But why this sudden outcrop of inventors at this time ?sx Is it not possible that they were the logical outcome of the new scientific atmosphere , the new spirit of enquiry , the new experimental method adumbrated by Francis Bacon ?sx Is it not possible that the first-fruits of Bacon's philosophy , Boyle , Hooke , Mayow and their successors , in creating this spirit of experimental enquiry , stimulated the inventors and made it possible for their inventive minds to function inventively ?sx Should not Bacon be regarded in a sense as the founder of Britain's industrial supremacy three centuries later ?sx Would it not be more just to refer to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as the crucial age of science , rather than , as is always done , the nineteenth ?sx I do not know the answers to any of these questions , because the history books , which ought to tell me , are silent on such matters .sx Let us take war , about which the historians generally have plenty to say as to its origin , conduct , and consequences .sx It is true that they never fail to describe how Archimedes called science to the aid of the Greeks , and by the use of a reflecting mirror and the laws of optics burnt and utterly destroyed the investing Roman fleet an episode which I always feel is more historical than scientific .sx But what history book ever refers to the fact that the heavy chemical industry owes its origin largely to the Napoleonic Wars and M. Leblanc ?sx And yet that interplay of science and history would appear to have had economic and social consequences worth a bare mention .sx Or take the last war .sx We can read a great deal about its causes the Drang nach Ost , Panslavism , the Entente Cordiale , and the rest .sx One can read pages , chapters or books about what happened in July , 1914 .sx But what historian has ever heard of , or thought fit to mention , Davy's first experiments with finely-divided platinum 100 years before the experiments which opened up the whole field of catalytic action , which led to great industrial advances in many directions , and in particular to the Haber Process for the fixation of nitrogen ?sx Germany admittedly could not , with any hope of success , and .sx would not , could it be avoided , have gone to war until that process had been perfected , which happened early in 1914 .sx To suggest a catalytic origin for Armageddon may sound far-fetched :sx it is far-fetched .sx But a historian will not hesitate to trace with deadly logic the origin of the British Empire to , inter alia , the atrocious cooking of our remote forebears , which called for condiments , which fostered trade with the East , which demanded sea-power , which needed coaling-stations , which had to be defended , which needed more seapower and so to the British Commonwealth of nations .sx Is the relationship of a war with the peculiar properties of a precious metal a further-fetched idea than that of an Empire founded on pepper ?sx Metallurgical science , too , might have something to say on the origin of the Great War .sx There are trade records which show that in the year before the war Germany suddenly imported certain minerals and metals necessary for special steels and other essential war purposes , which were unobtainable from her own mines or those of her probable allies , to an extent far in excess of her peace-time requirements , and as much as several hundred per cent .sx above the previous four-year average , and sufficient for a two- to five-years' supply .sx That , if one is considering the origins of the war , seems to be a fact of prime importance .sx But I have never seen it mentioned in any ordinary history book :sx for molybdenum and nickel convey but little to the mind of the historian .sx What do they know of history who only history know ?sx Such quite random instances of the relationship of science to history on the material side could be multiplied indefinitely .sx The part played in the intellectual field , however , is probably of more far-reaching importance .sx But here it is difficult to demonstrate in a concrete way what one feels must be true .sx What , for instance , has been the effect of Newton's discoveries on the general intellectual outlook ?sx It must surely have been immense , but it might be difficult to say exactly how .sx With Darwin it is easier .sx Evolutionary ideas have become part of the mental equipment of every thinking person , and even the least intellectual must have absorbed .sx something of the Darwinian outlook .sx Dalton's atomic views , too , must have permeated the general consciousness , and effected a certain preciseness of view , to an extent considerably affecting the general mode of thought of the last 120 years .sx In general , the people as a whole must in one way or another have acquired a much more scientifically-directed mind than was possible 100 or 200 years ago .sx And this must have had important reactions on political , religious and economic thought , and so on the course of history .sx There must be much more open-mindedness than before , less prejudice , less respect for unsupported authority and unprofitable tradition .sx Was Karl Marx a product of the new way of thinking , or a die-hard of the old ?sx Is a Mussolini fostered by a scientifically-minded environment or is he a sport ?sx What does Bolshevism owe to Bacon ?sx No one tells me :sx probably no one knows .sx But questions of this kind are surely worth answering .sx The discoveries of Bunsen and Kirchoff in spectrum analysis which brought the whole universe , as it were , within the field of experiment , must have broadened immensely the general outlook and produced a wholly new mental background .sx Thompson and Rutherford , Planck and Einstein , and many another have led us to the notion of a curved and kinky space , and of a finite universe expanding in a space-time continuum , created by a Being who , we are told , received his education at Cambridge ( presumably Trinity ) , a notion which , owing to modern methods of exposition and publicity , is rapidly , if vaguely , sinking into the public consciousness , with a quite inevitable effect on the general attitude towards almost every aspect of life .sx It is easy to see that it may affect the religious outlook :sx