The Example of Germany.
Why Germany leads the world in science becomes clear when we observe her co-ordination of industry with the higher education and with original research. Professor Wilhelm Ostwald has said:—“When the student in Germany has finished his university course he is still entirely free to choose between a scientific and a technical career. . . . The occupation of a technical chemist in works is very often almost as scientific in its character as in a university laboratory. . . . The organization of the power of invention in manufactures on a large scale in Germany is, as far as I know, unique in the world’s history, and is the very marrow of our splendid triumphs. Each large works has the greater part of its scientific staff—and there are often more than a hundred doctors of philosophy in a single manufactory—occupied not in the management of the manufacture, but in making inventions. The research laboratory in such works is only different from one in a university from its being more splendidly and sumptuously fitted. I have heard from the business managers of such works that they have not infrequently men who have worked for four years without practical success; but if they have known them to possess ability they keep them notwithstanding, and in most cases with ultimate success sufficient to pay all expenses.”