The Dominion SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1913. SCIENCE AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1740, 3 May 1913, Page 4

The Dominion SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1913. SCIENCE AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS.

In his address at tho meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society on Wednesday evening, Professor Easterfield made somo interesting references to tho application oi modern scientific knowledge to industrial processes. Ho laid stress on New Zealand's need for men to investigate chomical problems from tho commercial point of view, and pointed out that tho chemist was now regarded, by the big manufacturer as a valuablo asset. His training, however, took a long time, and the demand tor such men, said Professor Easterfield, at_ present exceeded tho supply. This is a matter that deserves moro than passing notico. New Zealand is spending a great deal of money on primary and secondary education, on technical schools, and on university colleges; and many people aro not altogether satisfied with the results from tho industrial and commercial points of view. To judgo our education system merely from the money-mak-ing standpoint would indicate a very narrow and uninspiring outlook on lifo. Education should influence and onrich tho whole character of tho people in their private, social, and public capacities; but its commercial aspect, moro especially as regards the teaching of scicncc, is also of the highest importance to the nation. The scientific training of our young men ought certainly to havo a marked effect upon the industrial progress of the community. That somo good work in this direction is being done cannot be denied, but much more undoubtedly ought to be done, and could bo done. Professor Easterfield indeed has dono well to call attention to this weakness in our educational methods. The statement that he has frequontly boen appealed to by manufacturers to give them men fit to carry out scientific investigations connected with modern industrial processes, and has beon compelled to reply that he has not got such a man in the place, points clearly enough to a shortooming somewhero. The causo of tho dearth of chemists properly equipped for technological research work should bo fully investigated, so that the defect may bo remedied aa soon as possible. No country in tho world has been moro successful than Germany in utilising tho highest acicntific knowledge for tho advancement of industry and commerce. In the course of an interview with a representative of the London Morning Post reoently, Professor Nernst, of tho University of Berlin, gave some striking facts in support of his statement that the theory of to-day is the practice of to-morrow, and that tho present industrial system is built up on researches that havo in most cases been _ at tho outset of purely theoretical interest. One example given was tho important commercial value of reoent research by Pbofessor Katz, of Amsterdam, regarding the influenco of temperature on chemical reactions. Applying his investigations to bread, he found that bread may be kept fresh either by being chilled or by being preserved at a high i temperature, and in view of the fact that there is a law, in part at any rate of the Netherlands, against bakers working at night, there is reason to believe that this discovery will soon be applied in that country. Professor Nernst states that in Germany the full value of the results reached by the study of physical chemistry is being realised. It is recognised that research work "is a paying investment, and this recognition has come, not only from the Government, but also from private individuals." Most, if not all, manufacturers who havo works on any considerable scale keep their own research laboratories, but many valuable discoveries havo been made in laboratories of tho University type, and these are at once put to practical uso by tho manufacturers. Professor Nernst does not hesitate to say that Germany owes hor commercial expansion almost entirely to tho way in which sho has systematised the exploitation of scientific discovery. There can be no doubt that in this matter of making tho fullest commercial lise of scientific knowledge and research British communities havo much to learn from the Germans; and, judging by the remarks of Professor Easterfield, a pood deal more might well bo done in Now Zealand to bring the scientific side of our higher educational institutions more into touch with tho industrial enterprise of tho, nation.

However necessary it may be to emphasise tho importance of the commercial aspect of scientific research, it is sheer folly to belittle its theoretical sido. Theory and practico should nover bo separated. A leading authority points out that "science ultimately sprang, and is continually springing, from the desires and efforts of men to increase their skill in their occupations by understanding the eternal principles that underlie all dealings of man with nature, and'of man with his fellow men. . . . Ono of the great conditions of human progress is this increasing reciprocal relationship between occupation and science, each constantly producing and being produced by the other." The utilitarian standard is, however, not the only standard by which _ science must be judged. Tho pursuit of knowledge for its own sake has justified itself in all ages by its enrichment of the human mind, and by its perpetual witness to the fact that "man docs not livo by bread alone." The greatest scientists have always protested against tho contention that their work should bo judged entirely by its commercial results. Some of the most wonderful discoveries may have had no money value, and yet the men who made them have been the greatest benefactors of our race. The practical man, who will persist in asking: "What's the good of it'!" has bis use, he helps to keep the scholar and scientist in touch with the actual facts of everyday life, nml t.hein that, after all, wo have bodies as well as

souls; but, when duo allowanoo is niiido for this point of view, every man in his best moments will feel the truth of Bacon's noble words: "Just as the vision of light itself is something more excellent and beautiful than its manifold use, so without doubt the contemplation of things as they nl'Cj without superstition .or imposture, without error or confusion, is in itself a nobler thing than a whol'c harvest of inventions."