SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
of the powers and capacity of man in relation to the world in which he lives, 
and the extension which comes from the systematic work of the original mind 
upon material already to hand often takes place in a direction quite different 
from that which is anticipated when the worker begins his labours. That is 
the reason for comparing research to “thé wind which bloweth whither it 
listeth.”  Discoverers, in describing the history of important discoveries, have 
told us’ over and over again of this fact—a fact so frequent and pronounced 
that in some cases it may almost be said that a worker has blundered upon a 
new truth. It is not extraordinary, -because the excursions of the researcher 
are always into a new and unmapped country, and no man can tell until he 
reaches it what the lie of the land is. The more concrete the field of science, 
the more true will this be found to be. It is not surprising, in these cireum- 
stances, that the researcher himself should plead for freedom, and maintain, 
indeed, that without it his usefulness is lost. That is the central idea of 
Humboldt’s thesis. That is why, in his view, the State must do damage by 
interference; and, indeed, if the State interferes with the natural processes of 
research work, it can only do harm. In a sense, the true research worker is 
an anarchist. He can recognise no laws of procedure but those of his own 
science and of his own method of attack. These are severe enough, and they 
can tolerate no external action which secks to place him in blinkers and to 
force him to run at the discretion of men who cannot see with his eyes. The 
great question that is to be solved is whether it is possible, under these condi- 
tions, for the State to take action which will stimulate research without inter- 
fering with it, when we mean by “research ” nothing but the creation of new 
knowledge; and whether, in the application of new knowledge to specific 
problems which the State in one or other of its capacities seeks to have solved, 
it can do anything effective towards the organization of the attack upon these 
problems. This second type of research does not call for the same degree of 
originality as the creation of new knowledge; but, on the one hand, it cannot 
proceed without the assistance of pure research, and on the other it is constantly 
revealing gaps in human knowledge which call for investigation by the pure 
researcher. Moreover, though much of the work in applied science is less 
fundamental in character, it is also, because of the large number of factors 
which are involved, far more complicated, and it calls for team work among 
researches in an ever-growing degree. But you cannot have team work without 
organization. To repeat my question again: Is it possible for the State, on 
the one hand, to encourage pure research, and on the other to organize applied 
research? 
This, then, was the adventure. I need not spend time here in explaining 
why something had to be done. You know the difficulties with which we were 
faced. Important raw materials under enemy control, semi-manufactured 
products of vital importance made only by them, finished articles essential to our 
staple industries, or to our fighting services, drawn almost entirely from enemy 
sources—you know the list, and you know something of the brilliant efforts 
made in our emergency to supply what was missing. We have submitted to 
State action with a vengeance. ‘But the Government. realized that emergency 
measures could aot offer a lasting cure for our shortcominys. An attempt must 
Ge made to organize for peace. What did they do? he traditional way of 
dealing with a problem of this kind is to appoint a Royal Commission of 
distinguished persons to study the question and recommend the action to be 
taken. But wise men can seldom agree to appear before the public with exactly 
the same answers to a question, and if the wise disagree, it becomes harder 
than ever to decide what should be done. Besides, time will have passed, and 
the problem may not seem any longer so urgent, because other problems have 
arisen which are clamouring.for solution. ° Moreover, the wise men are not 
made responsible for carrying their advice into effect. Before anything can 
be done they have disappeared from the scene, and this little omission encourages 
argument and theory. So the Government: appointed a Commission to act as 
permanent advisers to a responsible Minister. The Minister selected was the 
Lord President of the Council, because it was realized that if research was to 
be organized effectively, it must cover not only the whole United Kingdom, 
but be able to co-operate easily with possible developments of a like kind in 
other parts of the Empire. It was also clear that if the Government was to 
obtain the co-operation of the industries in regard to research, the Department 
concerned should be free from any suspicion of being concerned either in their 
vegulation or in commercial dealings with them. The Minister responsible 
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