26 



K. GREIG-SMITH. 



manufacturers. I doubt if he would lay his troubles before 

 a body of men such as the Council of the proposed Institute 

 of Science and Industry. There would be more likelihood 

 of his unburdening himself to one man. The personal 

 element is strong in human nature, and the agent of a firm 

 can generally do more in the way of business than the firm 

 itself. We should proceed exactly as a new business firm 

 would proceed, by appointing agents and allowing them to 

 break the ground. I fear that the spasmodic advertisement 

 that the Institute will receive through occasional para- 

 graphs in the newspapers, about the work it is doing or 

 proposes to do, will never enable it to get into close touch 

 with the secondary industries, and it is these that we want 

 to reach. 



A Technical Adviser. 

 In order to bridge the chasm between the research 

 laboratory and the factory, I would suggest that the Insti- 

 tute should arrange, through the necessary and proper 

 channels, to get each University to appoint a trained 

 scientist with the status and emoluments of a University 

 professor, as a Technical Adviser with the duty of giving 

 advice to manufacturers. To overcome the idea that he 

 will give away trade secrets, he should be sworn not to 

 divulge what he sees in the factories. At the same time, 

 however, he should be allowed to exercise his discretion in 

 the publication of matters of general scientific interest. 

 During the first two years of his office he should be required 

 to visit all the manufacturers in the State at least once 

 and probably twice. The first call would probably simply 

 be an introduction, while the second would enable the 

 manufacturer to know him better, and a greater familiarity 

 would be more likely to induce the manufacturer to explain 

 his methods, and at any rate he would know to whom to 

 apply when trouble should arise. Behind the Adviser would 

 be the resources of the Institute, and he could allocate any 



