The claims of science to public recognition and support : a reprint from the Journal of the Statistical Society, with a retrospect of the efforts made by the Society to provide itself and cognate societies with suitable house accommodation : and an appendix containing sundry plans and elevations / by Dr. Guy.

  • Guy, William A. (William Augustus), 1810-1885.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The claims of science to public recognition and support : a reprint from the Journal of the Statistical Society, with a retrospect of the efforts made by the Society to provide itself and cognate societies with suitable house accommodation : and an appendix containing sundry plans and elevations / by Dr. Guy. 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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    >7 have laid us for all the arts that make this, our civilised existence, to differ from the rude life of the savage ? There is not a man in this room who could not pile instance upon instance of pure science ripening into practical utility. Among so many examples, we are embarrassed by the difficulty of selection. The mind becomes perplexed and bewildered in the attempt to grasp the multitudinous facts that illustrate and embellish the great central truth. But I must not forget that I have something yet to say of the special claims of those branches of knowledge known as the social sciences, I have spoken of the electric telegraph as an offspring of pure science. What shall I say of the penny post, with its “ moral, social, and economical advantages its spreading benefits and constant developments ? I claim it without hesita- tion as an achievement of science. It was by truly scientific inferences from ascertained facts that Sir Rowland Hill, an honoured member of this Society, was led to expect that fivefold increase in the number of letters which formed the chief among the convincing arguments that led the nation to adopt his grand project of reform. It was by similar scientific procedures that a recent considerable economy in the cost of the dietaries of our convicts was commended and brought about. But the members of this Society have not far to seek for an illustration on the grandest scale of the application of pure science to the highest uses. Our respected associates, the Institute of Actuaries, know well what I mean. Their privilege is to moderate the anxieties of the life which science in more than one of its practical applica- tions has virtually lengthened, by scientific calculations of the value of life, and the risks of property. But there is another and very important view of the services we render to the public, and the consequent claims to State recognition and support of this Society, taken as the exponent of a great social science. The scientific labours of our members, inspired by a mere love of truth, looking to no pecuniary reward, and bearing directly on the very questions which come under discussion in the legislature, are in many cases a direct saving of expense to the nation, sometimes by rendering some costly return unneces- sary, sometimes by doing the necessary work of condensation and analysis. An important return is made to Parliament. It abounds in tables and columns of figures. The work of analysis, which must be undertaken if the return is not to become so much waste paper, if Parliament and the public are to profit by the expense incurred—this work of analysis is done by some member of the Society, seized with a wholesome curiosity to know the truth. C