THE NOBEL PRIZES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 54, 27 November 1907, Page 6

THE NOBEL PRIZES.

Not the least interesting of the items in this morning's cable news is the intelligence that the Nobel Prizes for Literature and Science have this year been awarded to Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Sir William Crookes. In the case of Mr. Kipling, the definite announcement of the honour conferred upon him merely confirms the rumour which was current three months ago, but in both cases there is subject for surprise in the decision of the Nobel Trustees. Sir William Crookes 'has long occupied a place amongst the scientific giants of the age, but it is difficult to think that he can properly claim pre-eminence when Great Britain can show a Kelvin or a Lodge. Every; body has wondered, since the Trustees commenced the discharge of the functions laid down for them by Nobel, what principles have governed the selection of the prize-winners, or by what , process the obscure conferences in Stockholm determine the final supremacy amongst the supremely great. Sir William Crookes,. it may be said, is at any rate quite worthy of what-* ever honour man can decently pay .to him, for, although he has of recent years rather scandalised the conservatives of Science by his enthusiasm for the possibilities of spiritualistic study, he is second to no contemporary as a profound investigator of the nature of matter and the relation of electricity to the atom. Englishmen will naturally feel proud that the Nobel Prize for Science lias come, to one of their countrymen, for, although it would be absurd to claim for the Trustees a papal infallibility in selecting the truly greatest scientist for reward, and although nobody supposes that a Nobel Prizeman may not have many equals and some- superiors in his field of thought, yet the Trustees, with the critical eyes of the world,upon them, must necessarily take care that their selections will at any rate be men< whoin criticism cannot easily pull down as unworthy. '■ v

Mr. Kipling has for some time been rather in the background, and there has assuredly been a remarkable slackening of the strained and • eager attention with which the public looked for his name in the " announcements" of Macinilkn and Methuen seven or eight year's ago. Ho seems to have discontinued altogether his practice of writing poems for the "Times" oncurrent events, and he appears, from recent information, to have become content with the more prosaic"office of making rather dull speeches upon the problem of alien labour in Canada. His name is still one to conjure with in some quarters; there may be faithful admirers who still keep up their connection with ■ him through his 'pages; he is probably quoted as much as ever; and to the people who do not know him he may still give the old delightful thrill. But it is certain that his place in the public esteem is smaller than it was. Even " Puck of Pook's Hill" had to be " pushed," where " The Jungle Book " needed no advertisement.. What is bound to strike many people is the unfortunate fact that the very substantial emolument which the Nobel Prize amounts to should generally go to men. already grown wealthy through their fame. In the " Ryeeroft Papers" George Gissing made one feel poignantly how overwhelming would be the grace and mercy of a little financial assistance to the struggling and poverty-pinched sou of letters. Most of George Meredith's great work was accomplished in grinding poverty and in the face of cruel neglect; Oarlyle, even after he had given "Sartor Resiirtus" to the world, worked-for twenty-three months without earning a single penny. It is incredible that, if the Nobel Trustees had existed in those days, they would have lifted these obscure geniuses from their poverty. Nor is it easy to feel confident that, the Trustees would be bold enough to search out and reward the little known' geuiuses of to-day. No sober judge of letters would hesitate to set Kipling, as a writer, below the old gentleman who astonished everybody the other day by marking his literary debut with "Joseph Vance." But we are afraid that the Trustees would never be so daring as to give the Prize to Mr. De Morgan. To Mr. Kipling, who used to receive blank signed cheques from the "Times" for his verses, the money attached to the Prize is of no great moment. But to many a neglected genius', cultivating literature on a little oatmeal," the money would be "all the world."