Minutes of Proceedings. xlv 



to be for the public good. It was a case entirely of private effort ; 

 the Government gave no direct assistance, however benevolently it 

 may have looked on. In some countries a close official connection 

 would have been expected, and in others there would have been at 

 least that connection which is involved in the giving or receiving 

 of a subsidy. It would be wrong, however, to infer that the 

 absence of this connection implied indifference on the part of the 

 Government ; it might simply mean that the Government had 

 resolved to provide for research in some totally different way. It 

 could not well be indifference, for no truer words were ever spoken 

 than these : "A nation's progress either in peace or war depends on 

 her science," and the progress of a nation is naturally a matter of 

 supreme concern to those who administer its affairs. Well, this 

 being the object of the Society, its members ought of course to look 

 round for co-workers, and for other agencies which it can turn to 

 good effect in the attainment of its ends. Now there are three 

 sources to which we are accustomed to look for the advancement 

 of knowledge in a country : (1) Universities, (2) paid specialists or 

 professionals, (3) private individuals or amateurs. Let us consider 

 these in order. 



First, then, by reason of affinity of purpose we ought to take an 

 interest in the University of the Colony, observe what it is doing 

 for the promotion of research, and use our influence to see that it 

 does more. Conversely, the university ought to take an interest in 

 us ; and united action should be possible in the case of any outside 

 undertaking in which the advancement of knowledge is concerned. 

 On this subject I have so recently had occasion to speak that I will 

 not try your patience by dwelling on it again at any length. Let 

 me only recall to you that in the best educated countries research is 

 viewed as the main function of a university ; that in England the 

 chief effort of reformers during the last quarter of a century has 

 been to regain for the old universities the proud position which was 

 once theirs as " bodies of learned men, devoting their lives to the 

 cultivation of science and the direction of academical teaching ' ' ; 

 and that even the first-founded purely examining university — that 

 extraordinary product of modern times — has been constrained of 

 late years to give its highest degrees only to those who have shown 

 diligence in investigation and aptitude for original work. The 

 change which men interested in learning and science seek to effect 

 has not been indicated more plainly or with greater moderation than 

 in the words of the English Science Commission of 1873, which 

 run as follows : " There can be no question that it is of the utmost 

 importance to impress upon teachers and learners alike that one, 



