be overrated. Their pale, I had almost said etiolated, faces are a sure indication of the absence of the vivifying influence of the solar rays, so essential to the maintenance of vigorous health. The chemist can furnish a simple test of this state of the atmosphere in the absence of ozone, the active form of oxygen, from the air of our large towns. At some future day the efforts of science to isolate, by a cheap and available process, the oxygen of the air for industrial purposes may be rewarded with success. The effect of such a discovery would be to reduce the consumption of fuel to a fractional part of its present amount; and although the carbonic acid would remain, the smoke and carbonic oxide would disappear. But an abundant supply of pure oxygen is not now within our reach; and in the mean time may I venture to suggest that in many localities the waste products of the furnace might be carried off to a distance from the busy human hive by a few horizontal flues of large dimensions, terminating in lofty chimneys on a hillside or distant plain? A system of this kind has long been employed at the mercurial mines of Idria, and in other smelting-works where noxious vapours are disengaged. With a little care in the arrangements, the smoke would be wholly deposited, as flue-dust or soot, in the horizontal galleries, and would be available for the use of the agriculturist.

The future historian of organic chemistry will have to record a succession of beneficent triumphs, in which the efforts of science have led to results of the highest value to the wellbeing of man. The discovery of quinine has probably saved more human life, with the exception of that of vaccination, than any discovery of any age; and he who succeeds in devising an artificial method of preparing it will be truly a benefactor of the race. Not the least valuable, as it has been one of the most successful, of the works of our Government in India, has been the planting of the cinchona-tree on the slopes of the Himalaya. As artificial methods are discovered, one by one, of preparing the proximate principles of the useful dyes, a temporary derangement of industry occurs, but in the end the waste materials of our manufactures set free large portions of the soil for the production of human food.

The ravages of insects have ever been the terror of the agriculturist, and the injury they inflict is often incalculable. An enemy of this class, carried over from America, threatened lately with ruin some of the finest vine districts in the south of France. The occasion has called forth a chemist of high renown; and in a classical memoir recently published, M. Dumas appears to have resolved the difficult problem. His method, although immediately applied to the Phylloxera of the vine, is a general one, and will no doubt be found serviceable in other cases. In the apterous state the Phylloxera attacks the roots of the plant; and the most efficacious method hitherto known of destroying it has been to inundate the vineyard. After a long and patient investigation, M. Dumas has discovered that the sulphocarbonate of potassium, in dilute solution, fulfils every condition required from an insecti

cide, destroying the insect without injuring the plant. The process requires time and patience; but the trials in the vineyard have fully confirmed the experiments of the laboratory.

The application of artificial cold to practical purposes is rapidly extending; and, with the improvement of the ice-machine, the influence of this agent upon our supply of animal food from distant countries will undoubtedly be immense. The ice-machine is already employed in paraffin-works and in large breweries; and the curing or salting of meat is now largely conducted in vast chambers, maintained throughout the summer at a constant temperature by a thick covering of ice.

I have now completed this brief review, rendered difficult by the abundance, not by the lack of materials. Even confining our attention to the few branches of science upon which I have ventured to touch, and omitting altogether the whole range of pure chemistry, it is with regret that I find myself constrained to make only a simple reference to the important work of Cayley on the Mathematical Theory of Isomers, and to elaborate memoirs which have recently appeared in Germany on the reflection of heat- and lightrays, and on the specific heat and conducting-power of gases for heat, by Knoblauch, E. Wiedemann, Winkelmann, and Buff.

The decline of science in England formed the theme, fifty years ago, of an claborate essay by Babbage; but the brilliant discoveries of Faraday soon after wiped off the reproach. I will not venture to say that the alarm which has lately arisen, here and elsewhere, on the same subject will prove to be equally groundless. The duration of every great outburst of human activity, whether in art, in literature, or in science, has always been short, and experimental science has made gigantic advances during the last three centuries. The evidence of any great failure is not, however, very manifest, at least in the physical sciences. The journal of Poggendorff, which has long been a faithful record of the progress of physical research throughout the world, shows no signs of flagging; and the Jubelband by which Germany celebrated the fiftieth year of Poggendorff's invaluable services was at the same time an ovation to a scientific veteran, who has perhaps done more than any man living to encourage the highest forms of research, and a proof that in Northern Europe the physical sciences continue to be ably and actively cultivated. If in chemistry the case is somewhat weaker, the explanation, at least in this country, is chiefly to be found in the demand on the part of the public for professional aid from many of our ablest chemists.

But whatever view be taken of the actual condition of scientific research, there can be no doubt that it is both the duty and the interest of the country to encourage a pursuit so ennobling in itself, and fraught with such important consequences to the wellbeing of the community. Nor is there any question in which this Association, whose special aim is the advancement of science, can take a deeper interest. The public mind has also been awakened

to its importance, and is prepared to aid in carrying out any proposal which offers a reasonable prospect of advantage.

In its recent phase the question of scientific research has been mixed up with contemplated changes in the great universities of England, and particularly in the University of Oxford. The national interests involved on all sides are immense, and a false step once taken may be irretrievable. It is with diffidence that I now refer to the subject, even after having given to it the most anxious and careful consideration.

