70 



NATURE 



[January 19, 1922 



connected with the principal chemical establish- 

 ments of Germany who were concerned as to the 

 future of science, and more particularly of physical 

 science, in that country. In their opinion the 

 German university system no longer sufficed to 

 meet modern requirements in regard to research 

 in abstract science, and they suggested to the All 

 Highest the creation of an institution which should 

 be wholly and exclusively devoted to research, and 

 should be staffed by men of proved capacity to 

 undertake its successful prosecution. They so 

 far succeeded in impressing the Emperor with 

 their, views that he in his turn suggested to his 

 memoriaUsts, and to others who sympathised with 

 them, that they should themselves find the money 

 needed to endow and equip the contemplated in- 

 stitution, and, by way of showing his practical 

 interest in the project, he further indicated what 

 amounts the several industrial concerns, or their 

 representatives, might be expected to contribute. 



The society was duly inaugurated with all the 

 pomp and ceremony which usually characterised 

 any function or enterprise with which William II. 

 desired that his name should be specially asso- 

 ciated, and the occasion was further made memor- 

 able by the address which the late Prof. Emil 

 Fischer then delivered. 



The institution thus established at Berlin- 

 Dahlem has now been in existence for ten years, 

 and it has been thought expedient by those con- 

 nected with its working to celebrate its "zehn- 

 jahrigen Jubilaum " by the publication of a " Fest- 

 schrift." By us a jubilee is usually understood to 

 mean the celebration of a period extending over 

 fifty years, corresponding to the Grand Sabbatical 

 Year of the Jews, although there has grown up 

 a certain laxity in the use of the term which is 

 frequently held to denote a season or occasion 

 of public festivity, which may or may not recur 

 at stated periods. What were the precise reasons 

 in the minds of those responsible for the manage- 

 ment of the institution which ied them to direct 

 public attention to it at this particular time can 

 only be surmised, for there is nothing by way of 

 preface or introduction to the " Festschrift " to 

 inform us. 



The celebration of a jubilee after so short an 

 interval as ten years, during half of which time 

 the work of the society was seriously disturbed 

 and hindered by the war, has, when we have 

 regard to the unsettled condition of Germany, 

 somewhat the appearance of a political move. 

 It will not be forgotten that it was at the Kaiser 

 Wilhelm Institute " for the Promotion of 

 Science " that Geheimrat Haber made his experi- 

 ments on poison gas, prior to the Battle of Ypres, 

 NO. 2725, VOL. 109] 



which initiated a mode of warfare which is to the 

 everlasting discredit of the Germans. We are 

 not aware that the present Government has 

 shown itself inimical to the interests of science; 

 unlike Coffinhal, it has never pronounced 

 "La R^publique n'a pas besoin de savants." On 

 the contrary, Germany realises that she owes too 

 much to science during the last half-century, and 

 especially during the critical years of the war, for 

 her to be unmindful of its benefits. Whatever 

 form of government she may ultimately adopt, she 

 is too much beholden to science to neglect its 

 claims, and there is no reason to believe that these 

 claims will be less adequately met by a republic 

 than by a monarchy. At the same time, it cannot 

 be doubted that the impoverishment of the 

 country will react disastrously upon the position 

 and prospects of all institutions which, like the 

 Kaiser Wilhelm Society, are dependent upon 

 public funds or private munificence. 



Although we are prepared to welcome every 

 sign of renewed scientific activity in Germany, 

 it cannot be said with strict regard to truth that 

 this " Festschrift " is in any sense epoch-making. 

 There is certainly nothing jubilant about it. It is 

 divided into two main portions, one of which, con- 

 sisting of thirty-three short papers extending in 

 all over 243 pages, deals with natural science ; 

 the other, consisting of four papers, is concerned 

 with the science of history, and is comprised 

 within eighteen pages. Of the natural science 

 papers the greater number relate to relatively 

 small points of bio-chemistry ; the others are about 

 equally divided between subjects of pure and 

 applied chemistry and physical chemistry. Among 

 the contributors are Abderhalden, " Zur Kenntniss 

 von organischen Nahrungsstoffen mit spezifischer 

 Wirkung " ; Armbruster, "Tiere als Tierziichter — 

 Fine Erklarung ihres Sozialismus " ; Einstein, 

 " Eine einfache Anwendung des Newtonschen 

 Gravitationgesetzes auf die Kugelformigen Stern- 

 haufen " ; Haber, " Uber Wissenschaft und Wirt- 

 schaft " ; Carl Neuberg (who edits the volume), 

 " Uber den Zusammenhang der Garungserschein- 

 ungen in der Natur " ; Prandtl, "Neuere Einsich- 

 ten in die Gesetze des Luftwiderstandes " ; and 

 Stock, "Die Chemie des Leichtfliichtigen." Many 

 of the papers are short Historical summaries 

 of the present state of knowledge on the 

 particular point dealt with. Some of them, in 

 fact, read as if they were amplified excerpts from 

 university courses of lectures. Others are simply 

 rechauffes of work which has been published in 

 detail elsewhere. 



The papers on the science of history comprise 

 one by von Harnack on " Die Apokalyptischen 



