November 13, 1919] 



NATURE 



>87 



my congratulations to Nature on attaining its jubilee. 

 There are, unfortunately, few physicists left who read 

 the first number on its appearance, and it is hard for 

 those of us who have grown up to expect Nature as 

 regularly as Friday morning to realise how difficult 

 it was fifty yeafs ago to get trustworthy information 

 on any scientific subject of special interest at the 

 moment without going to original sources and reading 

 at great length. To the specialist who is anxious to 

 keep in touch with the world of science outside his 

 own groove Nature comes as a refresher, and to the 

 general reader who finds his daily paper too untrust- 

 worthy on scientific matters it is an invaluable 

 authority. 



Physiological Society. Prof. W. D. Halliburton, 

 F.R.S. — The Physiological Society has no president, 

 and has never had one. At a recent meeting of the 

 society I was deputed (as the oldest member present) to 

 convey to the Editor of Nature our hearty congratula- 

 tions to that journal on having reached its jubilee, and 

 to thank its staff for all they have so successfully done 

 in the promotion of scientific interests during the last 

 fifty years. The position of science to-day is very different 

 from what it was in 1869. There still remains much 

 to be done in the education of the public in reference 

 to the value of science to the nation at large, but we 

 anticipate that in the future, as in the past, Nature 

 will occupy a prominent place in this branch of educa- 

 tion. The recent war has during the last five years 

 brought home to the people a keener appreciation of 

 the national value of science than the preceding forty- 

 five years of peace, and in the time of " reconstruc- 

 tion " now entered upon all will hope that both rulers 

 and ruled will realise and act upon the imperative 

 nature of the study of science, both pure and applied, 

 if our efforts to make the world a better place are to 

 be successful. The Physiological Society deSires me 

 to allude in conclusion, when sending a message to a 

 literary journal, to the fact that it also has under- 

 taken the publication of a periodical entitled Physio- 

 logical Abstracts, by means of which its own par- 

 ticular part of the gospel may be spread. It was a 

 direct outcome of the powerful stimulus of war, and 

 we trust when the time of its jubilee arrives it mav 

 bo able to show as good a record as its elder sister 

 Natli;!-:. 



Riintgen Society. President: George B. Batten, 

 M.D. — "Work is worth doing for work's sake." 

 Twenty-four years ago Rontgen, following the work 

 of Crookes and Lenard, discovered X-rays, and a 

 translation of his paper appeared in the columns of 

 Nature (January 23, 1896) within a few days of the 

 announcement of the discovery. In less than a quarter 

 of a century the discovery has been of inestimable 

 benefit to mankind not only in diagnosis and treat- 

 ment, but also in metallurgy, and has created quite 

 a new and extensive industry. Moreover, the inves- 

 tigation by Rutherford and a host of workers of the 

 properties of X-rays and of the kindred rays of radio- 

 active substances has increased our knowledge to such 

 an extent that our conceptions of the ultimate con- 

 stitution of matter and of the universe have been 

 enlarged and revolutionised. 



XO. 261I, VOL. 104] 



Foreign /Vcademies and Scientific Societies. 

 Belgium. 

 Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des 

 Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Permanent Secretary: M. 

 Paul Pelseneer. — It is a great satisfaction for the 

 Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium to greet the first 

 jubilee of Nature. The Academy highly appreciates 

 what Nature has done for the promotion of science, 

 especially in helping the speedy diffusion of the most 

 important discoveries in every department. The Academy 

 wishes the next period of fifty years to be still more 

 fruitful, and that Nature may assist scientific progress 

 in the future as much as in the past. The Academy 

 thinks that the "Entente Cordiale " of the inter- 

 Allied academies and the newly instituted Inter- 

 national Council for Scientific Research, in Brussels, 

 will be, by a methodical co-ordination of work, the 

 best and quickest means of promoting' scientific know- 

 ledge. Lastly, the Academy thinks all scientific 

 workers understand that it is urgent to compensate 

 for five years' interruption by a renewal of activity 

 and production. 



France. 

 Societe d' Encouragement pour I'lndustrie nationale. 

 Le Pri^sident: M. L. Lindet. — La Societe d'Encourage- 

 ment pour I'lndustrie nationale a suivi avec intdret 

 les publications scientifiques du journal N.ature; elle 

 y a souvent rencontr^ des articles de science industrielle 

 dont elle a fait son profit, en meme temps qu'elle se 

 f^licitait de voir Nature faire k son Bulletin des 

 emprunts fort bien s61ectionn6s. Son anciennetd, qui 

 remonte & 1801, lui donne toute autorit^ pour souhaiter 

 h. Nature, aujourd'hui cinquantenaire, une longue et 

 glorieuse existence. 



Societe de Geographic, Paris. Le Prdsident: 

 Le Prince Bonaparte, de l'Institut de France. 

 Le Secritaire General: M. G. Grandidier. — La 

 Soci^t^ de Geographic ne saurait demeurer indiff^rente 

 k la calibration du cinquantenaire de Nature. En 

 effet, depuis le jour o^ elle a commence de paraitre, 

 Nature s'est toujours interess^e k la geographic; elle 

 lui a fait sa place parmi les sciences dont elle 

 s'occupait, et, par nombre d 'Etudes publidcs dans ses 

 diff^rents fascicules, elle a, d'autre part, indirectement 

 contribu^ k ses progrfes. Aujourd'hui, Nature peut 

 encore agir de mSme, et meme plus efficacement que 

 jamais; il n'y a plus k realiser de grandes decouvertes 

 g^ographiques ; mais, par contre, que d'^tudes; 

 minutieuses sur le relief, le climat, la flore, la faune, 

 I'homme aussi, s'imposent aux travailleurs ! En 

 publiant des travaux originaux, en donnant les con- 

 clusions des principaux memoires parus ailleurs. 

 Nature continuera de bien servir la g<5ographie aprfes 

 1919, exactement comme elle I'a fait precedemment, 

 durant le demi-siecle ^could depuis i86g. 



Holland. 

 Dutch Academy of Sciences, Amsterdam. President : 

 Prof. H. A. Lorentz. — On the occasion of the jubilee 

 of Nature I have great pleasure in expressing my high 

 appreciation of the important services it has rendered 

 to science during the fiftv vears of its existence. The 



