NA TURE 



85 



SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1923. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



• 85 

 , 86 



89 

 . 90 



91 



Labour and the Universities .... 

 Psycho-analysis. By Dr. Millais Culpin . 

 Chinese Potters and Porcelain. By William Burton 

 Maps and Survey. By C. F. C. 

 The Drapers' Company and Statistical Research 



Our Bookshelf 92 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Effect of Infinitesimal Traces of Chemical Substances 

 on Photosynthesis. {With Diagram. )Svc J. C 



Bose, F.R.S 



Molecular and Crystal Symmetry. — T. V. Barker . 



Stirling's Theorem. — James Henderson 



Dr. Kammerer's Alytes. — Prof. E. W. MacBride, 



F.R.S 



Molecular Interruption. — Arthur Fairbourne 



The Transport of Rocks. — E. J. Wayland ; Prof. 



Grenville A. J. Cole, F.R.S 



On Auroral Observations. — Prof. S. Chapman, 



F.R.S 



Gradient of Potential near P21ectrodes. ( With 



Diagram.) — Prof. S. PieAkowski . 

 The Tides. — Evan M'Lennan; The Writer of 



the Note 



Barometric Pressure in High Latitudes. — L. C. W. 



Bonacina 



lonisation Potentials of Copper and Silver. — A. G. 

 Shenstone . 

 The Problem of Cancer. By W. B. 

 The Rotation of the Earth and its Influence on 

 Optical Phenomena. ( With Diagrams. ) By Prof. 



H. A. Lorentz, For. Mem. R.S 



A Large Refractor for Johannesburg. {Illustrated.) 

 By Frank Robbins ...... 



Current Topics and Events 



Our Astronomical Column 



Research Items . . 



The Liverpool Meeting of the British Association. 



I. Local Arrangements. By Dr. Alfred Holt . 

 The Thunderstorm of July 9-10 over Southern 

 England. By M. A. Giblett .... 



The Pascal Commemoration on the Puy de Dome. 

 By Prof. H. Wildon Carr . . • . .114 



An Advance in Photometry 115 



International Conference on Nature Reserves • . 115 

 University and Educational Intelligence . . . 116 



Societies and Academies 117 



Official Publications Received 120 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN €r CO., LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET. LONDON, W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



99 



99 



100 



lOI 



103 



104 

 107 

 no 



III 



113 

 113 



Telegraphic Address : PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



T 



Labour and the Universities. 



HEJsubject of " Labour and the Universities " 

 was included in the agenda of the annual 

 conference of the Universities of Great Britain and 

 Ireland held in London on May 13. Mr. Arthur 

 Greenwood, M.P., who opened the discussion, said 

 that the Trade Union, Co-operative, and other working- 

 class movements needed in an increasing measure 

 trained men with the broad outlook and the other 

 qualities which a university education could give ; 

 but he did not believe they were getting a fair share 

 of the existing resources. This defines one part of 

 the problem of Labour in relation to the universities 

 in the simplest and clearest language. Admittedly 

 the problem is not yet solved : but, as Prof. Elton 

 of the University of Liverpool said, there is a dis- 

 position on the part of the universities to do all that 

 can be done to find the solution. He invited Mr. 

 Greenwood ^ and his friends to tell the universities 

 plainly what they wanted, coupling the invitation 

 with a hint that the Labour Party must not expect 

 the teaching of such subjects as economics and history 

 to be adapted to the pohtical tenets of their party. 

 " Some sections of Labour," Prof. Elton said, " sus- 

 pected that university economics might be capitalistic 

 economics, and that history might be some form of 

 Imperial history " — a suspicion which he believed to 

 be unfounded. 



One other warning might have been added. The 

 educated man is not created per saltum : he is the 

 product of years of toil, sacrifice, dedication. It may 

 be true, as Mr. Greenwood said, that knowledge and 

 an enthusiasm for knowledge would give the working 

 classes something which no trade depression could 

 take away. But how much study would this require ? 

 With the rapid advance of knowledge in all subjects, 

 the problem of education becomes more and more 

 complex for everybody, but especially for those who, 

 under our present social system, are obliged to 

 devote most of their time to forms of labour which 

 are remunerative only in a physical sense. Prof. 

 Burnet, in his recent Romanes lecture, warned us that 

 specialism, pushed to its logical conclusion, would 

 land us in a society where no one knew anything 

 that any one else knew. There is real danger that 

 working men may look with indifference on the 

 Mount Everest of science. It is fair to say, however, 

 that the higher education of the working classes, as 

 directed and inspired by the Workers' Educational 

 Association, has shown a disposition to encourage the 

 thorough and humane study of a relatively small 

 field in a spirit which gives to the student not only 



NO. 2803, VOL. I 12] 



