The Dominion SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1916. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2914, 28 October 1916, Page 8

The Dominion SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1916. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

_ The deputation from the Standing Committee of the New Zealand Institute which recently, waited upon" tho Minister of. ' Internal Affairs .was able to.give very convincing reasons in favour of a wide and liberal 'interpretation of tho term "economic value" contained in the stipulation regarding tho expenditure of the money voted by Parliament for tho' encouragement of scientific research. The Minister had made it a condition that' this money must be spent on "researches lkoly to provo of economic value to New Zealand." This stipulation is not unreasonable. ' It is desirable that,scientific research in New Zealand should to.a large extent beconditioned by the special needs and resources of our own country. A certain amount- of limitation' and concentration is necessary in order to ensure- systematic effort and to facilitate the- attainment of bencficial_ results of a tangible character. It is quite possible for scientific investigators to miss tho mark by the dissipation of their energies on haphazard excursions into the' unknown, But it.is unfair to expect them to work in fetters. Experience has-'shown that it is very easy to lay too much stress on "commercial value in appraising the worth of scientific experiment.- Most of tho great inventions and discoveries have been duo to the pursuit of knowledge for. its own sake. The New Zealand Institute rightly holds that it is mot possible to draw a clear boundary between pure, and applied science. The Institute is fully justified in asking the Minister that the condition relating to economic value shall not be too ngidly enforced in connection with the allocation of grants, and it is' satisfactory to know-that Mr. Russell was ableio give. a.sympathetic, reply. : to_th 6 : Institute's turns. The. 'Jnan-in-the-street has' rather crude ideas -about« the re- ■ ; Boarch- .work. His mistakes «,are largely due to.lack of-imagination. Professor -J. A. Thomson, in-Ufa Introduction to Science, reminds tho critic who growls over the time spent: in studying sea-weeds; when What we want is more wheat," that he must be patient if his desired practical results are to be sure Science is a unity, and the theoretical foundation is essential if thero is to bo progressive practical appli-' cation. It has often been from the most unpromising theoretical investigations that great practical discoveries have come. "Even for tho sake of practice science should never submit to the' over-practical man s canon which makes immediate utility a stringent criterion of worthiness." Science refuses to recognise _ the., restrictions which utilitarianism would place upon it.' Sometimes the practical invention comesfirst, and tho subsequent application of scientific principles brings out its full industrial possibilities. ;.. Jalies Watt's steam engine was one of these practical inven-tions,-whereas the discovery of the electric telegraph was the outcome ol research in pure science. Professor J. J. Stephenson has pointed out that we_ are. apt .to forget that tho foundation of industrial advance was laid by workers in pure science, for the most part ignorant of utility aud caring little about! it. ihe investigator takes tho nrsfc step and makes the inventor possible. Thereafter the inventor's work aids the investigator in making new discoveries to be utilised in. their turn." It is impossible to over-estimate tho debt which the world owes to Pasteur, and yet his wonderful achievements were tho result of experiments which did not seem to have much connection with the ordinary life of mankind. It was pure love of knowledge that led bALVANi to study the twitching of the legs of frogs, and no one could have imagined that his • curiosity would have led on to discoveries of enormous commercial and industrial value. Lord Kelvin was one of the greatest masters of pure science and was equally famous for his success in the practical application of scientific theory. Ho was in a position to speak with unchallengeable authority on matters relating to research. . He knew the wonderful results which have been obtained by direct applications of scientific discoveries, but he also ■ knew the

danger of relying upon commercial value as the'test of scientific work.

We must not (lie says) bo led to regard applications to the ordinary purposes of life as tho proper objopt and end of science. Nothing could mere effectually stop the advancement of knowledge than tho prevalence of such views; even tho desired, "practically useful" discoveries would not "be made if researches obnoxious to the fatal question "cui bono" were to bo uniformly avoided. ... . Oersted would never have made his great discovery of the action of galvanic currents on magnets had he stopped in his researches to consider, in what manner they could be turned to practical account; and so wo should not now be able to boast of tho wonders done by the electric telegraph. Indeed, no great law in natural philosophy has ever been discovered for its practical applications, but the instances ate innumerable of investigations apparently quite -useless, in this narrow sense of the word, which have led to the .most valuable. Tesults.

And yet the business man's im-' patient demand for results.of "commercial value" has a wholesome influence. It tends to keep the scientist- in touch with the everyday world, and- reminds him that "science is for life, not life for science." It shows him the necessity of limiting his field of inquiry and concentrating his thought and energy on some definite object. In a young country like New Zoaland scientific research should be mainly directed to the solution of problems connected with the development of the country's resources. It should bo . systematised and kept in paths that lead to somewhere. Observance of these, broad guiding principles would not hamper the work of in-, vestigation. Freedom is' essential to progress in science, but rational freedom is not incompatible with, direction, purpose, and a goal.