246 



NA TURE 



[August 18, 1923 



For the protection of inventions, justification of 

 the patent system is based upon the demands of 

 natural justice and upon economic grounds of pure 

 expediency, a justification which has been recognised 

 in all countries. Similarly for the protection of 

 scientific ideas which are not inventions, justice 

 demands a measure of protection even if expediency 

 speaks with a voice less certain. From time to time, 

 therefore, the cry is raised for protection to be 

 accorded to such important discoveries as do not 

 come within the category of inventions for which 

 patents are obtainable ; and now the matter is raised 

 again, this time by the League of Nations. Thus 

 the Times for July 30 informs us that the Intellectual 

 Co-operation Commission of the League has decided 

 to submit to the Council and to the Assembly a draft 

 convention for the protection of scientific discoveries. 

 In submitting the draft, the Commission is asking 

 the Governments to establish for scientific discoveries 

 " a copyright similar to that granted for literary and 

 artistic work." What exactly is contemplated by 

 the proposal is far from clear, neither the general 

 idea nor the details having come to hand. If, how- 

 ever, the proposal deals only with the literary expres- 

 sion of a discovery, as might be inferred from the 

 Press notice, it is difficult to see in what way the 

 author of the scientific discovery would in any 

 manner receive benefit. A discovery once published 

 may be expressed in many different ways, such that 

 no one of them need infringe copyright in the others. 

 If the proposal is nothing more, the addition then to 

 the legal systems of nations that it will make will be 

 virtually nil. If, however, it submits a scheme 

 whereby the discoverer of a natural principle or law 

 of world-wide utility may receive a reward commen- 

 surate with the importance of the discovery, it is to 

 be welcomed on all hands. Even if the proposal 

 should be found to concern itself only with the 

 literary expression of a discovery, it may yet serve 

 a useful purpose, since it may result in directing 

 public attention once again to the callous neglect of 

 the interests of those to whom the world in the past 

 has been so vastly indebted. 



A WEEK of great interest has just ended at Oxford — 

 one of real importance and significance. The seventh 

 International Congress of Psychology has just con- 

 cluded its meeting there, the last one having been 

 held in Geneva in 1909. For the first time since the 

 War, psychologists from all parts of the world 

 assembled to discuss current problems of psychology. 

 It is mainly due to its president, Dr. C. S. Myers, 

 director of the National Institute of Industrial 

 Psychology, that this result was achieved, and that 

 the entire week passed off so amicably and instruc- 

 tively. The congress was limited to about two 

 hundred members, and included representatives from 

 Great Britain and Ireland, America, Austria, Belgium, 

 Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, 

 Japan, Norway, Poland, Roumania, Spain, Sweden, 

 and Switzerland. They were housed in New College 

 and in Balliol and Manchester Colleges. There were 

 numerous papers and discussions upon scientific and 

 practical aspects of psychology, but no useful purpose 



NO. 2807, VOL. I 12] 



would be served merely by recounting their titles. 

 The proceedings opened on Thursday, July 26, with 

 a meeting at which the president made a happy 

 inaugural speech, and a letter was read from Lord 

 Curzon, Chancellor of the University, welcoming the 

 congress to Oxford. A reception was held the same 

 evening in the gardens of New College. On the 

 following afternoon Dr. and Mrs. William Brown 

 entertained the members of the congress at a garden 

 party in the gardens of Worcester College. On 

 Sunday, July 29, the congress listened to a sermon 

 given by Rev. Canon Barnes in the Cathedral, in 

 which he alluded to the way in which science and 

 religion could aid each other. In the afternoon a 

 delightful excursion was made by river to Nuneham, 

 where, thanks to the kindness of Lady Harcourt, 

 the members of the congress were conducted by her 

 and her daughters over the house and grounds. The 

 congress ended in the evening of August 2 with a 

 dinner at Christ Church. Psychologists may feel 

 justly proud at having achieved so much, not only 

 in advancing their own science, but also in promoting 

 peace and goodwill amongst nations generally. 

 About seventy members of the congress paid a visit 

 to Cambridge on Thursday, visiting the Colleges and 

 the Psychological Laboratory, which owes its exist- 

 ence to Dr. C. S. Myers, President of the Congress. 



Mr. H. Spencer Jones, Chief Assistant at the 

 Royal Observatory, Greenwich, has been appointed 

 His Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape, in succession 

 to the late Mr. S. S. Hough. 



Applications are invited from persons possessing 

 an honours degree in electrical engineering or physics, 

 and having experience of electrical research, prefer- 

 ably in the technique of alternating current measure- 

 ments at high frequencies, for the post of a technical 

 assistant at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, 

 Farnborough. The applications should be addressed 

 to the Superintendent. 



The following awards for the year 1923-24 have 

 been made by the Salters' Institute of Industrial 

 Chemistry, and approved by the Court of the Com- 

 pany. Fellowships are awarded to Mr. T. B. Philip, 

 Imperial College of Science and Technology ; Mr- 

 W. G. Sedgwick, Armstrong College, Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne ; and Mr. D. T. A. Townend, Imperial College 

 of Science and Technology. Fellowships are renewed 

 to Mr. C. G. Harris, Jesus College, Oxford ; and to 

 Mr. J. H. Oliver, Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology. Mr. W. Randerson, a fellow for 1922- 

 1923, having been elected to an Albert Kahn travelling 

 fellowship for the year 1923-24, is made an honorary 

 fellow for the year. 



The Civil Service Commissioners announj^e that an 

 open competitive examination for not fewer than 

 12 situations as probationary^ assistant engineer in 

 the Engineer-in-Chief's Department of the General 

 Post Office will be held in London, commencing on 

 November 6 next. Limits of age : 20 and 25, with 

 certain extensions. Regulations and form of appUca- 

 tion will be sent in response to requests by letter 

 addressed to the Secretary, Civil Service Commission, 

 Burlington Gardens, London, W.i. 



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