66 



NATURE 



[January 19, 1922 



A; statement — originally, it may be, true in sub- 

 stance — is made that a certain type of foreign in- 

 strument is superior to any other; the statement 

 grows to a legend and lives long after changes and 

 developments have rendered it false or, at least, 

 misleading ; and the British instrument has to over- 

 come much inertia of prejudice and fashion before 

 it can secure the recognition which its merits de- 

 serve. It would be well if the leading scientific 

 users of instruments would review from time to time 

 their judgments of the quality and performance of 

 instruments, so that improvements in British instru- 

 ments may receive early recognition and the British 

 manufacturer not be prejudiced by a belated prefer- 

 ence for foreign instruments. ' 



The present condition of the British scientific in- 

 strument industry is gravely compromised by the 

 abnormal state of the international rates of ex- 

 change. Whatever legislative measures may be 

 employed to help the industry over a difficult period, 

 there can be no doubt that the most potent means 

 of promoting the production of British scientific 

 instruments equal to the best that the world can 

 offer — a matter in which manufacturers and users 

 are alike concerned — lies and must lie in an inten- 

 sive and extensive application of scientific research 

 to the fundamental scientific problems and the 

 current technique of the industry. Other countries, 

 notably Germany and America, we may be sure, 

 will not neglect this. The leading British scien- 

 tific instrument manufacturers have recognised the 

 primary and paramount importance of scientific re- 

 search. The British Scientific Instrument Research 

 Association was founded in 19 18, and its third 

 annual report, which was reviewed in Nature of 

 November 17 last, gave ample evidence of the 

 value to the industry of such an institution. It is 

 true that, as is stated in the fifth annual report of 

 the Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific 

 and Industrial Research, " research cannot be ex- 

 pected to produce results at short and regular in- 

 tervals " ; but the Association has already produced 

 results of immediate practical application and of 

 economic benefit to the industry without losing sight 

 of the fundamental researches, necessarily slower in 

 coming to fruition, on which the progress of the 

 industry must be based. Nor should it be over- 

 looked that the co-operative research of the Asso- 

 ciation not only does not supersede, but stimulates 

 and assists, the research work of individual firms 

 which are members of the Association. 



Moreover, where the Association, in view of its 

 duty to the pressing needs of the industry, is unable 

 to explore all the by-paths of pure scientific research 

 NO. 2725, VOL. 109] 



that are opened out, arrangements have been made 

 for extra-mural researches in the universities or 

 kindred institutions for the prosecution of these 

 relevant but more remote investigations. It must 

 be remembered, too, that the Association, as the 

 scientific centre of the industry, provides a needed 

 liaison between the manufacturers and users of 

 scientific instruments in this, country, so that, on 

 one hand, the manufacturers may be more fully 

 informed of the needs of the users, and, on the 

 other, the users may better appreciate the limita- 

 tions imposed on manufacturers by the nature of 

 materials and industrial conditions. 



If the manufacturers will follow with patience 

 and persistence the path of scientific research on 

 which they have already made significant progress, 

 there is every reason .to hope that British scientific 

 instruments generally will be, as many now are, 

 supreme. 



The History of Zeeman's Discovery, and 

 its Reception in England. 



V er hand eli gen van Dr. P. Zeeman over Magneto- 

 Oftische Verschijnselen. Pp. xv 4- 341. (Leiden: 

 Eduard Ijdo, 1921.) 



TWENTY-FIVE years ago Dr. Zeeman, 

 working at Ley den in the laboratory of Prof. 

 Kamerlingh Onnes, achieved the epoch-making dis- 

 covery which is now so abundantly familiar to 

 physicists. Almost simultaneously he was ap- 

 pointed professor of physics at Amsterdam. To 

 celebrate these events a volume of his collected 

 papers, bearing on this branch of magneto-optics, 

 has been published, under distinguished editorship, 

 with a portrait and a few editorial notes and minor 

 corrections. 



This is the volume under review. It is a tribute 

 to Prof. Zeeman from his friends and colleagues, 

 on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of 

 the announcement of his discovery to the Amster- 

 dam Academy of Sciences on October 31 and 

 November 28, 1896. It has an introduction in 

 Dutch, dated October, 1921, which is signed by 

 H. A. Lorentz, H. Kamerlingh Onnes, I. M. 

 Graftdijk, J. J. Hallo, and H. R. Woltjer. 



In commending this volume I would say that no 

 one need be deterred from attending to it by reason 

 of ignorance of the Dutch language : for our Dutch 

 friends, with their well-known consideration, are 

 polyglot in their publications, and there is plenty 

 of English as well as French and German in the 

 book. 



The volume being mainly one of historical and 

 permanent interest, it seems fitting to receive it 

 with acclaim and to supplement it by an account 



