44 



NATURE 



[September 8, 192 1 



The British Association at Edinburgh. 



THE prospects of a first-rate meeting in Edin- 

 burgh are now assured. The journal, which 

 extends to more than forty pages, shows that all 

 the sections will have a full programme — in fact, 

 the difficulty in several cases has been to fit the 

 communications into the time available. The 

 number of members already enrolled indicates 

 that the total entry will exceed 2000, so that 

 from a numerical, as well as from other 

 points of view, the Edinburgh meeting is 

 certain of success. The proof copy of the list 

 of members shows that British science is to be 

 strongly represented at the meeting. In the list 

 are the names of many well-known men of science, 

 including about one hundred fellows of the Royal 

 Society. Three past-presidents of the Association 

 will attend the meeting— Sir James Dewar, Sir 

 Oliver Lodge, and Sir Edward Sharpey Schafer 

 - — in addition to Prof. Herdman, who resigns the 

 office of president to Sir Edward Thorpe. 



A goodly number of overseas and foreign men 

 of science have signified their intention of being 

 present at the meeting. Physics, mathematics, 

 and chemistry are represented by Prof. Svante 

 Arrhenius (Stockholm), Prof. H. E. Fierz 

 (Zurich), Prof. F. M. Jaeger and Prof. Kapteyn 

 (Groningen), Dr. Irving Langmuir (New York), 

 Prof. J. C. McLennan (Toronto), Dr. Hans Pet- 

 terssen (Gothenberg), Prof. Volterra (Rome), and 

 Prof. R. W. Wood (Johns Hopkins University). 

 Geology and zoology have also a goodly repre- 

 sentation of men of science from overseas. In the 

 former section are Prof. Collet (Geneva), Prof. 

 R. A. Daly (Harvard), Baron de Geer (Stock- 

 holm), and Prof. Kolderup (Bergen), while in the 

 section of zoology are Prof. J. F. van Bemmelen 

 and Prof. J. W. van Wijhe (Groningen), Prof. 

 Herouard (Paris), and Prof. Vernon Kellogg 

 (Washington). Other foreign representatives are 

 Dr. Krogh (Copenhagen), in the section of physio- 

 logy, Dr. Langfeld (Harvard), in the section of 

 psychology, and Dr. J. P. Lotsy (Holland), in 

 the section of botany. Most of these are to take 

 part in the proceedings of the sections, either by 

 presenting some communication on their recent 

 work, or by joining in the discussions which have 

 been arranged. 



There will be a daily weather report for Edin- 

 burgh. The Meteorological Office, Air Ministry, 

 has arranged that during the week over which 



the meetings of the British Association extend — 

 September 7-14 — a demonstration will be given 

 daily of the methods employed in preparing the 

 British daily weather map and in forecasting the 

 weather in different districts of the country during 

 the ensuing twenty-four hours. For this purpose 

 a temporary branch of the Meteorological Ofifice, 

 Edinburgh, is being opened in the natural philo- 

 sophy department of the university, in which 

 building the meetings of Section A (Mathematics 

 and Physics) are being held. This temporary 

 office is being supplied with wireless apparatus 

 capable of receiving all the different European 

 synoptic messages. In addition, arrangements 

 are being made for the receipt of weather mes- 

 sages from various centres by telegraph and tele- 

 phone, including messages from ships in the 

 Atlantic, and some of the information which is 

 ordinarily collected by the Air Ministry for the 

 purposes of aviation. 



Most of the meteorological data thus collected 

 will be represented on a large blackboard map 

 which has been erected in the entrance hall of the 

 natural philosophy department, where it can be 

 seen by those attending the meetings. Some in- 

 formation chiefly referring to local or Scottish 

 weather conditions will also be shown. The area 

 over which the map extends is from Spitsbergen, 

 in the north, to Africa, in the south, and from 

 Warsaw to the Azores, and it is expected 

 that the representation on it of the morning's 

 weather throughout this area will be complete 

 by 10 a.m. 



A local daily weather report, embodying the 

 more important data on the map,, will be issued 

 by II a.m., and a limited number of copies will 

 be ready for issue soon after that hour. The 

 report will include a "general inference" from the 

 ascertained pressure distribution, as well as a 

 special forecast for the Edinburgh district. 



The demonstration will show what information 

 can be obtained by the use of a suitable wireless 

 receiving instrument, and how that information 

 may be utilised ; and it will illustrate the methods 

 by which Scotland generally, and Edinburgh in 

 particular, could be serv^ed in the matter of 

 prompt and accurate information with regard to 

 the weather of the day and its probable changes 

 in the ensuing twenty-four hours. 



J. H. ASHWORTH. 



Some Aspects and Problems of Post-war Science, Pure and Applied.* 



Bv SIR T. EDWARD THORPE, C.B., D.Sc, Sc.D., LL.D., F.R.S., Hon. F.R.S.Edin., 



President. 



'"pHE British Association for the Advancement 



■I- of Science owes its origin, and, in great 



measure, its specific aims and functions, to the 



public spirit and zeal for the interests of science 



* Presidential address delivered at the Edinburgh meeting of the British 

 A« ;ociation on September 7. 



NO. 2706, VOL. 108] 



of Scotsmen. Its virtual founder was Sir David 

 Brewster; its scope and character were defined by 

 Principal Forbes. In constitution it differed from 

 the migratory scientific associations existing on 

 the Continent, which mainly served to promote the 

 social intercourse of their members by annual 



