On the influence of brain-power on history : an address delivered before the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Southport on September 9th, 1903 / by Sir Norman Lockyer.

  • Lockyer, Norman, 1836-1920.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the influence of brain-power on history : an address delivered before the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Southport on September 9th, 1903 / by Sir Norman Lockyer. 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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    27 with the full approval of their teachers, on their way through the school and the University to politics, the Civil Service, or the management of commercial con- cerns, is now one of the great necessities of a nation ; and our Universities must become as much the insurers of the future progress as battleships are the insurers of the present power of States. In other words, University competition between States is now as potent as competi- tion in building battleships ; and it is on this ground that our University conditions become of the highest national concern, and therefore have to be referred to here, and all the more because our industries are not alone in question. Why We have not More Universities. Chief among the causes which have brought us to the terrible condition of inferiority as compared with other nations in which we find ourselves are our carelessness in the matter of education and our false notions of the limitations of State functions in relation to the condi- tions of modern civilisation. Time was when the Navy was largely a matter of private and local effort. William the Conqueror gave privileges to the Cinque Ports on the condition that they furnished fifty-two ships when wanted. In the time of Edward III., of 730 sail engaged in the siege of Calais 705 were “people’s ships.” All this has passed away ; for our first line of defence we no longer depend on private and local effort. Time was when not a penny was spent by the State on elementary education. Again, we no longer depend upon private and local effort. The Navy and primary education are now recognised as properly calling upon the public for the necessary financial support. But when we pass from primary to University education,