September 8, 192 1] 



NATURE 



47 



of physical instruments, and for the general pur- 

 poses of metrology. 1 do not profess to give the 

 exact terms of the reference to the Committee, 

 but in substance these were recognised to be the 

 general aims of the contemplated institute. The 

 evidence we received from many men of science, 

 from Departmental officers, and from representa- 

 tives of engineering and other industrial establish- 

 ments was absolutely unanimous as to the great 

 public utility of the projected laboratory. It need 

 scarcely be said that the opportunity called forth 

 all the energy and power of advocacy of Lord 

 Kelvin, and 1 well remember with what strength 

 of conviction he impressed his views upon the 

 Committee. That the National Physical Labora- 

 tory has, under the ability, organising power, and 

 business capacity of its first director, Sir Richard 

 GlazebrooK, abundantly justified its creation is 

 recognised on all hands. Its services during the 

 four years of war alone are sufficient proof of its 

 national value. It has grown to be a large and 

 rapidly increasing establishment, occupying itself 

 with an extraordinary range of subjects, with a 

 numerous and well-qualified staff, engaged in 

 determinative and research work on practically 

 every branch of pure and applied physics. The 

 range of its activities has been further increased 

 by the establishment since the war of co-ordinating 

 research boards for physics, chemistry, engineer- 

 ing, and radio-research. Government Departments 

 have learned to appreciate its services. The 

 photometry division, for example, has been busy 

 on experiments on navigation lamps for the Board 

 of Trade, on miners' lamps for the Home Office, 

 and on motor-car head-lamps for the Ministry of 

 Transport, and on the lighting of the National 

 Gallery and the Houses of Parliament. Important 

 work has been done on the forms of ships, on the 

 steering and manoeuvring of ships, on the effect 

 of waves on ship resistance, on the interaction 

 between passing ships, on seaplane floats, and on 

 the hulls of flying-boats. 



It is also actively engaged in the study of 

 problems connected with aviation, and, has a well- 

 ordered department for aerodynamical research. 



It can already point to a long and valuable 

 series of published researches, which are acknow- 

 ledged to be among the most important contribu- 

 tions to pure and applied physics which this 

 country has made during recent years. 



I may be pardoned, I hope, for another personal 

 reference if I recall that it was at the Edinburgh 

 meeting, under Lord Kelvin's presidency, fifty 

 years ago, that I first became a member of this 

 Association, and had the honour of serving it as 

 one of the secretaries of its chemical section. Fifty 

 years is a considerable span in the life of an in- 

 dividual, but it is a relativelv short period in the 

 history of science. Nevertheless, those fifty years 

 are richer in scientific achievement and in the im- 

 portance and magnitude of the utilitarian applica- 

 tions of practically every branch of science than 

 any preceding similar interval. The most cursor}- 

 comparison of the state of science, as revealed in 

 NO. 2706, VOL. 108] 



his comprehensive address, with the present con- 

 dition of those departments on which he chiefly 

 dwelt, will suffice to show that the development 

 has been such that even Lord Kelvin's penetrative 

 genius, vivid imagination, and sanguine tempera- 

 ment could hardly have anticipated. No previous 

 half-century in the history of science has witnessed 

 such momentous and far-reaching achievements. 

 In pure chemistry it has seen the discovery of argon 

 by Rayleigh, of radium by Mme. Curie, of helium 

 as a terrestrial element by Ramsay, of neon, 

 xenon, and krypton by Ramsay and Travers, the 

 production of helium from radium by Ramsay and 

 Soddy, and the isolation of fluorine by Moissan. 

 These are undoubtedly great discoveries, but their 

 value is enormously enhanced by the theoretical 

 and practical consequences which flow from them. 



In applied chemistry it has witnessed the 

 general application of the Gilchrist-Thomas pro- 

 cess of iron-purification, the production of calcium 

 cyanamide by the process of Frank and Caro, 

 Sabatier's process of hydrogenation, a widespread 

 application of liquefied gases, and Haber's work 

 on ammonia synthesis — all manufacturing pro- 

 cesses which have practically revolutionised the 

 industries with which they are concerned. 



In pure physics it has seen the rise of the 

 electron theory, by Lorentz ; Hertz's discovery of 

 electro-magnetic waves ; the investigation of 

 cathode rays by Lenard, and the elucidation of 

 crystal structure by Bragg. 



It has seen, moreover, the invention of the 

 telephone, the establishment of incandescent light- 

 ing, the electric transmission of force, the inven- 

 tion of the cinematograph, of wireless telegraphy, 

 the application of the Rontgen rays, and the 

 photographic reproduction of colour. 



In physical chemistrv' it has witnessed the crea- 

 tion of stereochemistrv by Van t'Hofif and Le Bel, 

 Gibbs's work on the phase rule, \"an t'Hoff's 

 theory of solutions, Arrhenius's theory of ionic 

 dissociation, and Nernst's theorv of the galvanic 

 cell. 



Such a list is far from complete, and might be 

 greatly extended ; but it will at least serve to 

 indicate the measure of progress which the world 

 owes to the development and application during 

 the last fifty years of the two sciences — physics 

 and chemistry- — to which Lord Kelvin specially 

 referred. 



The more rapid dissemination of information 

 concerning the results of recent or contemporary 

 investigation, which Lord Kelvin so strongly 

 urged as "an object to which the powerful action 

 of the British Association would be thoroughly 

 appropriate," has been happily accomplished. The 

 timelv aid of the Association in contributing to 

 the initial expense of preparing and publishing 

 monthly abstracts of foreign chemical literature 

 by the Chemical Society is gratefully remembered 

 bv British chemists. The example has been fol- 

 lowed bv the greater number of our scientific and 

 technical societies, and the results of contemporary 

 inquiry in ever\- important branch of pure and 



