November 13, 1919] 



NATURE 



283 



to it. To the Science' Standing Committee of the 

 Royal Institute, and its various committees which are 

 occupied with scientific research into matters connected 

 with heating, lighting, construction, and building 

 materials, Nature is especially valuable. Pray accept 

 my sincere good wishes for a long-continued 

 prosperity. 



Royal Astronomical Society. President: Prof. A. 

 Fowler, F.R.S. — The field of scientific investigation is 

 ever widening with the advance of knowledge, and those 

 who are engaged in research are fortunate in being 

 always able to look with confidence to Nature to 

 keep them well-informed as to the latest developments 

 in their own and other' branches of science. By its 

 timely announcement of approaching phenomena and 

 its record of current work and thought the journal has 

 rendered important services to astronomers, and can 

 scarcely have failed to stimulate an. intelligent general 

 interest in the results of their work. 



Royal Engineers Institute, Chatham. — The presi- 

 dent and council of the Royal Engineers In- 

 stitute offer their most sincere congratulations to 

 Nature on the attainment of its jubilee. They recog- 

 nise with a lively sense of appreciation the high 

 standard consistently set in its columns. They offer 

 the Editor their thanks that he has never failed to 

 enforce the great lesson : that the search for know- 

 ledge, pursued for its own ends and with no imme- 

 diate thoughts of material gain, should be one of the 

 most potent driving forces in the life of a nation. 

 Without this impulse no material advance in civilisa- 

 tion is possible. Now at the present time, at the end 

 of a devastating war which finds many exhausted and 

 some despairing of the future, it is more than ever 

 necessary to hold this beacon aloft and to convey a 

 message of encouragement to all workers engaged in 

 the great search for natural knowledge, bidding them 

 remember that, whatever be the temporary distrac- 

 tions of the time, they should never lose sight of the 

 central truth : that with them lies, in no small degree, 

 the future of the world. 



Royal Horticultural Society. Chairman of Council: 

 Mr. Harry J. Veitch. Secretary: Rev. W. Wilks. — 

 Like most ancient arts, the practice of horticulture 

 ■was rooted in tradition and hedged about by em- 

 piricism. Advancing knowledge gradually lets in light 

 upon its many branches, stimulates its dormant buds 

 into growth, and surrounds its roots with the vitalising 

 environment of experiment. It is an art that lays 

 all Nature under contribution ; that can flourish best 

 where knowledge of Nature is deepest. In the name 

 of British horticulturists we congratulate Nature, 

 which has done so much to spread knowledge, upon 

 its fifty years of usefulness, and wish it and those 

 whose work it tells of continued diligence and 

 success. 



Royal Society of Medicine. From the President. — 

 During the fifty years that Nature has provided a 

 weekly summary of science the changes in medicine, 

 particularly as regards diagnosis and treatment, have 

 been without parallel. This is shown by a comparison 

 of the toll of disease, on one hand in the late war, and 

 on the other in the Crimean, North and South, and 

 Franco-Prussian Wars. The changed picture is due 

 NO. 261 1, VOL. 104] 



to the practical application of science. Pasteur's re- 

 searches gave us bacteriology and a knowledge of the 

 nature of infection, and rendered possible the modern 

 treatment of wounds, introduced by Lister, and the 

 use of serums and vaccines. The diagnostic and 

 therapeutical use of X-rays, the employment of 

 radium, and many other advances are further gifts from 

 science. But this transformation of medical practice 

 only reveals a multitude of important problems con- 

 cerned with the prevention, early detection, and effec- 

 tive treatment of disease, and for their solution we 

 must look to scientific research. 



Royal College of Surgeons. President : Sir George H. 

 Makins, G.C.M.G. — The realm of science may well 

 acclaim the jubilee of Nature, and no less all those 

 concerned in the promotion of the public good. The 

 occasion arrives opportunely, for at no time has the 

 public sense been so forcibly awakened to the intiuence 

 of the applications of science to such divergent 

 objects as trade, medicine, war, or the feeding of the 

 population. If important changes founded on the pro- 

 gress of science are to be effectively introduced, those 

 who will be affected must be educated and prepared 

 beforehand. In this great work Nature has taken 

 and must take a prominent part, an aim no less wide- 

 reaching than that of bringing students in cverv branch 

 of science into association and establishing a common 

 bond of sympathy and mutual understanding between 

 them. 



Royal United Service Institution. Chairman of 

 the Council: Admiral Sir F. C. D. Sturdee, Bart., 

 K.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.V.O.— As chairman of the 

 councit of the Royal United Service Institution, 

 I wish to convey the congratulations of the 

 council and myself to the proprietors and Editor 

 of N.^TURE on attaining its jubilee. We all recog- 

 nise the excellent service that the journal has 

 rendered to science during the last fifty years. 

 Science, while aiming at the development of human 

 progress, was ready to turn its thoughts and genius 

 to helping the Empire in its time of trial. This fact 

 is most thoroughly appreciated by the Navy, Army, 

 and Air Force, and as one of their representatives I 

 wish to express my thanks, and trust that Nature 

 will continue its help to the fighting Services for the 

 defence of the Empire. 



Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. 

 Chairman of Directors: Mr. Charles Douglas, C.B. 

 — It gives me great pleasure to congratulate the 

 Editor of Nature on the attainment by that journal 

 of its jubilee. Writing as a representative of the 

 agricultural industry, I desire to acknowledge the 

 immense benefits which that industry has received 

 from the development of science, and especially in 

 the field of chemistry. It is universally recognised 

 that the future success of the industry depends in 

 large measure on the further application of scientific 

 discovery. Both fundamental and practical research 

 in bacteriology promise to give invaluable results, 

 whether in the near or remote future ; and the further 

 development of engineering in its application to agri- 

 culture offers great prospects of economy and in- 

 creased efficiency in production. I offer my most 

 sincere good wishes for the future of Nature. 



