NATURE 



6i 



IHURSDAY, MARCH i8, 1920. . 



» ■ • . ~ 



Science and the New Army. 



THE memorandum of the Secretary of State for 

 War relating to the Army Estimates for 

 1920-21, which has been recently issued by the 

 War Office " in amplification of the speech of the 

 Secretary of State introducing the Army Esti- 

 mates " (Cmd. 565, price 3^.), is a notable docu- 

 ment in both its national and scientific aspects. 

 It represents the introduction of a new attitude 

 towards military and medical science, as is shown 

 by the following quotations:— 



"We must continue to develop the power of 

 our armaments, not by accumulating large stocks 

 of weapons and stores for a great national Army 

 in peace time of patterns that may become obso- 

 lete before they are used, but by scientific 

 research and experiment which will lead to the 

 design of the best types, and by preparation 

 which will enable bulk production to commence 

 without the unfortunate delays that had such a 

 lamentable effect during the early stages of the 

 Great War. ... It is necessary to make 

 adequate provision for research experiments and 

 design in connection with war material. . . ' . We 

 must, unfortunately, continue our studies of what 

 is known as chemical warfare. ... It is our 

 policy to farm out to civil scientific institutions, 

 such as the universities, the National Physical 

 Laboratory, the Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology, etc., all pure research that can be 

 profitablv farmed out, and, generally speaking, to 

 restrict military institutions to applied research 

 and the preliminary design of apparatus." 



More could be quoted to encourage the belief 

 that the Army has learnt its lesson,' and, besides, 

 there is the new Education Corps, as well as 

 changes at Woolwich, Sandhurst, and the staff 

 colleges, and new Army schools. 



Those men of science who have served in the 

 Army and were at times driven to despair by its 

 patterns that have become obsolete in high places 

 may be slow to believe in the seeming change of 

 heart. With this memorandum before us, how- 

 ever, we are given reason for hope in improved 

 conditions, and should assist in realising them. 

 It is undeniable that, broadly speaking, early in 

 the war, the Army was perilously out of touch 

 and out of comprehension with respect to science, 

 but it must also be remembered that the forces 

 of science were not marshalled and led by any 

 means so well as they might have been. The 

 chemists, it is true, made an attempt to organise, 

 but when they approached the Board of Trade 

 NO. 2629, VOL. 105] 



with the view of establishing something like a 

 clearing house, they succumbed to a strange noii 

 sequitur in the form of an assurance that the 

 Government was going to estalf)lish a Departmeol 

 of Scientific and Industrial Research. Before aad 

 after that, chemists drifted to their various posfs 

 under a variety of currents, which only too often 

 put a wrong man in a place for which the right 

 one was equally available. 



No doubt wonders were done, but it is surely 

 most desirable that, for the future, science should 

 have some scheme of mobilisation ready. In 

 saying this, it is not suggested that a rigid scheme 

 could, or should, be attempted, but there is some- 

 thing between detachment and regimentation that 

 is better than either, and this at least it shc^ld 

 not pass the wit of man to design. 



Over-organisation is one of the reactionary 

 extravagances of the war, and it is evident to 

 some degree in the memorandum before us. Some 

 pride appears to be taken for the provision of Co- 

 ordinating Boards, which among other things 

 "should lead to the detection of overlap [in 

 research] where such exists, and its elimination." 

 Overlap is the bogey of the official mind, and 

 co-ordination the blessed word. So far as the 

 advancement of science for peace or war is con- 

 cerned, let us hope that philosophers will go. to 

 the stake rather than be deprived of their right 

 to overlap anybody or anything they may choose. 



The overlap of chemistry and physics is main- 

 taining the credit of our country in science ; an 

 equal overlap of the General Staff of the Army 

 and the brotherhood of science, if it can be 

 achieved, will do also much for the safety of the 

 country. That is the vital thing for which 

 there is perhaps some promise, but not yet 

 adequate assurance. Science linked to the Army 

 bv fussy research co-ordinators acting under a 

 nescient soldier will not solve the difficulty. It 

 is perhaps too much to expect that all officers on 

 the General Staff will have had a scientific educa- 

 tion, but until it is made obligatory for a propor- 

 tion of them to have had such a training, the 

 fundamental reform will not have been effected, 

 and science will not occupy its 'rightful position 

 in the new Army. 



The section of the memorandum which relates to 

 the Royal Army Medical Corps is of noteworthy 

 interest. An important feature is the reorganisa- 

 tion of the medical section of the Territorial Army 

 under the supervision of a Territorial section of 

 the War Office. In view of the fine work which 

 was done by Territorial units during the war, it is 



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