80 



A nniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



Committee similar to that of the' Government Grant, but with, the 

 addition of the Presidents of certain learned bodies and societies, 

 nominated for that purpose by the Government. 



The recommendations made by the Committee each year are annually 

 published in the " Proceedings," so that the public will have had full 

 information as to the distribution of the grant ; while the Fellows have 

 the opportunity of seeing the nature of applications made, and the 

 extent to which it has been found practicable to meet them, as re- 

 corded in the minutes of the Council of the Society. 



One of the points which is perhaps beset with the greatest difficulty 

 is that of the so-called " personal " grants. On the one hand, it has 

 been argued that it is desirable to enable the man of small means 

 to devote to research a part of his time which he could not otherwise 

 afford to give ; but, on the other, the question has been raised whether 

 it be wise, even in the interests of science, to encourage anyone not yet 

 of independent income to interrupt the main business of his life. It is 

 too often assumed that a profession or a business may be worked at 

 half speed, or may be laid down and taken up again, whenever we 

 like. But this is not so, and a profession temporarily or even partially 

 laid aside, may prove irrecoverable ; and the temptation to diverge 

 from the dull and laborious path of business may prove to have been 

 a snare. Without proposing to exclude from possible aid in some 

 shape or other those cases where personal assistance may be safely 

 offered, it has been suggested that many such cases may be practically 

 met by grants for the employment of an assistant, instead of grants to 

 the applicant himself. 



There is another fundamental difference between the position of the 

 Government Grant of £1,000 per annum and the Government Fund 

 of £4,000 per annum, which appears to me to be of material im- 

 portance in the interests of science. The former is an absolute grant 

 from the Treasury made to the Society for scientific purposes. It may 

 be used wholly, or in part, during the year in which it is made, and 

 the balance, if any, may be carried over by the Society to the next or 

 even to succeeding years. The latter is a vote to the Science and Art 

 Department, on the disposal of which the Society is consulted. Like 

 all other similar votes, any unused balance reverts to the Treasury, 

 and is to that extent lost to the purpose for which it was intended. I 

 cannot help thinking that, if any such balances could be reserved and 

 kept in hand, provision might be made for some larger purposes than 

 those to which the fund has hitherto been devoted. And, even if having 

 this end in view, the Committee should not see its way to recommend 

 some of the smaller applications, it may be fairly questioned whether 

 the smaller grants might not find a more appropriate place among 

 those of the Donation Fund of this Society, or of the British Asso- 

 ciation, or among some of those separate funds which, through the 



