NA TURE 



33 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. 1921. 



Editorial and Publishing OffUes : 



MACMILLAN &■ CO., LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON. W.C.2. 



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Editorial communications to the Editor. 



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The British Association. 



THIS year's meetings of the British Associa- 

 tion in Edinburgh will make, we believe, 

 the beginning of a new epoch in the histor\- of the 

 Association. About a year ago it was pointed out 

 in the Times, as well as in our own columns, that 

 conditions are now different from what they were 

 when the Association was founded in 1831, and 

 that for such a body to develop it must adapt itself 

 to the changed circumstances. The Council, in a 

 spirit which should be characteristic of all scien- 

 tific bodies, was not slow to recognise this need, 

 and a meeting of representatives of all sections 

 was summoned early in this year to consider what 

 changes might appropriately be introduced now or 

 contemplated in the near future. As a result, 

 several departures from custom have been made, 

 and will be followed at the Edinburgh meeting. 

 The addresses of presidents of sections have 

 hitherto been delivered usually on the day follow- 

 ing the inaugural meeting, but this year they will 

 be given at different times — those of Sections B, C, 

 D, E, and I on Thursday; of Sections A, F, G, 

 J, and K on Friday ; and of Sections L and M on 

 Monday. This will give members of the Associa- 

 tion an opportunity of listening to several ad- 

 dresses if they wish. Some of the addresses will 

 also be used to open discussicxis, this again being 

 a new departure. Joint discussions between two 

 NO. 2706, VOL. 108] 



or more sections are not a new feature, but parti- 

 cular prominence is given to them in this year's 

 programme, and it is hoped that they will become 

 increasingly important in future years. 



Such changes as these may be said to mark the 

 acceptance of the view that many members of the 

 Association attend the annual meetings, not to 

 listen to papers on their own subjects, but to 

 become acquainted with the chief developments 

 in other subjects. The Association has no raison 

 d'etre if it resolves itself into a series of meetings 

 of specialised sections having no communication 

 with each other. If that were its function, it could 

 be satisfied by arranging for simultaneous annual 

 meetings of the physical, chemical, geological, 

 zoological, and other scientific societies at selected 

 provincial centres. A far better purpose is served 

 by regarding a meeting of the Association as an 

 occasion fo^ widening interest in scientific work 

 generally, not only among those actively engaged 

 in it, but also among the general public.' Oppor- 

 tunity must, of course, be provided for workers in 

 particular fields to exchange views with one 

 another, but the main idea should be to deal with 

 lines of advance in which large groups of members 

 are interested, and these should be presented in 

 such a way as to be intelligible to a general scienti- 

 fic assembly — as they are, for example, at a Friday 

 evening discourse at the Royal Institution. 



The number of sections is unimportant, pro- 

 vided only that separate rooms can be found for 

 them and that they represent actual groups of 

 workers in specific fields. There might, if neces- 

 sary, be twenty sections, in each of which a dozen 

 or more active investigators sat around a table 

 and discussed their own special problems, 

 but in addition there should be', on each 

 day of the meeting, two or three joint confer- 

 ences in which outstanding points of progres- 

 sive scientific knowledge are displayed for the 

 benefit of all members, so that biologists may 

 learn what astronomers, physicists, and chemists 

 are doing for the advancement of science, and in 

 their turn enlighten workers in other domains of 

 natural knowledge. The evening discourses do this 

 to some extent, and the joint discussions also carry 

 out the idea, ^^^^at we suggest is that the Asso- 

 ciation should continue • to develop these lines of 

 wide appeal in order to extend the ground of 

 common understanding. 



So far we have referred only to the interests of 

 the members themselves, but the Association has 

 also a duty to the general community. It meets 



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