HOW TO PROMOTE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY BY MONEY
THE fact that five years ago Mr. Otto Beit, the brother of the late Mr. Alfred Beit, not only carried out the latter's intention of giving £50,000 to the promotion of research in connexion with the study of disease and the mastery of its causes, but added £150,000 on his own account to the amount originally proposed, produced great satisfaction among scientific men, and also in that large body of the public which, at the present day, understands something of the importance to the community of the minute and thorough study of disease, of its mode of access to man, and of the possibilities, which every day become brighter and clearer, of getting rid of it altogether. All honour and gratitude are due to Mr. Beit for his generous gift and for his wise appreciation of the good which can be done by proper application of such a fund. I have reason to know and to value the large-minded interest in science which was shown by the late Mr. Alfred Beit, since he gave me £1000, some twelve years ago, towards the expenses of expeditions which I was organizing for the investigation of the natural history of Lake Tanganyika,--expeditions which have yielded important scientific results, and have but recently exhausted the fund then collected.
It has often occurred to me that wealthy men who wish to devote large sums of money to the promotion of scientific research find difficulty in carrying out their intentions, owing to the fact that they do not know enough about the methods and conditions of scientific discovery to enable them to form a definite independent judgment as to how to assign their money, so as to make sure that it shall really be employed in the most effective way towards the end they have in view--namely, the increase of scientific discovery. They naturally have some doubts as to whether the old (or even the new) Universities can help them as trustees of the money when they see the importance attached by the former to antiquated methods of teaching and examination and observe their traditional cultivation of certain favoured studies, with a minimum of activity in research and discovery. They mistrust special societies or individuals as advisers in the matter, and sometimes finally spend the money which they had destined to be the means of furthering scientific discovery upon a costly and ill-considered architectural monstrosity dedicated to science, but of little help to its progress.