------
THE PROMOTION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.
Nearly the whole of the most distinguished mathematicians, physicists,
chemists, biologists, and physiologists of Great Britain, also the Earl of
Derby, the Marquis of Salisbury, Sir Stafford Northcote and many other
eminent men, have given evidence before the Royal Commissioners on
"Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science"[23] to the
following effect:--_1st._ That the promotion of original scientific
research is neglected in this country. _2nd._ That such research is
encouraged more by the State in Germany than here. And _3rd_. That much
greater encouragement of it by our Government, by the Universities and the
Public, is highly necessary to our commercial prosperity. They have also
stated in evidence their opinions as to the best ways in which they
consider it may be assisted. The additional fact that all the greatest
scientific men who have ever existed have pursued research, and sacrificed
much for it, is a practical proof that they also approved of its
encouragement.
That research should be promoted is further the opinion of many men learned
in politics, literature, art, and science. The views expressed in numerous
letters on the subject, received by me from Members {171} of the Privy
Council, and of both Houses of Parliament, and from other eminent persons,
confirm this. It has also been adopted as a chief part of the programme of
the "Association for the Organization of Academical Study."[24]
"M. de Candolle, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Science, Paris, is
a strong advocate for the encouragement of a class of sinecurists like the
non-working Fellows of our Colleges, who should have leisure to investigate
and not be pestered by the petty mechanical work of continued teaching and
examining." "The modern ideas of democracy are adverse to places to which
definite work is not attached, and from which definite results do not flow.
This principle is a wise one for the mass of mankind; but is utterly
misplaced when applied to those who have the zeal for investigation, and
who work best when left quite alone."
The correctness of the principle of promoting research is also recognised
by our Governments in their yearly grants of money to the Royal Society,
and to the Royal Irish Academy[25] to aid research, also by the Council of
the Chemical Society, which has established a fund for the same purpose;
and by the British Association in their annual grants for the promotion of
scientific enquiry. The Fishmonger's Company also presented to Mr. W. R.
Parker, F.R.S., the sum of L50, followed by an annual gift of L20 for {172}
the three years, to assist him in bearing the expenses of his researches on
the skulls of vertebrate animals. And the British Pharmaceutical Conference
voted the sum of L80 from the Bell and Hills fund, during the period of
three years, in aid of research in connection with pharmaceutical science.
A small fund for the purpose of research exists also at the Royal
Institution. Fellowships also with a similar object have been founded at
the Victoria University. Dr. Priestley also was aided in his researches by
contributions from a small circle of friends. In recognition of the same
principle, nearly all of the most eminent scientific men on the Continent
have been assisted by their respective Governments. The total amount of aid
to research in this country is however very small, and to one acquainted
with the great commercial and other any valuable results of such labour, it
is simply astounding that we have not systematically organized a powerful
means of promoting discovery.
A few scientific persons however still continue to oppose aid to research;
quite recently, scientific investigators have been spoken of as a class of
"men amusing themselves without any result whatever."[26] That idea however
abundantly refuted in the foregoing pages. It has also been remarked[27]
that "practically, endowment of research comes to the creation of positions
where there is payment without corresponding labour." "In England above all
countries in the world, there will always be plenty of {173} amateurs ready
and willing to assist in research, and it is notorious that in England,
almost without exception, all the great advances in science have been made
by such amateurs. Therefore I do not think it at all desirable that the
British tax-payer should be required to put his hand in his pocket to
provide salaries for gentlemen who might be working rightly or wrongly. He
could not control them, and while there are such a body of amateurs in the
country, I think the researches may be very well left to them."
The first of these statements is not correct; the endowment of research
does not amount to "payment without corresponding labour." Scientific
discoverers have always been distinguished as a body of men intensely
devoted to their labours, and willing to perform much work for small
payment. Most of the great advances in science also in England, have been
made not by "amateurs," but by men of great experience, such as Newton,
Herschel, Priestley, Davy, Faraday, Graham, and many others. Endowment of
research is not desired for wealthy amateurs, but for investigators of
proved ability and small pecuniary means and who require assistance. Such
men, although not infallible, are the least likely to "work wrongly," and
much less likely to do so than amateurs. Many scientific investigators also
of repute, object to give their services wholly to a wealthy nation,
because they cannot afford to do so, and because it is only just that the
nation should make them some pecuniary return for their skill and labour.
The great evils {174} in this country requiring new knowledge to remedy
them[28] also prove that there are not "plenty of amateurs ready and
willing to assist in research here," or that "the researches may be very
well left to them."
Whilst some investigators have had abundant means to carry on research, and
have excelled in that occupation, many of the most eminent have been
persons of limited circumstances; and their insufficient pecuniary means
has often restricted their degree of success. The argument also that
insufficiency of means stimulates research, is only employed by persons who
are not making investigations under such a condition.
The President of the Royal Society, Dr. Spottiswoode, in his recent
address[29] also remarked:--"The question has been raised whether it be
wise, even in the interests of science, to encourage any one 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." Each of these remarks
appears to be made upon the assumption that it is still a doubtful question
whether persons qualified for research should be encouraged or not to
abandon occupations they reluctantly follow, and for which they are less
fitted, in order to become scientific {175} discoverers. As it is a fact
that the welfare of this country is suffering through deficiency of
encouragement of research, it is certainly desirable to encourage, by every
proper means, qualified persons to occupy themselves in such labour. Some
of the greatest discoveries have been made by men "not yet of independent
income," for instance, those made by Scheele, Priestley, Dalton, Faraday,
W. Herschel, and many others.
The late Astronomer Royal, also,[30] who has made many researches, and was
a scientific official paid by the State, says:--"I think that successful
researches have in nearly every instance originated with private persons,
or with persons whose positions were so nearly private that the
investigators acted under private influence, without incurring the danger
attending connection with the State. Certainly I do not consider a
Government is justified in endeavouring to force, at public expense,
investigations of undefined character, and, at best, of doubtful utility;
and I think it probable that any such attempt will lead to consequences
disreputable to science. The very utmost, in my opinion, to which the State
should be expected to contribute, is exhibited in the large grants
intrusted to the Royal Society. The world, I think, is not unanimous in
believing that they have been useful." He then enumerates what he considers
"the proper foundations of claims upon the State," which he illustrates,
and substantially includes in and {176} limits by, the kinds of scientific
research done under his direction at the Royal Observatory. He further
adds--"The Royal Observatory was founded expressly for a definite
utilitarian purpose (the promotion of navigation) necessarily connected
with the highest science. And this utilitarian purpose has been steadily
kept in view for two centuries, and is now followed with greater vigour
than ever before. To its original plan have also been added--but still in
the utilitarian sense--the publication of time, the broader observation of
terrestrial magnetism, and local meteorology." His views therefore appear
to be, that State aid to research should be limited to utilitarian objects;
and that it is with propriety given to his own department, which is
connected with the State. It has however been abundantly proved that nearly
all the great scientific utilities of every-day life, had their origin in
the pursuit, not of utilities, but of pure truth, and that immediate
usefulness is neither the most successful nor the highest motive in
scientific research, nor should research be limited by so narrow a
condition. The investigations also made by the aid of Government Grants
possess the usual degree of definiteness and of utility of such labours,
and it cannot be reasonably expected that the world would be unanimous
respecting any measure, especially respecting a subject so little
understood by the public as the Endowment of Research.
