374 



NATURE 



[December 2, 1915. 



Another of the society's tasks, the magnetic re- 

 survey of the British Isles, has been continued at a 

 reduced rate, and with some interruptions throughout 

 the year just passed. At present only the Hebrides, 

 Isle of Man, Channel Isles, and six points in Eng- 

 land and Wales remain unresurveyed. 



The Copley medal has been conferred upon Prof. 

 Ivan Petrovitch Pavlon', one of our most distin- 

 guished foreign members, whose researches in physio- 

 logy have led to the acquisition of valuable know- 

 ledge. By a most ingeniously worked-out and original 

 method of making fistulas or openings to the exterior. 

 Prof. Pavlov has successfully studied the interrelation 

 of the functions of the alimentary canal. His experi- 

 ments have shown how the presence of food in one 

 cavity controls the secretion of digestive juices into 

 the next, and he has made many discoveries concern- 

 ing the conditions which influence the secretory pro- 

 cess, while his method has facilitated the study of 

 the chemical changes which occur in the food as it 

 passes through the canal. Moreover, by the method 

 which he calls that of conditioned reflexes. Prof. 

 Pavlov has studied, from a physiological point of 

 view, the influence of the higher brain centres upon the 

 secretion of saliva. He has also investigated the 

 mechanism of the muscle by which bivalves open and 

 close their shells, and the nervous control of the heart, 

 especially through the sympathetic nerves. His re- 

 sourcefulness and skill have enabled him to make 

 important contributions to physiological science, and 

 his work, the true worth of which has, perhaps, 

 not yet been rightly prized, deserves the fullest recog- 

 nition. 



The Royal medal given annually for physical inves- 

 tigations has been awarded to Sir Joseph Larmor, 

 whose work in mathematics and physics includes a 

 very wide range of subjects — geometry, dynamics, 

 optics, electricity, the kinetic theory of gases, the 

 theory of radiation, and dynamical astronomy^ — upon 

 all of which he has published illuminating memoirs. 

 Possibly his chief claim to distinction is the estab- 

 lishment of the theory that ladiant energy and intra- 

 molecular forces are due to the movements of minute 

 electric charges. This theory is fully worked out in 

 his treatise, "^ther and Matter." For a long time 

 Sir Joseph Larmor acted as secretary to the Roval 

 Society, performing the duties of the office with great 

 success, at the same time continuing with unabated 

 vigour original research. The ofifer of the Royal 

 medal is a mark of the society's appreciation and 

 admiration of his invaluable services to science. 



The other Royal medal, for work in the biological 

 sciences, is this year conferred upon Dr. William 

 Halse Rivers Rivers, whose work in ethnology has 

 contributed largely to the establishment of the subject 

 upon a scientific basis. He was the first to use the 

 genealogical method in ethnological investigations. 

 His remarkable originality, combined with sound judg- 

 ment, have enabled him to produce work which will 

 rank with the best that has been done in ethnology. 



All chemists will agree that the award of the Davy 

 medal to Prof. Paul Sabatier is fully justified. His 

 lengthy researches on the use of finely divided metals 

 as catalysts are universally known. The hydrogena- 

 tion of unsaturated organic compounds, especially bv 

 means of nickel, has been thoroughly elucidated by 

 Prof. SabaHer and his co-worker, the Abb6 Senderens, 

 The industrial application of the process to the un- 

 saturated acids of the oleic series has already acquired 

 considerable industrial importance. It gives me great 

 pleasure to announce the award, so well earned by 

 Prof. Sabatier. 



The Hughes medal is awarded to Prof. Paul 

 Lanvegin, who has made valuable contributions to 

 NO. 2405, VOL. 96]- 



electrical science, both on the theoretical and experi- 

 mental sides. He has found by experiment the rate 

 of re-combination and the mobility of ions produced 

 by different processes in gases at various pressures, 

 and he has made an exhaustive study of the theo- 

 retical aspects of the irtterdiffusion of gases and the 

 mobility of ions. 



The nation's attitude towards science is, I think, 

 largely due to the popular idea that science is a kind 

 of hobby followed by a certain class of people, instead 

 of the materialisation of the desire experienced in 

 various degrees by every thinking person to learn 

 something about innumerable natural phenomena still 

 unsolved; and, having learned, to control and apply 

 them intelligently for the benefit of the human race. 

 Many attempts have been made to explain exactly 

 what is meant by science, and to differentiate true 

 science from its counterfeit ; and it is by no means 

 easy to define it so that the vague general idea of the 

 average man can be replaced by clear and precise con- 

 ception. Even the most patient investigator, the most 

 acute observer, must constantly feel, " Oh, what a 

 dusty answer gets the soul when hot for certainties in 

 this our life." If we refer to our charter, we shall 

 find that the aim of the Royal Society is promoting 

 natural knowledge by experiments, and if we regard 

 science as synonymous with natural philosophy we 

 may describe it as knowledge relating to natural ob- 

 jects and phenomena connected therewith based upon 

 experiments. Life has been defined as the act of corre- 

 spondence with our environment, and science may 

 equally tersely be defined as the use of intelligence in 

 effecting that correspondence. 



I believe that the " Hobby " attitude is due to our 

 national character, and can only be rectified slowly, 

 step by step. We cannot suddenly become a truly 

 scientific nation, either now during the war, or imme- 

 diately on its conclusion. We shall have to make 

 many fundamental alterations in our ideas and almost 

 to change our natures before such a change can be 

 effected. First among our defects must surely be 

 placed mental inertia, our reluctance to do our think- 

 ing for ourselves, and the slowness of our intellectual 

 apprehension. This condition is fundamentally 

 different from docility of mind, and its results are 

 more disastrous because it tends to inhibit action on 

 the part of those who should be leaders. Associated 

 with it, of course, is our inherent stolid conservatism, 

 which makes us too readily satisfied to continue in the 

 ways of our forefathers — ways which, though good 

 enough once upon a time, are now obsolete and un- 

 desirable. We are sometimes prone to under-estimate 

 our opponents' abilities and powers, and usually we 

 have a hearty contempt for outside criticisms of our 

 methods. Our mental inertia makes us slow to put 

 our latent organising power into action. 



The problem before us is twofold. We have, first, 

 to find out how best to organise all our present forces 

 and employ the material at our disposal to win victory. 

 Many suggestions have recently been made as to the 

 best way to mobilise science and invention, so that, 

 for example, schemes that show some likelihood of 

 having military or naval value can be put at once to 

 the test. At the beginning of the war the Royal 

 Society appointed committees for this purpose. Their 

 scope could be extended usefully. They include men 

 of naval and military experience, whose practical skill 

 and knowledge supplement the theories of men of 

 science. 



The second part of the problem is closely interv^-oven 

 with the first, and its importance to the nation is 

 hardly inferior. If we neglect to alter our ways, if we 

 continue to disregard the value of scientific work ancT 

 are content with ignorance of scientific methods on 



