no 



NATURE 



[September 23, 1920 



to Babylon and the Tower of Babel ; scarce a read- 

 able book, fit for general consumption, is written on 

 any branch of our scientific work. We ever walk on 

 stilts; little wonder that the public does not reach up 

 to us. 



Like every other institution, the Association is a 

 failure for want of leaders ; and as discipline is gone 

 out of society and children in these days think them- 

 selves superior to their parents — as demonstrated 

 recently in the columns of the Morning Post — it is 

 doubtful if, in the future, leaders will be recognised. 

 Men with the Olympic genius of Huxley and with 

 his profound belief in truth arc creations of great 

 rarity ; even men like Michael Foster, his body-slave, 

 are no longer to be found. Though not gifted with 

 any high degree of imagination, Foster's was a sym- 

 pathetic nature ; he was ever on the look-out for 

 suggestions and ever ready, when a good purpose 

 was mooted, to help in bringing people together to 

 accomplish it. The Royal Society has been a lifeless 

 body since it lost his guiding hand ; it has allowed 

 its proper functions to be abrogated in every direc- 

 tion. Nothing, for example, could be more lament- 

 able than its abandonment of the control of scientific 

 research to the bureaucrats. 



The British Association no longer has any real 

 influence either on science or on the public. It has 

 ceased to count, more especially since it lost the 

 services of the late Mr. George Griffith, who rendered 

 it such signal service while secretary. Griffith was 

 the ideal official ; he had feeling for every subject 

 and his contagious influence in bringing about an 

 understanding between elements often diverse in 

 character was very great. He enticed all its members 

 into active co-operation ; his one desire was ever to 

 make the .Association of avail. 



Of late years the secretariat has been a forbidding 

 rather than an attracting institution ; it has not only 

 lacked imagination and "go," it has also had no 

 ideals; and yet it has monopolised control, with the 

 aid of a few elderly amiables who have been per- 

 suaded into the belief that they were bosses of the 

 show. 



The young man has been too little noticed ; being 

 afraid to speak out, feeling that his elders resent any 

 expression of opinion, he has had no reason to take 

 an active interest in the Association. The young man 

 must be more cared for in future. 



If the Association be continued, its constitution 

 must be entirely changed. It is, perhaps, significant 

 that at Cardiff the general committee relegated to a 

 committee the appointment of a new treasurer — really 

 a matter to be dealt with by the council. In point 

 of fact, the council exists only in name; control rests 

 with the official ring, who resent every criticism and 

 any intervention with ideas. I would suggest that 

 the two secretaries and the treasurer should each be 

 appointed for three years, not more, so that every 

 subject might be represented in turn; if only one 

 of the three were appointed in any one year, the 

 remaining two would always be men who had some 

 previous experience of office. The council might con- 

 sist of the officers, together- with the president, the 

 president of the previous year, the president-designate 

 and a single delegate from each of the sections, half 

 of these delegates being chosen afresh either each 

 year or every other year. The business of the .Asso- 

 ciation should be entirely carried out at meetings of 

 the council, not settled previously by an official 

 caucus. The delegate from a section should each 

 year present a report to his sectional committee so 

 as to bring the proceedings of the council under 

 discussion. 



The functions of the general committee need to be 



NO. 2656, VOL. 106] 



more clearly defined and perhaps limited ; the " freak " 

 has too great a chance at present and as no one 

 knows what topic is to come under consideration, the 

 discussions are rarely representative of the real state 

 of opinion. 



Of late the -Association has lost what little hold it 

 had on the public generally, owing to the com- 

 mercialisation of the Press ; even the Times is now 

 given over to tit-bit-ery and the reports it prints of 

 the Association meetings are worthless for all prac- 

 tical purposes. Some new method of running the 

 scientific publicity campaign must be thought out. It 

 may be worth while for the Association to spend its 

 annual income on advertising in two or three of the 

 chief paj>ers, arranging that between them these 

 report the proceedings in full. Money for research 

 can now be had from other sources and the public 

 has the right to demand that, being taxed for re- 

 search, its contribution to the .Association shall be 

 used largely on its own behalf. 



As to the work of the annual meeting, I am en- 

 tirely with you in thinking that the sections should 

 unite in treating subjects broadly on lines such as the 

 Faraday Society has followed. Instead of a dozen 

 separate sections sitting each year, it would be far 

 better to have at most four. 



The discourse delivered by Prof. Eddington may 

 be referred to as an example of the address which 

 appeals to specialists ; it is of enthralling interest, yet 

 far too technical ; many of the conclusions arrived at 

 need explanation to make them clear to the scientific 

 mind not specially versed in the subject. Such an 

 address, in lact, needs considerable working up to 

 make it of avail even to the instructed reader. 



Subjects can always be found on which we need 

 posting up which are of general as well as of sjiecial 

 interest ; for example, what precisely is the present 

 state of the evidence in favour of evolution ? " General " 

 Bramwell Booth scoffs at the conception as " stuff and 

 nonsense." With what case can we confront him and 

 literary quibblers like Mr. G. K. Chesterton? It is 

 long since Huxley discussed the horse in public ; in the 

 interval much new evidence has been brought to light 

 which should be presented. The chalk has told an 

 undeniable story, yet how many know it? It is our 

 own fault that the ecclesiastically minded, in their 

 ignorance, speak of us as though we were mere 

 speculators in knowledge, constantly shifting hypo- 

 theses without ever arriving at clear conclusions. 



To mention other subjects, at the moment the fuel 

 problem is one of the greatest importance ; only the 

 food problem is of greater urgency. On matters such 

 as these the public stands much in need of enlighten- 

 ment. Obviously, each town visited would be 

 interested in having some particular subject special 

 to itself treated exhaustively. 



To make the meeting of more than local and pass- 

 ing value, the essays brought forward in the sections 

 for criticism and discussion should be printed in 

 advance and published, with the considered discus- 

 sions, without any delay. Such a book of authorita- 

 tive opinion could not but find a ready sale. 



If something serious were attempted, something 

 serious would be done. Now everything is attempted 

 and little, if anything, done. Insisting, as we con- 

 stantly do, on the value of education, it is impera- 

 tive that we show ourselves educable and ready to 

 read the signs of the times. 



Henry E. .Armstrong. 



The leading article in Nature of September i6 gives 

 articulation to notions which have been very prevalent 

 of late. One does, indeed, occasionally hear the sug- 