If investigators were to limit their researches to utilities, or what
appeared to be such, scarcely any {177} essentially new experiments or new
discoveries of importance would be made. No attempts would be made to
discover essentially novel facts, nor would many trials be made to test
fundamental abstract questions which affect the very basis of scientific
knowledge. The principles of electro-magnetism, of magneto-electric action,
and of the magnetic rotation of polarized light, were each discovered by
means of perfectly novel experiments, in which immediate utility was not
the motive.
It is worthy of notice that of the very small proportion of scientific
investigators who disapprove of State aid to Research, nearly every one
already possesses sufficient pecuniary means to carry on investigations,
and therefore cannot adequately appreciate the position and necessities of
investigators having only small incomes. In some cases also the objections
to aid investigators come from scientific men who have attempted to make
discoveries but have not succeeded.
Dr. Robinson of Armagh, a well-known investigator, has very properly
pointed out[31] what has been done in this country towards giving
assistance to those engaged in the pursuit of science, and mentions the
Observatories maintained by the Universities and by the Nation. He says
also that if anything more were to be done in increasing the amount of
grants of money to assist scientific work, he thinks "it might be best
applied in establishing in the great commercial {178} centres of the realm,
physical and chemical laboratories such as that which the Duke of
Devonshire has established at Cambridge, provided with the most refined
apparatus, and accessible to all who are considered privileged by a
competent tribunal." He also says "when there is found a man so far
surpassing his fellows in any department of science that he may be expected
to do work beyond their power, he ought to be made independent of any other
pursuit, so that none of his time and energy may be lost, such a case is
exceptional, and when it occurs it should be exceptionally provided for."
Original research will for a long time to come, be opposed by a large
section of the non-scientific public:--by the numerous persons whose source
of income depends upon the ignorance of their fellow-men:--by those who are
deficient of faith in demonstrable truth, and fear that their most
cherished beliefs are endangered by it:--and by many of those who are
insufficiently acquainted with it to perceive its great value to mankind.
With regard to the fears of many objectors that the Endowment of Research
would lead to jobbery and abuses, and thus retard the progress of discovery
instead of promoting it; it is evident that such a risk is an inseparable
concomitant of every remunerated office and is not peculiar to that of
research, and must therefore be accepted as unavoidable and be provided
against in the usual ways. It does not however appear probable that the
risk in this respect is at all greater {179} than that already existing and
provided against in many other appointments.
Many persons, not clearly perceiving the difference between pure research
and other scientific occupations, suppose that because science is
encouraged in various ways in this country; and because sums of money are
occasionally given to scientific institutions, and some scientific men are
evidently receiving good incomes, that discoverers are remunerated, but
this is a great mistake; there is probably not a scientific man in the
kingdom who is wholly employed in such work in abstract physics or
chemistry, and paid for his entire skill, time, and labour. Wherever
payment is made for scientific labour, it is nearly always for that
performed with a view to some immediate practical application. Inventors
and expositors are remunerated, but discoverers are not.
At the present time in this country scientific men are paid for teaching,
lecturing, writing popular scientific articles, compiling scientific books,
editing scientific journals, making chemical analyses and experiments for
manufacturers, companies, and others, for practical purposes, or to obtain
evidence for legal cases, giving evidence on scientific subjects in courts
of law, with consultations and advice to manufacturers and others,
superintending scientific commercial undertakings, &c. Some also
unfortunately obtain an income and cheap publicity by the empirical
contrivance of selling to tradesmen, their scientific opinions in the form
of testimonials which are extensively {180} advertised at the cost of the
purchasers. But not one of these occupations constitutes pure research, or
is an immediate source of new discoveries. Payment is made for all kinds of
scientific labour which will immediately benefit individuals or
corporations, but very little for pure investigation, and nearly every
inducement exists to attract men of science from pursuing such labour.
It might be supposed that investigators would patent or sell their
discoveries; but discoveries in pure science cannot usually be patented or
sold, because they have not been converted by invention into commercial
commodities. New scientific truth is utterly unsaleable; no one will
purchase it. Whilst the real or intrinsic value of it is great, its
extrinsic value is small and is the sum of money it will sell for in the
market. No one would have purchased Oersted's great discovery of
electro-magnetism. It would also be less to public advantage if
investigators were to neglect discovering new knowledge in order to apply
that knowledge to practical uses. It requires a different training of
mental power to discover new truths, than to utilize them by means of
invention, teaching or lecturing; and men who can invent and instruct are
far more numerous than those who are able to discover. Discoveries are also
generally much more valuable than inventions, because a single discovery
(that of gutta percha for example) not unfrequently forms the basis of many
inventions. Discoverers not unfrequently meet with new facts {181} which
they perceive might be applied to valuable technical uses, but they
hesitate to patent them because the process of invention, taking out a
patent, seeking a manufacturer to work it, and protecting their patent from
piracy, would occupy a large portion of their time, and take them away from
research. Sir D. Brewster got no money by patenting his kaleidoscope
because the patent was instantly pirated in all directions.
Some persons have suggested that scientific men should keep their
discoveries secret, but this would usually be a greater disadvantage to the
investigator even than publishing them, and no one would then derive any
benefit; discoveries also, being often capable of numerous applications,
and not being in a saleable shape, cannot usually be monopolised by any
one. New scientific knowledge is like a powerful light, it cannot be
hidden. Discoveries are eminently national knowledge, and research should
therefore be national employment.
Other persons suppose that investigators should be satisfied with the fame
of their discoveries, and not require any payment; but this is a most
unfair supposition, because no man can live without means, and every useful
person deserves to be paid for his labour. Ought the late Duke of
Wellington to have been satisfied with the fame alone of his exploits,
without being paid any salary? Ought a Bishop to be content with the renown
of his eloquence, without receiving any payment for his services? Genius
alone is {182} appropriately rewarded by fame, but time, unusual skill,
labour and expenditure, should be repaid by money.
It has been suggested that an investigator, if he is a man of practical
ability, is very often put into an office, the duties of which he can
efficiently discharge, and yet have leisure for original research, as in
the case of the late Dr. Graham, the eminent Master of the Mint,[32] our
Astronomers Royal, &c., and thus obtain his reward. But this is a very
imperfect plan, because research is very difficult, and to be carried out
effectually, requires the whole of a man's time and attention; the
investigator would also be taken from more important work to do that which
is of less value to the nation, and which might be performed by a more
suitable person; appointments also of the kind referred to are much too few
in number. Such a plan as this, of relegating important national work to
odd hours spared from official duties, is a makeshift, and quite unworthy
of this nation. Entire occupation in research, combined with efficient
publication of the results, is the only satisfactory plan of procedure.
Probably one of the most satisfactory ways of rewarding scientific
discoverers and serving national interests at the same time, would be to
create salaried professorships of original research, and appoint
discoverers of repute to fill them.
The time is near at hand when this nation will be compelled by the
injurious consequences arising from its neglect of scientific research, to
acquire a {183} knowledge of the relations of science to national existence
and welfare, and to adopt some means of encouraging discovery. The greatest
difficulty, probably, which has to be overcome, is not so much how to
obtain funds for the purpose, as how to employ them successfully, and
especially how to prevent their getting into the hands of unsuitable
persons. But, as methods have been found of remunerating all other classes
of persons, ways may be devised of remunerating scientific investigators.
It is only because the case is novel that it seems difficult; it is
probably no more intrinsically difficult to establish a professorship of
research than to found an ecclesiastical benefice.
