42 



NATURE 



[September 9, 1915 



not to beat the utilitarian drum too loudly, and I have 

 laid stress throughout on the idealistic side, though 

 the most compelling events of the moment seem to 

 drive us in the other direction, and the near future will 

 press the needs of material prosperity strongly upon 

 us. I must guard myself, therefore, against one criti- 

 cism which the trend of my remarks may invite. At 

 times, when the struggle for existence keeps masses 

 in permanent bondage, in a society in which a multi- 

 tude of men and women have to face starvation, and 

 when unfortunate, though purely accidental, surround- 

 ings in childhood drive the weak into misery, is it 

 not futile to speak of aesthetic motives? Am I not, 

 while endeavouring to find a common bond between 

 all sections of the community, in reality drawing a 

 ring round a small and privileged leisured class, 

 telling them these enjoyments are for you and for 

 you alone? Should I not have found a surer ground 

 for the claims of science in its daily inc-reasing neces- 

 sity for the success of our manufactures and com- 

 merce ? 



I have said nothing to indicate that I do not put 

 the highest value on this important function of science, 

 which finds its noblest task in surrendering the rich- 

 ness of its achievements to the use of humanity. But 

 I must ask you to reflect whether the achievement of 

 wealth and power, to the exclusion of higher aims, 

 can lead to more than a superficial prosperity which 

 passes away, because it carries the virus of its own 

 doom within it. Do we not find in the worship of 

 material success the seed of the pernicious ambition 

 which has maddened a nation, and plunged Europe 

 into war? Is this contempt for all idealistic purposes 

 not the origin of the mischievous doctrine that the 

 power to possess confers the right to possess, and that 

 possession is desirable in itself without regard to the 

 use which is made of it? I must therefore insist that 

 if we delight in enlisting the wealth accumulated in the 

 earth, and all the power stored in the orbs of heaven, 

 or in the orbits of atomic structure, it should not be 

 because we place material wealth above intellectual 

 enjoyment, but rather because we experience a double 

 pleasure if the efTorts of the mind contribute to the 

 welfare of the nation. When Joule taught us to utilise 

 the powers at our disposal to the best advantage he 

 did it not — and his whole life is a proof of it — to 

 increase either his own wealth or that of the nation, 

 but because, brought up in commercial life and deeply 

 imbued with the deep insight and genius of science, 

 he found his greatest delight in that very combination 

 of Eesthetic satisfaction and useful achievement which 

 fPoincard has so well described. And again, when 

 another of our fellow-citizens, Henry Wilde, showed 

 how electrical power can be accumulated until it 

 became an efficient instrument for the economic trans- 

 mission of work, he found his inspiration in the intel- 

 lectual gratification it gave him, rather than in the 

 expectation of material gain. I am drawing no ring 

 round a privileged class, but urge that the hunger 

 for intellectual enjoyment is universal, and everybody 

 should be given the opportunity and leisure of appeas- 

 ing it. The duty to work, the right to live, and the 

 leisure to think are the three prime necessities of our 

 existence, and when one of them fails we only live 

 an incomplete life. 



I should have no difficulty in illustrating by 

 examples, drawn from personal experience, the power 

 which the revelations of science can exert over a 

 community steeped in the petty conflicts of ordinary 

 life ; but I must bring these remarks to a conclusion, 

 and content myself with the account of one incident. 



An American friend, who possessed a powerful tele- 

 scope, one night received the visit of an ardent poli- 

 tician. It was the time of a Presidential election, 

 NO. 2393, VOL. 96] 



Bryan and Taft being the opposing candidates, and 

 feeling ran high. After looking at clusters of stars 

 and other celestial objects, and having received answers 

 to his various questions, the visitor turned to my 

 friend : — 



"And all these stars I see," he asked, "what space 

 in the heaven do they occupy?" 



"About the area of the moon." 



"And you tell me that every one of them is a sun 

 like our own? " 



"Yes." 



"And that each of them may have a number of 

 planets circulating round them like our sun?" 



"Yes." 



"And that there may be life on each of these 

 planets? " 



"We cannot tell that, but it is quite possible that 

 there may be life on many of them." 



And after pondering for some time, the politician 

 rose and said : " It does not matter after all whether 

 Taft or Bryan gets in." 



Happy were the times when it could be said with 

 truth that the strife of politics counted as nothing 

 before the silent display of the heavens. Mightier 

 issues are at stake to-day : for in the struggle which 

 convulses the world, all intellectual pursuits are vitally 

 affected, and science gladly gives all the power she 

 wields to the service of the State. Sorrowfully she 

 covers her face because that power, acquired through 

 the noblest efforts of the sons of all nations, was 

 never meant for death and destruction ; gladly she 

 helps, because a war wantonly provoked threatens 

 civilisation, and only through victory shall we achieve 

 a peace in which once more science can hold up her 

 head, proud of her strength to preserve the intellectual 

 freedom which is worth more than material prosperity, 

 to defeat the spirit of evil that destroys the sense of 

 brotherhood among nations, and to spread the love 

 of truth. 



SECTION A. 



mathematics and physics. 

 Opening Address (slightly abridged) by Sir F. W. 



Dyson, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., President of the 

 Section. 



Although at the present time our minds are largely 

 absorbed by the war, the meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation in Manchester indicates that we consider it 

 right to make our annual review of scientific progress. 

 I shall therefore make no apology for choosing the 

 same subject for my address as I should have chosen 

 in other circumstances. It is a subject far removed 

 from war, being an account of the manner in which 

 astronomers have with telescopes and spectroscopes 

 investigated the skies and the conclusions they have 

 reached on what Herschel called "The Construction 

 of the Heavens." 



Our knowledge of the fixed stars, as they were called 

 by the old astronomers, is of comparatively recent 

 origin, and is derived from two sources : (i) the 

 measurement of small changes in the positions of the 

 stars in the sky, and (2) the analysis of the light 

 received from them and the measurement of its 

 amount. To this end the numerous instruments of a 

 modern observatory have been devised. The desire to 

 examine fainter objects, and still more the necessity 

 of increasing the accuracy of observations, has brought 

 about a continuous improvement in the range and 

 accuracy of astronomical instruments. Methods 

 which had been perfected for observations of a few 

 stars have been extended so that they can be applied 

 to a large number. For these reasons the progress 



