NA TURE 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1923. 



CONTENTS. 



Science and Publicity 381 



Science and Man. By The Very Rev. W. R. Inge 383 

 The Manufacture of Acids and Alkahs. By Sir 



T. E. Thorpe, F.R S 385 



National Eugenics 387 



The Animal Parasites of Man. By Lieut.-Col. H.J. 



Walton 388 



Our Bookshelf 389 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Inheritance of Acquired Characters in Alytes.— 



Dr. W. Bateson, F.R.S 391 



A Possible Origin of the Nebular Lines. ( With 

 Diagram.) — H. H. Plaskett .... 392 



Dutch Pendulum Observations in Submarines. ( With 

 Diagram.)—]. J. A. Muller .... 393 



Long-range Particles from Radium-active Deposit. — 



Gerhard Kirsch and Hans Pettersson . . 394 

 The Menace to Civilisation : an Appeal to Men of 

 Science. — W. D. Evans ..... 395 



The Heisenberg Theory of the Anomalous Zeeman 

 Effect.— G. Breit . . . . . .396 



Thunderstorms and Ozone. — Dr. William C. 

 Reynolds ....... 396 



A Method for Demonstrating the Stages in the Life 

 History of Monocystis in Practical Class Work. — 



Dr. A. J. Grove 397 



The British Association at Liverpool. Sir Ernest 



RUTIIERKORl). {With Portrait.) ARRANGEMENTS FOR 



THE Meeting. By Dr. Alfred Holt . . . 398 

 The Japanese Earthquake of September i. By Dr. 



Charles Davison ....... 399 



Current Topics and Events . . . .401 



Our Astronomical Column ..... 403 



Research Items ....... 404 



Brazilian Meteorological Service, 1921-23. By | 



P. I. M 406 



Sir Isaac Newton and the S. P. C.K. . . . 406 



Mechanism of Stomatal Movement in Plants . . 407 



University and Educational Intelligence . . . 407 



Societies and Academies ...... 408 



Official Publications Received ..... 408 



The Electrical Structure of Matter. By Sir Ernest 



Rutherford, F.R.S 409 



Scientific Problems and Progress. Summaries of 



Addresses of Presidents of Sections of the 



British Association .... , 419 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



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



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : CERRARD 8830. 



NO. 281 I, VOL. I 12] 



Science and Publicity. 



IN his presidential address to the British Association 

 on Wednesday last, on the electrical structure of 

 matter, Sir Ernest Rutherford dealt with a subject of 

 fundamental scientific importance, as well as of popular 

 interest— possibly on account of the conception of flying 

 atomic projectiles and their disintegrating effects. 

 The Association thus opened its proceedings this year 

 with a discourse which is likely to make a wide appeal. 

 Whether members of the general public who have not 

 themselves made scientific observations or experiments 

 can have an intelligent comprehension of the true in- 

 wardness of work and theory on atomic structure, 

 or on many of the other intricate subjects dealt with 

 in presidential addresses and papers presented to the 

 various Sections, may perhaps be doubted ; but even 

 if the mental grasp be weak and the picture induced be 

 primitive, the mere existence of a respectful attitude 

 and receptive mind towards scientific studies is not to 

 be despised. 



In the main, of course, the Association is an assembly 

 of scientific workers, most of whom have no wish to 

 discourse to the laity and no capacity for transforming 

 the special vocabularies of their subjects into the 

 simpler — not to say sensational — forms required by 

 many general readers. It ought to be gratefully 

 recognised, however, that the lay writer who is suffi- 

 ciently well informed to be able to present a scientific 

 subject in attractive literary style, and accurately as 

 well, is performing a useful purpose for science. The 

 investigator who can do this for advances to which 

 he has himself contributed, and on which he is an 

 authority, can always find a generous welcome on 

 platform or in the periodical press, but it is rarely 

 that the faculties of research and exposition are so 

 closely combined ; and it may be just as well that they 

 are usually separated. The first business of the man 

 of science is to discover — to add to the sum of natural 

 knowledge ; and if he describes his work clearly and 

 in terms which are intelligible to other investigators, 

 he has done his part. It is really supererogatory' for 

 him to take up the task of enlightening — or entertain- 

 ing — a public unfamiliar with even the alphabet of the 

 language of the branch of science in which he works. 

 He may be able to interest members of the British 

 Association, because most of them are engaged in scien- 

 tific work of one kind or another, and the rest scarcely 

 expect to listen to childish discourses ; but the crowd 

 in the street is not within his ambit. The active 

 scientific investigator might appropriately apply to 

 those outside his gates the words, " I have yet many 

 things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." 

 Science does not need to be sought with a contrite 



