552 



NATURE 



[October 13, 1923 



Current Topics 



Prof. Lyde's leading article in last week's Nature 

 points to the need for a scientific basis for any pro- 

 gramme aiming at the development of Empire 

 resources which may result from the deliberations of 

 the Imperial Economic Conference. A satisfactory 

 organisation for effecting this purpose should embrace 

 three main lines of work, namely, the exhibition of 

 Empire raw materials, the technical examination of 

 " new " or little-known products, and the systematic 

 collection and dissemination of information relating 

 to raw materials, their marketing and industrial use. 

 An organisation originally designed for the purpose 

 exists in the Imperial Institute. The Public Exhi- 

 bition Galleries provide what is unobtainable else- 

 where, namely, a permanent exhibition, under one 

 roof, of the resources of all the countries of the Empire, 

 so organised that a visitor desiring special information 

 is, on inquiry, referred to the appropriate department 

 of the Institute. These collections should be of 

 great value to the business man, and their educational 

 importance to the university student, no less than 

 to the scholars who visit the Galleries in large numbers, 

 conducted by the official guide, is obvious. Special 

 lectures for the general public are also given by 

 recognised authorities. The complement of the 

 collections is the Scientific and Technical Department, 

 the investigations of which — specially planned to 

 meet the needs of the case — in conjunction with the 

 assistance of the technical and commercial committees 

 of the Institute, have served the economic develop- 

 ment of the Empire to a degree unsuspected by the 

 general public. The essential link in the scheme, 

 namely, the collection and dissemination of technical 

 and other information, and an organisation for dealing 

 with the constantly growing stream of inquiries, 

 exists in the Technical Information Bureau, which 

 forms the intelligence department of the Institute 

 and has proved of great practical service. 



Our famous medical contemporary, the Lancet, 

 began its hundred and first year of publication on 

 October 6, when a supplement was issued of nearly 

 eighty pages, profusely illustrated by the portraits of 

 many distinguished friends and some of the equally 

 distinguished enemies of the paper. The text, 

 modestly and humorously written, is a truly remark- 

 able record of facts in medical highways and byeways 

 during the past century. It is not too much to say 

 that the present state of medical education and prac- 

 tice in England, its established efficiency and security 

 and freedom from all grave abuses, is as much due to 

 Thomas Wakley's Lancet as to anything else. Its 

 scurrilities, venomous nick-names — " little eminent " 

 — the rollicking old Ubels, semi-caricatures, " inter- 

 cepted letters," and grandiloquent but downright 

 abuse in plain English are now things past regret. 

 Wakley's handling of them was perfectly in accord 

 with his time ; while his sense of right, his courage, 

 and his devotion to a great cause would receive high 

 admiration in our own. In the first ten years of his 

 paper's existence there were six actions for libel, the 

 aggregate sum of 8000/. being claimed for damages ; 



NO. 2815, VOL. 112] 



and Events. 



the a^KrcKit'; of 155/. os. c>\d. was awarded, the 

 editor's costs being largely defrayed by public sub- 

 scription. The design of the paper was to supply 

 medical information which was available at that time 

 to but few people, and to show that hospitals were 

 not served, and that students were not trained, by 

 persons selected for their merits. The lilx;l actions 

 arose out of the publication of supporting evi 

 and ceased as reforms followed. Wakley's .1 

 tions of nepotism in hospital management and mal- 

 praxis in hospital practice gained public hearing in 

 the Bransby Cooper case. His campaign against the 

 Royal College of Surgeons of England, at first mis- 

 managed, resulted in the appointment, in 1834, o£ 

 Warburton's Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry 

 into the state of the medical profession, and, later, in 

 the Act constituting the General Council. Since then, 

 lunacy, food adulteration and water-supply, work- 

 house administration, the advancement of Lister's 

 views and of ana;sthetic technique, and, indeed, 

 every notable contribution by science to medicine, 

 have in turn provided the Lancet, under Wakley 

 guidance, with fields for great constructive work. 

 The Centenary Supplement is a document of absorb- 

 ing interest, personal and professional, a becoming 

 memorial to great Englishmen. 



Mr. W. J. U. WooLCOCK, the General Manager of 

 the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers, 

 described to representatives of various technical 

 journals on Monday last the progress which has been 

 made with the preparation of the Chemical Sfection 

 of the British Empire Exhibition to be held at 

 Wembley next year. The Chemical Section, which 

 is being organised by the Association, and occupies 

 nearly 40,000 square feet in the Palace of Industry, 

 will be built in such a way as to form a Hall within 

 the Palace. About 100,000/. will be spent in pre- 

 senting to the public a picture of the present state 

 of British chemical industry. No important firm in 

 the industry will be unrepresented, and the whole of 

 the individual exhibits, numbering about one hundred, 

 wUl, by reason of their position and character, 

 combine to form a magnificent illustration of the 

 industry. Considerable attention has been paid to 

 the lay-out and to the decoration of the Chemical Hall. 

 There will, for example, be about two hundred yards 

 of a specially painted frieze illustrating various 

 operations in chemical manufacture; and as the 

 majority of the stands are being designed by the 

 same architect, the treatment of each stand is likely, 

 while maintaining the individuality of the occupier, 

 to present a very pleasing picture of the HaU as a 

 whole. In the centre of the Chemical Hall there is 

 to be illustrated the progress which has been made 

 in pure chemistry during the past twenty- or thirty 

 years, \\'ith the view of showing that the stream of 

 scientific invention in this country is still flowing 

 steadily onwards. The Scientific Section is being 

 organised by a Committee consisting of representa- 

 tives of the following bodies : The Chemical Society, 

 the Institute of Chemistry, the Societies of Chemical 



