770 



NATURE 



[August i8, 192 i 



under the present system heavy expenditure is 

 imposed upon each society by the necessity for 

 providing suitable and adequate accommodation 

 for meetings and lectures. 



It is unnecessary to labour these points, which 

 must be familiar to many. The difficulties do not 

 date from to-day or yesterday, but at the moment 

 they are more acutely felt. Under financial stress 

 the activities and usefulness of scientific societies 

 are being restricted. Increases in subscriptions 

 do not counterbalance increase in costs. In- 

 dividual workers also suffer; in many cases they 

 have to confine their membership to the society 

 to which their work is most closely related, thus 

 restricting their outlook and their knowledge of 

 current work. 



It would, therefore, seem desirable to cast 

 about for some remedy which might remove or 

 mitigate these disabilities. This might be found 

 in the union of a number of societies dealing 

 with this group of studies to form an Institute of 

 Human Sciences, housed in one building and 

 governed by a supreme council, each society 

 retaining such a measure of autonomy under its 

 own committee as is consistent with the common 

 aim. Considerable economies could then be 

 effected by pooling the respective libraries, thus 

 avoiding unnecessary expenditure on duplicating 

 books, and to a certain extent by pooling the 

 staff. The amount saved might be applied to 

 increased expenditure on the library, on cata- 

 loguing, or on bibliographical work, for which the 

 facilities would be greatly extended by the col- 

 lection of the greater part of the material and 

 the association of a number of specialists in vari- 

 ous branches of study within the four walls of 

 one building. The extent to which the various 

 societies would be fused into one institution must 

 depend upon circumstances ; but it would prob- 

 ably be a gain if the publications were standard- 

 ised and issued in series. It would not follow 

 as a matter of course that each member would 

 receive all the series ; the issue would be confined 

 to such only as he required. In fact, tTie Issue of 

 publications might well serve as a basis for regu- 

 lating the amount of the subscription payable over 

 and above the common fee of the institute admit- 

 ting to the privilege of attendance at meetings, 

 the use of the library, and other services. 



That such an institute would greatly increase 

 the resources at the disposal of the scientific 

 worker is self-evident. Not only would he be 

 brought more closely into touch with those in- 

 vestigating different aspects of the same problems 

 NO. 2703, VOL. 107] 



as he himself is investigating, but he would also 

 benefit in other ways. Although scientific in- 

 vestigation is becoming increasingly a matter of 

 specialisation, yet in the anthropological sciences 

 the interrelation of the different branches of 

 study is becoming closer as the need for syn- 

 thetic treatment is more fully appreciated. No 

 student of the human sciences can afford to 

 neglect results obtained In fields other than his 

 own. Under the present system few have the 

 time at their disposal to attend the meetings of 

 all the societies with the work of which they 

 should be acquainted, or to go through all their 

 publications, even if these are accessible. Given 

 an Institution under one roof, organised to meet 

 this need of the worker, with a common library 

 and a common staff, and provided with an ade- 

 quate bibliographical system, and he should have 

 no excuse if he failed to obtain all that he 

 required. 



By a combination such as is indicated science 

 would benefit in at least two directions. Under 

 the control of a supreme council, which from its 

 constitution would be in a position to survey the 

 whole field, research could be organised on a 

 scale and with a certainty of direction which have 

 not yet been attained, while the financial assist- 

 ance which such an association of interests might 

 Kope to command would be considerable. 

 Further, the influence which this body could bring 

 to bear upon public opinion would be such as 

 far to outweigh anything of which the individual 

 societies appear capable at present, however de- 

 sirable or necessary the objects which they urge 

 from time to time in connection with matters of 

 public interest. 



In education it is now becoming generally 

 recognised that, in addition to the study of 

 physical and mental characters, the data of the 

 human sciences have an important bearing upon 

 many of the subjects of the curriculum of both 

 universities and schools, and can be applied with 

 advantage in teaching even quite small children. 

 At present the educationist or the teacher who 

 is not acquainted with the results of specialist 

 research outside the four corners of his own 

 subject is at a loss in which direction to turn for 

 trustworthy guidance. Such guidance it would be 

 one, and that not the least important, of the 

 functions of the institute to provide. 



Finally, although this scheme of amalgamation, 

 for obvious reasons, must, with possibly a few 

 exceptions, be confined to societies now housed 

 In London, there Is every reason to hope that 