The great difficulty of determining from what source discoverers should be
paid for their labours, arises from the fact that all classes of the
community share in the benefit. It is evident they should in some measure
be paid from a source towards which all classes either directly or
indirectly contribute, and therefore from some public fund. The persons who
first use scientific knowledge are the compilers of scientific books, and
teachers of science; but these only disseminate the knowledge, and do not
derive from it any great pecuniary advantage, they are only the agents for
supplying the knowledge to others. The persons who first convert such
knowledge into valuable commercial commodities are inventors and
manufacturers who have received scientific education or advice; but those
who derive the greatest pecuniary benefit from it, and who should therefore
either {184} directly or indirectly pay in the largest degree for it, are
the great manufacturers, capitalists, and landowners. Whilst the question
is being settled as to what class of persons shall primarily bear the
expense of research, discoverers themselves are suffering great injustice,
and our manufactures and commerce are passing into the hands of foreign
nations. What the amount of loss and disadvantage suffered by this nation,
through want of encouragement of scientific enquiry is, cannot be
estimated, but it is certainly enormous. Had even a very moderate amount of
payment been made for such labour, and the expenses out of pocket paid in
full, the amount of research performed would have been greatly increased.
Under present circumstances, many promising young men, fitted to become
good investigators, have been driven out of science altogether. I have
found by long experience and persistent enquiry, that there are many young
men distributed over this country, who are very desirous of engaging in
scientific research, and likely to make good investigators, but are
entirely prevented by the non-remunerative character of the labour, every
one wishes to know "what will it lead to"? Even amongst our most able
discoverers, scarcely one who has not possessed private means has continued
research beyond the middle age of life, because such labour enables no
provision to be made for old age; and all those who have left have devoted
themselves to less important but more lucrative occupations. Most of these
gentlemen have been {185} obliged to abandon research at a period of life
when their faculties were in the most perfect state for continuing it.
Where one young beginner in science meets with the fortunate circumstance
of a helping hand, as Scheele did in Bergmann, and Faraday in Davy, many
are crushed out. The want of encouragement to scientific discovery in this
country is so very great that extremely few men are able to struggle
through it, and this is one reason why we have had so few discoveries. Some
persons have argued that the very difficulties and discouragements offered
are an advantage to science by producing only men of the very highest
eminence in discovery; but it is manifest that however great the amount of
ability may be that is developed by discouragement, that amount would
probably be still greater by judicious assistance. Moreover, progress in
the developement of the national scientific intellect is not so much to be
reckoned by the few great successes which have occurred in spite of all
obstacles, but rather by the much more numerous ones which would have
resulted from proper encouragement. The advocates of such an argument can
have no idea of the heart-sickening feeling of long deferred hope
experienced by the young beginner in science; or the disgust gradually
engendered in his mind at the injustice of other men taking all the profits
of his labours and leaving him without means of support; or they would
never adduce it. In this country the success of the few {186} eminent men
of science has resulted from the accidental combination of a few more or
less fortuitous circumstances, and their own great natural determination,
and not from legitimate and just support. How many investigators we have
lost from the above causes it is impossible to tell. The encouragement also
of unusual ability should not be left to accident.
As scientific research has proved itself to be of such great value to this
nation, the question naturally arises, how can it best be promoted? A
number of plans have been proposed. Amongst these may be mentioned. _1st._
By founding State Laboratories, in which discoverers of established repute,
supplied with every aid and appliance, should be wholly engaged in research
in their respective subjects, and be paid by the State. _2nd._ By founding
colleges or Professorships of original research in each of the
Universities, and appointing professors similarly. _3rd._ By founding
provincial colleges or Professorships of research, the funds being raised
locally by means of subscriptions, donations, and endowments, with or
without State assistance. _4th._ By State or Local aid, in the form of
additional salary, to Professors in colleges, to enable them to pursue
research. _5th._ By an extension of the present Government grants
distributed by the Royal Society. _6th._ By making it a condition at each
of our Universities that every student entering for a degree in science,
should previously make an original research. _7th._ By the formation by
learned societies, of Endowment of {187} Research Funds, and making grants
of money therefrom to recognised investigators. _8th._ By aid to local
scientific investigators by Municipal bodies out of the rates. And _9th._
The support of Institutes of Scientific Research by private munificence.
Aid to research, in Germany, has been chiefly been made by the State, by
affording means to the Professors in the Universities; in America, more by
munificence of wealthy individuals; and in this country, chiefly in the
form of Government grants of money to investigators. The greatest
difficulty to be surmounted in carrying out any of these schemes, is the
very general ignorance in this country of the value and necessity of
research; and this can only be overcome by scientific men themselves
performing their duty of enlightening the public on the subject.
_1st._ _By founding State Laboratories._ One of the first duties of a
Government is to protect its subjects in the enjoyment of their property;
but as no law reserves to discoverers the fruits of their ability, it is
clearly a duty of the State to protect them in other ways. It is believed
to be a duty of the State to provide and pay for pure scientific research,
for the following reasons:--because research is eminently national work;
because the results of such labour are indispensable to national welfare
and progress, and are of immense value to the nation, and especially to the
Government; because nearly the whole pecuniary benefit of it goes to the
nation, and scarcely any to the discoverer; because research is not
sufficiently {188} provided for by means of voluntary effort, nor can its
benefits be restricted to a locality; and because there appears to be
scarcely any other way (except by application of University revenues) in
which discoverers can be satisfactorily recompenced for their labour. Also
"Government should for its own sake honour the men who do honour and
service to the country." (Faraday.)
The founding of State laboratories for original research was proposed and
advocated by the late Lieutenant-Colonel Strange, F.R.S., in communications
read before the British Association, and in evidence given before the Royal
Commissioners.[33] As the erection and maintenance of State laboratories
would require a large sum of money, and as all classes of the community
would share in the benefit, it is reasonable to suggest that the money
should come from some source towards which all classes of the community,
either directly or indirectly contribute, and therefore from some national
fund.
In national improvements, expense is quite a secondary consideration; the
funds however for providing State laboratories already exist; the sum of
nearly L600,000 has accumulated in the form of fees received by Government
for the granting of patents for inventions; and as the discoveries made by
scientific men form the materials by means of which those inventions were
made, the money thus accumulated may be justly claimed by scientific
discoverers as a suitable {189} source from which their labours should be
remunerated by the State.
Strong arguments might be adduced both against and in favour of the
application of this money for the purpose. Inventors are a great
wealth-producing class of the community; they are at present very highly
taxed, and receive but little advantage in return; to tax them without
giving them equivalent advantages, strikes very near to the root of
commercial prosperity, by diminishing improvements in arts and
manufactures. If an inventor is poor and his patent is valuable, he is also
frequently harassed out of it by litigation. Inventors are usually poor,
and but little able to pay taxes on patents at all; their pecuniary
position in this country is not greatly better than that of discoverers;
they are largely at the mercy of manufacturers and capitalists; and the
injustice to which they are sometimes subjected is notorious and
disgraceful. On the other hand, the fund already exists; inventors also
receive an equivalent from investigators, discovery is the indispensable
basis of nearly all invention; patented inventions are formed by means of
the knowledge obtained by pure scientific research. The poverty of a man
does not justify his taking the fruits of the labours of another man
without paying for them. If also the patent fees were thus applied, the
cost of research would then be paid for by all classes of the community,
somewhat in proportion to the benefit derived, because the cost of patents
in general ultimately falls upon the public at {190} large, in the shape of
an increased price put upon the commodity, in order to pay the cost of the
patent, like the grower of wheat is paid by the consumers of bread, through
the medium of the baker, the miller, and corn merchant.
