Adapted from a paper circulated at the conference on Problems of Conservation in Provincial Museums, Victoria and Albert Museum, November 29-30, 1965. The Scientific Adviser at the National Gallery, London, discusses the small impact of conservation science on the world of research. Practical problem solving should be balanced by a proportion of theoretical research as done in larger industries. Conservation science can be brought into the mainstream of scientific activity by establishing within a university a new institute for advanced research, independent from, but formally connected with, the museums and restoration centers.