December i, 192 i] 



NATU^R>E 



429 



their doing^ so, a reason which can be appreciated 

 by anyone of a mathematical turn of mind. There 

 are certain ideas, such as those of the shape and 

 connectivity of surfaces, which are extremely diffi- 

 cult, if not impossible, to reduce to arithmetical 

 terms. The plain man will, we think, continue 

 to assert that his concept of the shape of a sphere 

 or an anchor ring- is as clear as any that he has, 

 independently of any arithmetical considerations, 

 and this although in these cases analytical equa- 

 tions of the surfaces can be found ; the same thing 

 is true, in even greater measure, of Mobius's 

 one-sided surface and its deformations. 



Whether the reader of this book ag^rees with all 

 the author's conclusions or not, he cannot but be 

 grateful for the careful arguments by which they 

 are supported. The last word on the subject has 

 not been said, and vigorous controversy about it 

 may be confidently expected; but whatever the 

 final conclusion may be. Prof. Boutroux's work is 

 likely to be regarded as a valuable contribution 

 to the philosophy of mathematics. G. B. M. 



Science and the Community. 

 From a Modern University: Some Aims and 

 Aspirations of Science. By Prof. A. Smithells. 

 Pp. 124. (London : Oxford University Press, 

 1921.) 125. 6d. net. 



WHATEVER Prof. Smithells has to say on 

 the aims of education and aspirations of 

 science is always worthy of attention, because it 

 represents the wisdom of experience and the de- 

 liberations of a well-balanced mind. We are glad, 

 therefore, that seven addresses, delivered by him 

 on various occasions from igo6 to 1914, are here 

 brought together in book-form, and we hope they 

 will be widely read, particularly by members of 

 the general public. The sub-title is a better index 

 to the contents of the volume than is the main 

 title, for the whole of the addresses are concerned 

 with the relation of science to the community 

 throug-h education, industn.-, and other practical 

 and intellectual activities. They state clearly and 

 with dignity what science stands for in modern 

 life, and their message cannot reach too extended 

 a circle. 



Prof. Smithells has decided views upon the 

 place of science in education, and the significance 

 of university work to industrial progress. In 

 common with most universit}- teachers, he holds 

 that a broad and sound general education, in 

 which science occupies a rightful part, is the best 

 foundation upon which to build a university, 

 course, but he goes farther and urges with con- 

 vincing iteration that universities ser\e the best 

 purposes of industry' when they treasure men of 

 NO. 2718, VOL. 108] 



genius working in them purely for the advance- 

 ment of natural knowledge and unfettered with 

 considerations as to whether the instruction or 

 research is directly profitable to industry' or trade. 

 "If," he says, "the sole purpose of our new uni- 

 versities were to make industry and commerce 

 more effective instruments of either personal or 

 national wealth, you might indeed find men to 

 staff them, but you would not find men who were 

 worthy of their hire, and you would have nothing 

 that had a just claim to the title of a university.** 



The new universities have, no doubt, had a diffi- 

 culty in convincing the business world around 

 them that their essential function is the extension 

 of knowledge into new fields, and not necessarily 

 the improvement of the trade of the district in 

 which they are situated, but they have mostly 

 done so with gratifying success ; and even in the 

 ancient universities of this kingdom an obscurant- 

 ist attitude towards scientific inquiry is not un- 

 known. It is true that the caskets of the past are 

 filled with treasures of fact, thought, and perform- 

 ance, but all that can be done in the social sciences 

 is to reveal these products of human genius and 

 action with the object of using them as a store 

 of wisdom and experience from which guidance to 

 poficy or conduct may be gained. The exp>eri- 

 mental sciences, however, are particularly con- 

 cerned with the discovery of things and principles 

 never before known, and not with merely recon- 

 structing past histor)'. When Galileo first turned 

 his small telescope towards the three stars in the 

 Belt of Orion and the six in the Sword he saw 

 in the field of view eighty stars which had 

 never previously been looked upon by human eyes, 

 and every such scientific discovery represents a 

 similar expansion of the empire of knowledge — a 

 Rosetta stone for the interpretation, not of human 

 documents, but of the works of the Maker of the 

 Universe. 



When this distinction between literan,- records 

 and scientific revelation is understood, no objection 

 need be raised to the limitation of the "humani- 

 ties " to matters relating to human affairs and 

 human nature generally, though historically and 

 actually exf>erimental philosophers may claim to 

 be humanists with as much right as do men of 

 letters and students of social sciences. Prof. 

 Smithells himself certainly belongs to this cate- 

 gory, for he is no narrow pedant, but a man of 

 wide interests and wise vision, and in almost every 

 address in the present volume the key-note is 

 sounded of science as a noble pursuit and an 

 ethical influence. So much attention is now given 

 to material results of scientific research that it is 

 refreshing to find a representative of a modem 



Q 



