future of the world lies in the hands of those who are able to carry
the interpretation of nature a step further than their predecessors; so
certain is it that the highest function of a university is to seek out
those men, cherish them, and give their ability to serve their kind
full play.

I rejoice to observe that the encouragement of research occupies so
prominent a place in your official documents, and in the wise and
liberal inaugural address of your president. This subject of the
encouragement, or, as it is sometimes called, the endowment of
research, has of late years greatly exercised the minds of men in
England. It was one of the main topics of discussion by the members of
the Royal Commission of whom I was one, and who not long since issued
their report, after five years' labour. Many seem to think that this
question is mainly one of money; that you can go into the market and
buy research, and that supply will follow demand, as in the ordinary
course of commerce. This view does not commend itself to my mind. I
know of no more difficult practical problem than the discovery of a
method of encouraging and supporting the original investigator without
opening the door to nepotism and jobbery. My own conviction is
admirably summed up in the passage of your president's address, "that
the best investigators are usually those who have also the
responsibilities of instruction, gaining thus the incitement of
colleagues, the encouragement of pupils, and the observation of the
public."

At the commencement of this address I ventured to assume that I might,
if I thought fit, criticise the arrangements which have been made by
the board of trustees, but I confess that I have little to do but to
applaud them. Most wise and sagacious seems to me the determination not