As regards the higher mathematics, their cultivation has hitherto been chiefly confined to the Universities of Cambridge and Dublin, and two great mathematical schools will probably be sufficient for the kingdom. The case of the physical and natural sciences is different, and they ought to be cultivated in the largest and widest sense at every complete university. Nor, in applying this remark to the English universities, must we forget that if Cambridge was the alma mater of Newton and Cavendish, Oxford gave birth to the Royal Society. The ancient renown of Oxford will surely not suffer, while her material position cannot fail to be strengthened, by the expansion of scientific studies and the encouragement of scientific research within her walls. Nor ought such a proposal to be regarded as in any way hostile to the literary studies, and especially to the ancient classical studies, which have always been so carefully cherished at Oxford. If, indeed, there were any such risk, few would hesitate to exclaim-let science shift elsewhere for herself, and let literature and philosophy find shelter in Oxford! But there is no ground for any such anxiety. Literature and science, philosophy and art, when properly cultivated, far from opposing, will mutually aid one another. There will be ample room for all, and, by judicious arrangements, all may receive the attention they deserve.

A University, or Studium Generale, ought to embrace in its arrangements the whole circle of studies which involve the material interests of society, as well as those which cultivate intellectual refinement. The industries of the country should look to the universities for the development of the principles of applied as well as of abstract science; and in this respect no institutions have ever had so grand a possession within easy reach as have the universities of England at this conjuncture, if only they have the courage to seize it. With their historic reputation, their collegiate endowments, their commanding influence, Oxford and Cambridge should continue to be all that they now are; but they should, moreover, attract to their lecture-halls and working cabinets students in large numbers preparing for the higher industrial pursuits of the country. The great physical laboratory in Cambridge, founded and equipped by the noble representative of the House of Cavendish, has in this respect a peculiar significance, and is an important step in the direction I have indicated. But a small number only of those for whom this temple of science is designed are now to be found in Cambridge. It remains for the 1876. f

University to perform its part, and to widen its portals so that the nation at large may reap the advantage of this well-timed foundation.

If the Universities, in accordance with the spirit of their statutes, or at least of ancient usage, would demand from the candidates for some of the higher degrees proof of original powers of investigation, they would give an important stimulus to the cultivation of science. The example of many continental universities, and among others of the venerable University of Leyden, may here be mentioned. Two proof essays recently written for the degree of Doctor of Science in Leyden, one by Van der Waals, the other by Lorenz, are works of unusual merit; and another pupil of Professor Rijke is now engaged in an elaborate experimental research as a qualification for the same degree.

The endowment of a body of scientific men devoted exclusively to original research, without the duty of teaching or other occupation, has of late been strongly advocated in this country; and M. Fremy has given the weight of his high authority to a somewhat similar proposal for the encouragement of research in France. I will not attempt to discuss the subject as a national question, the more so as after having given the proposal the most careful consideration in my power, and turned it round on every side, I have failed to discover how it could be worked so as to secure the end in view.

But whatever may be said in favour of the endowment of pure research as a national question, the Universities ought surely never to be asked to give their aid to a measure which would separate the higher intellects of the country from the flower of its youth. It is only through the influence of original minds that any great or enduring impression can be produced on the hopeful student. Without original power, and the habit of exercising it, you may have an able instructor, but you cannot have a great teacher. No man can be expected to train others in habits of observation and thought he has never acquired himself. In every age of the world the great schools of learning have, as in Athens of old, gathered around great and original minds, and never more conspicuously than in the modern schools of chemistry, which reflected the genius of Liebig, Wöhler, Bunsen, and Hofmann. These schools have been nurseries of original research as well as models of scientific teaching; and students attracted to them from all countries became enthusiastically devoted to science, while they learned its methods from example. even more than from precept. Will any one have the courage to assert that organic chemistry, with its many applications to the uses of mankind, would have made in a few short years the marvellous strides it has done, if Science, now as in mediæval times, had pursued her work in strict seclusion,

Semota ab nostris rebus, seiunctaque longe,

Ipsa suis pollens opibus, nil indiga nostri?

But while the Universities ought not to apply their resources in support

of a measure which would render their teaching ineffective, and would at the same time dry up the springs of intellectual growth, they ought to admit freely to university positions men of high repute from other universities, and even without academic qualifications. An honorary degree does not necessarily imply a university education; but if it have any meaning at all, it implies that he who has obtained it is at least on a level with the ordinary graduate, and should be eligible to university positions of the highest trust.

Not less important would it be for the encouragement of learning throughout the country that the English Universities, remembering that they were founded for the same objects, and derive their authority from a common source, should be prepared to recognize the ancient universities of Scotland as freely as they have always recognized the Elizabethan University of Dublin. Such a measure would invigorate the whole university system of the country more than any other I can think of. It would lead to the strengthening of the literary element in the northern, and of the practical element in the southern universities, and it would bring the highest teaching of the country everywhere more fully into harmony with the requirements of the times in which we live. As an indirect result, it could not fail to give a powerful impulse to literary pursuits as well as to scientific investigations. Professors would be promoted from smaller positions in one university to higher positions in another, after they had given proofs of industry and ability; and stagnation, hurtful alike to professorial and professional life, would be effectually prevented. If this union were established among the old universities, and if at the same time a new university (as I myself ten years ago carnestly proposed) were founded on sound principles amidst the great populations of Lancashire and Yorkshire, the university system of the country would gradually receive a large and useful extension, and, without losing any of its present valuable characteristics, would become more intimately related than hitherto with those great industries upon which mainly depend the strength and wealth of the nation.

It may perhaps appear to many a paradoxical assertion to maintain that the industries of the country should look to the calm and serene regions of Oxford and Cambridge for help in the troublous times of which we have now a sharp and severe note of warning. But I have not spoken on light grounds, nor without due consideration. If Great Britain is to retain the commanding position she has so long occupied in skilled manufacture, the easy ways which (owing partly to the high qualities of her people, partly to the advantages of her insular position and mineral wealth) have sufficed for the past, will not be found to suffice for the future. The highest training which can be brought to bear on practical science will be imperatively required; and it will be a fatal policy if that training is to be sought for in foreign lands, because it cannot be obtained at home. The country which depends unduly on the stranger for the education of