Whilst the benefits derived from the labours of discoverers, flows chiefly
in the form of money into the hands of wealthy manufacturers, and finally
gets locked up in the possession of capitalists and landowners, it is
hardly to be expected that the Government will be in possession of funds
necessary to promote research unless some such plan as this is adopted.
Should the wealthy and governing classes however become sufficiently
acquainted with the value of research, and of the essential and permanent
dependence of their material prosperity upon it, there will then be some
hope that they will be willing to contribute in a more direct manner their
just share towards paying the expenses. There is, however, but little
prospect of this whilst the influence of wealth so depresses the scientific
education of those classes at the Universities.
The fundamental object in founding State laboratories should be to keep a
staff of the most competent men wholly engaged in original research in pure
science, and a secondary object might be to train assistants to become
investigators. Such laboratories would doubtless be located in London, and
be on a scale of magnitude creditable to science and the nation. They might
very suitably include {191} departments for the simpler pure sciences and
even for biology.
It is manifest that the arguments which support the proposition for
professorships of original research in those sciences apply in a greater or
less degree to other sciences; and it has been stated that "there is no
ground upon which the scheme can be limited to the subject of natural
philosophy." In reference to this remark, (which, like most objections,
contains some truth), it must be remembered that there is a natural order
of dependence of the sciences upon each other, in which order also they are
being evolved. It is a general truth that the physical sciences of light
and heat are based upon mechanical conditions of the particles of matter;
that the science of chemistry is founded upon physics; that biological
phenomena are dependent upon physical and chemical conditions; that
psychological subjects are based upon biology; and that biological science
cannot progress excepting in proportion to the advance of the sciences on
which it is based. In addition to this general order of precedence of
evolution in point of time, the various sciences are so mutually related
that all must advance together, the simple ones taking the lead, and the
concrete and more complex sciences, with their attendant arts, following
behind.
As this natural order of dependence and development of the sciences is a
great fact of nature, over which we have little or no control, and as a
scheme for the simultaneous establishment of professorships of research in
all the sciences, simple, complex, and {192} concrete, would probably be
too great an undertaking, the most proper course would be to commence with
the simpler ones, such as those of mathematics, mechanics, physics, and
chemistry, and perhaps biology. If it be argued that it would be
unadvisable to commence with the simple and purely experimental sciences,
it would be still more unadvisable to commence with the concrete subjects
of "natural history, medicine, civil history, law, and theology," or with
the arts which also depend upon science.
The number of investigators in such an institution would not be large,
because few of high repute could be obtained, many of our ablest ones
abandon research for remunerative pursuits. In order to make the plan
succeed, the conditions of the appointments should be such as to limit the
election to the most competent persons. In the selection of such gentlemen,
the verdict of opinion of scientific men generally, upon the published
researches of the candidates, would have previously determined who were
qualified for the office. Any man who had published reliable papers in the
Transactions of the Royal Society, might very properly be considered a fit
candidate, and the selection and appointment might be made by the
Government, with the advice of the Council of the Royal Society.
Probably there exists no class of persons upon whom the country might more
rely for industry in office than eminent investigators, because they have
pursued truth for its good effects alone. Men who had {193} previously
exercised the degree of self-sacrifice necessary to make a number of long
and difficult experimental researches, with only very limited pecuniary
means, must necessarily be possessed of great enthusiasm in their calling,
and would therefore be extremely unlikely persons to become idle by being
supplied with a sufficiency only of means to carry on their labours.
Further, such men might at present obtain a much larger income than they
would receive in such a post, by abandoning research and devoting
themselves to the various profitable engagements which are open to every
man of scientific ability who is willing to devote himself to applied
science. The actual work of research is much too arduous and difficult to
permit such an office to become an object of desire to a place-seeking or
idle person. But in order to exclude with certainty those who might devote
themselves to research solely or primarily for the purpose of subsequently
obtaining a well paid appointment, (as persons sometimes devote themselves
to learning, with the object of getting an "idle Fellowship,") and to
ensure in all cases a reasonable continuance of industry, it would be
necessary, that whilst the salaries paid should be sufficient to render the
professors free from care, if expended with a reasonable degree of economy,
they should not be so large as to conduce to idleness. The professors
should undertake not to engage in any other remunerative employment, and
provision should be made, that in case a professor persistently failed to
make, complete, or publish his {194} researches, or devoted less than the
stipulated amount of time to such labour in the Institution, without
reasonable cause, he should be removed.
Many persons fancy that "it must be very nice to be always making
experiments," and that they "should be delighted with such an occupation"
if they "could only spare the time." But such an idea is only another
illustration of the general ignorance of the subject, and it is only
expressed by those who have never made a laborious and difficult research.
Pure research is by far the most difficult of all scientific occupations,
and this is another chief reason why discoverers are few, and why they will
probably remain so.
To succeed in research, a man must set aside all human pride, and approach
the subject with perfect humility; and this is not an easy task, men cannot
so readily abandon preconceived and cherished notions. Many researches are
moreover extremely dangerous. Thilorier was killed by the explosion of a
vessel of liquefied carbonic anhydride; Dulong lost an eye and finger, and
Sir Humphrey Davy was wounded by an explosion of chloride of nitrogen.
Faraday was near being blinded by an experiment with oxygen. Nickles of
Nancy, and Louyet of Brussels, lost their lives, and two other chemists
were seriously injured in health by exposure to the excessively dangerous
fumes of hydrofluoric acid. Bunsen lost the sight of an eye and was nearly
poisoned by an explosion whilst analysing cyanide of cacodyl.[34] Hennel
was killed by an {195} explosion of fulminate of silver, and Chapman by one
of nitrate of methyl; and nearly every chemical investigator could tell of
some narrow escape of life in his own experience. Any one who wishes to
know whether it is "very nice to be always making experiments" should
attempt the isolation of fluorine, the chemical examination of some
offensive substance, or the determination of some difficult physical, or
chemical problem.
That a professorship of original research would "involve substantial work"
does not admit of doubt, and therefore "there would be some security that
it would be worthily bestowed." It would not become an "ornamental
sinecure," in which "there is pay but no work," unless, by assigning to it
too large a stipend, inducement was held out to that numerous class of
persons whose love of money is stronger than their love of truth, to seek
the office; to say the utmost, it could hardly become so largely a sinecure
as many offices now held by ecclesiastics. Jobbery and abuse of patronage
would be still further prevented by making the duties sufficiently heavy.
The appointment, and remuneration by salary, of professor of research,
would not lessen the independence of scientific men if the office was not
placed under the superintendence of active and interfering officials
ignorant of science. Although the professors might not be highly paid, the
appointment would increase their independence because it would be one of
the most honourable to which scientific men could {196} attain, and because
they would thereby be put into a sphere in which they could exercise their
talents to the fullest extent, and render the greatest service and honour
to the nation. If also the salaries offered were not too great, those
persons only would become candidates who at present have insufficient means
to defray the considerable cost of experiments.
It would be necessary to appoint only persons who would undertake to devote
their time solely to the discovery of new facts and principles in science,
and the determination of purely scientific questions, and not to the making
of inventions; because discovery is of far greater national value than
invention; and because inventions would immediately on their publication be
seized, modified, and patented by individuals for their own personal
benefit. Discoveries, on the other hand, would require a large additional
amount of labour expended upon them by inventors before they could be
converted into saleable commodities.
