October 14, 1915] 



NATURE 



18: 



braces the purely scientific investigators, and the 

 second the inventors. 



The pubHc is, unfortunately, apt to attach more 

 importance to the inventions than to the investiga- 

 tions, regardless of the fact that there could be no 



• ipplications if there were no knowledge to apply. 

 I his failure to recognise the value and unspeakable 

 importance of a progressive disinterested study of 



I lure is a characteristic British quality, and it is 

 inething very much more serious than a mere 

 national trait or idiosyncrasy. 



Philosophical students of politics have long recog- 

 nised that all forms of government have their special 



• lefects, and democratic or representative Parliamen- 

 tary government is no exception. One of the chief 

 defects of the latter is that the men who gain the 

 upper hand are too often the fluent or persuasive 

 speakers or those who are skilled in managing public 

 assemblies and masters in oratory and debate. 



Hence, as Mr. F. S. Oliver points out in his ver>- 

 suggestive book, "Ordeal by Battle," in all countries 

 where representative government prevails this type 

 of leader exercises a considerable and predominant 

 influence on public affairs. But with the professional 

 speaker and politician an over-great importance 

 attaches generally to phrases and to words. Success 

 with them depends very much on how a thing is 

 put, and the form of expression often overrules even 

 the subject-matter itself. But the whole object of 

 scientific work is the discovery of the truth, and not 

 its obscuration. Therefore the ascertainment of fact 

 or principle is in all this work of infinitely more value 

 than the form of words in which it is expressed. 

 Hence to the politician there is a certain uncongeniality 

 about the scientific habit of mind, whilst the man 

 of serious scientific training becomes at times im- 

 patient of the methods of the party politician, which 

 have not facts at the back of them. 



Accordingly the principal idea which it is necessary 

 to instil into the public mind and drive home by every 

 means is that our chief concern should be to bring 

 the scientific method to bear jupon all the affairs of the 

 nation. 



The second equally important truth is that the 

 disinterested but systematic study of nature is of 

 primary importance for national well-being. By dis- 

 interested study we mean pure scientific research not 

 undertaken mainly for commercial reasons. Pope, I 

 think, tells us that the proper study of mankind is 

 man ; but an even more important object of study for 

 man is that of nature, and if we undertake that pro- 

 perly all other things in the way of applications will 

 be added unto us. The point to notice, however, is 

 that it is not everyone who possesses the necessary 

 turn of mind for scientific investigation. There is 

 ,a mysterious aptitude in some children for music, 

 drawing, or other pursuits, and suitable training cul- 

 tivates it. It is the same with the ability to discover 

 or invent. Hence the primary duty of the nation with 

 regard to its children is from the very earliest days 

 to begin with them the study of nature, not in the 

 repulsive form of learning things out of books, but 

 by taking the child direct to the lap of Mother Nature 

 and letting her teach the lessons about flowers, 

 animals, stars, and earth structure. 



All this, of course, means expenditure, but the 

 nation has to learn this hard lesson, that education 

 of the right kind cannot be given without wise and 

 large outlay, and that there is nothing so expensive 

 in the long run as cheap education. Another thing 

 that has to be drilled into the public mind at all costs 

 IS that there are no short cuts to national efficiency 

 or scientific pre-eminence. 



The moment a deficiency is discovered, the tendency 

 of the public is to cry out for some quick remedy ; 

 NO. 2398, VOL. 96] 



but quick remedies are very often quack remedies 

 at best. We require, therefore, in the first place an 

 entirely altered attitude of mind on the part of our 

 public men, statesmen, and, above all, editors and 

 managers of great daily newspapers towards scientific 

 work, research, and teaching. We want a far greater 

 appreciation of its supreme importance and of the 

 atteption that should be given to the cultivation of it 

 under the guidance of expert leaders. The small 

 degree to which genuine scientific work is appreciated, 

 I contrasted with mere sensational announcements not 

 based on genuine discoveries or inventions, is seen in 

 the treatment of scientific work by the daily Press, 

 which, after all, only reflects the attitude of mind of 

 the general public. Compare, for instance, the atten- 

 tion accorded before the war to politics, amusement, 

 and fashion, and that accorded to accounts of scientific 

 researches or lectures, in the principal daily papers. 

 Worse still, some of them are apparently easily led 

 to take up and boom perfectly unscientific but sensa- 

 tional announcements. 



An illustration of this occurred not long ago in 

 connection with a supposed great invention of a Hying 

 train. The scientific principle utilised was one dis- 

 covered thirty years ago independently by Prof. Elihu 

 Thomson and by me, and familiar for years to all 

 electricians, viz. the repulsion exerted on electric con- 

 ductors by a powerful alternating-current magnet. 

 By this means the inventor proposed to raise a train 

 off the rails and propel it, I think, at three hundred 

 miles an hour. Every engineering student, however, 

 knows well that the resistance to the motion of a 

 train at high speed is largely air resistance, and that 

 this increases very rapidly with the speed. Hence 

 even if there were no rail or axle friction at all, an 

 economical limit to the velocity is soon reached at 

 which the cost of driving power becomes prohibitive. 



The inventor ignored this important fact, and for a 

 week at least the utmost nonsense was written in 

 daily papers by journalists whose only qualification 

 for the task was an exuberance of language and 

 metaphor combined with an utter ignorance of 

 scientific facts. New inventions or suggestions require 

 careful, sympathetic, yet critical treatment, but the 

 public are misled when Imagination is allowed to run 

 riot too soon. Nevertheless, even great discoveries 

 or inventions, such as the Rontgen rays or wireless 

 telegraphy, have been received with scepticism and 

 their utility denied at first. 



The daily Press, which has such immense influence 

 on public opinion, should exercise wise guidance in 

 these matters, aided by competent scientific opinion, 

 yet with discrimination and care not to denounce 

 novelty merely because it is new or strange. 



Turning to the applications of science in the war, 

 we can mention four chief departments of It under 

 the headings : chemical, mechanical, electrical, and 

 physical, which cover such appliances as high explo- 

 sives, aeroplanes and dirigibles, submarines, wireless 

 telegraphy, and range-finders. I shall not attempt to 

 discuss the details of a fraction of all these applica- 

 tions, but just touch briefly on two departments which 

 happen to have occupied my own attention during the 

 vacation, viz. range-finders and wireless telegraphy 

 from aeroplanes. 



An extremely important matter in all war with pro- 

 jectiles is to ascertain the exact distance of the objec- 

 tive, whether it be ship or gun or building. The 

 range of the projectile depends on the angle of eleva- 

 tion of the gun and the character of the ammunition 

 and several other factors. 



The proper setting of the gun can, of course, be 

 determined by trial shots, but the larger the gun 

 the more expensive this process, and the more neces- 

 sary not to let the enemy know anything until a shot 



