NOTES 501 



remaining with us. In order that we should utilise these advantages to the fall, it 

 is, in the Professor's opinion, absolutely necessary that there should be much more 

 complete national organisation of the various trades than exists at present. On 

 the whole, the author does not favour too much intervention by the State, but looks 

 rather to a more efficient expansion of trades unions on the one hand and em- 

 ployers' associations on the other. Not merely should they be associations of one 

 trade, but local and national federations of trades on both sides. It is imperative, 

 as all will agree, that both employers and employed should insist on all members 

 of their respective associations carrying out honourably all agreements. As a 

 court of appeal and a general board of control would be an industrial council 

 similar to that established in 191 1, but with more power, and of such constitution 

 as to ensure the respect and confidence of all parties. 



The address to Section G (Engineering) by the president, G. Stoney, is mainly 

 a criticism of the faults that have characterised workmen and employers in the 

 engineering and allied trades in the past. The Government also has its share of 

 the blame for its niggardliness in supporting scientific research. Reform is looked 

 for in the direction of better relations between master and man, between different 

 firms in the same industry, and an alteration of our educational system, including, 

 among other things, better provision for the young man in a works to continue 

 his education. 



Section G (Anthropology) listened to an address on "Anthropology and 

 University Education" by the president, R. R. Marett. A tribute was paid to 

 the memory of Sir Laurence Gomme, who should have been president. It is a 

 remarkable thing that a science of such standing as Anthropology should at the 

 present time be so treated that it is necessary to enter a plea for its inclusion in 

 University curricula. The whole address is devoted to a definition of the aim and 

 scope of the science, and its various auxiliaries, and a claim that it should be more 

 completely recognised by the Universities. Its value as an education for pro- 

 ducing an "all-round man" is insisted on, and its requirements in the way of 

 equipment and organisation pointed out. 



Prof. A. Cushny, president of Section I (Physiology), dealt with the analysis of 

 living matter through its reactions to poisons. The action of drugs upon the body 

 is selective, that is, a certain drug may act on only certain very limited parts. In 

 a general way certain substances act only on the central nervous system, but again 

 some of them only affect very limited parts of the individual nerve cells, or their 

 connections with other cells or tissues. Again, the same compound may act on 

 two or more different parts, between which there appears to be no morphological 

 connection, thus probably indicating some chemical or structural similarity be- 

 tween the two. The degree of susceptibility of certain cells may indicate the 

 amount of a certain substance it contains. All these various points suggest lines 

 of attack on the complex problem of the ultimate structure of protoplasm. 



The part that can be played by Botany in the improvement of our crops, etc., 

 and the further exploitation of the economic wealth of the Empire, was treated by 

 A. B. Rendle, the president of Section K. There is need of closer co-operation 

 between the practical man and the botanist, and this might readily be met by an 

 extension of the scheme inaugurated by the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley. 

 More schools for the efficient teaching of botany, not to those intending to be 

 professional botanists, but practical men requiring some scientific training, are 

 needed. There is also room for a more intensive study of plant diseases, the 

 anatomical study of timber, and the chemical investigation, not only of wood, 

 but of plant products in general. Most of these could be more easily done if 