Each professor should be allowed perfect freedom to choose his own special
subjects of research in the sciences he had been accustomed to study,
because each investigator is usually the best judge of what researches are
the most likely to yield him important results. No discoverer of repute
would be very likely to trespass on another man's sphere of research,
because he would usually have an abundance of good subjects of his own; and
every honourable man would purposely avoid doing so; and we find this
practically to be the case at the present time. Separate sets of {197}
rooms would be necessary for each investigator in order to keep the
researches private and distinct.
The whole of the new knowledge obtained by research should be treated as
national property, and all of it worthy of publication should be made known
without the least reserve, it would also be desirable to publish the
results at reasonable intervals of time. The publication might take place,
as at present, in the journals of the learned Societies, or in the leading
scientific magazines, and the value of the work would be largely guaranteed
by such a mode of publication. The professors should also engage not to
sell, patent, or prematurely disclose any of the knowledge obtained. By
electing to such offices only discoverers of repute, the nation might
reasonably depend for the results upon the known ability and industry of
the men. That the results obtained would, many of them, be highly valuable,
does not admit of doubt, because long experience has uniformly proved it;
but no discoverer can tell beforehand what results he will obtain,
otherwise research would hardly be needed.
An objection has been made that no one can tell how long it will be after a
discovery is made before the nation will derive the chief benefit. The
length of time which elapses between the publication of discoveries and
their practical fruits is very variable. Usually benefit commences at once
and gradually widens; directly discoveries are published they begin to be
used by compilers of scientific books, and by teachers and lecturers in
science, and are thus diffused {198} amongst the public in general, and
begin to produce beneficial effects. Inventors, manufacturers, medical men,
and others, also begin to apply them to their respective purposes. In some
cases striking applications are immediately made of them, and public
attention is thus directed to the useful result; but in many cases the
beneficial effects are small, numerous, and indirect, and it is difficult
to trace and describe them. The objection also is deficient in force,
because expenditure in any other occupation, and receipt of the profit upon
it, are rarely simultaneous. Many of the wisest reforms in this country
have been a long time in producing their results. We must therefore be
content, as in all ordinary cases of investment, with the conviction that
the expenditure will be profitable, and we must wait patiently for the
certain harvest. In research, as in many other human enterprises, a man who
will not move until he is absolutely certain that what he intends to do
will at at once succeed, must sit still and perish.
Suggestions have also been made to appoint a Government Committee, or
Council, whose function should be to value scientific discoveries, and make
corresponding amounts of reward to the discoverers. But this appears to be
a less feasible plan, because no man can, at the period of discovery,
determine what amount of practical result a discovery will ultimately
produce. Who could have foretold with certainty at the date of Oersted's
discovery of electro-magnetism, that this discovery would result in {199}
the expenditure of hundreds of millions of pounds upon telegraphs
alone?[35]
Objections have been made to definite payment for labour in research, on
the ground of indefiniteness of the results, and the impossibility of
measuring their value. Can we expect to buy new scientific knowledge at so
much a pound, or to retail discovery by the pint? The work of discoverers
is as definite as that of many other persons who are paid. Who can measure
the value of the cure of souls, of the duties of a judge, or of those of a
field-marshal? Instead of paying for the labour of research in a definite
way, we have adopted unsatisfactory makeshifts. Exceptional gifts, and
semi-charitable pensions, have been with difficulty obtained in a few cases
for scientific men; most often for those who applied scientific knowledge
to practical uses than for those who discovered that knowledge. In this
country, neither lawyers, medical men, military persons, nor clergymen are
paid definitely by results, but by time and labour, in accordance with the
reputation of the man, and there is no sufficient reason why investigators
should not be similarly remunerated. The differences in the cases are only
ones of degree.
The time has arrived when this great evil should be made known and
remedied, and men of science should press upon our Government, as a matter
of justice to themselves, and necessary for the nation's welfare, that the
accumulated fees from patents should be applied to the establishment of a
Scientific {200} department of the State, the erection of State
laboratories, and the payment of discoverers for the national work of
research.
_2nd._ _Professorships of Research at the Universities._ Most of the
remarks already made respecting the appointment and maintenance of
professors of research in State laboratories, would apply equally to those
proposed in connection with the Universities. Amongst the reasons which may
be adduced in favour of the establishment of such professorships the
following may be selected. Because the advancement of learning is
peculiarly the function of a University, and one of the chief objects for
which such institutions were founded. The word University implies a seat of
universal knowledge, and it is reasonable to assume that Universities
should act as fountains of new theoretical knowledge, as well as perform
the function of diffusing it; such an addition would also raise their
intellectual position, and make them much more respected, both at home and
abroad.
With regard to such professorships, the "Association for the Organization
of Academical Study," consisting of a number of learned men belonging to
the Universities, the Royal Society, and other learned bodies, adopted the
following resolutions:--
"That the chief end to be kept in view in any redistribution of the
revenues of Oxford and Cambridge is the adequate maintenance of Mature
Study and Scientific Research, as well for their own sake as with the view
of bringing the higher education within the {201} reach of all who are
desirous of profiting by it." "That to have a class of men whose lives are
devoted to research is a national object." "That it is desirable, in the
interest of national progress and education, that Professorships and
special institutions shall be founded in the Universities for the promotion
of Scientific Research." "That the present mode of awarding Fellowships as
prizes, has been unsuccessful as a means of promoting Mature Study and
Original Research, and that it is therefore desirable that it should be
discontinued."
With regard to the funds necessary:--It has been estimated that the money
paid in the form of sinecure fellowships or retiring pensions, to young men
in Oxford alone now amounts to about L80,000 or L90,000 a year; and it has
been suggested that this money be applied to the purpose. These funds were
originally intended for promoting knowledge, but vested interests prevent
their being used for discovering new truths.
The chief object of such professorships would be the same as that in the
proposed State laboratories, viz.--to keep a staff of the most competent
men wholly engaged upon research in pure science. The professors of
physical and chemical research might be selected in accordance with the
suggestions already made, and be appointed by the Senate or other governing
body, with the advice of the Council of the Royal Society. All the
precautions which have been already suggested under the head of "State
laboratories," would {202} have to be taken in order to exclude unsuitable
persons, and to secure industry in the professors. The remarks also,
already made respecting the limitation of the duties of the professors to
research in pure science, the exclusion of invention, the publication of
results, the class of sciences with which a commencement might best be
made, etc., apply equally in this case. I do not however mean by these
remarks to suggest the disendowment of research in the more complex or
concrete subjects, in order to make a commencement with the simpler
sciences.
The existence within the Universities of offices in which the faculties of
scientific men might be developed to their fullest extent, would induce
those engaged in the work of scientific instruction in those institutions
to devote more time to research, in order that they might improve their
scientific talents, and in their turn become fitted to occupy such posts.
It has been suggested that discoverers should teach as well as investigate;
but this would be an imperfect plan, and would largely convert the position
of a professor into that of one at an ordinary college. Every person who
has had much experience in experimental investigation also knows, that to
carry it out effectually, requires the whole of his time and attention. If,
therefore, teaching or lecturing constitutes a part of the duties, a
portion of the professor's time must be taken from the more important
occupation of research, and the fundamental object of the institution will
be frustrated. Research evolves new knowledge; {203} teaching simply
distributes it. The labours of a scientific teacher or lecturer consist
essentially of a continued series of repetitions of other men's
discoveries. For each single man who can discover, there exist many who can
teach. With teaching in addition to research, all the usual educational
machinery, lecture theatres and apparatus, diagrams, audiences, pupils,
registration of students, receipt of fees, examinations, marking of papers,
valuing of answers, attending annual meetings, etc., would be brought into
requisition, and the result would probably be, as it is at present, the
duties of teaching would, in nearly all cases, swallow up the time, and
prevent the freedom from interruption necessary for successful research
Under present circumstances, it is the testimony of nearly every teacher
and lecturer in science, that he "has no time for research." If teaching is
also carried on, the Research laboratories will compete with educational
institutions, established and carried on by private enterprize, and place
them at a disadvantage, and thus discourage voluntary effort in the
diffusion of science; but by limiting the functions of the professors
entirely to pure research, there will be no competition with any private
interests, because no persons gain a livelihood entirely by means of such
occupation.
