Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 74.djvu/190

186 ," I find but two references in which the word "research" appears—one to the exploring vessel, the Research, and the other to "research degrees," Turning to the page on which the latter occurs, we find this interesting statement referring to Oxford University:

New degrees for the encouragement of research, the B.Lit. and B.Sc. (founded in 1895, and completed in 1900 by the institution of research doctorates), have attracted graduates from the universities of other countries. In 1899 a geographical department was opened, which is jointly supported by the University and by the Royal Geographical Society.

Now comes the interesting statement which I beg to emphasize:

''Of more hearing on practical life are the Day Training College Delegacy (1892) and the diploma in education (1896). Under the former elementary school teachers are enabled to take their training course at Oxford, and do so in growing numbers, etc.''

We thus see what the writer of this article thinks of the relative value in practical life, of research foundations and normal school foundations! Yet we all know that this view is not typical of that held in a country having such productive research organizations as the Royal Society or the Royal Institution. Sir Norman Lockyer, in his luminous inaugural address before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1903, on the "Influence of Brain-power on History," says: "A country's research is as important in the long run as its battleships." Why, then, does not the standard encyclopedia of that country make space for a representative article on "research"?

Under "investigation" there also appears absolutely nothing. However, we have the ship, "Investigator," Investigator Shoal, Investigator Group, etc., but not a word about the general methods employed by "scientific investigators." And so it is with the word "discovery"—there is no reference whatsoever to an article on the general principles leading up to discoveries. Likewise with the word "observation"; though there are many references to observations of various kinds, there is no one article for setting forth the general principles of "observations" or the part they play in the discovery of fundamental facts. The same experience is had with regard to the word "experiment."

Now let us turn to an encyclopedia I invariably read with pleasure and profit; it frequently has supplied me with references to earlier work not to be obtained elsewhere. We shall find it instructive to us to-night, though the articles to which I beg to invite your kind attention were written three fourths of a century ago. I refer to the classic Gehler's "Physikalisches Wörterbuch"—the revised edition by the noted investigators Brandes, Gmelin, Horner, Littrow, Muncke and Pfaff, in 20 volumes and published in Leipzig, 1825-1845. A veritable fund of information is found under the headings