/'///•; l>i;u<;i;i-:ss of SCIENCE. 



565 



unly poking fun at simple scientific 

 folks. The outcome of the two ad- 

 dresses, clearly indicated in the one 

 subtly implied in the other, is thai 

 our science having failed, we might as 

 well accept the doctrines of the estab- 

 lished church. 



Mr. Balfour's address will be read 

 with interest by all. The more < 1 i 111- 

 cult but very able address of Professor 

 Lamb, also published in this number 

 of The Populab Science Monthly, 

 should, however, be read in connection 

 with it. As Professor Lamb tells us, 

 science is justified by its results; we 

 trust it because it honors our checks. 



THE WORK OF THE SECTIONS. 

 The British Association is divided 

 into ten sections, which are at times 

 subdivided. There were for example 

 this year subsections for cosmical 

 physics and for agriculture. The 

 range of the British Association is 

 somewhat wider than that of the 

 American Association. Our associa- 

 tion has recently established a section 

 for experimental medicine, but this has 

 not been active, whereas physiology at 

 the British Association has one of the 

 best sectional programs. We have no 

 section for education and our section 

 for political and social science is not 

 very strong. These two sections are 

 likely to offer papers and discussions 

 that are only on the edge of science, 

 but with the sections of geography and 

 anthropology they give suitable enter- 

 tainment to the ' general hearer,' whose 

 cooperation in scientific work it should 

 be one of the objects of such an associa- 

 tion to secure. 



The most interesting part of the 

 program of Section A, and perhaps the 

 most important discussion of the meet- 

 ing from the scientific point of view, 

 was that on the radio-activity of ordi- 

 nary matter, in which Professor J. J. 

 Thomson, Lord Kelvin, Lord Rayleigh 

 and Sir Oliver Lodge took part, four 

 physicists whose work can scarcely be 

 paralleled in any other country. Pro- 



fessor Thomson, to whom the new 

 theories in regard to matter are so 

 largely due. described work that had 

 been carried on in his laboratory. It 

 has been found thai metals give out 

 radiations peculiar to each tnctal. This 

 can scarcely be due to the presence of 

 a small quantity of radium as it is 

 constant with different samples of the 

 same metal. Sir Oliver Lodge re- 

 marked that on the electric theory of 

 matter all matter ought to be radio- 

 active, and no atom of matter should 

 he regarded as absolutely permanent. 

 Perhaps it would not be going too far 

 to say that the burden of proof rested 

 with those who denied that ordinary 

 matter was radio-active. 



Physics is undoubtedly stronger in 

 Great Britain than in the United 

 States, and the Cavendish Laboratory 

 at Cambridge has through the discov- 

 eries of Maxwell, Rayleigh and Thom- 

 son become the chief center for physical 

 investigation in the world. It is nat- 

 ural, therefore, that this science should 

 have been well represented at the re- 

 cent meeting. Dr. Glazebrook, di- 

 rector of the National Physical Labo- 

 ratory, described its work. He told of 

 the part taken by the British Associa- 

 tion in its establishment, described the 

 scientific and technical work in prog- 

 ress and concluded by pleading for a 

 larger measure of support. A table 

 was submitted showing the amount of 

 expenditure on buildings and equip- 

 ment, and of the annual grant allowed 

 for maintenance in similar institutions 

 in various countries; this clearly dem- 

 onstrated the unfortunate position in 

 which the laboratory was placed, while 

 the number of tests made and the 

 receipts from applicants contrasted 

 favorably with those of other nation- 

 alities. 



Among other contributions of special 

 interest was a paper by Professor J. 

 A. Fleming on the propagation of elec- 

 tric waves along spiral wires and on 

 an appliance for measuring the length 

 of waves used in wireless telegraphy, 



