120 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



noted that there is at present no entrance fee on admission to the Society, but a 

 fee of one guinea will be required from members elected after July r next. 



A movement is in progress for the formation of an Institute of Physicists 

 working on somewhat similar lines to the Institute of Chemists. No definite 

 programme has, so far as is known, yet crystallised out from the discussions which 

 are taking place between the several physical societies. It is understood, how- 

 ever, that the chief objects of the Institute would be (i) to forward the professional 

 status of physicists in general, (ii) to impress upon the industrial world the 

 importance of the works physicist, and (iii) to form a connecting link between 

 the societies dealing with subjects of a physical character. 



The Faraday Society arranged a meeting to consider the " Co-ordination of 

 Scientific Publication " on May 7 last. The discussion was opened by Sir Robert 

 Hadfield, President of the Society and member of the Sub-Committee appointed 

 by the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies to deal with the " Overlapping 

 between Scientific Societies." Among others who spoke were Prof. Schuster, 

 Dr. R. Mond, Mr. Longridge (President of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers) 

 and Mr. Wordingham (President of the Institute of Electrical Engineers). Sir 

 Robert Hadfield's chief suggestion was that there should be a Central Board 

 (such as the Conjoint Board) appointed to receive all scientific papers and to allot 

 them for reading and discussion to the society to which they would be of most 

 interest. In addition the Board should circularise other societies likely to be 

 interested in order that their members might be aware of what had been done 

 and enabled to attend and take part in the discussion if they so desired. This 

 plan would, of course, involve some degree of federation between all the larger 

 societies ; a federation which was evidently regarded very favourably by those 

 present at the meeting. It has indeed already taken place in Germany, where a 

 Union of Technical and Scientific Societies, with a roll of some 60,000 members, 

 has been formed more especially to cope to the best advantage with the 

 problems which must arise at the end of the war. In New York also the United 

 Engineering Societies have a central building and library, provided by the 

 generosity of Andrew Carnegie, where the several societies meet for discussions, 

 and where they are brought into closer contact than is possible with the de- 

 centralisation which obtains here. Nor should the federation be limited to the 

 United Kingdom alone. The great societies should have Colonial representatives, 

 particularly those dealing with problems of an industrial character. In pre-war 

 days the Iron and Steel Institute had a representative of the German Empire, 

 which was thus kept in touch with English research, but no representative from 

 our own Dominions. With a federation of this kind it might be possible to 

 maintain a common building {e.g., an enlarged Burlington House) for meetings 

 and to house a joint library which should contain, in particular, all the publications 

 referred to in the International Catalogue. Several speakers dilated on this idea, 

 Dr. Mond suggesting that it should have a staff of translators competent to 

 provide complete translations of papers written in the more difficult languages 

 (e.g., Russian or Japanese) when they were required ; while Mr. Longridge went 

 further in desiring a College of Librarians ; men able to discuss research with 

 inquirers and not merely to put them on the track of past work, but also to 

 inform them of the work then in actual progress ! Less Utopian was the demand 

 for uniformity in publication. It is most desirable that all Proceedings, Trans- 

 actions, etc., should be printed on the same sized paper and in the same type so 

 that collected papers on any one subject may be bound together. The scheme 

 for the pooling of papers was opposed by the Institutions on the ground that they 



