November 27, 1919] 



NATURE 





an inland region dependent on adjacent mountains 

 and lakes for its water. Methodical irrigation 

 might yet reclaim much that in the near future will 

 be absorbed into desert. S. Casson. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AND 

 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



THE valuable work done for science by the 

 research committees of the British Associa- 

 tion is well known in the scientific world, but few 

 people outside are familiar with its nature, extent, 

 or influence. It is not commonly understood that 

 all members of such committees render their 

 services without fee of any kind, or even receive 

 travelling expenses to attend meetings ; indeed, 

 as a general rule, a member not only gives his 

 time and knowledge freely, but also adds some- 

 what to his personal expenditure. The associa- 

 tion makes grants of a few pounds annually to 

 some of the research committees, but others are 

 without grants ; and in many cases the chairmen 

 and secretaries meet the necessary expenses out 

 of their own pockets. 



The committees thus represent at its highest 

 and best united work for the promotion of natural 

 iviiowledge, and their constitution could not well 

 be improved. The subjects and members are put 

 forward by the various sections of the association, 

 and any grants desired have to pass the scrutiny 

 of the Committee of Recommendations, which 

 is made up of representatives of all the sections. 

 The organisation is, in fact, one in which men 

 of science themselves decide upon subjects of re- 

 search, and allocate the slender funds at their 

 disposal to aid selected inquiries and reports. 

 Obviously, this system is both efficient and 

 economical, and its general adoption would be in 

 the best interests of progressive knowledge. 



The amount of money which the association 

 tan allocate as grants in aid is, however, only 

 about loooZ. per annum, and this has to be shared 

 between thirty or more research committees. As 

 other funds are now available for scientific re- 

 search, it has been suggested that the association 

 should limit its aid to committees to the payment 

 of secretarial and like expenses, instead of 



ittempting to provide for actual investigations by 



he small grants it is able to afford. 



The work of the research committees has, how- 

 ' ver, been of such high value throughout the 



xistence of the association that no one would 



vish to make any change which would diminish 

 Its importance; and there is not the slightest 

 doubt that whatever funds the association has 

 available for research will be usefully applied. 

 The present position is clearly stated in the sub- 

 joined communication from Prof. John Perry, 

 treasurer of the association^ being mainly remarks 

 made by him before an evening discourse on 

 September 11 at the recent Bournemouth 

 meeting of the association. No general 

 appeal is made for funds, but it is to be 

 hoped that wealthy benefactors will follow the 

 example of .Sir James Caird and others interested 

 NO. 2613, VOL. 104] 



in the promotion of scientific knowledge, for no 

 more effective machinery for attaining this end 

 could be devised than that provided by the British 

 Association committees. 



"You are aware that, after paying printing and office 

 expenses, the funds of the British Associati>in are 

 devoted to scientific research. For more than eightv 

 years we have spent more than loool. a vear on 

 research, long befbrc ordinary people had heard of 

 research. 



"Every year we form many research committees; 

 each of them is formed of the foremost men of science 

 of Great Britain, who receive none of the monev them- 

 selves, and their accounts for mere out-of-pocket 

 expenses are carefully audited. These researches in 

 the past have created some entirely new sciences, have 

 led directly and indirectly to the creation of many new 

 industries, and they have largely produced the world's 

 present natural knowledge. .And now to my point. 

 Yesterday a very prominent member of the association 

 asked me about our finances. I had to admit that 

 even before the war we were meeting with difliculties 

 due to the increased cost of printing and other things, 

 that since the war we have been behindhand to the 

 extent of more than looo/. every year, and that we 

 have never vet asked for the help of moneyed men. 

 The only gift we have ever received from a moneyed 

 man was a voluntary gift from Sir James Cair.l, who 

 handed me 11,000!. at the Dundee meeting. My ques- 

 tioner said we ought to ask for help, and that he was 

 willing to start a fund with a sum of rooo/. At this 

 moment he does not wish to have his name mentioned. 



" I need not dwell on the importance of our ••esearch 

 work, as I feel sure that everv person here who has 

 himself done original work shares my opinion that 

 when we limit our expenditure on research, and 

 especiallv on pure scientific research, we shall begin 

 to be a bankrupt association — bankrupt, that is, 

 morallv from the point of view of science, if not 

 actuallv in the financial sense. 



"The moneyed men of Great Britain are most willing 

 to help any good object when they get proof that it 

 reallv is a good object. We cannot complain of want 

 of their help, for thev did not know the facts. .\t the 

 same time, the treasurer of an association with such 

 a record as ours does not feel happy at the prospect 

 of begging for help." 



In the two davs of the meetinf following that on 

 which I made this statement, the fund was raised 

 to a total of 1475/. I intend to publish in due course 

 a list of names of donors and donations. 



To illustrate by many instances (as I might) our 

 claims as to the importance of our researches would 

 undulv prolong this letter, and anv selection of a few 

 examples wOliId be unrepresentative. I will cite a 

 single illustration : — The National Physical Labora- 

 torv. the scene of researches of which the importance 

 to the nation during the war and earlier cannot be 

 overestimated, had its origin (if its antecedents be 

 traced backward) in the Kew Observatorv, which was 

 maintained bv the British .Association from 1^42 to 

 1872, in which oeriod the association spent some 

 12,000?. on its upkeep. 



DR. JOHN AITKEN, F.R.S. 



r\R. JOHN AITKEN, widely known for his 

 *-^ unique researches in meteorology, died at 

 Ardenlea, Falkirk, on Friday, November 14, at the 

 ripe age of eighty years. Although he served his 

 apprenticeship as a marine engineer. Dr. Aitken's 

 intellectual interests drew him into the fields of 



