m 



NATURE 



[May 5, 192 1 



London were the result of waste in coal-burning. On 

 many grounds they would like to see the time come 

 when all the bituminous coal of the country was 

 passed through a process of coking, and we used 

 fliie liquid fuel on one side for all kinds of transport 

 and other purposes, and burnt only smokeless fuel 

 in our grates. They would welcome anything that 

 would improve the lot of the miner underground 

 and help him to raise a greater quantity of coal at 

 less exertion to himself and make his occupation 

 more healthy. As economists they knew that unless 

 we could in the future raise coal at a reasonable price 

 the coal of great countries like America would beat us 

 in the markets of the world. Lord Montagu, quoting j 

 the example of Joseph in Egypt in preparing for the 

 lean years, suggested that the Government should 

 store certain articles like coal and certain kinds of 

 food which the community might be deprived of | 

 during the progress of industrial disputes. That idea 

 might be misinterpreted by some as an attack on the 

 power of the trade unions, but it was nothing of the 

 kind. We did not wish any portion of the community 

 to starve or suffer hardship ; moreover, the com- 

 munity must defend itself when attacked. He thought 

 we must gradually look forward to a time when we 

 must not be dependent upon one kind of fuel only. 

 We must cultivate so far as we could the use of 

 alternatives to coal. 



Lord Montagu went on to insist that the need of 

 science in every department of the country was 

 greater to-day that it had ever been. He hoped 

 that some of our leading statesmen would not think 

 of science only as a means of destroying our fellow- 

 men because during the war, no doubt, science, 

 especially towards the end of the conflict, was called 

 Upon to invent new means of dealing out death to our 

 adversaries, and the whole ingenuity of large numbers 

 of men of science was concentrated on what, after 

 all, was the horrible business of destroying each other. 

 He was sure Field-Marshal Sir William Robertson 

 would agree with him that they should try to 

 develop all these great energies of science to the 

 benefit of the human race. What they really desired' 

 to do was to lead a campaign against ignorance, and 

 he could not help thinking of one of the members of 

 their council, a most energetic and valuable member, 

 Mr. J. J. Robinson, who had done wonderfully good 

 work already in establishing provincial centres and in 

 endeavouring to cultivate the scientific spirit in our 

 great provincial towns. He would like to see that 

 side of their work greatly increased. 



Field-Marshal Sir William Robertson, replying to 

 the toast, spoke of the great work of men of science 

 in the war, particularly referring to the development, 

 with astonishing success and rapidity, of submarine 

 warfare, both offensive and defensive, and of sound- 

 ranging and signalling. There was also the tank, 

 which was produced in the face of considerable 

 obstacles — some people said obstructions. We 

 had very little glass for making optical instru- 

 ments, but during the war men of science came 

 forward and produced sufficient quantities of this 

 glass well up to pre-war standard. The credit 

 due to science was all the greater, because in the 

 pre-war preparations science had been too fre- 

 quently disregarded, with the result that everything 

 had to be done almost from the very beginning. 

 It was to be hoped that the lessons of the 

 war would not be forgotten by the fighting Services, 

 for we might be sure that science would play an even 

 greater part in the next war than it had in the recent 

 Tvar, more especially when we thought of the' air 



;/?• 'NO. 2688, VOL. 107] >' . ' 



and under the water. In view of the present portion 

 of affairs we must not altogether forget about pre- 

 parations for war. He suggested that what we re- 

 quired was that every State Department and every 

 public service should have with it, and in it, the best 

 scientific advice and assistance that could be fur- 

 nished. Men who aspired to exercise Ministerial con- 

 trol over the destinies of the country, or in other 

 ways to wield large administrative powers, should 

 attach much greater importance to the value of 

 science as an educative force than they had done in 

 the past. If they neglected to do this they could not 

 hope efficiently to discharge their duties in peace, or 

 usefully assist in guiding their country through the 

 terrible ordeal of war. 



Col. Sir konald Ross proposed " Science and 

 Literature," and the toast was acknowledged by Dean 

 Inge. 



Lord Rayleigh submitted the toast of "The British 

 Science Guild,' and made a graceful allusion to the 

 distinguished man lo whom tne origin of the Guild 

 was primarily due — Sir Norman Lockyer, Sir Norman 

 combmed, he thought, in a peculiar sense, the qualities 

 necessary for those who would push and advance the 

 scientific cause in this country. It was no use merely 

 to hold scientific views ; they had metaphorically to 

 take people by the throat and shake them before they 

 would realise the national importance of scientific 

 principles in progressive practice. 



Lord Biedisloe, in acknowledging the toast, said a 

 question those ot them who were not yet sufficiently 

 familiar with the Guild might well ask was: "What 

 is the British Science Guild i'' " The answer had been 

 suggested to him by a very interesting book which 

 had lately been published, Westaway's "Science and 

 Theology," in which he found the following state- 

 ment : — " The training in scientific method has 

 brought into being a tninking fraternity whose bond 

 of loyalty is respect for the truth." Now, surely, if 

 there was one body more than another in this country 

 that would answer to that description it was the 

 British Science Guild. He thought there was a great 

 poet who said in substance : — " He is a free man 

 whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves besides." 

 Well, we boasted that our country was the land of the 

 free. He thought it was extremely doubtful whether, 

 at any rate under existing conditions, this was an apt 

 description, but if we were not yet conscious of that 

 extent of freedom which ultra-democracy should bring 

 to us, surely we could best remedy the defect by 

 ap[)lying science to all the activities of our human 

 life in the future to a much greater extent than we had 

 done in the past. Perhaps the most important work 

 upon which the Guild was at the momient employed 

 was to endeavour to arrange a conference between 

 representatives of science on one hand, and represen- 

 tatives of organised Labour on the other. They felt 

 there was an opening now for an entente cordiale be- 

 twteii the great enlightened leaders of Labour and the 

 chief exponents of science with the object of rendering 

 the task of Labour lighter, more effective, more com- 

 fortable and happy, and in the long run to obtain 

 a very much larger output from the industr^ies of the 

 country. They had every reason to know that the 

 leaders, of Labour were quite in sympathy with their 

 endeavours to bring the conference about. Referring 

 to j.griculture, his Lordship said that at the present 

 time — largely as a result of the alarming experiences 

 of the war — there was a livelier interest on the part 

 of the organised farmers of this country in scientific 

 niethods, than ever there had been during the last 

 generation. . , ,i, .; . 



