September 30, iq2o] 



NATURE 



H7 



not simply on the border-land where the sciences appear 

 to come in contact, but also because it may jx-netrate 

 the whole area of a science. Perhaps the time is not far 

 distant when we shall cease to speak of "a science," 

 and the unity of science, already begun to be recog- 

 nised in the' elementary schools, will be universally 

 acknowledfjed. It has' been stated that when two 

 Sections meet in common the attendance is greater 

 than the sum of the attendances at the separate 

 m«-<'tings of the siime Sections. This indicates the 

 need, and the direction in which to look for improve- 

 ment. On the other hand, the .\ssociation is mainly 

 responsible for making known to the public the recent 

 advances in science and their bearing on social life — 

 in other words, their possible practical applications. 

 To this end representatives of each Section should be 

 annually appointed for the task of reporting to the 

 next nKM'ting, in terms which will appeal to the man 

 in the street, the progress which has been made in 

 the advancement of science and its applications. It 

 has even been suggested that two sets of reports 

 should be prepared in this way, one as described and 

 the other for exf>erts, and that these reports should 

 form the chief material for the meeting, not much en- 

 couragement being offered to original papers suitable 

 for their respective societies. In the preparation of 

 these reports there should be much intercourse 

 between the representatives of the several Sections, 

 and many of them should be the result of joint work. 

 In some cases distinguished investigators should be 

 invited to describe their results in popular language, 

 irrespective of previous publication in the transactions 

 of learned .societies. The advancement of scienc-e 

 depends not only on the skill and genius of the expert, 

 but also on the appreciation of the people. 



.September 24. Wm. Garnett. 



As one who regularly attends the meetings of the 

 British .Association, and in particular those of Sec- 

 tion \, may I be allowed to state that I cannot recall 

 in the last twenty years any meeting of the .Associa- 

 tion when the attendances at Section .\ were more 

 numerous than at Cardiff. On several occasions it 

 was almost impossible to obtain a seat in the large 

 lecture hall assigned for our meetings unless one came 

 in good time. This was particularly the case wh«-n 

 the discussion took place on the constitution of the 

 ;ttom, so admirablv exposed by Dr. .Xston and by 

 Sir K. Rutherford. A very large audienc-e also 

 .issembled to hear Sir Oliver Lodge's controversial 

 note on popular relativity, and the room was full for 

 the discussion on the origin of spectra. .And, too, the 

 majoritv of those who attended, or at least a very 

 j large proportion, were not professional physicists, but 

 ', iTH-mU-rs of the .Association who take an interest in 

 j science in general, and who came to hear about the 

 :; latest advances in physical science. It is for these 

 ' meml>ers that the .Association caters, and it would 

 »e<'m that, so far as .Section .A is concerned, it is 

 fulFilling its functions quite admirably. 



This testimony as to the efficiency of the .Association 

 mav serve as an antidote to some of the jeremiads 

 as to the decadence of the .\ssociation which have 

 .ipp«"ared in the columns of Naturk. The only draw- 

 hack to th«» complete success of .Section .A was that 

 >(>me of the speakers did not seem to realise the verv 

 indifferent acoustical properties of the hall in which 

 our mw-tings were held. 

 ^ The relatively meagre attendance at the two even- 



^ ing discourses was accounted for bv the local strike 

 f of tramwaymen. This made if difficult to get to 

 \ <lisfant parts of the cilv when the discourses were 

 i fmished. A. L. CORTIK. 



] Stonyhursi College Observatory, September 25. 



NO. 2657, VOL. 106] 



In your leading article in Nature of September 16 

 vou have expressed what many of us have long felt : 

 that the British .Association is losing its interest for 

 the people of the locality in which it meets. This 

 is mainly on account of the highly technical character 

 of most of the papers, which are suitable only for 

 meetings of the special societies. The .Association 

 should not be regarded as a means of publishing new 

 observations unless these are of fundamental import- 

 ance. Its object is rather to give an opportunity for 

 the local worker to exchange ideas with those who 

 are more favourably placed. .Again, the laboratory 

 worker mav come in contact with the practical man 

 in manv subjects to the benefit of both. .Another 

 useful function it may perform is in the discussion of 

 border-land subjects in which more than one Section 

 mav be interested, and which do not lie definitely 

 within the limits of any one of the special societies. 

 In these functions, the extension of .scientific interest 

 to wider classes of the community and the removal 

 of the barriers between different sets of scientific 

 observers, the .Association may meet a crying need 

 of the time. '.Arthur R. CXshsy. 



University of Edinburgh, September 37. 



Uses for Aircraft. 



When in the year 19 12 I gave the first of the James 

 Forrest kctures on aerial flight, I said that the chief 

 uses of aircraft would probably be for the purposes 

 of war or for sport. -As a member of the .Advisory 

 Committee for .Aeronautics I have been in a position 

 to follow the various developments which have been 

 made since that date, but I see no reiison to alter my 

 opinion. While the cost of carriage by air is as high 

 as it necessarily must be at present, the commercial 

 use of aircraft on anv considerable scale seems im- 

 possible. There is no iiifficulty in carrying goods ; the 

 difficultv is to find any class of goods which, for the 

 sake of halving the time of transit, will bear the 

 increas<xl cost of carriage. .A certain small amount 

 of postal work, with a few passengers, so long as 

 the noveltv is an attraction, or in special cases, se<'ms 

 to be the only opening. If the ton-mile cost could be 

 reduced to as many farthings as it now is shillings, 

 commercial uses on a much enlarged scale would be 

 found. 



For sport and private use (i.e. for air-yachts) the 

 existing patterns of machines would have to be altered 

 to allow of a greater range of speed and a greater 

 facility in getting off and landing. Both these objects 

 could be attained by the introduction of wings of 

 variable area. It would be a great advantage ,ilso, 

 both for storage and in other ways, if the wings could 

 be properly folded (not merely unshipped and turned 

 back) i)v the pilot from his seat. 1 have shown ir> 

 anotlKT place how this might be dorw for monoplanes, 

 and for these the necessary mechanism is simple. For 

 biplanes it would be more difficult to design, but not 

 impossible. 



.\mong the more special uses of aircraft may he 

 mcntiom-d those of map-making and exploration in 

 difficult countries, and of obtaining information 

 regarding winds and other meteorological matters at 

 various altitudes. 



For exploring purposes the machine ^ .should be 

 amphibian. In New Guinea, for instance, it Is only at 

 a few places on the coast that it would be possible to 

 come down and get off on land not previouslv cleared, 

 but many of the rivers reach far inland, and (judging; 

 from photographs) places could be found even near 

 the mountains where there is a wnter-surfat^ suffi- 

 cient for the purpose. provide<l that the machine has 

 great climbing capacity and a wide range of spee<I. 



