October 28, 1920] 



NATURE 



279 



almost teased to expect of a Pressman at a Sec- 

 tional meeting. 



We rely on the delegates from our numerous " cor- 

 responding societies" to keep those societies informed 

 of the Association's work, to bring on their younger 

 members to our meetings, and to assist the local 

 secretaries in extending the area round the 

 place of meeting from which a full attendance of 

 scientific workers may be expected. The fulfilment 

 of one of our primary function.s — to bring provincial 

 scientific workers into touch with specialists gathered 

 from afar — must depend very much upon the cor- 

 responding societies of the neighbourhood. 



Most ot all, however, we look to our ordinary 

 members, and especially to those who are brought into 

 daily contact (as teachers or in business or industry) 

 with younger or less highly trained colleagues or 

 subordinates, to propagate that view of the value and 

 interest of scientific work which alone makes and 

 maintains the fellowship of workers each " doing 

 something else," but able and keen to appreciate the 

 discussions, whether arranged or impromptu, of 

 scientific leaders and men of practical ability who 

 come to our meetings with the same object in view— 

 "to see what everybody else is doing." " Philo- 

 sophv," it has been said, "begins in wonder," and 

 intelligent wonder, if it is to work its full effect in 

 an eight days' "parliament" or "picnic" of science, 

 must be caught on the flitting wing bv that member 

 of ours who is lucky enough to be there when it rises. 



J. L. Myres. 



H. H. Tt'RNF.R. 



New College, Oxford, October 24. 



The correspondence which has followed the leading 

 article on "The British Association and National 

 Life " in Natcre of September 16 must have been 

 read with deep interest by everyone who cares for 

 the advancement of science. Since in that article 

 reference was made to some remarks of mine called 

 forth by my experience of the Cardiff meeting, 

 perhaps I may be allowed a few words on the 

 subject. 



It seems to me that most of your distinguished 

 I ..rrespondents have missed the real point altogether. 

 They have been too much concerned with discussing 

 ways in which the scientific value of the meeting may 

 be ' increased for the benefit of the scientific man 

 taking part. From this point of view reminisconres, 

 alterations of Sections, joint meetings, and the like 

 are very interesting, and no doubt important. The 

 members of the .Association who visit a town have 

 generallv a good time, and if by internal reforms 

 they can secure a better scientific holiday no one will 

 grudge it to them. Some of the corresp<indents appear 

 to think that this should be, if not the sole, at any 

 rate the chief object of the meetings. One of them 

 practically warns the general public off "matters 

 which they do not understand." 



The purpose of my original remarks — and, if I am 

 not mistaken, of your article also — was to emphasise 

 the precisely opposite opinion, namely, that whilst 

 the Association served the cause of the advancement 

 of science bv bringing workers in it together in cir- 

 cumstances favourable to discussion both formal and 

 informal, yet it also had the <lutv of bringing befo-e 

 the general public the methods and results of 

 scientific wgrk. There is a cumulative effect here. 

 None of vour correspondents can denv that the general 

 public pavs us to conduct scientific research. Whether 

 that payment is direct from the rates and taxes or 

 indirect from gifts and bequests does not matter. The 

 public pavs, and scientific men are eternallv asking for 

 more. The public has, therefore, a right to know 

 what it is getting for its money. Further, if the 

 NO. 2661, VOL. 106] 



word "advancement" means anything, and if science 

 has an object at all, what other object can that be than 

 that of making the world a better place to live in? and 

 how can it be advanced unless the results of its pro- 

 gress are made known to the people who are intended 

 to profit by them? Scientific work is either a selfish 

 amusement (as some of your correspondents seem to 

 think) or it is a service of public utility. If it is a 

 service of public utility, then the more the public 

 realises how much it owes to scientific xyork, the 

 more will the public be disposed to provide money 

 for that work, and, consequently, the more work will 

 be done and the more the public will be benefited. 

 This is the cumulative effect which would follow from 

 an ably directed scientific nrC)paganda. 



Science might well consider that favourite text : 

 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing 

 them . . ." The British .Association could be, 

 and ought to be, a mighty engine for this 

 purpose. And be it noted that the advice con- 

 tained in this text is not only to preach, but 

 also to baptise the converts, which is to bring them 

 into the charmed circle themselves. The volumes of 

 Nati'RE these fifty years are a record of scientific 

 missionary work. They are full of finely worded 

 appeals ree:arding the neglect of science, the need for 

 monev, the improvement of education, and so forth. 

 But these sermons are not even preached to the con- 

 verted : they are preached to the priests. What 

 scientific heathen ever reads Natl"RE? 



These considerations are on the high moral plane 

 of duty — the dutv which scientific men owe to the 

 nation. Those of your correspondents who think that 

 thev are weird, vet beautiful, rare, and expensive, 

 orchids kept in the public hothouses will never agree 

 that they oudht to be potatoes and show a good crop. 

 But thev will not be so satisfifd with the scheme of 

 things if the heating supply fails, and for this reason 

 I should like to descend from the moral nlnne t" the 

 base one of monev and to refer to a few facts. These 

 facts would not be mentioned here if it had not alrradv 

 been necessary to state them verv nublidv in the 

 district that had the honour of entertaining the Asso- 

 ciation at the recent meeting. 



The Cardiff meeting cost the local committee about 

 2/;ooI., and. in spite of all efforts, onlv about 1800/. 

 has so far been forthcoming to meet this expenditure. 

 I would ask your correspondents to consider the 

 reason for this deficit. Cardiff is a wealthy citv, .ind 

 the "docksmen " are well known for their generositv. 

 Large sums of monev have been collected recenflv 

 for such purposes as horse shows, flower shows, and 

 missionarv societies from people who mostlv knew 

 and cared as much about horses and flowers and 

 cannibals as they do about Einstein. I think the 

 reason is that thev understood what thi-s"^ things were 

 for, and thev do not know what the British .Associa- 

 tion is for, because the .Association has not seen fit 

 to enlighten them. .Another practical point is this. 

 Owing to the decreased purchasing power of money 

 the expenses of the meeting arc necessarily two or- 

 three times what they were before the war, bvit the 

 Macenas who gave a cheaue for fifty guineas before 

 the war does not now give you one hundred and 

 twenty guineas ; he still gives fifty. 



Your correspondents who are preoccuoled with that 

 part of the .Association's activities which concerns the 

 meetings and discussions of scientific workers among 

 themselves might perhaps indicate why, if scientific 

 discussion is thie be-all and end-all of the .Association, 

 the Asso<iafion should w.inder nil o\er the country, 

 and even over the F.mpire, from vear to year. Surely 

 it would be more efficient and more convenient to have 

 the annual meeting in the one place in which the 

 Association prides itself on never having met — ^London. 



