298 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



and, but for the war, the results would have been available before now. The 

 phenomena which accompany magnetic storms provide several interesting 

 problems. There is first their effect on the intensity of the earth's magnetic 

 field. After the very severe storm of September 26, 1909, it was about three 

 months before this field rose to its approximately normal value. Again, the 

 storm on March 22-23 this year was associated with marked sun-spot activity, 

 a remarkable display of the Aurora Borealis and with abnormal fluctuations 

 of the solar constant. This quantity is observed every day by the Smithsonian 

 Institution party at Calama, Chile. From January i to March 22 it varied 

 from I '93 to 2-00 ; on March 23 it reached the low value of i'866, on March 24 

 it was I -905, and thereafter it went up again to its normal value. The general 

 result of magnetic observations carried on during almost every solar eclipse 

 since 1900 has been to show that there is an appreciable magnetic effect which, 

 though minute, is similar in character to the variation experienced by the 

 earth during a solar day. It is believed that the detection and study of an 

 eclipse magnetic effect will be of great importance to theories of the earth's 

 magnetic field and its variations. 



It has been said of Mr. Arthur Balfour that he is a philosopher among 

 politicians and a politician among philosophers. We should have preferred 

 him to be a man of science among statesmen and a statesman among men of 

 science ; but his reply to Mr. Briant on the subject of rewards for medical 

 discovery, quoted on page 287, shows how far he is from this ideal. Can a 

 weaker argument be conceived ? On reading it everyone will ask at once, 

 " Why then give any rewards to anyone for anything ? " Why exactly 

 should Mr. Balfour discriminate against men of science and doctors ? The 

 whole theory of rewards is that they discharge an obligation towards those 

 who have rendered good service. Rewards honour not only the recipients 

 but the givers. Mr. Balfour argues that because he fancies there may be 

 some difficulty in selecting the proper recipients, therefore he is entitled to 

 escape from all obligation in the matter ! — surely an indescribable evasion. 

 Yet the Government of which he is a part is now pouring forth millions upon 

 millions of the public money in doles to the undeserving, the lazy, and the 

 inefficient. When asked to pay honourably for benefits received from those 

 who have laboured hard for the State, this Government refuses even to 

 consider the matter ! 