That the practice of teaching is however of very great use in preparing the
mind of a scientific man for research is quite certain, because it compels
him to study all parts of his subject, and whilst doing so, many questions
for investigation occur to his mind. {204} Many of our most eminent
discoverers have also been teachers. But teaching is not a necessary
condition of success in research, nor even a necessary preparation for it;
the examples of various able discoverers prove this. In some cases
discoverers have devoted themselves to teaching, only after having attained
high repute in research; in others they have not been teachers at all.
Original research itself usually suggests plenty of new subjects of
investigation, without the additional ones suggested by teaching.
In order that self improvement in a man of science might never stagnate,
there should exist a continuous and complete series of steps of preferment,
by which the merest beginners in scientific knowledge, might be enabled to
attain to the highest scientific position; and finally become wholly
occupied in that kind of labour by which their scientific faculties would
be developed to their fullest extent, but this last step is wanting. By the
proposed plan however a student would become a teacher; the teacher
develope into a professor; and a professor might employ for a period a
portion of his time in research, and thus become qualified for entire
devotion to original investigation and discovery.
After a scientific teacher has acquired a thorough knowledge of his
subjects, and a high position in his profession, his occupation becomes to
him a species of intellectual routine, in which he is continually going
through the same courses of lectures and examinations over and over again,
and his personal improvement stagnates. But if there was remuneration for
research, {205} or there existed some post or employment, to which those
who had acquired the ability to investigate might be appointed, there would
be an inducement to continued intellectual improvement, and a sphere in
which the most valuable faculties of scientific men might be developed for
national benefit to their fullest extent.
_3rd._ _Provincial Colleges of Research._--The success of this plan would
depend essentially upon the diffusion of a knowledge of the importance of
scientific research amongst the richer classes. There are at present a very
few wealthy persons in this country who perceive to some extent the value
of such research, and the dependence of their wealth upon it, who would be
willing to contribute to a fund for the purpose; and there are many more
who would assist if the importance of the subject was properly explained to
them. The chief argument in favour of provincial colleges of research is,
that it is a duty of wealthy persons to aid research, because they have
derived, and are continually deriving great benefits from it, for which
they make no payment. The ways in which some of those benefits have been
derived have been already briefly stated. As the large manufacturers and
capitalists are generally the persons who derive great pecuniary benefit
from the progress of science, it might be reasonably urged that they should
contribute freely towards its advancement.
Such an institution might be located in each of the {206} largest centres
of industry. The objects of the institution; the branches of science to be
investigated in it; the number of professors, the mode of selecting them,
and of excluding unsuitable candidates for the office; the means by which
industry might be secured and jobbery prevented; the exclusion of
invention, and of teaching and lecturing; the publication of results,
removal of professors, etc., have already been treated of under the head of
"State laboratories." The chief difficulties to be overcome in this, as in
all other plans of aiding research, are to find a sufficient number of
influential persons acquainted with the subject to practically carry out
the plan; to secure investigators of high ability; and to prevent the
offices being filled by incompetent persons.
_4th._ _Aid to Professors of Science in Colleges._--Another way by which
research might be promoted, would be by giving assistance in the form of a
definite amount of additional salary, for the purpose of pure research, to
professors and teachers in colleges and institutions; the money being
supplied by the State or from the funds of the Institution. In carrying out
this plan, it would be necessary to assist only those persons who had
already published a good research, and thus proved their ability; and who
would engage to devote a definite portion of their time to the labour as a
part of their duty. The selection of suitable men might be made with the
advice of the Council of the Royal Society. {207} The additional salary
should be entirely in the form of remuneration for labour, time, and
materials, etc., expended upon research in pure science, and not in
effecting inventions. The knowledge obtained should be treated as public
property, and be published in the usual manner, and the investigator should
not be permitted to sell or patent it. It would be necessary to provide
that in case the investigator failed to make or publish a reasonable amount
of good research, the additional salary should cease. Publication in the
journals of the Royal Society, or in a leading scientific magazine, might
be considered a sufficient proof of the satisfactory quality of the labour.
It is very desirable that all the higher teachers and professors of science
in our educational institution should devote a portion of their time to
original research. It would make their lectures more reliable, because
research yields experience in the detection of error; whilst there is
usually only one way of succeeding in making an experiment, there are
always many ways of failing, and in the directions given in books, the
latter are usually omitted. It would also induce the students to take a
greater interest in the subject, and feel more respect for the teacher. The
special excellence of the German system of teaching consists in the union
of teaching and original research. This plan of aiding research would
induce some of our teachers of science who have not yet made researches, to
attempt such labour, it would also develope a superior class of scientific
teachers generally; and produce a supply of candidates for professorships
of research. {208}
A great obstacle to the carrying out of this plan lies in the fact that in
consequence of the ignorance of the value of original research by the
founders of such Institutions, no definite provision usually exists in the
Trust deeds to authorise the Trustees to devote any of the funds to such a
purpose.
_5th._ _Extension of the Government Grant System._--During a number of
years the British Government has entrusted to the Royal Society the annual
sum of L1,000 for the purpose of aiding science; and that sum has been
given in varying portions to different investigators who have applied for
grants in aid of their expenses in making investigations.
Although the total amount to be disbursed annually was not large, very few
persons, qualified to make good researches, usually applied for its
assistance, and it was difficult to dispose of the whole. The chief causes
of this difficulty were:--a grant from the fund was an unprofitable gift to
accept, because it was only sufficient to partly pay the expenses out of
pocket for chemicals and apparatus, and allowed nothing for the skill,
time, or labour, nor for payments made to assistants. Further, "By order of
the Council, all instruments, apparatus, and drawings, made or obtained by
aid of the Government Grants, shall, after serving the purpose for which
they were procured, and in the absence of any specific understanding to the
contrary, be delivered into the custody of the Royal Society."
By far the greater part of the expense of an investigation in physics or
chemistry is the exceedingly large {209} amount of time it occupies. Many
necessary preliminary experiments have to be made, which yield either
negative, unsuccessful, or incomplete results, and make the undertaking
expensive. A good investigation in chemistry also not unfrequently costs
the investigator a sovereign a day if he is wholly employed upon it. In
some cases, for each L100 received as a grant, at least a L1,000, was
directly and indirectly expended. Any person therefore who undertook a
research became a loser, and aid from the Government Grant fund did not
entirely cover his loss. Only scientific men who had other sources of
income were able to avail themselves of the grants. The existence of the
grants also was not widely known. The advantages of the plan were, it
diminished the loss to the investigator, and the fact of being allotted a
sum from the fund was considered highly creditable to the recipient.
