June 17, 1920] 



NATURE 



487 



to defend themselves in public journals, I ask per- 

 mission as a civilian to say a few words in defence. 



War is the best test of a military establishment. 

 During the war the R.M.A. worked continuously, and 

 turned out more than two thousand young officers 

 who were able to proceed, either direct or after a 

 short additional course, straight to the battlefields 

 and take their full share of the work with their bat- 

 teries or field companies. Courses in field telephony 

 were also given to an equal number of officers, n.c.o. 's, 

 and men of the new armies at a critical period when 

 there were few instructors elsewhere. There were 

 many other activities. Owing to the seclusion in 

 which the Academy works, there were few except 

 those immediately connected with it who had any 

 idea of the great amount of work actually done. 



Science was encouraged by all three of the Com- 

 mandants during this period, and dealt with all mili- 

 tarv applications up to date. The teaching of wireless 

 was commenced in the R.M.A. eighteen years ago, 

 and that it was not used at a much earlier period of 

 the war was certainly no fault of the R.M.A. Duriiig 

 the war an opportunity was given for the study in 

 detail of the course given to French artillery officers. 

 In science there was nothing to be learnt from it, and 

 the same was reported in other subjects. There is 

 no r-eason to believe that the German schools were any 

 better. 



The R.M.A. has been submitted to inquiry from 

 outside three times in the past twentv years : First, 

 bv Lord Esher's Committee shortly after the Boer 

 War; next, in 191 1, an inspection by specialists from 

 the Board of Education ; and thirdly, an inspection by 

 the Board of Education in February last. The first 

 two reports were enlirelv favourable, and no doubt 

 can still be obtained, the latest, which is not yet 

 permitted to be published, gives a fair picture of the 

 place and its work. It also contains criticisms and 

 recommendations which, if adopted bv the War Office, 

 would improve the establishment, and consequently 

 the Armv. I understood from the inspectors that they 

 had come to the same conclusion as those on a former 

 occasion, viz. "The Academv is very efficient." 



The academv is not perfect, but its improvement, 

 not its abolition, is what is desirable. Merely to move 

 it to a new situation while retaining the old system 

 would do no good; and to amalgamate it with Sand- 

 hurst would/ in my opinion, in these specialismg days, 

 be a mistake. u n t •* 



Improvements must commence at Whitehall, tor it 

 is at the War Office that all decisions as to courses of 

 studv staffs, etc., are made. Scientific advisers from 

 the learned societies would help, for it is scarcely to 

 be expected that the officers there can be in touch 

 with scientific progress. There are still some who do 

 not vet believe in the importance of science, and are 

 under the impression that any R.E. officer can teach 

 all that is necessary. , , . , ... 



The half-dozen civilians mentioned in the article are 

 responsible for mathematics and science. They must 

 now be almost alone amongst those engaged in educa- 

 tion in the public service in having no secuntv of 

 tenure and no retiring allowance. Their numbers 

 now reduced below pre-war level, might be increased 

 with advantage, but I understand that it has been 

 decided to dispense with civilians in science altogether 

 in a vear or so, and no doubt the mathematical staff 

 will follow. Their places will be filled by officers. I 

 think that most of those who have an intimate know- 

 ledge of these subjects will agree that this is a retro- 



^'^Mathematics rnd science .should have adequate 

 civilian staffs of oroperlv trained men. Appointments 

 should be permanent and emoluments correspond to 

 those of the military staff, with retiring allowances on 

 NO. 2642, VOL. 105] 



the Civil Service scale. Members of the civilian staff 

 could then, without anxiety, devote themselves to the 

 work, which necessarily takes a different direction 

 from that at a civil institution, and even the best 

 civilians require a considerable time before becoming 

 familiar with military requirements and military 

 apparatus. 



.\ccomrnodation for research by the staff should be 

 provided. Officer instructors, in science at le&st, 

 should be students as much as instructors, so that at 

 the end of their appointments they would rejoin the 

 .\rmy reasonably up-to-date in their subjects. Cadets 

 with a special bent should be given opportunities so 

 far as possible to do extra work, to assist therh in 

 deciding on their future course and to prepare them 

 for it. The present two years' cpurse is too short to 

 do much in any direction, as it has to be divided 

 between many subjects. An increase of length would 

 be an advantage. 



The R.M..A. is a cadet school, and aims at producing 

 the useful regimental officer, but it cannot produce 

 experts. For the artillery there should be a further 

 selection of voung officers, who should receive addi- 

 tional training at the Ordnance College, which should 

 be;, a genuine artillery university, and not merely a 

 training place for officers desirous of semi-civil appoint- 

 ments. It should be the function of this establish- 

 ment to turn out the artillery expert, and if it were 

 not done the blame would lie there. The R.E. would 

 probably require a similar establishment or an exten- 

 sion of' the "School of Militarv Engineering." Co^ 

 operation between the various military schools is advis- 

 able, but, above all. there should be some system 

 established for the regular distribution of inforrnation 

 on militarv matters amongst the departments con- 

 cerned. Ki present it is exceedingly difficult for those 

 engaged in one department or school to find out what 

 is happening elsewhere. 



The equalisation of pay will now enable cadets to 

 make a free choice between the R.A. and the R.E., 

 but those scientifically inclined will still probably 

 choose the latter. ... 



I do not believe much is to be gained by imitating 

 foreign institutions. In the four years and a half of 

 the war we succeeded in overtaking the German in 

 everv direction, in spite of his long preparation. Our 

 aim now should be to avoid retrogression: for tbat is 

 our chief danger. J- Young. 



Science Deoartment, Roval Military .Academy, 

 Woolwich, S.E.18, June 3. 



The Separation of the Isotopes of Chlorine. 



On certain plausible assumptions concerning the 

 nature of chemical equilibria and the properties of 

 isotopes, it should be possible to separate the isotopic 

 varieties of an element like chlorine by means of a 

 reversible chemical change in the gaseous state, pro- 

 vided that the number of atoms of chlorine in the 

 reacting compound is unequal to the number of atoms 

 in the resulting compound. 



Thus, for the sake of argument, assume that 

 chlorine contains two isotopes the atoms of which can 

 be represented by CI and CI', then there w^uld be 

 three classes of molecules, nanfely, CI,, CI. , and 

 CICK, of which the corresponding liquids and solids 

 would have the very nearly same vapour pressure at 

 the same temperature. .Accordingly, if it may be 

 assumed that 2 mols. of ClCl' can be converted into 

 I mol of CI,, and i mol. of CU' in the liquid 

 forms at the same temperature without the expendi- 

 ture of work, 



[C1JCI,']=[C1C1T, .... (i.) 



