September 25, 1919] 



NATURE 



75 



those of one hundred years ago. There was no 

 likelihood that the highly-skilled worker would 

 ever be replaced by a machine, but for the vast 

 number of unskilled workers machinery meant 

 monotonous work. For the latter the provision of 

 means of healthy recreation was of vital import- 

 ance. 



Then followed a lecture by Prof. Hele-Shaw on 

 "James Watt and Invention." The lecturer 

 •emphasised the importance of mventions, and 

 remarked that in the late war the country was 

 many times saved by our own inventions, which 

 were brought into being under the stimulus of 

 patriotism and the encouragement given by timely 

 organisation. He made the suggestion that, as 

 Watt was so pre-eminent as an inventor, the 

 proposed James W'att chair should be a chair of 

 invention instead of one of engineering. Such a 

 chair would be unique and worthy of James Watt 

 as a new and original departure. 



In the afternoon an impressive memorial service 

 was held at Handsworth Parish Church, where 

 Watt and his associates worshipped and were 

 buried. Adjoining the church is the memorial 

 chapel in which stands the famous Chantrey statue 

 of James Watt, and there, after the singing of 

 the anthem "Let us now praise famous men," the 

 Lord Mayor of Birmingham laid a laurel wreath 

 at the foot of this statue. The address was 

 delivered by the Rev. Dr. E. W. Barnes, Canon of 

 Westminster, who claimed that "it was especially 

 fitting that Birmingham should honour James 

 Watt, for it was there that he perfected his steam- 

 engine ; there he found workmen of sufficient 

 skill to carry out his designs ; there he found in 

 Boulton the friendly capitalist of whom he was in 

 need ; there his fortune was made ; and there he 

 died in honourable old age. Throughout his life 

 Watt was a religious man. He had not the 

 temper or interests of a theological partisan. His 

 attitude was that of a philosopher, conscious of 

 the complexities of social organisation and of the 

 inherent difficulties of government — a man of 

 science, fully understanding how immense were 

 the distances that shut us in, and not unconscious 

 of the danger of unduly dogmatic speculation as 

 to the unknown." Dr. Barnes compared the good 

 and evil resulting from Watt's genius: "We 

 were, owing to Watt's inventions, using up coal 

 at a dangerously rapid rate, and when it was 

 gone the industry and the workers which the coal 

 sustained must pass to other lands. The desire 

 for more motion and for barren luxuries had 

 crowded life and wasted toil, taking largely from 

 man's mental freedom and physical rest. And of 

 all barren luxuries by which man wasted Watt's 

 legacy the worst was war. We could thank 

 ■God sincerely for Watt's discoveries and the 

 mechanical revolution to which they led, if 

 we remembered that it was the political 

 sagacity, and moral wisdom of men that had been 

 at fault. In the last century mechanical progress 

 so outstripped spiritual growth that disaster 

 resulted. In default of security gained by re'- 



NO. 2604, VOL. 104] 



ligious idealism, the better men and the best races 

 would be eliminated by war, and we should be 

 left with moral degenerates, clever, indeed, in the 

 invention and control of machines, but destitute, 

 and even contemptuous, of spiritual energy." 



After the service the visitors were entertained 

 at a garden party at Heathfield Hall by Mr. 

 George Tangye, and much interest was shown in 

 Watt's famous garret-workshop, which has been 

 preserved in the condition in which he left it a 

 century ago. 



On Wednesday morning, September 17, the 

 proceedings were presided over by the United 

 States Ambassador (the Hon. J. W . Davies), and 

 an address was given by Sir Oliver Lodge on 

 "Sources of Energy." The lecturer, in his most 

 attractive and vigorous style, dealt mainly with 

 the possibilities of intra-atomic energy. The 

 stock of energy of this kind is prodigious, but it 

 is at present almost entirely inaccessible, and the 

 lecturer speculated on the possibilities of its use 

 in the future. 



This was followed by Prof. J. D. Cormack, 

 Regius Professor of Engineering in the 

 University of Glasgow, with a paper (written in 

 collaboration with Prof. Barr) on " The Model of 

 the Newcomen Engine repaired by James Watt." 



In the afternoon, visits were paid to some James 

 Watt engines, one at Ocker Hill being shown in 

 action. Here Watt's original indicator was seen 

 at work, and indicator-diagrams taken on it were 

 distributed among the visitors. The occasion was 

 one of unique interest, vividly impressing the mind 

 with the genius of the great engineer, and at the 

 same time bringing home the vast developments 

 which a century has seen in the applications of 

 steam-power. 



In the evening about 300 guests assembled for 

 the centenary dinner at the Grand Hotel, the 

 Lord Mayor presiding, and the American Ambas- 

 sador and the Chancellor of the Exchequer being 

 prominent in a gathering of distinguished men. 

 In proposing the toast of the " Houses of Parlia- 

 ment," Sir Oliver Lodge insisted on the vital need 

 of the encouragement of scientific research, not 

 by an ad. hoc bureau in London, but through the 

 universities throughout the country. He coupled 

 with the toast the name of the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer. "They in Birmingham had an affec- 

 tion for Mr. Austen Chamberlain, and they in the 

 University of Birmingham regarded him with 

 affection because when he last held his present 

 office he increased to them a Government grant 

 which subsequent occupants of the office had 

 followed up. 'It would be wisdom for this country 

 to lavish money upon the universities. Economy 

 was necessary, but it did not pay to cut off the 

 best part of the money granted to the uni- 

 versities." 



Mr. Austen Chamberlain, in replying, spoke of 

 the difficulties of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 especially at the present crisis ; but he was sym- 

 pathetic. University education was one of the 

 things that seemed to him to require generous 



