390 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 4.-)6. 



which determines his employment. In 

 Britain, on the other hand, apprentices who 

 can pay high premiums are too often pre- 

 ferred to those who are well educated, and 

 the old rule-of-thumb processes are pre- 

 ferred to new developments— a conserva- 

 tism too often depending iipon the master's 

 own want of knowledge. 



I should not be doing my duty if I did 

 not point out that the defeat of our indus- 

 tries one after another, concerning which 

 both Lord Rosebery and Mr. Chamberlain 

 express their anxiety, is bj^ no means the 

 only thing we have to consider. The mat- 

 ter is not one which concerns our industrial 

 classes only, for knowledge must be pur- 

 sued for its own sake, and since the full 

 life of a nation with a constantly increas- 

 ing complexity, not only of industrial, but 

 of high national aims, depends upon the 

 universal presence of the scientific spirit — 

 in other words, brain power — oiir whole na- 

 tional life is involved. 



THE NECESSITY FOR A BODY DEALING WITH 

 THE ORGANIZATION OF SCIENCE. 



The present awakening in relation to 

 the nation's real needs is largely due to 

 the warnings of men of science. But Mr. 

 Balfour's terrible Manchester picture of 

 our present educational condition * shows 

 that the warning which has been going on 

 now for more than fifty years has not been 

 forcible enough; but if my contention that 

 other reorganizations besides that of our 

 education are needed is well founded, and 

 if men of science are to act the part of 

 good citizens in taking their share in en- 

 deavoring to bring about a better state of 

 things, the question arises, has the neglect 



* " The existing educational system of this 

 country is chaotic, is ineffectual, is utterly be- 

 hind the age, makes us the laughing-stock of 

 every advanced nation in Europe and America, 

 puts us behind, not only our American cousins, 

 but tlie German and the Frenchman and the 

 Italian." — Times, October 15, 1902. 



of their warnings so far been due to the 

 way in which these have been given ? 



Lord Rosebery, in the address to a 

 Chamber of Commerce from which I have 

 already quoted, expressed his opinion that 

 such bodies do not exercise so much in- 

 fluence as might be expected of them. But 

 if commercial men do not use all the power 

 their organization provides, do they not by 

 having built up such an organization put 

 us students of science to shame, who are 

 still the most disorganized members of the 

 community 1 



Here, in my opinion, we have the real 

 reason why the scientific needs of the na- 

 tion fail to command the attention either 

 of the public or of successive governments. 

 At present, appeals on this or on that be- 

 half are the appeals of individuals ; science 

 has no collective voice on the larger na- 

 tional questions ; there is no organized body 

 which formulates her demands. 



During many years it has been part of 

 my duty to consider such matters, and I 

 have been driven to the conclusion that our 

 great crying need is to bring about an or- 

 ganization of men of science and all inter- 

 ested in science, similar to those which 

 prove so effective in other branches of hu- 

 man activity. For the last few years I 

 have dreamt of a Chamber, Guild, League, 

 call it what you will, with a wide and large 

 membership, which should give us what, in 

 my opinion, is so urgently needed. Quite 

 recently I sketched out such an organiza- 

 tion, but what was my astonishment to find 

 that I had been forestalled, and by the 

 founders of the British Association! 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION SUCH A BODY. 



At the commencement of this address 1 

 pointed out that one of the objects of the 

 Association, as stated by its founders, was 

 'to obtain a more general attention to the 

 objects of science and a removal of any 



