,146 



NATURE 



[September 30, 1920 



But if the British Association is really to take for 

 one of its tasks the bringing of science home, so to 

 speak, to the British public, if it is to give its energies 

 to what the French call "vulgarisation," and it in 

 addition it is to promote co-operation and under- 

 standing between workers in difterent branches, then 

 it must modify not only the procedure at its meetings, 

 but also the character of its printed reports. These 

 are often scrappy and confusing in the extreme. More 

 attention ought to be paid to systematic expositions 

 of recent scientific developments set forth in such a 

 manner that they can be read and understood by 

 everyone with a fair all-round scientific education, 

 and supplemented by exhaustive references for those 

 who wish to go into the subject. Such " Reports on 

 the State of Science " will not be a new departure 

 in the history of the Association. A good recent 

 example of a difficult mathematical subject so treated 

 is to be found in H. Bateman's report "On the 

 History and Present State of the Theory of Integral 

 Equations," printed in the 1910 Report. On the 

 other hand, much of the material now published under 

 the heading "Reports on the State of Science" seems 

 to me far too sp>ecial, and could with advantage be 

 published elsewhere. 



As to the meetings, 1 agree entirely with the view 

 expressed in the leading article that the function of 

 a section " should not be technical di.scussion bv 

 specialists for specialists, but the enlightenment of 

 an extensive group of workers as to main lines of 

 advances in fields not specifically their own." To 

 obtain this result what is needed is not a succession 

 of papers by individual specialists, but rather one or 

 two stimulating addresses by a carefully .selected lec- 

 turer who can be trusted to avoid the faults referred 

 to in your article. 



.\t the same time I suggest there should also be 

 social and entirely informal meetings for semi-private 

 discussion. These should be for real, effective com- 

 paring of notes by workers on the same lines, each 

 set chatting round its own table ; a member, during 

 the course of one meeting, might talk and listen at 

 several tables in succession. 



-About organisation, the arbitrary division of science 

 into watertight sections is inevitably bound to lead to 

 trouble as subjects grow. (Incidentally, there is 

 much to be said against the present classification.) 

 The main trouble, however, is that with the sections 

 as at present it is nobody's business to arrange joint 

 meetings to deal with border-line subjects. .A possible 

 solution would be to have standing joint committees 

 of groups of sections, the sole duty of which should 

 be that of co-ordination. If need be, the same section 

 could appear in more than one group ; thus chemistry 

 might take its place both in a physical and in a 

 physiological group. L. N. G. Fii.on. 



I'niversity of London, University College, 

 September 21. 



The problem of the best use that we can make of 

 the annual meetings of the British .Association is one 

 that presents many diflTiculties. There is so much to 

 be accomplished and so little time available — less than 

 ever since 1914, though in .this respect 1 understand 



■ the former conditions are to be restored next year. 

 At present the most important functions of the -Asso- 

 ciation are to stimulate and maintain the interest and 

 activities of local workers, and to enable men of science 

 who are engaged on problems which require the co- 

 operation of a number of observers scattered about 

 the country to obtain new recruits. -\t the same time 

 the meetings give them the opportunity of addressing 



.a wider audience than that afford<Hi by the scientific 

 societies — an audience which includes a large number 

 of university workers who are resident in the provinces' 

 NO. 2657, VOL. 106] 



during the university terms and a certain proportion 

 of the men and women, all too few in number, who 

 take an inielhgent interest in science, though they 

 have not adopted it as a career. 



But, as you have indicated, the -Association has 

 almost wholly failed to appeal to the man of at least 

 ordinary intelligence and education who has never 

 seriously considered the purpose and achievements of 

 science. This is, 1 believe, largel) the fault of the 

 methods of our schools. If science has been taught 

 at all, the aim has txen to drill the pupil in the use 

 of correct technical language and in the e-vact mathe- 

 matical expression of natural laws, instead of to 

 implant a living interest in the subject — a far more 

 important matter in the early stages of mental 

 development. 



However that may be, the task with which we are 

 now faced is to attract to the meetings those 

 who are at present quite apathetic about all that con- 

 cerns the progress of science. We already have a few 

 popular lectures on Royal Institution lines, and no 

 doubt it would be desirable to increase their number ; 

 but they should lie comparatively brief — forty minutes 

 at most — and arrangements should always be made 

 for the discussion of debatable points by competent 

 speakers. Nothing is so calculated to increase the 

 interest and facilitate the understanding of a subject 

 as its presentation from different aspects. Perhaps 

 the greatest successes of recent meetings have been 

 the inter-sectional discussions, which have on one 

 hand aroused popular interest, and on the other 

 done much to develop co-operation between different 

 branches of science. 



I am not in agreement with the idea that a meeting 

 of the British .Association should not be made an 

 occasion for the announcement of new discoveries or 

 for the description of new developments in research. 

 Provided they are not of too abstruse a character, 

 thev are of great value in increasing the prestige of 

 the .Association among its members. 



If, however, we wish to attract larger audiences of 

 the general public and secure a wider membership, 

 we must do more to advertise the meetings- Some- 

 thing in the nature of a catalogue raisonni of the 

 more interesting features should he circulated some 

 weeks beforehand, especially in the neighbourhood to 

 be visited. Short illustrated articles should be con- 

 tributed to the local papers indicating the topics that 

 are to be considered and the problems that present 

 themselves for solution — sufficient to whet, but not 

 to satiate, the curiosity of the man in the street, so 

 that he may understand that he will not be compelled 

 to listen to dissertations on abstract subjects in un- 

 intelligible phraseology, but will have the opportunity 

 of hearing important and interesting questions dis- 

 cussed in a simple, straightforward fashion that any 

 intelligent man will be able to follow. 



John W. Evaks. 



Imperial College, September 22. 



I HAVE been greatly interested in the leading article 

 in Nature of Septeniber t6 on the position of the 

 British -Association. .Anyone is interested in an expres- 

 sion of his own views in better language than he can 

 himself command. 



While it is the function of the several scientific 

 societies to do their utmost for the advancement of 

 science, each \vithin its own narrow limits, the Royal 

 Society affording common ground for discussion for 

 the ilite only, the British -Association has primarily a 

 double duty to the nation and to the world. On one 

 hand, it should encourage the " cross-fertilisation^ of 

 the sciences," as no other body can, by bringing 

 together the members of its various Sections so that 

 each may help the others. This co-operation is valuable. 



