Abstract
THE three hundredth anniversary of the publication of Francis Bacon's famous “De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum “was fittingly celebrated at the seventy-eighth meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Cincinnati by a symposium of five papers, which have recently appeared in Science. Special interest attaches to the first of these by Prof. Mark H. Liddell, of Purdue University, outlining Bacon's scheme for a College of Research. His plea for the proper organisation of research is preceded by an attack on the neglect of science in the university of his day. “If any man thinks pure science an idle pursuit he fails to realise that from thence is all applied science supplied.” Bacon accuses the college professor of his day of lacking in virility, and attributes this in part to the smallness and meanness of his emoluments. He also accuses the universities of their failure to produce facilities for research “in the way of laboratories, botanical gardens and other instrumentalities of investigation,” and insists that “research is the intelligence department of organised knowledge,” and hence must be properly financed. So Bacon comes to his own programme for the regeneration of learning by research, along two broad lines: one to provide the scientific method for the magna instauratio, the other the material and personnel to make it effective. The former of these he achieved in 1620 with the publication of the “Novum Organum.” The second object, the provision of the College 01 Research (Bacon called it a College of Inventors), was never realised, but his own memorandum, originally drafted in 1608, clearly outlines his intentions. Bacon contemplated a building equipped with libraries, laboratories, furnaces, vaults, and workshops, together with a hall of fame for statues of the great men of science, past, present, and future. There were to be rules for the conduct of studies and research, and money allowances for travelling expenses and for apparatus. There was also included a scheme for the recording of results in cipher until the time for publication was deemed appropriate. Finally, the scheme provided not only for the due rewarding of valuable research, but also for the removal of members whose work was fruitless.
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Current Topics and Events. Nature 114, 387–390 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114387a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114387a0