Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1922 SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 14 November 1922, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1922 SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

THE present general trend of the development of scientific and industrial research was discussed by Professor R. F. Iluttau, of Canada, in bis presidential address at the Glasgow meeting of (be Society of Chemical Industry. Going upon the experiences ol the last five years, he drew some tentative conclusions regarding the relation of the State to this vital problem. To his mind we are living in the. age of a second renaissance, a renaissance in which the attention of the civilised world is concentrated upon science, its outstanding achievements and its power to enhance our intellectual pleasure ami our material welfare. The prompt establishment by Great Britain in 1915 of an Advisory Council oi* Scientific and Industrial Research and its subsequent organisation as a separate State Department furnished a model of organisation which othfif portions of the Empire quickly utilised.

(If (he manv useful activities o| Ibis Department, the most outstanding is its co-operation with the industries oi tile Old Country in ibe foundation and mainlenanee of approved assoeiations lor researeli. These associations have en

countered criticism, hill !V>lessnr Rattan cuhsiders that (heir influence lias been fell throughout the .Kiiglish-speak-mg world. And ho points out that tho general aoceptanoo by manufacturers ot this idea of industrial unions indicates that (ho policy of industrial secrecy, which has so greatly hampered the application of science to industry, us now obsolete. British manufacturers by their action demonstrated their belief in the statement that for most industries "Ihe dosed door shuts out more than it shuts in." This courageous and original method of organising research has spread to Canada, Australia, and the Coiled States, and has there helped to eliminate unnecessary trade secrecy and promote co-operation in technical and scientific, investigation. There is now a growing conviction throughout the Kmpire that the rapid advancement of abstract scientific knowledge, and the efficient applications of science, will not he the outcome of any State policy which leaves industrial research to he developed only in works and fundamental research only in the universities, though such researches have their value in promoting national progress. To obtain permanent and outstanding results is now generally conceded that investigations must he directed chielly to the, theories underlying the operations of an industry. Professor Rut tan also referred to the attempt to organise the world of science, which was begun when an International Research Council was established in 1919 at- Brussels. Affiliated to this Council are a number of unions representing all branches of science, and its constitution avoids clashing of interests or infringements on the rights of older societies with an international scope existing liefore the War. The impulse behind all these movements comes from the thought that “the cultivation of pure science yields results' which are more lasting than the Pyramids, and of world-wide necessity, and which increase in value with every generation of workers.