644 



NATURE 



[February io, 191 6 



the past ten years or so. It is not a scientific 

 society, or a Chamber of Commerce, or an edu- 

 cational association, but a national organisation 

 in which the activities of all these bodies are 

 united by the common bonds of scientific efficiency 

 for the good of the State. While, therefore, the 

 publication of the letter on the neglect of science 

 is opportune and welcome, it seems unnecessary to 

 form a "Reorganisation Committee," to which 

 communications are to be addressed. The execu- 

 tive and other committees of the British Science 

 Guild include leading representatives of all de- 

 partments of pure and applied science, of many 

 branches of commerce and industry, and of 

 educational work from the primary school to the 

 university. It is not unreasonable to suggest, 

 therefore, that the new and anonymous Reorgan- 

 isation Committee, which has secured the signa- 

 tures to the recent statement, should exert its 

 activities through the British Science Guild, in- 

 stead of acting independently of the guild, and 

 thus presenting a divided front to the forces to 

 be overcome. 



It is satisfactory to note that the White Paper 

 [Cd. 8181] on British trade after the war, published 

 last week, refers to the valuable work done by 

 the guild with the object of promoting the manu- 

 facture of laboratory glassware in the country. 

 Shortly after the outbreak of the war, the Tech- 

 nical Optics Committee took up the question of 

 the supply of optical glass and instruments, and a 

 committee was formed with the Association of 

 Public School Science Masters to deal with the 

 matter of laboratory glass. This committee found 

 that glass manufacturers were disinclined to invest 

 in new plant without some security against foreign 

 competition after the war, but the difficulty was 

 overcome by the guild sending a circular to more 

 than a thousand schools and education authorities 

 asking if they were prepared to undertake to use 

 British-made glass during the war and for a 

 period of three years after, provided that the 

 prices were not prohibitive. The list of hundreds 

 of schools and authorities which have given this 

 general undertaking is published in the journal 

 of the guild, just issued, and it should be of the 

 greatest service to British manufacturers of 

 laboratory glass. The same committee of the 

 guild has rendered like valuable assistance by 

 specifying the chief sizes and shapes of glassware 

 required for laboratory purposes. These reports, 

 and the enterprise of the Institute of Chemistry 

 in determining and publishing formulae for the 

 manufacture of glasses of many kinds hitherto 

 NO. 2415, VOL. 96] 



obtained mostly from abroad, have done more to 

 give practical and scientific support to British 

 glass manufacturers than any Government De- 

 partment has accomplished since the outbreak of 

 hostilities. 



We give elsewhere the main points and recom- 

 mendations of the recent White Paper, in so far 

 as they relate to scientific matters. It is encour- 

 aging to find that the influence of scientific re- 

 search upon industry, and the need for the State 

 to make adequate provision for its promotion, 

 are generously acknowledged. The nation has 

 been ill-prepared against industrial expansion in 

 the modern sense, and therefore it has found itself 

 in an inferior position in times of war. The 

 British manufacturer is now called upon to be- 

 come an industrialist, and to co-operate with the 

 scientific investigator in the promotion of industry 

 as a whole. The British man of science must 

 similarly cultivate a fuller interest in industrial 

 applications, and appreciation of technical ex- 

 perience ; and the change of attitude will act 

 progressively both on science and industry. 

 Finally, science should speak with a collective 

 authority, and demonstrate by the conduct of its 

 own affairs that it is capable of organised action 

 and clear leading. We want to preserve the 

 practical character of the British nation and yet 

 to develop it to meet modern needs. That there 

 can be successful organisation in manufacture is 

 shown by the Ministry of Munitions ; that the 

 people can organise is proved by the position of 

 the Trade Unions ; that they can co-operate is 

 evident from the success of the Co-operative 

 Wholesale Society. It remains to develop still 

 further the great principles — to organise and co- 

 operate — among artisans, manufacturers, and 

 scientific workers in order that our national 

 capacities may be employed for the utmost good. 



PSYCHOLOGY. 



The New Psychiatry : being the Morrison Lectures 

 delivered at the Royal College of Physicians of 

 Edinburgh in March, 1915. By Dr. W. H. B. 

 vStoddart. Pp. iv + 66. (London: Bailli^re 

 Tindall, and Cox, 1915.) Price 2s. 6d. net. 



IT is the accepted duty of this journal to recog- 

 nise all interests in natural knowledge, and 

 as problems of the mind are included in this group 

 we may fittingly and appropriately refer to the 

 above volume. Mental problems are not easy to 

 solve, and the old methods of observation and in- 

 duction — hitherto called psychological analysis — 

 have of late given way to what has been described 



