5IO 



NA TURE 



[October 6, 1923 



the introduction of more drouj^ht-rcsistant varieties 

 would enormously increase the nation's wealth. 



Our forests, so uniquely Australian, offer problems 

 which cry loudly for systematic scientific work, far 

 too little attention having been paid to some of them 

 in the past. The admirable pioneer labours of von 

 Mueller and of Kaker and Smith have opened up an 

 almost limitless field in the investigation of the char- 

 acters and the chemistry of our forest trees. Closely 

 related is the practical problem of the development of 

 forest-product industries. Those who have to do with 

 the timber industry know how much remains to be 

 done in the systematic study of the character of the 

 timbers, their exact classification, and the methods of 

 seasoning and of preservation. All this is apart from, 

 though related to, the problem of forestry proper ; 

 that is, the development of a complete organisation, 

 scientifically controlled, for the care and upkeep of 

 the forests, which — though wantonly destroyed in the 

 past — may still be one of the nation's great assets. 



The thorough investigation of Australian clays, with 

 the view of the development of a ceramic industry 

 employing native material, is another example of 

 what may be done by applied science in the future ; 

 and here again some noted advance has already been 

 made by the Commonwealth Institute, though it has 

 been compelled to restrict its field of work. 



There are tasks ahead, however, of perhaps more 

 fundamental importance than any of these in con- 

 nexion with the development of our country's resources 

 and the settlement of population — tasks, moreover, 

 called for by our obligation to contribute in our own 

 area to man's knowledge of the earth on which he lives. 

 I refer to the need of much more extensive, detailed, 

 and systematically organised topographical and geo- 

 logical surveys than any as yet provided for. Such 

 work would seem to require a definite scheme of 

 co-operation between the Federal and State Govern- 

 ments and the institution of permanent scientific 

 services. 



In Papua and still more in the Mandate Territory 

 of New Guinea there is urgent need for systematic 

 scientific work, both for utilitarian reasons and because 

 the unknown, wherever it exists, cries loudly for 

 intelligent investigation. There are not many parts 

 of this earth's surface that remain to-day so unexplored 

 as does much of the interior of New Guinea, or which 

 hold out so much promise of reward to the topographer, 

 the geologist, the chemist, the botanist, the zoologist, 

 and the anthropologist. The services of all these are 

 needed as regular adjuncts to the civil administration. 

 The work should not be left to the casual efforts of 

 individual enthusiasts or of occasional scientific expedi- 



tions, often privately financed and undertaken im n 

 in the spirit of adventure than of true researrh !• 

 needs highly trained men and systematic org;- 

 Most pressing of all is the need of skilled etli 

 work — the study of the natives, their t)eliefs, t 

 languages, customs, and mode of life, while > i . ■ , 

 jwssible ; for it can be but a little while liefore tl « . 

 become sophisticated — I had almost said degrade (i 

 by contact with white man, 



Australia has voluntarily undertaken a difficult 1 1 k 

 and a great responsi!)ility in New Guinea and ih< 

 adjacent islands. Its position there is that of a piiMi^ 

 trustee. vSurely its most urgent duty is to make t !1 

 provision for the scientific study of the land 

 inhabitants and all that it contains. How ' 

 it hope to succeed ? How else to discharge its obliL.i 

 tion fully to mankind ? Pioneering work has bt • ii 

 done in the past by specialists, some of them lead' r-. 

 of the highest repute ; but the time has surely con it 

 for systematic, co-operative, and government-supported 

 effort. 



There is, then, reason to hope that the public demand 

 for science in Australia will grow — that it has a gr< at 

 future before it. In building up that future on tht 

 foundations already laid, the Australian people nn.^T 

 look for guidance and example to the greater and 

 older nations of the earth. In this, as in all thiniis. 

 we turn first to that Mother Country which we ^till 

 call Home. There the Royal Society, pioneer anions: 

 national academies of science, has taught and practised 

 the true gospel of the pursuit of natural knowledge for 

 260 years, and many younger research associations 

 have gained world-wide repute. There also the 

 cause of applied science has gained steadily in recent 

 times, and is now represented by a powerful Depart- 

 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research and by A 

 such highly endowed institutions as the National w 

 Physical Laboratory. We look also to America, where 

 the organisation and endowment of scientific work 

 are now on a scale that arouses universal admiration, 

 not unmixed with envy. There Federal and Stale 

 authorities, great manufacturing firms and wealthy 

 citizens, seem to vie with one another in promoting 

 education and research, knowing that thus the great- 

 ness of their countn.- will be yet increased. We look 

 to Japan — that wonderland which, in so short a span 

 of years, has made for itself in science, as in all ways, 

 an honoured place among the great nations. We look 

 to Holland, ancient centre of learning and of maritime 

 discovery, famous in the histor\' of the Pacific, and to 

 its splendid colonies in our tropic seas ; for both 

 Motherland and colonies are known throughout the 

 world for what they have done and are doing for science. 



Science and the Agricultural Crisis.^ 

 By Dr. Charles Crowther. 



T T is generally recognised that the primary causes of 

 •*• the present difficulties of British agriculture are 

 strictly economic in character, and not due to any 

 gross and general failure to apply present-day scientific 

 knowledge to the technique of farming, although the 



• From the presidential address delivered to Section M (Agriculture) of 

 the British Association at Liverpool on September 13. 



NO. 2814, VOL. I I2J 



great disparity which exists between the average pro- 

 duction of the country' and that secured by the more 

 competent farmers on soils of the most diverse natural 

 fertility suggests that with a higher general level of 

 technique and education the intensity of the crisis 

 might have been sensibly reduced. Whether it be a 

 case of the " sick devil " or not, the agricultural com- 



