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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    order; that is only true to a very limited extent. Men are beggars of nature, and must not expect to be permitted to cboose ber gifts, or dictate -wbat secrets shall be disclosed. We may however be certain that if we acquire a very much greater supply of now scientific knowledge, we shall then be able to perfect many good inventions, though not exactly of the kind we wish; or in the way we expect. The great sewage question may perhaps he solved in quite an unexpected way, possibly by the discovery of some substance capable of precipitating ammonia and organic matter from their solutions. What is the reason that scientific research is not encouraged in England] It is chiefly ignorance. There is not a good and important subject, un- derstood by the public, which is not in this country greatly assisted, nor a valuable public servant, whose labours are understood, who does not receive liberal payment and reward; and scientific research and discover- ers therefore are neglected, not wilfvdly, nor because persons are unwilling to encourage good objects, but because scientific discovery and its great value to the nation are so little known. Scarcely a member of our legis- lature, or of our Universities, is fully acquainted with the national importance of scientific discovery, and it would probably bo impossible to find a subject of such great magnitude so little understood. Compara- tively few persons have clear ideas of the essential differences between scientific instruction, research, and invention. Scientific research can only be successfully pursued by employing the highest motive—^viz., a love of truth in preference to all things; and this is a condition which very few persons really understand, and a principle which a still smaller number practise. Men in this country are so accus- tomed to be actuated by the less noble motive of immediate self-interest or of some apparent practical result, that they cannot perceive that in scientific research the most valuable results can only be obtained by employing the highest motive. However necessary and effective the motive of self interest or of apparent practical result may be in the ordinary affairs of life, it will not enable a man to make many discoveries, because it leads him away from those which are possible, to search for others which may or may not be possible. The beginnings of discoveries are often so very small, that it requires acute senses and observation in order to perceive them; and if the mind is preoccupied with a desire to discover some particular practical object, new phenomena are overlooked. When Faraday discovered magneto-electricity, the first effect he obtained was so very feeble that he could scarcely perceive it. In discovery, man must follow where Nature leads. Some of the greatest practical realities of this age had their origin, not in a search after utilities, but in a search after pure truth, entirely irrespective of any utilities to which it might lead. Another cause of the want of encouragement of research, is the natural selfishness which exists, though in very diflerent degrees, in all men. Many wealthy persons wish things to remain as they are. Many manu- facturers would not aid research uidess they could monoi)olize its