136 



NATURE 



[April i, 192c 



foundation, it is not unfair to regard the two facts as 

 being, in some measure, cause and effect. 



The scheme which led to the scientific basis was 

 announced in 1909 by the then Prime Minister, and was 

 the result of advice from scientific and technical men, 

 of whom it is sufficient to mention the late Lord Ray- 

 leigh as leader. Throughout the vicissitudes of air 

 developments — separate naval and military Forces, 

 Air Board, and Air Ministry — the Advisory Committee 

 for Aeronautics maintained a steady course and steady 

 output of fundamental data. It was, unfortunately, 

 not responsible for the conduct of full-scale research 

 at the Royal Aircraft Factory, and the lack of any 

 definite policy on the part of those in control has led 

 to the reduction of the full-scale experimental side to 

 relative insignificance. 



During the war large developments in aviation were 

 called for, and scientific and technical men devoted 

 their efforts to make the best of a very difficult 

 situation. The Technical Department was not at- 

 tached in an advisory capacity to the Roval Air Force, 

 but was subordinated to the Department of Aircraft 

 Production. As a consequence of this it would appear 

 that the responsible advisers of the Secretary of State 

 too frequently found themselves in the position of 

 children crying for the moon. The effect during the 

 war was minimised by the absence of rigid organisa- 

 tion, and has been fundamentally modified by the 

 recent absorption of the Department of Supply and 

 Research by the Air Ministry, wherebv the technical 

 side is directly represented on the Air Council. It can 

 now be pointed out at their inception that certain 

 policies are technically unsound. 



The result of relegating the Technical Department 

 to a position of inferiority during the war has been 

 little short of a disaster. Within a few weel<s of the 

 armistice both the Controller and Deputy Controller 

 had left; they were followed by the three Assistant 

 Controllers and the great majority of the senior 

 members of the staff. It is true that many had only 

 entered aeronautics in view of the war emergency, but 

 the rapidity with which the offices became vacant was, 

 I think, an indication that the atmosphere was one in 

 which scientific and technical abilitv could not exist. 



The process of attrition is not ended, and the 

 best British business firms are attracting the picked 

 men. Aeronautics, from the business point of view, 

 has been a testing-ground of a man's capacitv and 

 adaotability, and as the science and practice of the 

 subiect are still young it appears to be better for the 

 individual to abandon his special knowledge and to 

 return to ffeneral en.<^ineering rather than to remain in 

 a profession which has no openings or prospects for 

 those in it. It is no exaggeration to say that the 

 policy adooted bv the State towards scientific and 

 technical knowledffe in aeronautics has broup-ht this 

 side of the profession to a condition in which its con- 

 tinued existence is doubtful. 



The man of science and the technician, particularly 

 the former, is in large measure himself responsible' for 

 this state of affairs. He has been content to recog- 

 nise the importance of the work he has been doing 

 as justification for acceptance, in spite of a non- 

 commercial salary. The conditions now prevailing 

 have brought home to him the fact that he cannot 

 maintain himself in a reasonable standard of life on 

 this basis. In an age when the value of a man's 

 work is estimated in terms of the money he earns, it 

 is not wise to neglect the "criterion applied, although 

 all should help in the search for the sounder basis 

 towards which the industrial world is groping its way. 

 As a sf-ientific man I retfret that we are not takin^ 

 the lead, but are considerable laggards in the search 

 for a just method of payment by results. 



March 28. L. Bairstow. 



NO. 26^1, VOL. \0K\ 



Museums and the State. 



In the recent correspondence on this subject the 

 opinion has been expressed that a lack of co-operation 

 between the various national museums has diminished 

 their efficiency. In this connection it may be useful 

 to recall the report of a Committee upon the Science 

 Museum and the Museum of Geology in Jermyn Street 

 of which the first part was issued in 1911 and the 

 second in 1912 ; the former was discussed in Nature 

 at the time (May 4, 191 1). This Committee, 

 on which science was strongly represented, was 

 appointed by the President of the Board of 

 Education, and consisted of Sir Hugh Bell, Sir 

 James Dobbie, Sir Archibald Geikie, Sir Richard 

 Glazebrook, Mr. Andrew Laing, the Hon. Sir Schom- 

 berg McDonnell, Sir William Ramsay, Prof. W. 

 Ripper, and Sir W. H. White. They were asked to 

 advise as to the educational and other purposes which 

 the collections could best serve in the national interests, 

 the lines on which the .collections should be arranged 

 and developed, and as to the new buildings to be 

 erected in order to house and exhibit them suitably. 



The report therefore deals with the work and func- 

 tions of the museums, and does not discuss the form 

 of control most suitable for their administration. 

 Here the Committee makes definite recommendations 

 on many sections of the collections, and wherever 

 these connect with other national institutions it 

 insists upon the importance of co-operation, besides 

 commenting upon any cases where overlapping may 

 possibly occur. Thus there already exists a definite 

 scheme governing the relation of these museums to 

 the Natural History Museum, the Museum at Kew, 

 the Imperial Institute, and the map collection of the 

 Royal Geograohical Society ; and. but for the war, 

 its results would doubtless bv now have been apparent. 



In concluding its report the Committee notes with 

 satisfaction the arrangement for providing accom- 

 modation for the Museum of Practical Geo1o£?y at 

 South Kensington contiguous to the Natural History 

 Museum and the .Science Museum as contributing 

 materially to that co-operation which it had recom- 

 mended. 



The whole report well repays careful studv bv all 

 interested in museum organisation. F.R.S. 



The Magnetic Storm of March 22-23 and Associated 

 Phenomena. 



A VIOLENT magnetic storm occurred on March 22-23. 

 It had an S.C. ("'sudden commencement") about 

 gh. lom. on March 22. This was not outstanding, 

 except that the initial increase in H w'as immediately 

 followed by a reverse movement, bringing the 

 element below its normal value for the next two 

 hours. The normal value was sensibly exceeded from 

 i25h. to i4h., and again most of the time from i65h. 

 to igh. The maximum occurred just after i7h. In 

 the course of twenty-five minutes, from about 

 i6h. 50m. to i7h. 15m., H rose 2807 and fell 3607. 

 The trace was off the sheet on the negative side for 

 about six minutes near ih., eight minutes near 

 ih. 30m., and thirteen minutes shortly after 4h. It 

 was rising rapidly after each reappearance, so that 

 the range shown on the trace, 8107, was probably 

 considerably exceeded. The largest movements were 

 from i6^h. to iqh. on March 22, and from oh. to 6h. 

 on March 23. There was a comparatively quiet inter- 

 lude from ig^h. to 23h. on March 22. The times of 

 greatest disturbance in declination synchronised fairly 

 with those in H. The extreme westerly position was 

 recorded about lyh. 8m. on March 22, and the 

 extreme easterly position near ih. 40m. on March 23, 

 when the trace was off the sheet for twelve minutes. 

 There were several exceptionalK" large rapid move- 



