Abstract
THE great technical developments of the nineteenth century, which were due in a large measure to the influence and progress of science, have undoubtedly introduced not only a great transformation in the internal affairs of the country, but also an altered outlook in the external relations of the State. In consequence, many and extensive have been the changes gradually brought about, during the past century, in the duties and responsibilities of the Civil Service. Every Government Department has been affected to some extent; in some of them there have come into existence innovations which are of a very far-reaching character. The outstanding feature of this evolution is that the work of Government Departments has to-day entirely ceased to be of a purely administrative order, whether it be in relation to legislative measures referred thereto for preparation, revision, or criticism, or to the operations conducted therein, or to the sphere of human activity superintended, controlled, or managed thereby. The business of every Government Department is to-day to some extent technical or scientific; in the case of some Departments the administrative aspect predominates; in others it is the technical or scientific aspect that plays the more important rôle.
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Science and the Civil Service . Nature 101, 446–447 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/101446a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/101446a0