98 



NATURE 



[March 24, 192 1 



be distributed, so new knowledge has to be gained 

 before it can be applied. The political party which 

 concentrates attention upon inequalities in the 

 distribution of wealth, and neglects to take its 

 production into consideration, presents the 

 same attitude to progress as does the industrialist 

 whose outlook is limited by what he can observe 

 now, and who sees no profit in the extension of it 

 by research. Yet a slight knowledge of modern 

 social and industrial history would be sufficient 

 to convince the most indifferent mind that pure 

 and applied science is the life-blood of a nation in 

 ^ these times. But for this we could not have 

 existed during the past century. After the Napo- 

 leonic wars this country was left in much the 

 same difficult and troublous condition that it finds 

 itself in to-day. Then, as now, we came out of 

 the conflict with our soil inviolate, but were 

 faced with widespread social and industrial unrest, 

 due partly to the avarice of landowners and manu- 

 facturers, and partly to the ruin of village indus- 

 tries by the use of mechanical power in factories. 

 We were saved from financial disaster at that time 

 by increased output due to the invention of the 

 steam engine, by which mines were freed from 

 water, and coal, iron, and copper were rendered 

 abundantly available. Textile trades were provided 

 with the means for great expansion by the use 

 of factory machinery in connection with the in- 

 ventions belonging to them, and the advent of 

 the railway and the steamship created further 

 demands for iron and steel, and the coal necessary 

 for their production. Thus it was that, while 

 there was almost constant unrest in every Euro- 

 pean State, and heavy taxation had produced a 

 condition approaching semi-starvation over a large 

 part of the country, we were able to maintain 

 our credit. 



The country was then saved by invention, and 

 we should have maintained the same lead in the 

 chemical and electrical industries if our manu- 

 facturers had been alive to the practical value of 

 scientific research, or our politicians had stimu- 

 lated enterprises associated with its application 

 instead of strangling them with unnecessary legis- 

 lation. The thing to remember is that, whether 

 we like it or not, we must advance if we are not 

 to be left behind other progressive nations. The 

 only way to keep in the van of modern industrial 

 forces is to provide what other people want which 

 they cannot produce for themselves either so 

 cheaply or so excellently as we can. In view of 

 international competition, it is not possible, in 

 the neutral and open markets of the world, to 

 NO. 2682, VOL. 107] 



increase the selling price of goods which can be 

 produced by other nations unless they are 

 decidedly superior in quality. Craftsmanship 

 counts for something in securing this superiority, 

 but the richest promise in these days lies in the 

 discovery of new knowledge by research and the 

 application of it to industry. 



The output of British scientific workers is to-day 

 larger than ever it was, and if industrial develop- 

 ment does not proceed from it, the fault will not 

 lie at their doors. Neither can they be blamed if 

 social conditions are not improved by the increase 

 of national wealth through the use of science. Their 

 function is to discover, and faithfully they are 

 performing it; it is for statesmen to see that this 

 creative work is given every encouragement, for 

 manufacturers to make profitable use of it, and 

 for social reformers to ensure that the fruits are 

 used to promote national well-being. Only thus 

 can we make progress and in the future avoid the 

 reproach that science necessarily signifies the 

 desecration of Nature, and the degrading sogial 

 conditions of the factory towns brought into exist- 

 ence by its users a century ago. 



Matter and Motion. 



Matter and Motion. By the late Prof. J. Clerk 

 Maxwell. Reprinted with notes and appen- 

 dices by Sir Joseph Larmor. Pp. xv+163. 

 (London: S.P.C.K. ; New York: The Mac- 

 millan Co., 1920.) 55. net. 



IN a recent article a well-known musical critic 

 has remarked with perfect truth of 

 musicians — and the same is undoubtedly true of 

 other classes of intellectualists, including men of 

 science — that a man is immune from criticism if 

 by popular acclaim, or in some other way, he has 

 been provided with a halo ! If he has such a 

 decoration it is a part of him ; he cannot appear 

 without it — whatever he does is right; all his 

 sayings, whether or not they are couched in pure 

 and pellucid English without fault or flaw of ex- 

 pression, are accepted without cavil or question. 

 If an adventurous critic dares to moot some 

 opposing view, it is suggested with the greatest 

 deference and profound apology. 



The mode in which this glittering, or rather 

 glistening, appendage is obtained is sometimes 

 obvious enough ; at other times it is obscure and 

 mysterious. The recipient may be silently and 

 unanimously received in recognition of his merits 

 into the ranks of the great ones, of course with- 

 out any ceremony of canonisation, for in science 

 there is no official pontiff. In some other cases 

 of a lower grade of sainthood he is received as 



