636 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1009 



distingnished men of science are now heads of 

 British universities? 



Many other disabilities are frequently com- 

 plained of and resented by scientific workers. 

 The whole system of filling appointments re- 

 quires careful reconsideration. Some years 

 ago an excellent article on the subject of ad- 

 vertising vacant appointments appeared in the 

 University Review. The advertisements are 

 often issued when the post has already been 

 practically allotted — simply as a kind of show 

 to prove impartiality on the part of the adver- 

 tising body. The result is that numbers of 

 candidates are tempted to put themselves to 

 great trouble and some expense, and are kept 

 upon the tenterhooks of doubt for months. 

 Another abuse, still allowed for academical 

 and hospital posts, is the necessity of canvass- 

 ing for appointments— a very objectionable 

 system which compels the unfortunate appli- 

 cant to visit a number of persons with whom 

 he is not acquainted and who often have no 

 knowledge of his subject, and to parade his 

 virtues before them in competition with other 

 unfortunates who are in the same case. We 

 heard some time ago of a distinguished mathe- 

 matician who was obliged to sue humbly for 

 a poorly-paid post before two local trades- 

 people — and who was not accepted. Can any- 

 thing show more clearly than such a state of 

 affairs the low position held by high work in 

 Britain? Indeed the whole system so fre- 

 quently adopted here of allowing scientific in- 

 stitutions, hospitals and even universities, to 

 be governed by committees of persons of whom 

 many have no qualifications for the work, who 

 are often not even moderately distinguished 

 in any line, but who find their profit in the 

 position, is thoroughly discreditable; and 

 recent disputes in the management of certain 

 hospitals have illustrated the defect. 



We have recently started the habit of giving 

 our rare professorships to foreigners — not 

 really because the foreigners are the best men 

 for the posts, but because the institution con- 

 cerned likes to obtain a reputation for magna- 

 nimity. Yet foreign nations are not so gen- 

 erous to us. As a matter of fact we buy, not 

 in the cheapest market, but in the dearest one ; 



and do so, not from motives of business, but 

 merely out of ostentation. The same indiffer- 

 ence to work done is often manifested in the 

 honors given by many learned bodies. We 

 see the academic laurel placed upon the brows 

 of soldiers, sailors and politicians — men who 

 have perhaps done great service in their own 

 line, though not in the line for which such 

 honors should be reserved. The case can of 

 course be argued — as all bad cases can ; but it is 

 really a matter of clean taste. Academic honors 

 are meant to promote great world-service; and 

 it is a sign of national degeneracy when they 

 are given for anything lower. One would 

 think that our universities would lead the way 

 in this respect, but it is not so. Some years 

 ago a distinguished colonial premier refused 

 an academic honor on these grounds, and at- 

 tained great honor by doing so. Few are the 

 struggling workers or the struggling causes 

 which have benefited by the powers in the 

 hands of the great learned bodies. To add 

 grist to their own mill by subserviency to 

 popular idols appears too often to be their 

 chief desire; and where a great worker is 

 honored by them, he is generally a foreigner. 

 A still lower stage, however, has already been 

 reached — where a learned body decorates itself ! 

 We may now ask, what exactly does the 

 British Empire do, as a state, for science, or 

 indeed for any of the higher forms of intel- 

 lectual effort? Parliament allots £4,000 a 

 year to one learned society, and another £1,000 

 a year for publications — a magnificent endow- 

 ment! It allows also occasional small grants 

 to other institutions; and all these are doled 

 out for the expenses of special researches. 

 The larger grants which it gives to univer- 

 sities are devoted chiefly to teaching — a very 

 small proportion ever being reaUy available 

 for investigation. Very little of the money 

 goes to the workers themselves, either to in- 

 crease their pay or to reward them for services 

 rendered; and the state seems to think that if 

 it provides their test tubes and microscopes it 

 has done enough. In many countries the gov- 

 ernment wisely pays members of certain acad- 

 emies; but in Britain, not only is this not 

 done, but the state actually exacts gratuitous 