In consequence largely of the evidence collected from eminent men of
science from all parts of Great Britain, and the recommendations based upon
it, by the Royal Commission for the Advancement of Science, the Grant
system has been extended; our Government recently placed an additional
amount of L4,000 a year, for five years, to be distributed in sums at the
recommendation of the Royal Society to suitable applicants, and the five
years have now elapsed.
This extension of the Grant system has been an {210} improvement. It has
resulted both in a large increase in the number of applicants and of
researches; and has shown that there exists in this country a large amount
of scientific ability in need of encouragement. The amounts granted were
increased in magnitude so as to cover in some cases payments made to
assistants and the entire outlay made for experiments, also a small payment
for a portion of the time occupied in actual research. The plan of awarding
the grants has been for work proposed by the applicants to be done, and not
for that already performed. How far a retrospective method might be worthy
of trial, is difficult to decide. It has been objected to it that the
claims of scientific investigators for researches already made, would be so
great and so convincing that it would be impossible to resist them, and the
funds required to satisfy those claims would be so large as to render the
plan quite impracticable; if however the retrospective period was limited
to a short time, a year for example, the difficulty would be lessened.
There would still however remain the great difficulty of valuing the
results. This might probably be overcome by regulating the money payment
according to the time, labour, pecuniary expenditure, and scientific status
of the particular investigator, and leaving genius to be rewarded by the
fame and honour of the results.
No system of aid however can place scientific investigation in a
satisfactory position in this country, which does not include certain
remuneration for time, {211} money and labour expended; and no sound
argument can be adduced why investigators should not be adequately
recompenced. The genius alone of a discoverer should be rewarded by fame,
and his time, labour, and expenditure, in accordance with his professional
reputation, be repaid by money, as in all other intellectual occupations.
The same amount of time and labour expended in any ordinary profession,
requiring an equal, or even less amount of preparatory education and
experience, and less rare ability, would yield an income of several
thousand pounds a year. Although the lives of a few eminent discoverers
have proved that it has been possible for them to do a considerable amount
of research under the conditions which have existed, that is no reason why
they should not be remunerated. Previous success in research has been due
to the unusually great perseverance, industry, and self-denial of the men,
and but little to any pecuniary encouragement received. The fewness of such
men, supports this view of the case. The plan of aiding research by grants
which include no certain payment for time or labour, is quite
incommensurate with the importance of the subject and entirely unworthy of
the reputation of a great nation.
_6th._ _Students pursuing Research at the Universities._ In the German
Universities each student is required to make an original research before
he can obtain a degree in Science, and the plan has worked successfully;
also in the Victoria University, Manchester, {212} several Fellowships have
recently been established for the encouragement of students in original
investigation.
If this plan could be carried out in our old Universities it would produce
most valuable results, because the governing, wealthy, and influential
classes of this nation are chiefly educated at those institutions, and they
would then acquire habits of more accurate scientific thought, and some
knowledge of the nature and importance of scientific research, and of the
essential dependence of national welfare upon it.
But a great and probably insuperable obstacle exists to the carrying out of
such a plan, viz., the wealth possessed by the parents of students. An
original research cannot be made without considerable industry, and the
greatest opponent of industry, especially with young men, is the possession
or expectation of wealth. According to college tutors at our old
Universities, there is no large class of industrious students at those
institutions. The greatest cause of the idleness of the students is
parental neglect and the habits of wealthy society. Many parents allow
their sons too much money, and over-look too readily their idleness and
frivolity; the young men also know their parents are rich, and act
accordingly. Many persons send their sons to those places chiefly to form
aristocratic acquaintances, and for other purposes than those of
educational discipline and learning. The college authorities have also
largely acquiesced in the wishes of the parents and students. And in this
way {213} scientific research has been almost entirely excluded from our
old Universities. If the present tutors and governing bodies of those
Institutions cannot induce students generally to be industrious, by what
means can it be expected that these young men can be persuaded to exercise
the still greater degree of industry and intelligence requisite to
prosecute research, whilst they are decoyed from it by the attractions of
wealth? In Germany the conditions are very different, the students in the
Universities of that country have much less money at their disposal. Nearly
the whole of the educational courses also at the Grammar schools and other
educational institutions in this country, are formed upon the plan of
sending all the superior scholars to our Universities, and thus the
defective state of scientific training at the Universities operates through
our whole scholastic system, and depresses the entire scientific
instruction of the nation. It is evident that in this way the undue wealth
of this country largely retards national progress.
_7th._ _Local Endowment of Research Funds._ In addition to the foregoing
means, local efforts might be made to encourage research in each great
centre of industry; through the medium of the local scientific societies.
Nearly as early as the year 1660, Cowley in a treatise, proposed a
Philosophical Society to be established near London, with liberal salaries
to learned men to make experiments; but he could not get the money raised.
A plan of this kind is in operation in Birmingham and carried out by the
{214} Council of the Birmingham Philosophical Society in accordance with
the following:--
"SCHEME FOR ESTABLISHING AND ADMINISTERING A FUND FOR THE ENDOWMENT OF
RESEARCH IN BIRMINGHAM."
"The Council are of opinion that this Society would be omitting a principal
means of the advancement of Science--the end for which all such
associations exist--if it neglected the question of the Endowment of
Research. To maintain a successful investigator in his labours, even though
no results of immediate or obvious utility can be shown to spring out of
them, is of interest to the community at large. Indeed, it is just because
the practical usefulness of such work is not immediate or obvious that it
becomes necessary to give it special support, for otherwise it would have
its own market value, and endowment would be superfluous. But the proper
and effectual administration of an Endowment Fund is perceived to be so
beset with difficulty, as often to deter even those who recognise the
principle from advocating it in practice. Most of the dangers usually
foreseen would, however, as a rule be avoided, simply by the distribution
of such funds from local centres, under such a scheme as is now proposed.
The Council, are therefore, anxious to establish a Fund, in connection at
once with the Society and the Town, for the direct Endowment of Scientific
Research."[36]
{215}
_8th._ _Local Laboratories of Research._ Another plan would be for local
scientific societies to raise money by soliciting subscriptions and
donations for the support of local laboratories; a prospectus of the
following kind being issued:--
PROPOSAL TO FOUND A LABORATORY OF PURE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN ----.
"As the manufacturers, merchants, capitalists, land-owners, and the public
generally, of this town and district, have derived and are still deriving
great pecuniary and other benefits from the discovery of new knowledge by
means of pure research in the sciences of Physics and Chemistry; and as in
consequence of the great neglect of such research in this country, and the
increased cultivation of it in other lands, our commerce is suffering, and
a great many evils in manufacturing and other operations, in sanitary and
many other matters dependant upon physical and chemical conditions, remain
unremedied; it is proposed to found a Local Laboratory of original research
in those sciences, with every suitable appliance in it; and to employ one
or more investigators of repute, with assistants, who shall be wholly
engaged in such labour in their respective sciences."
As it is largely the custom in this country to effect great objects by
means of individual liberality and corporate enterprise, instead of
trusting to State assistance, it is not improbable that when the great
importance of scientific research and its claims {216} to encouragement
have become more generally known, that aid which has hitherto been
with-held from it will be rendered by private generosity; and local
institutions, wholly for the purpose of original scientific research will
be established and supported by public-spirited wealthy persons. An
institution of this kind upon a small scale, and called "The Institute of
Scientific Research" has already been established in Birmingham, (see Note
p. 40). By founding local institutions of this kind there exist
opportunities for wealthy persons to do great good to mankind, and acquire
renown as philanthropists by the action.
