December 8, 1923] 



NA TURE 



839 



right of the Albanian Government to make such 

 arrangements as it thinks best for the investigation 

 and preservation of the antiquities of that country, 

 such a course as is proposed cannot, on the face of it, 

 be considered in the best interests of science. It is 

 not intended to cast any reflection upon the ability 

 or disinterestedness of the archaeologists of France or 

 any other country ; but scientific investigation should 

 be free from the trammels of nationality. The 

 position in the Balkans is already one of some 

 difficulty, as recent legislation in Greece has restricted 

 the number of excavations which will be permitted 

 to the Schools of Archaeology beyond those already 

 in being, while in Serbia concessions for excavation 

 are not to be granted at all to foreigners. In view of 

 the great importance of the whole Balkan area for 

 ajchaeological studies, any further restriction, such 

 as this proposal to confine excavation in Albania to 

 scientific workers of one nationality only, would be 

 peculiarly unfortunate. 



A NECESSARY conscqucnce of any increased interest 

 in, and consideration of, science and scientific workers 

 by the general public will be an examination of the 

 part that science has played in producing the bad, as 

 well as the good, features of modern civilisation. It 

 is natural that the advance of science in penetrating 

 the mysteries of the universe, or its essential part in 

 promoting the development of material resources and 

 making possible mechanical production of com- 

 modities necessary for peace or war, should be a 

 satisfactory subject of contemplation to the scientific 

 worker. But the public will not only ask about the 

 responsibility of men of science for the development 

 of fertilisers or of poison gases, but also what they 

 think is the relation between the present possible 

 level of productivity and the present destitution in 

 every civilised state. Prof. F. Soddy anticipated 

 such questions as these in his " Cartesian Economics " 

 lectures, and he developed them in a lecture entitled 

 " The Inversion of Science," given at the Guild House, 

 Eccleston Square, on Thursday, November 29. He 

 pointed out the strange coincidence of the perfection 

 by James Watt in 1774 of the steam engine which 

 was to revolutionise all the methods and possibilities 

 of production, and the elaboration in 1776 by Adam 

 Smith in " The Wealth of Nations " of a system of 

 economics founded on the conditions prevailing in the 

 pre-scientific stage of society, which has nevertheless 

 continued to be applied, with the result of an almost 

 unlimited capacity for production that cannot be 

 exercised because of a completely erroneous standard 

 of values. Prof. Soddy held that wealth must cease 

 to be reckoned by any artificial standard, whether 

 of gold or of the arbitrary judgment of financial 

 magnates, and be calculated on the actual or potential 

 production of the necessities of life. 



During the War many unsuccessful experiments 

 were tried to bring to a stop from a distance motor 

 cars or aeroplanes. According to an annoimcement 

 in La LiherU, a French engineer has given practical 

 proof of an invention that enables him to stop the 

 motors of an aeroplane or a motor car at a distance 



NO. 2823, VOL. I I 2] 



of about 50 yards. It is quite possible that the 

 emission of very strong Hertzian waves might 

 interrupt the proper functioning of magnetos at this 

 distance, but we cannot infer that it would be equally 

 simple to stop the motor of an aeroplane in full flight 

 at a distance of a few miles. In any event the 

 problem of protecting the magnetos of the motors 

 from interference by suitably screening them would 

 be an easy one. 



The transmission of a broadcast programme across 

 the Atlantic by the British Broadcasting Company in 

 the early hours of November 26 was a fairly successful 

 one. From 3 to 3.45 a.m. the B.B.C. sent out a 

 concert from London on its normal wave length and 

 power. This was broadcasted again simultaneously 

 by the other British stations, each on its own wave 

 length. All the stations, with the exception of 

 Birmingham, Manchester, and Aberdeen, were clearly 

 heard in America. During the winter months trans- 

 atlantic telephony and broadcasting is generally 

 successful during night-time. During the early hours 

 of November 27, American stations broadcasted. 

 Several of them were heard in different places in Great 

 Britain, but the atmospherics unfortunately were 

 very much in evidence and so the experiments could 

 not be regarded as successful. On December 22 the 

 Radio Society of Great Britain will make experiments, 

 in conjunction with American amateurs, between 

 I and 3 A.M. The G.P.O. has given permission to 

 some amateur stations to increase their normal power 

 (10 watts) to 1000 watts for these tests. 



We regret to note an announcement in the De- 

 cember issue of Discovery that this number is to be 

 the last to appear. All who are interested in the 

 spread of a knowledge and appreciation of the results 

 of scientific investigation among the general public 

 will regret the disappearance of this publication. 

 Since it was founded in 1920, Discovery has con- 

 sistently maintained a high standard of scientific 

 accuracy, and has placed before its readers in clear 

 and non-technical language a large number of articles, 

 necessarily varying considerably in merit, which were 

 selected with the express intention of keeping readers 

 abreast of the latest movements of thought in the 

 scientific world. It was started under favourable 

 auspices at a time when the events of the War had 

 impressed upon the public mind the value of scientific 

 research from a practical point of view. Its com- 

 mittee of management consisted of representatives of 

 the most important of the scientific and learned 

 societies, and amongst its contributors it has numbered 

 some of the most prominent of the scientific men of 

 the day. Yet notwithstanding these facts, and not- 

 withstanding a wide appreciation of its merits as a 

 popular scientific publication, it has failed through 

 lack of public support. 



It was stated in our issue of December i, p. 803, 

 that the Science Collections from the Western 

 Galleries of the Science Museum, South Kensington, 

 had been removed to three unfinished galleries of 

 the new Science Museum building, and that one of 

 these galleries has now been thrown open to the 



