is less than 

 that given to all the other professions, and, 

 compared with the value of the work, is almost 

 infinitely less. Indeed it would appear that 

 the second principle enunciated above is just 

 the opposite of the truth — that work is paid 

 for in the inverse ratio of its value : and this 

 is not a mere cynical gibe, but the actual 

 truth. The greatest benefits which the world 

 has ever received, that is, those which it 

 has received from science, literature, art and 

 invention, have generally been paid for not 

 at all. 



But it may now be said that the scale of 

 payment for science is purely a question of 

 supply and demand. That is so — and the 

 same principle governs the case of sweated 

 industries of all kinds. In the latter, the 

 employer exploits the necessities of a crowded 

 and poor population in order to have his work 

 done at the cheapest rate. As regards science, 

 however, the employer is the public itself, and 

 the sweated laborer is the highest type of 

 intellect in the country. The process by which 

 the sweating is rendered possible is something 

 as follows : Young graduates, fired with enthu- 

 siasm for science or with the desire of investi- 

 gating some question which has occurred to 

 them, take scholarships or poorly paid research- 

 studentships. At first, while they are young, 

 everything goes well with them; but after 

 some years they find that the shoe begins to 

 pinch. Then, unfortunately, it is too late. 

 They have lost the time which they should 

 have used in perfecting themselves for their 

 proper profession, whatever that may be — in 

 which they have already been outpaced by 

 men who formed these sciences in the past 

 or so high-minded as themselves. The open- 

 ing which they may have taken five years 

 previously is now closed to them; and they 

 are compelled to spend the rest of their life 

 under the paralyzing influences described 

 above. This also is the actual fact; and it 

 must evidently produce a disastrous influence. 



not only on the men who sufEer, but also upon 

 the great studies to which they devote them- 

 selves. The most capable graduates are al- 

 ready beginning to perceive the truth and to 

 avoid the toils. The elder men, seeing that 

 investigation leads to nothing, tend to inter- 

 est themselves only in teaching, compilation 

 of text-books, and attendance upon committees. 

 The enthusiasm and concentration which when 

 found together are called genius become im- 

 possible; and we look almost in vain for that 

 high devotion to science which is the only 

 quality she rewards with success. And the 

 punishment does not really fall so heavily 

 upon the worker himself — ^his enthusiasm for 

 science may quite possibly compensate him 

 for such troubles as those mentioned above. 

 But the punishment falls upon his family; it 

 falls upon the institution which employs him ; 

 it falls upon the nation which allows such a 

 thing; and it falls upon science herself. 



Besides the low rate of pay given, there are, 

 in this country at least, many small abuses 

 attached to high intellectual work. Even such 

 funds as may be allotted are not used to the 

 best advantage. Large portions of the income 

 of many institutions are given to the mainte- 

 nance of more or less useless pursuits — which 

 were useful pursuits in the past, but no longer 

 serve the world, or indeed serve it only in a 

 negative sense. Originality and success in 

 research do not receive their due place in selec- 

 tion for appointments. The best paid posts are 

 seldom given for the best work done, but rather 

 for qualities which are of little account — ■ 

 popularity, eloquence, text-book knowledge, 

 private influence, and skill in the arts of time- 

 service. For obvious reasons it is impossible 

 to cite examples, but the fact remains. Of the 

 few Britons of to-day who have done world- 

 service, how many hold the leading public 

 posts even in their own domain? We appear 

 to judge men, not by the work which they have 

 done, but by the work which we may imagine, 

 from their appearance, that they may do if 

 we give them an opportunity. How many of 

 our most distinguished writers, for example, 

 have received academic posts for teaching 

 their own art? And how many of our moat 