And _9th_. In consequence of the great benefit derived from scientific
research by the inhabitants of each locality, it has become a duty of each
large community to promote it, and local Town Councils might with advantage
and perfect justice to the public, devote a portion of municipal funds to
the purpose of aiding local scientific research. To this plan it may be
objected, that as the results of research are cosmopolitan, diffusing
themselves everywhere, and this diffusion cannot be prevented; the benefits
arising from research cannot be restricted even to a large community. In
reply to this:--As knowledge and its advantages are cosmopolitan, the duty
of promoting research must be equally extensive. There is also a real
return received by the public for expenditure of money in research, in the
free liberty to use all new knowledge developed everywhere by such labour,
and although the money expended by a {217} community upon particular
researches or upon an individual investigator, does not directly produce an
immediate return; practically an immediate and direct benefit is received
by that community, because new scientific knowledge for the use of teachers
and popular lecturers, and new inventions based upon it, of local value to
that society, continually become public. Every civilized community has also
received beforehand such benefits to an enormous extent; and each
investigator may reasonably claim public support on the ground that he
contributes to the general stock of new knowledge. Some persons however,
who have not fully considered the subject, wish to receive not only the
advantages accruing from the common stock of knowledge, but also to reserve
to themselves the entire benefit arising from their own special
contributions.
Experience alone will prove which of the foregoing schemes is the most
suitable in this country, or in particular cases. At present the plan
largest in operation is the system of Government Grants, next in magnitude
are the other funds distributed by the Royal Society, the British
Association, the Chemical Society, the Royal Institution, the Birmingham
Philosophical Society, and those provided by the munificence of private
individuals. It is greatly to be hoped that the liberal spirit of private
individuals will yet further remove the great blot which lies upon the
reputation of the wealthy manufacturers, capitalists, and land-owners, who
have derived such great profits from {218} scientific research and have
scarcely aided it at all in return. It is also to be desired that the
Corporations of manufacturing towns will recognise the value of original
scientific enquiry to their fellow townsmen, and will undertake the
responsibility of voting money from municipal funds to promote it.
* * * * *
Notes
[1] See p.p. 165 to 167.
[2] Essays and Addresses, Owen's College, 1874, pp. 172-182.
[3] See Chapter 2, Section B.
[4] In the year 1870, a gentleman of the name of Davis bequeathed L2,000 to
the Royal Institution, London, to aid original scientific research.
[5] As a notable exception to the above statement:--"Scientific research
has now an Institute of its own in Birmingham, without being indebted to
the public funds. A fund has already been collected for carrying on the
work. The building is called 'The Institute of Scientific Research.'" See
_Nature_, January 7th, 1881, p. 366; the _Athenaeum_, February 5th, 1881, p.
204; the _English Mechanic_, p. 537, February 11th, 1881.
[6] Professor Bache left 50,000 dollars, and Smithson bequeathed 541,000
dollars to this Institution.
[7] Respecting the Members of our Houses of Legislature, a former
Postmaster-General remarked to me, that a dose of scientific research would
be too much for them.
[8] The Victoria University has recently become a partial exception to this
statement.
[9] See "Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers," vol. 5, pp. 719 and
890; and vol. 8, p. 1,010.
[10] See _Nature_, April 24th and May 1st, 1873, pp. 485 and 13; also _Work
and Wages_, by Brassey, pp. 170 and 178.
[11] NOTE.--See "Work and Wages," by Brassey, p.p. 15-131 and 132; also the
"Laboratory," vol. 1, p.p. 313-316, 378 and 380.
[12] NOTE.--The whole of this chapter, especially the Moral Section, is
capable of great amplification and much more copious illustration.
[13] NOTE.--See also p. 95.
[14] NOTE.--Athenaeum, Aug. 3, 1877. p. 242.
[15] "Wish and Will," by L. Turner, M.A.
[16] "The Mutual Relations of Physical Science and Religious Faith."
[17] Port Royal Logic, Discourse 1.
[18] See p. 91-92.
[19] See "Waste Products and Undeveloped Substances," by P. W. Simmonds.
[20] See "Barometer Cycles," by Balfour Stewart, F.R.S.--_Nature_, Jan. 13,
1881, p. 237.
[21] See p. 165, et seq.
[22] It would I consider be an improvement in our educational arrangements,
if a Professorial chair, solely devoted to teaching those laws and
principles, existed in each Scientific College.
[23] See vols. 1 (1872) 2 (1874) of the Reports of that Commission.
[24] See pages 100 and 101.
[25] "_Nature_," April 3rd, 1873. p. 431.
[26] Sir Edmund Beckett, "_English Mechanic_", 1881, No. 830, p. 560.
[27] The Earl of Craufurd, "_English Mechanic_," 1881, No. 830, p. 560.
[28] See page 68, et seq. p. 134.
[29] See "_Nature_," Dec. 2nd, 1880, p. 112.
[30] "_English Mechanic_," 1881, No. 831, pp. 586, 587.
[31] "_English Mechanic_," August 17th, 1881, p. 83.
[32] The Mastership of the Mint is no longer given to scientific men.
[33] See Reports of Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and
Advancement of Science, Vol 2, pp. 75-92.
[34] See "_Nature_" No. 600, p. 597, April 28th, 1881.
[35] A fleet of thirty ships, varying in size from 500 to 5000 tons each,
is employed in laying and repairing telegraph cables, and 25 millions of
pounds have already been invested in submarine cable enterprises.
[36] See "_Nature_," vol. XXII, page 203.
* * * * *
Changes made against printed original.
Page 11. "our knowledge of the substance": 'knowwledge' in original.
Page 24. "Nearly every manufacturer": 'ever' in original.
Page 32. "Persons in general can easily understand": 'ean easily' in
original.
Page 39. "wealthy persons who have devoted themselves": 'themselver' in
original.
Page 62. "also all terrestrial forces": 'terrestial' in original.
Page 81. "better systems of hygiene": 'hygeine' in original.
Page 114. "course in which the throng is densest": 'the' repeated across
line break in original.
Ibid. "thousands of different chemical compounds": 'compouuds' in original.
Page 116. "emits and absorbs": 'aborbs' in original.
Page 119. "In every genuine volition": 'volitition' in original.
Page 126. "purely physical and chemical conditions.": 'physicial' in
original.
Page 127. "the judicial detection of truth": 'judical' in original.
Ibid. "completely converted into acquired tendencies": 'completly ...
tendences' in original.
Page 134. "the present state of civilization": 'civilzation' in original.
Ibid. "to withhold truth from ignorant patients": 'withold' in original.
Ibid. "lists of our moral deficiencies": 'deficiences' in original.
Page 135. "there exist no royal roads to happiness": 'their exist' in
original.
Page 151. "a diminution of waste": 'dimunition' in original.
Page 152. "twenty millions of pounds annually": 'anually' in original.
Ibid. "Photography is also largely used in our gaols": 'in our goals' in
original.
Page 158. "acting under the same conditions": 'conitions' in original.
Ibid. "every phenomenon requires time": 'requiries' in original.
Page 182. "to be carried out effectually": 'effectualy' in original.
Page 184. "been driven out of science altogether": 'althogether' in
original.
Page 186. "more or less fortuitous circumstances": 'fortuitious' in
original.
Page 189. "their labours should be remunerated by the State.": 'remuerated'
in original.
Page 199. "should not be similarly remunerated": 'similarily' in original.
Page 203. "consist essentially of a continued series of repetitions":
'esssentially' in original.
Page 217. "of local value to that society": 'of' repeated across line break
in original.