10 
— thorough and systematic research. I think the War has made it 
clear to us that any manufacturer who does not utilise a highly 
qualified scientific staff lias no chance against the manufacturer who 
does. 
We have frequently heard the statement that science made 
Germany brutal. With this I do not agree. It might be true to 
say that Germany made science brutal, or rather that she used 
science in a brutal manner ; but war in itself is brutal. 
The difference between British and German science is that 
Germany has built successfully by systematically collecting and 
co-ordinating the scientific data and investigation of her own and 
other countries. Information of inventions and industries is more 
easily obtained from German publications than elsewhere. But 
British scientists have always led the way in scientific philosophy 
and great inventions. British science is built more on initiation, 
whereas German science is more encyclopaedic. 
No country can compare with Great Britain in the record of 
famous men of science, and there is no branch of science wherein 
British scientists do not hold a first place. In support 1 may re- 
mind you of a few names such as Bacon, Newton, Gilbert, Napier, 
Dalton, Harvey, Watt, Davey, Faraday, Joule, Young, Stevenson, 
Brunei, Tyndal, Maxwell, Huxley, Darwin, Lister, Herschell, Crooks 
and Kelvin. 
Coming to Australia, the value of scientific training is slowly 
but surely being recognised as a necessary factor in our national 
life if we are to bold our place in the world. The Federal Govern- 
ment has realised the importance of this matter by establishing 
an advisory council of science and industry, and 1 hope the Gov- 
ernment support will be continued. 
Our Education Department has also realised the economic 
value of scientific teaching and has introduced the system into 
many of the State schools, and the Department is to be congratu- 
lated on its work. Science, however, requires a sound general 
education as a basis, and I feel sure the time has arrived when 
the maximum compulsory age of school attendance should be 
raised from 14 to 1(> years. A girl or boy is ill equipped to start 
life at the immature age of 14; indeed, under modern conditions, 
and when we realise the great increase of general knowledge dur- 
ing the last 50 years that the standard of education has automatic- 
ally and irresistibly advanced, it will be admitted that such a child 
is distinctly handicapped in starting life compared with those who 
have been able to continue their education to a later age. 
The educational value of the teaching of science in the schools 
was recognised some years ago in Great Britain, the three main 
subjects being physics, chemistry, and biology. 
