May 5, 192 1] 



NATURE 



3*3 



increased comfort ^nd convenience. He congratulated 

 the Institute of Pliysics in, being forrned to .aid intel- 

 lectual development. 



Mr. A. J. Balfour, who. as Lord President of 

 the. Council is concerned with the Department 

 of Scientific and Industrial Research, was then 

 called upon to extend a welcome to the institute. 

 He expressed his deep gratification at being present. 

 He represented the outside public who ought to have 

 a deep interest in what was being done in the develop- 

 ment of pure science and in industry. He was pro- 

 foundly surprised that there was not hitherto an 

 Institute of Physics. Physics is one of the most 

 fundamental of all the sciences. That lacurra is now 

 filled, and he rejoiced that it had begun under such 

 favourable auspices. Reference had been made to the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 

 The public knew little about its work — the public very 

 seldom does know about the things which most deeply 

 concern it. He confessed that when he saw 

 great industrial disputes going on about the distribu- 

 tion of the results of industry he could not help think- 

 ing, "Why do not you devote half the energy and 

 half the amount of money involved to increasing the 

 power of man over Nature, which would increase the 

 share and increase the total result to be divided 

 among the members of the community, instead of 

 devoting your energies to saying how the relatively 

 insignificant amount we now produce is to be divided 

 among the producers? " Mr. Balfour's memory went 

 back to his Cambridge days and to the great Cam- 

 bridge physicists who all in their several ways had 

 made advances in physics which have changed our 

 conception of the structure of the universe and in- 

 creased our power of turning it to practical account. 

 Mr. Balfour did not believe that mere expenditure of 

 money, the mere growth of laboratories, or the mere 

 multiplicity of students was going to produce a larger 

 crop of men of genius. Genius comes of itself; no 

 system of education yet discovered has been able to 

 turn it out. The spirit bloweth where it listeth, and 

 no organisation will increase the number of men at 

 the very summit of the profession. He did not for 

 a moment wish it to be thought that this remark 

 settled the whole question. A large amount of work 

 which does not in itself bring to maturity a great 

 discovery is required if great discoveries are to be 

 made, and this work can be increased by organisa- 



tion and by the expenditure of money. The work that 

 the Advisory Council has done in providing oppor- 

 tunities for research deserved all the praise which 

 Sir J. J. Thomson had given to it. Unfortunately, the 

 present inipoverished state of the country has com- 

 pelled a reluctant Treasury to cut down the sum at 

 their disposal. No mone\- gives, not only a greater 

 spiritual return, but also a greater f>ecuniary return 

 than the money devoted to research. It is impossible 

 to carry on without more assistance than an im- 

 poverished State can afford or wealthy men seem 

 inclined to contribute. Apparently these men do not 

 realise what they might do. 



Mr. Balfour said he was often surprised that the 

 imagination of our great magnates was not stimulated 

 by the idea that they could add to the wealth of the 

 whole world by encouraging industrial research. 

 There was nothing narrow about the results of an 

 increase in physical knowledge. What is discovered 

 in Cambridge or Paris or Japan is a gift to mankind. 

 When he reflected, as he thought political economists 

 were slow to reflect, on the prodigious changes which 

 are made by discovery in the lot of mankind he was 

 surprised at the lack of the spirit of liberality, at 

 the imperfect realisation of the actual facts of the 

 case, and at the fatal desire to see an immediate 

 return. Discovery, however, lurks undeveloped for 

 a generation ; but the life of nations is a long life, 

 and anything that adds to a knowledge of the physical 

 world must, either sooner or later, in our own time 

 or in that of our remote descendartts, do something 

 material for the life of mankind. The hope he had 

 for the world was that by the growth of science and 

 invention, instead of discomfort, comfort and leisure 

 would be given to the community — at least, if the 

 people learn how to use their leisure. That was the 

 idea based upon the work of men who were engaged, 

 as those present were engaged, in probing the secrets 

 of Nature. If, as he believed, the institute they 

 were inaugurating was going to assist in that 

 great work, they might regard the day of this 

 meeting as a red-letter day in the history of British 

 science. 



Votes of thanks were proposed bv Sir W. H. Bragg, 

 Sir Robert Hadfield, and Prof. C' H. Lees. 



All information concerning the institute can be 

 obtained from the Secretaries, lo Essex Street, Strand, 



W.C.2. 



The British Science Guild. 

 Scientific Development and World-Welfare. 



GREAT success attended the annual dinner of the 

 British Science Guild, which was held at the 

 Hotel Cecil on Tuesday, May 3, Lord Montagu of 

 Beaulieu, president of the Guild, being in the chair. 

 There was eloquent acknowledgment of the great part 

 science has played in the country's progress, and 

 keen insistence on the imperative need of its wider 

 application to the stupendous problems of the future. 

 The president, unfortunately, was suffering from the 

 effects of a severe attack of laryngitis, and, although 

 this affected the wonted vigour of his utterance, it is 

 scarcely necessary to add that it did not lessen the 

 value of his weighty observations. 



After the loyal toasts had been duly honoured, the 

 president, in proposing "Science and the Empire," 

 said he thought it was quite clear that in whatever 

 direction we looked, science, moderation, and balance 

 of mind were wanted all over the world to-day more 



NO. 2688, VOL. 107] 



than ever before. We had appeals to reason unheeded 

 by great masses of people, we had attempts in other 

 directions to set scientific laws and economic laws at 

 defiance ; and when there was an organisation like the 

 British Science Guild, which could, at any rate, 

 attempt to sum up the balance one side and the other, 

 it seemed to him they would do less than their duty 

 if they did not attempt to bring their case and their 

 teachings before the public. Their thoughts were 

 naturally centred on the great struggle that was going 

 on in reference to one of the vital necessities of life— 

 coal. They could not help realising that all these 

 struggles meant an immense waste of power and 

 wealth to the nation. Of course, if we used coal as 

 we should, as every scientific man in that room knew, 

 we should never burn it, for instance, in that most 

 cheerful thing, the open grate. We knew that the 

 smuts which covered our clothes and our buildings in 



