Author of "The Art of Scientific Discovery;" "The Principles and Practice of Electro-deposition;" "The Art of Electro-metallurgy;" &c. NATIONS ADVANCE BY NEW KNOWLEDGE....

14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; And 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 1882. To the President (the Rev. N. Watson, F.R.S.), the Vice Presidents, the Council and Members of the Birmingham Philosophical Society, I dedicate the following small treatise, in appreciation of the fact, that although only a young Society, they have certified in a substantial manner the views persistently advocated by me respecting the National importance of Scientific Investigation, and have shown so in

As there exists at the present time in this country a considerable degree of uneasiness in the public mind respecting our ability to maintain our position in the race of progress, and as our future success as a nation depends largely upon science, it is desirable to call attention to the great public importance of new scientific knowledge, and to the means of promoting its development. Although the illustrations given in this book of the importance of such knowledge to mankind, constitute but a

During the last one hundred years this nation has advanced with unexampled speed. More wealth has been accumulated by Englishmen since the commencement of the present century, than in all preceding time since the period of Julius Cæsar; one of the causes of this has been the discovery of new truths of science, and their subservience to useful purposes by means of invention. The great manufacturing success of this country has been largely due to those applications of science, which have enabled u

It is not highly necessary after what has been already said in these pages, to adduce much evidence to show that scientific discoveries, either directly or through the medium of the inventions based upon them, have been a great cause of mental and moral progress. As however there are many persons who do not perceive the dependence of such progress, and especially of moral advance, upon science, a few of the chief relations of those subjects to each other may be pointed out. The dependence of men

The great source of the success of applying science to trade, and of the beneficent effect of science upon human welfare in general, is simply the influence of demonstrable truth. We know that if we have once discovered all the principles, laws, and conditions of some scientific phenomenon, or of some improved process or result in a manufacture, the reproduction of exactly the same conditions will hereafter enable us to invariably produce the same result. In this respect science differs from dog

Nearly the whole of the most distinguished mathematicians, physicists, chemists, biologists, and physiologists of Great Britain, also the Earl of Derby, the Marquis of Salisbury, Sir Stafford Northcote and many other eminent men, have given evidence before the Royal Commissioners on "Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science" [23] to the following effect:— 1st. That the promotion of original scientific research is neglected in this country. 2nd. That such research is encouraged more

[1] See p.p. 165 to 167 . [2] Essays and Addresses, Owen's College, 1874, pp. 172-182. [3] See Chapter 2, Section B. [4] In the year 1870, a gentleman of the name of Davis bequeathed £2,000 to the Royal Institution, London, to aid original scientific research. [5] As a notable exception to the above statement:—"Scientific research has now an Institute of its own in Birmingham, without being indebted to the public funds. A fund has already been collected for carrying on the work. The building is