The national importance of scientific research / by George Gore.

  • Gore, George, 1826-1909.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The national importance of scientific research / by George Gore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    invention and wealth, if he never invents anything, nor applies his know - ledge to useful purposes, he is usually less rewarded even than an inventor. In harmony with these instances, we find that it is not the pure sciences, hut the concrete and the applied ones, such as meteorology, geology, natural history, &c., in the Meteorological Department, the Geological Survey, the British and South Kensington Museums, the Geological Museum, &c., which have received the greatest degree of sup- port from our Governments. It is believed to be a duty of the state to provide and pay for pure scientific research for the following reasons:—because the results of such labour are indispensable to national welfare and progress; because the results are of immense value to the nation, and especially to the Govern- ment ; because nearly the whole pecuniary benefit of it goes to the nation, and scarcely any to the discoverer; because research cannot be efficiently provided for by means of voluntary effort; and because there appears to be scarcely any other way (except b}'- application of University revenues) in Avhich discoverers can be satisfactorily paid for their labour. There are also many experiments, investigations, and explorations bearing upon scientific discovery, which neither private individuals, nor even corporate bodies, such as the Royal Society, the British Association, or Geographical Society, can effectually make, and which only a Govern- ment can carry out, suph as Arctic expeditions, trigonometrical surveys, deep-sea dredging operations, magnetic observations, determinations of longitude, meteorological and astronomical observations, researches on tides, observations of earthquakes, determinations of the height of moun- tains and of the density of the crust of the earth, experiments on the best form of ships, geographical explorations, and many others. It is clear from the enormous advantages which this nation has already derived from scientific discovery in physics and chemistry, pursued mth only the aid of the very limited means of private persons, that had research in those subjects been sufficiently supported, the manufactures, arts, commerce, wealth, and civilization of this country would have been much greater than thej- are; emigration also of the industrious classes, pauperism, and crime, would have been much less. The amount of knowledge and riches obtainable by means of research and invention, is practically unlimited, and it is astonishing that this immense source of industry and wealth in a nation should have been so neglected by our Governments, and permitted to decline; but the most probable explana- tion is, that our rulers have been ignorant of its great value, and of their duty to utilize it. The practical value of new scientific knowledge is infinitely greater than that of our coal supply, because it would not only enable us to obtain from coal several times the amount of available heat and mechanical power we now secure, but also to apply to our wants the numerous other materials composing the crust of this globe and the contents of our oceans; also all terrestial forces, the internal heat, the tidal energy and atmospheric currents, and the immense amount of power this earth is continually receiving from the sun.