December 22, 1923] 



NA TURE 



917 



and purpose of the various exhibits will be available, 

 and it is hoped to be able to publish a volume, each 

 chapter of which -will be contributed by an authority 

 on the subject discussed, recording in more technical 

 , language the state of chemical knowledge at the time 

 of the Exhibition. This volume should be a veritable 

 milestone in the history of chemistry, and should 

 prove a source of information and inspiration for 

 scientific workers for years to come. 



The onus of the success or failure of the whole of 

 the chemical exhibits has been accepted by the 

 Association of British Chemical Manufacturers ; and 

 now that arrangements are nearing completion, the 

 Association has adopted the courageous policy of 

 giving wide publicity to its doings. Statements have 

 been issued to the Press, and scientific journals with an 

 interest in chemistry- have been provided with more 

 detailed information. This has doubtless done much 

 to arouse interest, especially in the scientific world, 

 in the display which is to represent chemistry and 

 chemical industry at Wembley. 



The Royal Society's committee on scientific exhibits 

 at the Exhibition is faced with a difficult task. The 

 progress of British science in all its branches, with the 

 exception of chemistry and allied parts of physics, has 

 to be demonstrated impressively and effectively in a 

 space of 2200 sq. ft., by means of a grant from the 

 Government through the Department of Overseas 

 Trade. Here again the field has been divided up into 

 a number of parts, each of which has been put into the 

 hands of an authority. The first classification consists 

 of a primary group (mathematics, astronomy, and 

 physics), and a secondary group (meteorology, geology, 

 metallurgy, engineering, and aeronautics). In each 

 subject there will be (a) exhibits and demonstrations 

 illustrating current research, ip) instruments, and (c) 

 historical material, if space permits. Instruments will 

 be shown mainly from the National Physical Labora- 

 tory and the leading instrument makers, while the 

 historical material, consisting of portraits, historical 

 apparatus, and so on, will be drawn mainly from the 

 Science Museum and the Royal Institution. 



In organising the pure science exhibit, the aim of 

 the Royal Society's committee has been not to show a 

 mere group of apparatus, but to take some new law 

 or principle, to trace its histor\', and demonstrate 

 the consequences of its discovery. Thus, to give an 

 example, one series of exhibits will illustrate the 

 discovery and subsequent history of the electron. 

 Starting from the work of Sir William Crookes, 

 illustrated by some vacuum tubes showing the 

 cathode rays and the other consequences of an 

 electric discharge in a vacuum, we shall pass to the 

 researches of Sir J. J. Thomson and the cfiscovery of 

 the electron as a definite entity moving with great 

 velocity, carrying a fixed charge of negative electricity, 

 and having the same mass whatever be its source. 

 This work leads on to the discharge of ions from hot 

 bodies, and the early experiments of Guthrie and the 

 work of O. \y. Richardson, on which most of the 

 known laws governing that discharge are based. 

 Then will come the original experiments of Fleming, 

 the phenomena observed in an electric lamp, the dis- 

 covery of the thermionic valve and its use as an ampli- 

 fier of wireless waves, and in many other directions. 



The National Physical Laboratory is responsible for 

 a section on measuring instruments, illustrating much 

 of its important work in the maintenance of standards 

 of all kinds — thermal, up to temperatures of 2000° C., 

 and electrical, from the currents and voltages used in 

 ordinary practice to those at radio frequency of some 

 500,000 to the second. On the engineering side there 

 will be exhibits to illustrate recent work on the 

 measurement of stress in solids, the phenomena of 



NO. 2825, VOL. I 12] 



fatigue, and the nature of the relative motion of 

 the molecules of a crystal when subject to strain. 

 Wherever possible, the exhibits will take the form 

 of demonstrations, the whole object of the committee 

 being to avoid a " museum " of instruments. The 

 biological exhibits will be selected to indicate some 

 aspects of the progress that has been made in zoology, 

 botany, and physiology, and the varied nature of 

 modern researches in these subjects. There will also 

 be exhibits showing recent results of the study of 

 adaptation, variation and heredity, sex-determination, 

 the physiology of development, etc. 



Finally, arrangements are being made for a series 

 of short lectures by scientific workers in connexion with 

 the Exhibition. In short, an attempt is being made 

 to present pure science to the world as a living and 

 progressive subject, and to demonstrate the high value 

 of the work which has been carried out and is still 

 going on in the scientific laboratories of the Empire. 



In addition to these purely scientific exhibits, there 

 will be sectional exhibits dealing with the application 

 of science to industry. These will be in the hands of 

 a committee of the Department of Scientific and In- 

 dustrial Research, acting on behalf of the various 

 Research Associations. Such exhibits will be grouped 

 with their related industries, which will provide the 

 necessary funds as part of their general exhibits. 

 Government research organisations will not have 

 separate exhibits except in so far as they illus- 

 trate the working of particular industries such as 

 mining and agriculture ; their contributions will go 

 with the pure science exhibit organised by the Royal 

 Society committee. 



Reference was made above to what may be termed 

 a Congress Hall, which includes four conference halls 

 with appropriate committee rooms, etc., capable of 

 seating 2142, 550, 180, and 150 persons respectively. 

 A small committee, under the chairmanship of Sir 

 Lawrence Weaver, is making arrangements with 

 various bodies which are organising conferences to be 

 held at the Exhibition. Among the numerous im- 

 portant gatherings which have already been fixed, we 

 may mention the following : an Empire Mining and 

 Metallurgical congress under the presidency of 

 Viscount Long of Wraxall, organised by the Institu- 

 tions of Mining Engineers and Petroleum Technologists, 

 the Mining Association of Great Britain, the Iron and 

 Steel Institute, the Institute of Metals, and the 

 National Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers, 

 to be held during the first week of June ; a textiles 

 conference, organised by the Textile Institute, during 

 the second week of June ; a World Power conference, 

 organised by the British Electrical and Allied 

 Manufacturers' Association, during the first and 

 second weeks of July ; a Museums conference,, 

 organised by the Museums Association, during the 

 third week of July ; and a conference on Science and 

 Labour, organised by the British Science Guild and 

 the National Joint Council of the Trades Union 

 Congress and the Labour Party, on May 30-31. These 

 conferences will be an important phase in the activities 

 associated with the Exhibition, and the exchange of 

 views promoted will have effects of world-wide 

 significance. 



The British Empire Exhibition at Wembley next 

 year will, it is true, be an epitome of the products 

 and the activities of the British Empire. Rightly 

 organised, it can be more. It can show the people of 

 Great Britain, of the British Empire, and, through the 

 numerous foreign visitors it is certain to attract, of 

 the whole world, the progress of industry and the 

 purely scientific work on which all industry is based, 

 in turning to man's need and comfort the natural 

 resources of tlie world. 



