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NATURE 



[November 13, 1919 



Nature on the attainment of the jubilee of the 

 journal. It is a noteworthy achievement of British 

 science to have maintained for fifty years an organ 

 of intercommunication for scientific workers perused 

 and recognised by the men of learning of all nations. 

 In these modern days of high specialisation it is more 

 than ever important that those engaged in research 

 should have the easy access to a summary of all 

 current progress, such as Nature affords, and 

 naturalists unite with other men of science in ex- 

 pressing their best wishes for the continued success 

 of the weekly publication to which they are already 

 so much indebted. 



Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.— The 

 council of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical 

 Society desires, on the occasion of the completion of 

 fifty years issue of Nature, to express its high appre- 

 ciation of the valuable aid which that journal has given 

 to the development of science during that period. 

 The council hopes and believes that the high standard 

 of the reviews, reports, and original articles which 

 has always characterised the journal in the past will 

 be fully maintained in the future, and that with the 

 growing recognition of the vital importance of scientific 

 knowledge the journal will exert a constantly increas- 

 ing influence for the diffusion of true learning. 



London Mathematical Society. President : Mr. J. E. 

 Campbell, F.R.S. — The London Mathematical Society 

 is just four years older than Nature ; in the early 

 days and later the work of the society was promoted 

 by a brief report of its activities in that journal. The 

 volumes of N.-vture with their indexes, especially the 

 earlier ones, have permanent value as one of the most 

 effective sources of reference for the general history 

 of scientific progress in the last half-century. It is 

 rnuch to be desired that this very essential ser- 

 vice to the scientific -world may be maintained 

 unimpaired. 



Institution of Mechanical Engineers. President: Dr. 

 Edward Hopkinson, M.P. — The jubilee of Nature 

 is an event of more than passing interest. During the 

 last fifty years Nature has been a potent factor in 

 the diffusion of scientific knowledge. The realm of 

 science is vast. Its boundaries are being constantly 

 pushed further into the unknown. Of necessity, 

 scientific workers must become more and more 

 specialised in particular lines of research, and they 

 need the help of some organ through which they can 

 watch the progress of science in general. Such a 

 survey Nature has provided, always up-to-date and 

 always discriminating, and in so doing has helped to 

 raise the status and strengthen the fellowship of 

 scientific men throughout the world. To a much 

 wider circle of men engaged in profession and in- 

 dustry, whose daily work is so exacting as to preclude 

 serious scientific study, Nature affords the opportunity 

 of keeping in touch with scientific discovery and 

 thought. Lastly, Nature has done much, though 

 much remains to be done, towards convincing our 

 administrators and politicians that to neglect science 

 and to fail to act upon its precepts is to doom the 

 national life to decay. 



Mineraloglcal Society. President: Sir William 

 PiiipsoN Beale, Bart. — Among the many scien- 

 NO. 261 1, VOL. 104] 



tific societies which will be moved to express 

 gratitude and goodwill on the occasion of the 

 jubilee of Nature the Mineraloglcal Society 

 of Great Britain and Ireland finds a place. The 

 society was founded in February, 1876, under the 

 presidency of Henry Clifton Sorby; and in December, 

 1883, under the presidency of Prof. Bonney, it 

 absorbed the Crystallological Society. It is a proud 

 thing to be able to say, in recalling these two names, 

 that the society has seen, and taken some part in, 

 the development of the domain of the mineralogist 

 and crystallographer into the wide fields of molecular 

 physics, the exploration of which has been the most 

 marvellous work of distinguished men of science in 

 recent years. It is equally pleasant to recognise the 

 co-operation of Nature, associated with the name of 

 Lockyer, in stimulating interest in, and sustaining the 

 work of, such research, cultivating the ground some 

 years before the Mineraloglcal Society came into 

 existence. 



Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. President : 

 Mr. Hugh K. Picard.— For fifty years Nature has 

 provided a link between workers in the fields of 

 pure and applied science. During the war the 

 achievements of chemistry and metallurgy, many 

 of which have been recorded in its pages, were 

 nothing short of astounding; indeed, no branches of 

 scientific learning were more thoroughly tested or 

 gained greater victories over almost insuperable diffi- 

 culties. Urgency demands that results should be secured 

 at any cost; consequently economics had to take 

 second place. In the coming peaceful fight for the 

 world's trade the metallurgist and chemist are faced 

 with a new set of difificulties brought about primarily 

 by the high costs of fuel and labour. They cannot 

 look forward to well-earned rest, but must devote 

 themselves anew to the problem of reducing the ccst 

 of production, always having before them the im- 

 portant economic factors which can no longer be put 

 in the background. 



Optical Society. President: Prof. F. J. Cheshire. 

 — ^Therc is only one Nature, as there is only one 

 Punch— each supreme in its own sphere. 



Institution of Petroleum Technologists. President: 

 Sir Frederick Black, K.C.B. — In earlier days men 

 with scanty knowledge, if any, of science found, 

 and in crude fashion utilised, natural petroleum. 

 To-day large production and economical utilisation 

 demand the services of the geologist, the 

 chemist, and the engineer, all of whom have a 

 common platform in the pages of Nature. The 

 geologist, by his study of strata, directs effort to 

 the more likely places. The chemist, by research 

 and analysis, ascertains the oroportions and pro- 

 perties of the constituent fractions of the crude oil. 

 The applied science of the engineer and (he chemist 

 turns laboratory methods and apparatus into those of 

 the commercial refinery. Contrast the early crude 

 methods with those of to-dav, and some realisation 

 will result of the work already done by science in 

 guiding the utilisation of a groat gift of Nature. The 

 field for similar effort is still great. 



Physical Society. President : Prof. C. H. Lees, F.R.S. 

 — As president of the Physical Society I desire to offer 



