September 23, 1920] 



NATURE 



109 



It must be admitted that the more elastic and semi- 

 random procedure of old days sometimes entailed dis- 

 appointment, especially among the butterfly visitors 

 who flitted from section to section trying to be present 

 wherever a well-known speaker was on his feet. A 

 rather futile proceeding it usually was, and yet there 

 was merit in it from the missionary point of view. 

 But the butterflies must take their chance ; it is the 

 more steady and persevering insects for whom we 

 should aim at providing honey. 



How to do it I confess I know not with any 

 certainty ; yet it must be known beforehand, in a 

 general way, that one or two subjects will in all 

 probability prove attractive, and it is a pity when, 

 through lack of collaboration between the sections, a 

 number of such attractions compete for attention on 

 a single day. 



The General Secretaries have striven this year to 

 unite the office-bearers of the different sections, and 

 generally to carry forward or renew the old traditions 

 so far as possible. It may be hoped that their efforts 

 will have a good eflfect in the future. 



Oliver J. Lodge. 



Normanton, Lake, Salisbury, September lo. 



P.S. — Since writing the above I have seen your 

 leading article in Nature of September i6. I per- 

 ceive that you hold views similar in many respects 

 to my own, and I anticipate that many readers of 

 Nati;re will be in agreement, now that you have 

 given them an opportunity of reconnoitring the 

 whole position. O. J. L. 



September 17. 



.\llow me to express my coneurrence in the view 

 presented in the leading article in Nature of Septem- 

 ber 16 as to the necessity for a re-organisation — a re- 

 adjustment to the needs of the day — of the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. The 

 .\ssociation has been allowed to develop and grow in 

 various directions without sufTicient control or con- 

 sideration as to how it may best serve the purpose for 

 which it exists. It was at first a society of a mis- 

 sionary character, aiming at spreading in the dark 

 regions of these islands a knowledge of and interest in 

 science. Soon it added to this purpose that of an 

 annual picnic and friendly gathering of workers in 

 science. Then followed the gathermg of funds by 

 fees for membership ; the application of those funds to 

 pay, here and there, for research. Later ensued an 

 extended and overwhelming creation of "sections," 

 so as to give all sorts of people a meeting ground for 

 discussion and, incidentally, for self-advertisement. 

 The result of the last step was an emU'irrassing 

 demand for meeting-rooms and committee-rooms to 

 be provided by the town which had invited the Asso- 

 ciation to give it a visit. At the same time the sub- 

 division of subjects led to a dilution of quality, and a 

 free bid for popularity and newspaper notice — which 

 has rendered the proceedings of the Association of 

 diminishing Interest and value to the educated class4>s, 

 not only in the locality of its meeting, but also through- 

 out the country. Serious workers in science are now well 

 provided in our great cities with societies and journals 

 by aid of which new work mav be discussed. No 

 one is particularly anxious to follow the lengthy, and 

 frequently non-authoritativ«, disquisitions which the 

 '-■ ' tional meetings, as at present organised, tend to 

 promote. 



The annual meetings of the .Association might be 

 carefully arranged l)eforehand by the executive so -is 

 to secure the consideration and cleiir exposition to 

 the public of a few definite matters of actual moment. 



NO. 2656, VOL. 106] 



The " sections " of the meeting could with great 

 advantage be reduced to four, and the addresses to 

 be given by the president of each section, and also the 

 "papers " accepted for consideration, limited to sub- 

 jects chosen by the executive of the .Association. 

 The individuals chosen to preside or to intro3uce 

 a subject should be men whose names and works 

 are such as to command the attention and presence 

 of the leaders of thought and social life in the district 

 where the meeting is held. 



The only wise alternative to this reconstruction 

 seems to me to be a frank restriction of the meetings 

 of the Association to men from all parts engaged in 

 scientific work, glad to meet one another once a year 

 in pretty and suitable spots (such as our old university 

 towns and smaller cathedral cities), there to exchange 

 in more or less intimate meeting — without the disturb- 

 ing influence of newspaper reporters and notoriety 

 hunters — recitals and exhibitions of the progress of 

 their researches. Such are (or were) some of the 

 associations of scientific workers in Continental 

 countries. Meetings of this class involve little or no 

 expense or trouble to their participants. The use for a 

 week of a "refreshment hall" and public garden is 

 all that is needful for the gatherings of the hundred 

 or two savanls who alone are eligible as members 

 or anxious to be present. These meetings are often 

 delightful, and lead to informal and productive dis- 

 cussions and personal friendships of permanent value. 



I think that our " British .Association " is in an 

 unhealthy condition owing to the attempt made by 

 it — not deliberatelv, but by constitutional looseness of 

 purpose — to combine the features of a friendly picnic 

 and smoking debate with the work of a national con- 

 ference dealing (under the disadvantage of public 

 ignorance and journalistic inaccuracy) with great 

 questions of national importance. A choice must be 

 made between "picnic " and "conference." I should 

 prefer the picnic. E. Ray Lankester. 



September 17. 



Your criticism of the British Association, that It 

 falls to touch our national life, is most opportune ; 

 but whereas you imply merely that it Is decadent, 

 to me It seems to be practically defunct. An active 

 worker on its behalf in the past, I have little hope 

 of its resuscitation and doubt if It can ever again 

 fulfil the desires of Its early promoters, who un- 

 doubtedly held its primary function to be that of 

 advancing public appreciation of scientific discovery. 

 I have always deplored our failure to app>cal to tliie 

 public. Seemingly, the spirit of sacrifice is gone out 

 of science ; strange to say, the herd instinct is alto- 

 gether wanting in our society, so uncontrolled is our 

 indlvidualitv. The assumed author of "Tlie Beggar's 

 Opera," after remarking of his characters, "Tlx're's 

 not an honourable man among them, nor an honest 

 woman," proceeds to say, "but they are all human." 

 So are the present exploiters of the British .Associa- 

 tion, though were it not human to be selfish some 

 might even dub them Inhuman on account of the 

 narrowness of their outlook and their disregard of 

 public needs. 



The neglect of science by the nation has long been 

 the favourite text of the scientific preacher; it occurs 

 lo none to consider how complete is the neglect of the 

 nation of which scientific workers have long been con- 

 sistently guilty. Few seem In realise how great hn» 

 been our failure of late to make any concerted effort 

 lo enlighten the man in the strcft, how little right 

 we have to despise his Ignorance. Scientific jargonesc 

 so fills the air that It would be refreshing to go back 



