594 



NATURE 



[July 7, 192 1 



Scientific Publications for Russia. 



IT will be remembered that when Mr. H. G. 

 Wells visited Petrograd in November last he 

 found that the remnant of Russian literary and 

 scientific workers who had survived the revolu- 

 tion had been brought together by the Soviet 

 Government and housed in two institutions in 

 Petrograd. There the scientific workers were 

 carrying on their researches as best they could in 

 the face of great privations owing to lack of food 

 and clothing. What they felt even more keenly 

 was that they were cut off from men of science 

 outside Russia and were unable to obtain scientific 

 literature or apparatus. 



A committee \\ as therefore formed in December 

 under the title "The British Committee for Aid- 

 ing Men of Letters and Science in Russia " to 

 obtain some of the chief publications required. 

 An appeal, which was published in Nature of 

 January 6, p. 598, was made for funds to help the 

 project forward. 



Prof. Oldenburg, permanent secretary of the 

 Petrograd Academy of Sciences, was communi- 

 cated with, and was able to provide the committee 

 with a list of the works which were urgently 

 required. This list contained a number of works 

 issued by British and other publishers, together 

 with the publications of many learned societies. 

 The committee then communicated with the lead- 

 ing scientific societies which had sent their pub- 

 lications into Russia before the revolution, and 

 several entrusted their publications to the com- 



mittee for transmission to the House of Science 

 in Petrograd. A number of British publishers 

 presented volumes for the same purpose, and 

 help was also given by universities and publishers 

 in the United States. In addition the committee 

 has acquired books by purchase and bv gift from 

 private individuals. 



Naturally very careful inquiries were made from 

 both the British and the Soviet authorities as to 

 the prospect of the books reaching the men for 

 whom they were intended. Every assurance was 

 given that delivery would not be interfered with, 

 and several cases of books were accordingly dis- 

 patched. It was feared that in spite of their 

 assurances the Soviet authorities would confiscate 

 the literature, and it is therefore gratifying to 

 learn that an acknowledgment of their safe arri- 

 val has been received from Prof. Oldenburg. A 

 book-list which was also dispatched has been 

 returned signed by several notable Russian men 

 of science, so there is now little doubt that the 

 books were received by those for whom they 

 were intended. 



It is thought that fear of miscarriage of these 

 books has prevented the co-operation of many 

 well-wishers of the scheme. Now that this fear 

 is allayed it is hoped that further subscriptions 

 and donations will be forwarded to the treasurer 

 of the committee, Dr. C. Hagberg Wright, 

 the London Librarv, St. James's Square, 

 S.W.I. 



Friendship. 



(To T. H. R.) 



Were life an empty bubble blown by chance 

 To glitter, mount, and burst beyond repair ; 

 Were mind delusion, fancies rich and rare 



Mere exhalations, firefly effluence ; 



Or should this mood be but the spirit's trance, 

 And one enduring Whole his Being share 

 By ordered gradients up the thronal stair 



From atom fires to soulful radiance ; 



Be all philosophy beyond our ken 

 And nothing certain, — yet, as star draws star, 

 As bubbles meet and cling, electrons blend, 

 There sings a joy when friend meets parted 

 friend. 

 Time's limitations yield, and past the bar 

 Life's transcendental portals ope again. 



Walter Garstang. 

 June 19, 1921. 



Conference of American and British Engineers. 



*" I ""HE four leading engineering societies of the 

 ^ LTnited States of America recently combined 

 to form the United Engineering Society, to pro- 

 mote the more general interests of the profes- 

 sion. Fifteen delegates from these societies have 

 come to London, partly to bring a greeting and 

 message of friendship to British societies, and 

 partly to present the John Fritz medal, the 

 greatest honour' the American societies can 

 confer, to Sir Robert A. Hadfield, Bart. 



The chairman of the delegation is Mr. Ambrose 

 Swasey, who is not only a constructor of the 

 finest machine-tools, but also the builder of the 

 NO. 2697, VOL. 107] 



great telescopes at Mount Hamilton, at the Naval 

 Observatory, W^ashington, and at the Yerkes 

 Observatory, Wisconsin. He also built the 72-in. 

 reflecting telescope of the Dominion Astro- 

 nomical Society at Victoria (B.C.). Among the 

 delegates are Col. A. S, . Dwight (American In- 

 stitute of Mining and Metallurgy), Mr. C. F. 

 Rand (secretary of the board which awarded the 

 medal). Dr. Ira N. Hollis (American Society of 

 Mechanical Engineers and president of the Wor- 

 cester (Mass.) Polytechnic Institute), Mr. C. T. 

 Main (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), 

 Dr. F. B. Jewett (American Society of Electrical 



