a scientific training has done in these careers it would effect in bracing the whole of our national life, leading to the cure of those faults of which the Bishop of Winchester spoke with such straight and wise words in his Visitation Charge delivered on September 28. He then traced the 'ludicrously insufficient measure' taken early in the war 'of the mighty strength and skill of the great German war machine' to 'that easy, amateurish way of handling great issues which now more than ever was seen to be our inveterate and perilous characteristic. It meant a great national complacency, allowing, and fed by, great inertness of thought'.
I now turn to difficulties of another kind which must be faced and overcome. The scientific man, whatever be his capacity or value, rarely has the opportunity of entering Parliament. At the present time the barrister is the only member of the community who benefits by seeking a political career, and for this reason he is certain to be over-represented, certain also, by the very nature of his profession, to be too powerful. The danger would not be nearly so great if the lawyer in Parliament and in the Government did not almost invariably mean the advocate. Hence by the conditions of education and the means of making a living in this country, not only is the scientific spirit excluded from Parliament, but the spirit of all others the most antagonistic to science is invited to enter and to rule. The advocate labours to give to his case, whether true or false, the appearance of truth: the scientific man labours to strip off appearance and discover whether the true or the false is hidden beneath. Huxley once told how a rich friend of his youth was sure that he would make a successful barrister, and offered to back the opinion by financial assistance. 'I told him', said Huxley,