it is not difficult to see how it may affect the social outlook :sx it is certain it will affect the course of history .sx But is anything of all this ever given a place in the history books ?sx Is an attempt ever made to correlate Cannizaro and Communism , Rutherford and Religion , Planck and Politics ?sx Not at all .sx And yet the philosophies of Aristotle and Plato , the writings of Voltaire and Rousseau , the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin , are given their rightful place in the development of political and social history .sx A few weeks ago the Bishop of Birmingham stated in a sermon that Liberalism was born of Science :sx this was promptly denied in a letter to The Times by the ex-Bishop of Winchester .sx Will the historian please tell me which , if either , of these reverend gentlemen is right ?sx And will he tell me , too , whether the internationalism of science has in any way affected the growth of political and social internationalism ?sx If all the world were populated exclusively by scientists which Heaven forfend !sx who always acted scientifically , wars might be expected to cease automatically .sx For scientists , as scientists , do not settle disputed points by violent attacks upon the persons or laboratories of their opponents :sx but by patient experimental study of the issues involved , coupled , it may be , with copious polemics of ultra-scientific virulence .sx What has history to say to this ?sx Has the general spread of a mentality born of science , which recognises no political frontiers , led appreciably to a more general international outlook , a lessening of the risks of war , a strengthening of the cause of peace ?sx Or has the increased power over nature created by the scientist produced another type of mind the bellicose components of which outweigh the more pacific international ones ?sx Have the benefits of science been greater than its dangers ?sx Does history indicate that science is likely , as the President of the Society of Chemical Industry recently suggested , to raise industrial and social problems which neither science nor art may be able to solve ?sx For the guidance of those who are planning for the future , it is important that the historians should attempt to answer such questions .sx For the past affords the only available evidence upon which to build .sx It is important not only for the political , social and industrial leaders .sx It is important that the whole country , the whole world , should be trained to know , in some general way at least , what are the benefits , the functions , the powers , the limitations , and the possible dangers of science .sx For in a country like this , democratic in name and to some extent in fact , in the long and rather slow run the common people do .sx in a large measure finally settle matters of large policy .sx If they are quite unaware of the part played by one of the most powerful and formative forces of history , they are clearly less well-equipped than they might be for arriving at right decisions .sx I would urge , therefore , that it is neither out of place nor foolish to ask that our history books , both in our elementary and secondary schools , as well as in our Universities , the books from which the vast majority of the population are going to get the only historical knowledge and all the historical sense which they are ever going to get , should give to science that place which is its due , and which at present it surely does not get .sx I do not ask that their pages should be profusely peppered with the names of scientists and what they have discovered .sx I only ask that the part played by science should be woven into the general fabric of history , its importance as a neverceasing historical influence be made clear , its relationship to the other characters of the historic drama be disclosed .sx It is for this that I plead for the co-operation between the historian and the scientist .sx My apparent criticism of the history books implies no criticism of the historians , my humble admiration for whom is unclouded by any sort of doubt of their complete worthiness .sx Nor can any blame be imputed to the scientist .sx The historian is normally quite innocent of science ; and the scientist knows nothing of historical method and technique .sx Neither alone is capable of giving us histories in which science is afforded its proper place .sx Co-operation between the two is the only way .sx Roughly , the scientist would provide the facts , and the historian would weigh them and estimate their significance in the general historic scheme , and give them their appropriate value and place .sx The result would not be revolutionary , but should be a somewhat more true , and somewhat more complete , picture of human history than we get at present .sx The country , and especially the leaders of it , will more and more have to call upon the assistance of the scientist .sx At present these leaders , while recognising that science has had a place in the historical developments of the past , recognise it all too vaguely ; they have no precise knowledge .sx And , asalways , ignorance leads to fear :sx fear that if they meddle too much with the scientist they may burn their fingers ; fear that should they give the scientist the kind of powers which they themselves possess , they will lose contact and control and be landed in heaven-knows-what unintelligible complications .sx Anything that could dispel that kind of thing is well worth the doing , and I suggest that it is worthy of the notice of historians , in co-operation with their scientific confreres .sx How such co-operation might best be achieved is a matter for much consideration .sx I am sure it would not be by getting the professors of history and science of a University round a table , with instructions to produce a better and brighter history of the world .sx But I have a suggestion to make whereby some small beginning might be made , and in which this Society might take the leading part .sx It is no secret that the usefulness and success of this Society have been somewhat impaired by the rise of numerous societies concerned with special branches of science .sx These naturally claim , and get , the allegiance of their appropriate devotees .sx