PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — HAHHIS. xlvii 



We need to make science the keynote of our public 

 service and University system as Huml)oldt did early in 

 the nineteenth century when Prussia was as yet under the 

 heel of Napoleon. The peremptory necessity of better 

 scientific organisation is apparent; it is not now only a (jues- 

 tion of our prosperity but of our existence. 



The scientific mind and temper cannot flourish in an 

 atmosphere of political trickery, nepotism and plunder 

 such as we have. True science and politics are incompatilile. 

 They cannot exist together, any more than the eagle and 

 the squid." 



Science, in short, must have a Department, a Government 

 office, before the public will fully accord it its place of honor. 

 We may regret that this sort of thing has to be, but our 

 regret will not change public opinion; and it appears to 

 be part of the British Constitution that nothing can be done 

 or should be done without a very large body of public opinion 

 behind it. But the official recognition of science cannot 

 wait until the public has seen fit to render science the homage 

 it deserves. To begin at the top, let there be a Minister 

 of Science and a Ministrj- of Science with just as much 

 prestige accorded it as the War Office, the Foreign Office or 

 the Home Office. The duties of the Minister of Science 

 would be primarily to foster science in every way possible, 

 to foster its interests, to administer its affairs somewhat 

 after the manner in which the Board of Trade looks after trade, 

 the department of Agriculture and Fisheries, agriculture 

 and fisheries. 



By friendl}^ and intelligent co-operation with the Univ- 

 versities, Technical Colleges and the leaders amongst the 

 manufacturers, the relations of science to the state could 

 be adequately safeguarded; scientific men would be known, 

 encouraged, subsidized, promoted, rewarded, and pensioned, 



For why should state recognition, encouragement, pro- 

 motion, and rewarding be reserved for sailors, soldiers, 



