Address of the Duke of Argyll, F.R.S.

  • Argyll, George Douglas Campbell, Duke of, 1823-1900.
Date:
[1855]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address of the Duke of Argyll, F.R.S. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    14/22 (page 10)
    understood. Art, in short, has preceded science. But it is equally import-' ant to observe, that in recent times this order has been in numberlessi instances reversed. Abstract science has gone ahead of the arts, and the 1 conduct of the workshop is now perpetually receiving its direction from the • experiments of the laboratory. Perhaps the most wonderful discovery ol modern days—that of the Electric Telegraph—was thought out and^erfected, I1 so far as its principle was concerned, in the closet and the lecture-room, and: flashed ready-made on the astonishment of the world. In chemistry, the leac \ taken by abstract science in reacting on the arts is manifest and constant;! and in a greater or less degree the same result is appearing in connexion with every branch of physical research. The interest, therefore, of the State, even if it be considered merely in this economic point of view, in the ji encouragement of abstract science, is obvious and immediate. And there is * this additional motive to be remembered : the moment any result of science: becomes applicable to the arts, the unfailing enterprise of the commercial anc r manufacturing classes takes it up and exhausts every resource of capital anc of skill in giving to that application the largest possible development. But ni long as science is still purely abstract, it has often to be prosecuted witbfi slender resources, and specially requires fostering care and a helping hand, t But I rejoice to believe that the conviction of this truth is sensibly gaining ; ground. The foundation of the geological museums both in England anc (1 in Scotland,and the carrying out of a complete geological, concurrently with: a geographical survey, by public authority and at the public expense, were great steps in the right direction. Another such step was the investment o i £1000 annually in aiding experimental research, through the agency of the Royal Society, which undertook the trouble of its special allocation. It is the intention of my noble friend, Lord Palmerston, to bring the principle of some expenditure in this direction specially under the notice of Parliament for the! future ; and it is worthy of remark, as illustrating how far a small sum may gc1 in aid of abstract science, and how cheaply the largest and most fruitfu i results may thereby be attained, that, as I have been informed on very high ; authority, this apparently trivial sum has been felt as a most important help r in numberless instances; sometimes in the conduct of experiments, sometimes in the publication of their results, and sometimes in securing accurate artistic * delineations. The relations now established between the Board of Trade and variou! branches of scientific investigation are such as lay the foundation for furthei progress in the same direction. I am happy to say that, in connexion with j the new national museum which is being organized for Scotland, there is to be a special branch devoted to the industrial applications of science; and that a new Professorship—one which has long existed in almost all the continental universities— thatof Technology—has just been instituted by the Government I am not less happy in being able to announce that to that chair Dr. George Wilson has been appointed. The writings which we owe to the pen of Dr. Wil- son, and especially his beautiful Memoirs of Cavendish, and of Dr. Reid, art among the happiest productions of the Literature of Science. I trust also that the aid of the State may be secured in providing a house