October 2. 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



423 



Some time afterwards, to be exact at 

 about 11 in the morning of December 2, 

 Dnmas's servant informed him that there 

 was a gentleman in the hall named Fou- 

 cault who wished to see him, and he added 

 that he appeared to be very ill. When shown 

 into the study, Foucanlt was too agitated 

 to speak, and was blind with tears. His 

 reply to Dumas 's soothing questions was 

 to take from his pockets two i-olls of bank 

 notes amounting to 200,000 francs and 

 place them on the table. Finally, he was 

 able to say that he had been with the 

 Prince President since 8 o 'clock that morn- 

 ing discussing the possible improvement 

 of French science and industrj^ and that 

 Napoleon had finally given him the money 

 requesting him to do all in his power to 

 aid the State. Foucault ended by saying 

 that on realizing the greatness of the task 

 thus imposed upon him, his fears and feel- 

 ings had got the better of him, for the re- 

 sponsibility seemed more than he could 

 bear.* 



The movement in England to which I 

 have referred began in 1872, when a so- 

 ciety for the organization of academical 

 study was formed in connection with the 

 inquiry into the revenues of Oxford and 

 Cambridge, and there was a famous meet- 

 ing at the Freemasons' Tavern. Mark 

 Pattison being in the chair. Brodie, Rol- 

 leston. Carpenter, Burdon-Sanderson were 

 among the speakers, and the first resolution 

 carried was, 'That to have a class of men 

 whose lives are devoted to research is a 



* In order to show how history is written, what 

 actually happened on a fateful morning may be 

 compared with the account given by Kinglake: — 

 " Prince Louis rode home and went in out of 

 sight. Then for the most part he remained close 

 shut up in the Elys^e. There, in an inner room, 

 still decked in red trousers, but with his back to 

 the daylight, they say he sat bent over a fireplace 

 for hours and hours together, resting his elbows 

 on his knees, and burying his face in his hands " 

 ('Crimean War,' I., p. 245). 



national object.' The movement died in 

 consequence of the want of sympathy of 

 the university authorities.* 



In the year 1874 the subject was inquired 

 into by the late Duke of Devonshire's 

 Commission, and after taking much re- 

 markable evidence, including that of Lord 

 Salisbury, the Commission recommended 

 to the Government that the then grant of 

 1,000L which was expended, by a com- 

 mittee appointed by the Royal Society, on 

 instruments needed in researches carried 

 on by private individuals shoiUd be in- 

 creased, so that personal grants should be 

 made. This recommendation was accepted 

 and acted on; the grant was increased to 

 4,000L, and finally other societies were 

 associated with the Royal Society in its 

 administration. The committee, however, 

 was timorous, possibly owing to the apathy 

 of the universities and the general care- 

 lessness on such matters, and only one per- 

 sonal grant was made; the whole concep- 

 tion fell through. 



^Meantime, however, opinion has become 

 more educated and alive to the extreme 

 importance of research to the nation, and 

 in 1891 a suggestion was made to the Royal 

 Commission which administers the pro- 

 ceeds of the 1851 Exhibition that a sum of 

 about 6,000Z. a year available for scholar- 

 ships should be emploj^ed in encouraging 

 post-graduate research throughout the 

 whole empire. As what happened is told 

 in the 'ilemoirs of Lord Playfair, ' it is not 

 indiscreet in me to state that when I pro- 

 posed this new form of the endowment of 

 research, it woiild not have surprised me if 

 the suggestion had been declined. It was 

 carried through by Lord Playfair 's enthu- 

 siastic support. This sy.stem has been at 

 Avork ever since, and the good that has 

 been done by it is now generally conceded. 



It is a supreme satisfaction to me to 



* See yatiire, Xovember and December, 1872. 



