424 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. VoL.XVlII. No. 457. 



know that in this present year of grace 

 the national importance of the study of the 

 meme inutile is more generally recognized 

 than it was during the times to which I 

 have referred in my brief survey, and, 

 indeed, we students are fortunate in hav- 

 ing on our side in this matter two mem- 

 bers of His ]\'Iajesty's Government, who 

 two years ago spoke with no uncertain 

 sound upon this matter. 



"Do we lack the imagination required to 

 show what these apparently remote and ab- 

 stract studies do for the happiness of man- 

 kind? We can appreciate that which ob- 

 viously and directly ministers to human 

 advancement and felicity, but seem, some- 

 how or another, to be deficient in that 

 higher form of imagination, in that longer 

 sight, which sees in studies which have no 

 obvious, necessary or immediate result 

 the foundation of the knowledge which 

 shall give far greater happiness to man- 

 kind than any immediate, material, in- 

 dustrial advancement can possibly do : and 

 I fear, and greatly fear, that, lacking that 

 imagination, Ave have allowed ourselves to 

 lag in the glorious race run now by civilized 

 countries in pursuit of knowledge, .and 

 we have permitted ourselves so far to too 

 large an extent to depend iipon others for 

 those additions to our knowledge which 

 surely we might have made for ourselves." 

 —Mr. Balfour, Nature, May 30, 1901. 



"I would remind you that all history 

 shows that progress — national progress of 

 every kind — depends upon certain indi- 

 viduals rather than upon the mass. 

 Whether you take religion, or literature, or 

 political government, or art, or commerce, 

 the new ideas, the great steps, have been 

 made by individuals of superior quality 

 and genius who have, as it were, dragged 

 the mass of the nation up one step to a 

 higher level. So it must be in regard to 

 material progress. The position of the 



nation to-day is due to the efforts of men 

 like Watt and Arkwright, or, in our own 

 time, to the Armstrongs, the Whitworths, 

 the Kelvins and the Siemenses. These are 

 the men who, by their discoveries, by their 

 remarkable genius, have produced the ideas 

 upon which others have acted and which 

 have permeated the Avhole mass of the 

 nation and affected the whole of its pro- 

 ceedings. Therefore, what we have to do, 

 and this is our special task and object, is 

 to produce more of these great men. ' ' — Mr. 

 Chamberlain, Times, January 18, 1901. 



I finally come to the political importance 

 of research. A country's research is as 

 important in the long run as its battleships. 

 The most eloquent teaching as to its na- 

 tional value we owe to Mr. Carnegie, for 

 he has given the sum of 2,000,000L to 

 found a system of endowments, his chief 

 purpose being, in his own words, 'to secure 

 if possible for the United States of 

 America leadership in the domain of dis- 

 covery and the utilization of new forces 

 for the benefit of man.' 



Here is a distinct challenge to Britain. 

 Judging by experience in this countrj', in 

 spite of the magnificent endowment of re- 

 search by Mond and Lord Iveagh, the only 

 sources of possible competition in the Brit- 

 ish interest is the State, which certainly 

 could not put the 1/8000 part of the ac- 

 cumulated wealth of the country to better 

 use, for without such help both our uni- 

 versities and our battleships will become 

 of rapidly dwindling importance. 



It is on this ground that I have included 

 the importance of endowing research 

 among the chief points to which I have 

 been anxious to draw your attention. , 



THE NEED OP A SCIENTIFIC NATIONAL 

 COUNCIL. 



In referring to the new struggle for ex- 

 istence among civilized communities, I 

 pointed out that the solution of a large 



