Letter to the Right Honourable George, Earl of Aberdeen, K.T., &c. & c., Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Chancellor of the University and King's College, Aberdeen, on the state of the schools of chemistry in the United Kingdom / by William Gregory.

Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter to the Right Honourable George, Earl of Aberdeen, K.T., &c. & c., Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Chancellor of the University and King's College, Aberdeen, on the state of the schools of chemistry in the United Kingdom / by William Gregory. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    stadt, and the results which have followed the system adopted at Giessen, have not been lost on other states. The Austrian government has taken measures for placing its schools of chemistry on a better footing; the Prus- sian government has applied to the universities for ad- vice and information on the subject. In Saxony much has already been done in the way of improvement; and there is every prospect of the establishment of an effective school in Leipsic under Professor Erdmann. Finally, in Hanover, a school has already arisen, at Got- tingen, which began under the celebrated Stromeyer, and is now steadily improving under the auspices of Profes- sor Wohler. I trust that the British government will not be the last to see the importance of schools of research, or to adopt such measures as will render their permanent existence in this country possible. What these measures are I have endeavoured generally to explain. Each professor ought to be supplied with a well-appointed laboratory and apparatus; with an assist- ant and a servant, or an allowance for them ; and with an annual sum, for laboratory expenses, sufficient to protect him from loss, on the supposition of a certain limited number of working students. I beg that your Lordship will particularly observe, that my only object is to enable the professor to teach the art of research without loss. This branch of the profession can never, from its nature, be a source of emolument to him, nor indeed of advantage, except indirectly by in- creasing his reputation ; but he is, I humbly conceive, en- titled to the small amount derived from fees such as I have mentioned, which form no adequate compensation for the labour and anxiety to which he is exposed.
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