The Royal Institution and Scientific Research*

Abstract

THE free and unfettered pursuit of knowledge which Rumford and Davy laid down as the object of the Royal Institution has had surprising results. This is not the place to catalogue the vast list of scientific discoveries which have emanated from the laboratories and desks in this building from the time of Rumford to the time of Dale. We usually associate the names of workers in science with some particular achievement, because that particular piece of work has had a great influence either on modern philosophical thought, or on some modern branch of experimental or theoretical science, or again, in some field of technological endeavour ; but their other and less-known achievements in different fields are not to be ignored.