534 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 405. 



"We may be justified, however, in hoping 

 that by the gradual diffusion of science 

 and its increasing recognition as a princi- 

 pal part of our national education, the 

 public in general, no less than the legisla- 

 ture and the State, will more and more 

 recognize the claims of science to their 

 attention ; so that it may no longer require 

 the begging box, but speak to the State like 

 a favored child to its parent, sure of his 

 paternal solicitude for its welfare ; that the 

 State will recognize in science one of its 

 elements of strength and prosperity, to 

 protect which the clearest dictates of self- 

 interest demand." Had this advice been 

 seriously taken to heart and acted upon 

 by the rulei-s of the nation at the time, 

 what splendid results would have accrued 

 to this counti-y! We should not now be 

 painfully groping in the dark after a sys- 

 tem of national education. We should not 

 be wasting money, and time more valuable 

 than money, in building imitations of for- 

 eign educational superstructures before 

 having put in solid foundations. We 

 should not be hurriedly and distractedly 

 casting about for a system of tactics after 

 confrontation with the disciplined and co- 

 ordinated forces of industry and science 

 led and directed by the rulers of powerful 

 States. Forty-three years ago we should 

 have started fair had the Prince Consort's 

 views prevailed. As it is, we have lost 

 ground Avhich it will tax even this nation's 

 splendid reserves of individual initiative 

 to recover. Although in this country the 

 King rules, but does not govern, the Con- 

 stitution and the structure of English so- 

 ciety assure to him a very potent and far- 

 reaching influence upon those who do gov- 

 ern. It is hardly possible to overrate the 

 benefits that may accrue from his intelli- 

 gent and continuous interest in the great 

 problem of transforming his people into a 

 scientifically educated nation. From this 

 point of view we may congratulate our- 



selves that the heir to the Crown, follow- 

 ing his family traditions, has already de- 

 duced from his own observations in differ- 

 ent parts of the empire some very sound 

 and valuable conclusions as to the national 

 needs at the present day. 



GRIFFITH — GILBERT— -CORNU. 



The saddest yet the most sacred duty 

 falling to us on such an occasion as the 

 present is to pay our tribute to the mem- 

 ory of old comrades and fellow-workers 

 whom we shall meet no more. We miss 

 to-day a figure that has been familiar, con- 

 spicuous, and always congenial at the 

 meetings of the British Association during 

 the last forty years. Throughout the 

 greater part of that period Mr. George 

 Griffith discharged the onerous and often 

 delicate duties of the assistant general sec- 

 retary, not only with conscientious thor- 

 oughness and great ability, bvit also with 

 urbanity, tact and courtesy that endeared 

 him to all. His years sat lightly upon him, 

 and his undiminished alertness and vigor 

 caused his sudden death to come upon us 

 all with a shock of surprise as well as of 

 pain and grief. The British Association 

 oAves him a debt of gratitude which must 

 be so fully realized by every regular at- 

 tender of our meetings that no poor words 

 of mine are needed to quicken your sense 

 of loss, or to add to the poignancy of your 

 regret. 



The British Association has to deplore 

 the loss from among us of Sir Joseph Gil- 

 bert, a veteran who continued to the end 

 of a long life to pursue his important and 

 beneficent researches with untiring energy. 

 The length of his services in the cause of 

 science cannot be better indicated than by 

 recalling the fact that he was one of the 

 six past presidents boasting fifty years' 

 membership whose jubilee was celebrated 

 by the Chemical Society in 1898. He was 

 in fact an active member of that Society 



