NA TURE 



69 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1920. 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN 6- CO.. LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 

 addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial cotmnunicaiions to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS. LONDON. 

 Telephone Number: CERRARD 8830. 



The British Association and National Life. 



WE published a fortnight ago (Sept. 2, p. 13) 

 some observations made by Dr. R. V. 

 Stanford, our local correspondent for the recent 

 meeting of the British Association at Cardiff, upon 

 " the apathy of local people of the educated classes 

 In the presence of the Association" in the city, 

 md the neglect of the opportunity which such a 

 meeting may afford of stimulating public interest 

 in scientific achievements and their applications. 

 There is, we believe, a feeling among many 

 members of the .Association that efforts should be 

 made to increasf its usefulness by bringing it into 

 rliiMT ((intMci with thoughtful members of all 

 classes of the community and encouraging a fuller 

 representation of the new generation of scientific 

 workers. Institutions, like organisms, must be 

 adapted to their circumstances, or suffer eventual 

 extinction. The British Association is still in a 

 state of strong vitality, but it is not making pro- 

 gress; rfhd not to be in touch with advancing 

 times signifies retrogression. 



It is easy to be satisfied with this condition, 

 and to consider that all is of the best in the best 

 of all scientific organisations, but that is not the 

 spirit of development. There is no need for scien- 

 tific men now to work in secret cells, and carry 

 on their discussions in conclaves; on the contrary, 

 : the world is more eager than ever it was to learn 

 and to use the resultsof scientific research. What- 

 ever apathy exists on the part of the general 

 NO. 26s S. VOL. I06I 



public as regards these advances is due largely to 

 the neglect of national bodies like the British 

 Association to adjust themselves to changing 

 national needs. The public does not understand 

 the .\ssociation, and the Association makes little 

 endeavour to show the bearing of scientific 

 methods and principles upon most subjects of vital 

 importance in national polity and industrial affairs. 



When the Association was founded, in 1831, one 

 of its first purposes was stated to be "to obtain 

 a greater degree of national attention to the ob- 

 jects of science" — a phrase which in the present 

 rules reads "to obtain more general attention for 

 the objects of science." Whether the change was 

 deliberate or not we do not know, but we prefer 

 to think that "national attention" is what was 

 originally intended, and we desire to urge that 

 this aspect of the Association's activities should 

 be given more consideration than it now receives, 

 instead of concentrating upon the work of the 

 sections. There were no sections when the .Asso- 

 ciation began its existence, but only committees 

 upon various branches of science. .At the Cam- 

 bridge meeting in 1833 the sections were: (i) 

 Mathematics and Physics; (2) Philosophical In- 

 struments and Mechanical Arts; (3) Natural 

 History, Anatomy, Physiology; (4) History of 

 Science. Chemistry, with Mineralogy, became a 

 section in the following year, and Statistics formed 

 a sixth section. Then came in succession Geology 

 and Geography, Zoology and Botany, Mechanical 

 Science, and various other changes, leading to the 

 present denomination of sections. Anthropology 

 became a section in 1884, Physiology ten years 

 later. Botany in 1895, Educational Science in 1901, 

 Agriculture in 1912, and at the recent Cardiff 

 meeting the General Committee recommended 

 that Psychology be promoted from a sub-section 

 to a section, making thirteen in all. Each section 

 is autonomous, and there is no co-ordinating com- 

 mittee to make them part of a composite organisa- 

 tion, or suggest how they may combine their 

 forces for the common good. The .Association is 

 like a great industrial works in which each shop 

 produces what it pleases, and no one has the duty 

 of building up a noble structure from ihc various 

 parts. 



Two separate functions may be diMmguiNlicd in 

 the work of each section. One is the presentation 

 of papers for discussion by workers in the par- 

 ticular fields to which they refer, and half-a-dozen 

 such allied workers gathered together can gain 

 more from one another by informal conversation 

 than can possibly be elicited when their remarks 

 are addressed to an audience without special know- 



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