178 



NATURE 



[October 7, 1920 



Letters to the' Editor. 



ITJie Editor does noi, hold himself responsible /or opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to 

 return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- 

 scripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. No 

 notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



The British Association. 



The discussion about the future of the British Asso- 

 ciation has turned mainly upon what may be called 

 the " scale effect " consequent upon the vast increase 

 in the activities connoted by the advancement of 

 science. The effect is real enough ; the decimal point 

 has been moved on by one or more plac-es in the 

 course of the three-quarters of a century of the life of 

 the Association. 



-And it is not only science of which this is true. 

 We see the same kind of problem in such common 

 affairs as university education, Parliamentary govern- 

 ment, and Treasury control of expenditure Formulae 

 which were worked out fifty years ago or more for a 

 certain scale are still being used, but they are not 

 applicable now that the scale is increased tenfold or 

 a hundredfold. Each case has, no doubt, an appro- 

 priate solution if we have the courage to face the 

 facts and deal with them instead of ignoring them. 



But as regards the British Association there is a 

 social side of the question which has not received 

 much attention. Tiie .Association does not select a 

 town out of all England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland 

 at which to hold a summer meeting. It is invited to 

 honour a town with its assemblies. The first magis- 

 trate and other leading citizens attend a meeting of 

 the Association and offer the hospitality of their city. 



If we go back some years beyond the beginning of 

 the present century, the invitation meant an offer of 

 the personal hospitality of the citizens to the active 

 members of the .Association. In those days the 

 prosperous householders of the larger towns and their 

 neighbourhood had spare rooms which were intended 

 to be used, and were used, for the purpose of enter- 

 taining friends. The devotees of science were interest- 

 ing people with whom to spend a week was a pleasure 

 worth seeking. To offer hospitality for an astronomer 

 from Ireland, a mathematician from Cambridge, 

 an economist from Oxford, a geographer from 

 London, a geologist from Wales, or a chemist from 

 Scotland was not altogether a one-sided bargain. 

 What these guests did with the time devoted to the 

 discussion of recondite matters of their own science 

 in the Sections was not the quid pro quo. Their hosts 

 would become members or associates as part of the 

 invitation, and possibly attend the Sections in order 

 to be able to show their guests the way ; but their 

 insight into science and its methods was obtained by 

 having one or more successful exponents of science 

 staying in the house. They would probably learn 

 more of what went on in the Sections from their 

 guests' account of it over breakfast than by hours of 

 personal attendance in a room where the difference 

 between drivel and discovery is not always signalled. 

 A party of half a dozen guests at one of the larger 

 hou.ses was brilliant company well worth entertaining. 



The president's address dealt with the moving 

 scientific topics of the day, the evening lectures were 

 the last word in scientific exposition. The evening 

 parties gave guests and hosts an opportunity of 

 widening the circle of acquaintance, and the excur- 

 sions often develof)ed acquaintance into friendship. 

 The guests left with a feeling of personal obligation 

 which was not without opportunity of requital. If 

 that feature of the British .Association is lost in the 

 effort to make the w'orld better for somebodv else, 

 the loss of the grace of domestic hospitality is 

 profound. 



NO. 2658, VOL. 106] 



At the time it was not only a simple and natural 

 grace, but also an essential preliminary to an invita- 

 tion. To house a thousand visitors in the early days 

 of the -Association otherwise than by private hospitality 

 would have puzzled the most energetic of local 

 secretaries. 



Very little money beyond the cost of the ticket 

 came into the question. On the joint invitation of 

 the authorities of a town, halls were available for 

 meetings and other facilities provided. There re- 

 mained to be paid for an abundant supply of stationery 

 • — which members appreciated, but not always with 

 due respect — the printing of the journal and other 

 incidental expenses, and one or more evening parties. 



.As time went on personal service became merged 

 in or supplemented by a guarantee fund. The 

 actual expenses of a meeting of the British .Associa- 

 tion do not appear in its accounts. In later years it 

 was a shock to learn that people who had spare rooms 

 actually absented themselves from home at the time 

 when the .Association was known to be coming ; when 

 it was our turn to act as hosts we thought the plea 

 of an inexorable summer holiday rather a shabby 

 excuse. But from the occasion of the meeting of a 

 certain jubilee year hotel accommodation became the 

 rule for the most active members of all the Sections, 

 and members may now go through a meeting of the 

 -Association without making a single acquaintance in 

 the town. There is no small danger of the meetings 

 being changed from occasions for the e.xercise of 

 graceful hospitality into the periodical lumbering of 

 a rather ineffective machine. 



I have no particular wish to be simply laudator 

 tem-poris acti. If we have definitely turned our backs 

 on the past and the pleasure of company has vanished, 

 with all that that must have meant for a town in the 

 dissemination over the table or round the hearth of 

 information about science and education, where to go, 

 and what to see or to read and all the rest, are we 

 now instead to deliver within a week, in return for 

 a guarantee fund, something which will be recog- 

 nised as its equivalent in scientific exposition? If 

 so, we shall want a strength of organisation that 

 is at least quite uncommon in the scientific world, 

 and I do not envy the organising secretary who has 

 the duty in hand. The existing machinerv is cer- 

 tainly not sufficient. The equivalent of twelve men 

 enlightening a great town on the mysteries of all the 

 sciences by talking for twelve hours each in a single 

 week gives me the same impression as " seven maids 

 with seven mops sweeping for half a year." 



" Do you suppose," the Walrus said, 

 " That they would make it clear?" 

 " 1 doubt it," said the Carpenter. 



What I am quite clear about is that if you would 

 allow a company of meteorologists, magneticians, 

 seismologists, and other students of the earth and 

 the sky to meet together for a week and discuss 

 matters of common interest, the community that 

 entertained us should not complain for lack of interest ; 

 but if you tell me that I have to expound modern 

 meteorology to the man in the street in a paper or 

 discussion of an hour and a half, and that ninetv-five 

 other people will do the like for their respective sub- 

 jects within the week, I give it up. I know it can- 

 not be done, even if I am allowed unlimited use of 

 technical language, which appears, somewhat ir- 

 rationally, to annoy some of your correspondents. I 

 wonder why? Would they wish us always to para- 

 phrase electricity as that which is produced when 

 amber is rubbed with cat-skin? Science without 

 technical language is very much like "French with- 

 out accents." 



