340 



NATURE 



[November 27, 1919 



Latterly, of course, owing to the increase of scientific 

 knowledge, there had been considerable modification 

 of procedure, the introduction of new methods, and 

 the rise of new industries. Now, partly as a result 

 of witnessing the advantages of organisation and of 

 State aid in relation to German industries, there is 

 an increasing demand in this country for similar 

 organisation and help. The State in its attitude 

 towards invention has been, until quite recent times, 

 merely obstructive to progress. Now there seems 

 some risk of running to the opposite extreme. How- 

 ever, as remarked by Sir Henry, it appears to be "the 

 nature of man to swing from one extreme to another 

 like a pendulum," and we have "to remember that if 

 the pendulum swings to and fro, making no advance, 

 still, all the same, the clock goes steadily on." He 

 directed attention to the work of the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research (already described 

 in Nature), and spoke hopefully of the work carried 

 out under its auspices by the industrial research asso- 

 ciations which have been established in connection 

 with various trades. One , of the most important, 

 which seems at last to be about to start effective 

 operations, is the Association for Cotton Research, the 

 headquarters of whicVi will be in Manchester. 



The council of the Royal Meteorological Society has 

 awarded the Svmons memorial gold medal for 1920 

 to Prof. H. H. Hildebrandsson for distinguished work 

 in connection with meteorological science. 



Sir Henry A. Miers, Vice-Chancellor of the Vic- 

 toria University of Manchester, has been elected presi- 

 dent of the Manchester I^iterary and Philosophical 

 Society. 



Dr. J. E. Stead has been nominated by the council 

 of the Iron and Steel Institute as president for next 

 vear in succession to Mr. Eugene Schneider. The 

 date of the annual meeting of the institute has been 

 fixed for Thursday and Friday, May 6 and 7, 1920. 



Prof. J. C. McLennan, professor of physics and 

 director of the physical laboratory in the L'niversity of 

 Toronto, has since 1917 been lent to the .Admiralty 

 bv the University, and since January last has been 

 acting as Scientific Adviser to the Board of .Admiralty. 

 It is now announced that the Lords Commissioners of 

 the -Admiralty have received with much regret Prof. 

 McLennan's resignation of this post. 



Sir Nathaniel Dunlop, whose death in his 

 ninetieth year is recorded in the Engineer for Novem- 

 ber 21, entered early the service of the Allan Line 

 (!^o. , and rose to be deputy chairman. He was also 

 chairman of the Clyde Trust from 1905 to 1907, and 

 received his knighthood shortly after the opening of 

 the Rothesav Dock. .Amongst his other activities he 

 was the first chairman of the British Corporation for 

 the Registry of Shipping, and was its honorary presi- 

 dent until the last. He served on a number of Roval 

 Commissions appointed to inquire into shipping ques- 

 tions, and was frequently a witness before other Com- 

 missions. 



C.^PT. P. R. Lowe has recently been appointed bv 

 the Principal Trustees of the British Museum to be 

 assistant in charge of the bird-room at the Natural 

 History Museum in .succession to Mr. W. R. Oijilvie- 

 Grant. Capt. Lowe has for many years devoted him- 

 self to ornithological research at the Natural Historv 

 Museum, the Royal College of Sureeons, and Cam- 

 bridge Universitv, and has made extensive collections 

 of, and observations on. birds in Madeira, the 

 Canaries, the .Azores, the Cane de Verde Islands, the 

 NO. 2613, VOL. 104] 



West Indies, .Mexico, Florida, the Mediterranean 

 islands and coasts, South .Africa, , and the British 

 Islands. He has published numerous paper^ on ornitho- 

 logv, and is the author of "Our Common Sea-Birds," 

 ■-V Naturalist on Desert Islands," and of the forth- 

 coming works " In the Track of Columbus " and 

 "The Waders." During the war Capt. Lowe served 

 in the R..A.M.C., and was for two and a half years 

 in command of Princess Christian's hospital train. 



With the object of promoting the technical and 

 practical development of commercial aeronautics, an 

 Institute of .\eronautical Engineers has been founded. 

 It will be developed largely in the interests of aero- 

 plane mechanics and pilots. Like certain existing 

 institutes of a similar character in other branches of 

 engineering and in chemistry, admission to the various 

 grades of membership is to be by examination, in 

 which piloting experience will be a qualification as 

 well as laboratory work and knowledge of mechanical 

 science. The work of the institute is to commence 

 with next vear, when an opening address will be 

 delivered by Prof. Bryan, the president-elect for 1920. 

 The secretarv is Capt. Douglas Shaw, and the offices 

 are at 32 Charing Cross, Whitehall, London. 



.VccoRDiN'G to a Bulletin issued by the Nalional 

 Research Council or the United States, and repro- 

 duced in Science for October 24, the Council has 

 decided, with the" co-operation of the .American Physical 

 and Chemical Societies, to compile and issue an 

 .American Compendium of Physical and Chemical 

 Constants. It is to be both critical and up-to-date, 

 and to this end the universities and research labora- 

 tories of .America are to be asked to supply the con- 

 stants at present known. The business and industrial 

 concerns are then to be asked what other constants 

 are required in their work, and the joint committee 

 charged with the issue of the Compendium will see 

 that thev are determined and included in the work. 

 The cost is estimated at 20,000/., and this will, it is 

 expected, be obtained from private sources. We ^eed 

 not emphasise here the great value such a Com- 

 pendium would have for scientific and industrial re- 

 search in this country. Tables of constants from 

 which untrustworthy values were excluded have been 

 much needed in the past half-dozen years. 



The Secretary of State for the Colonies has, with 

 the approval of the Cabinet, appointed a Committee to 

 prepare a complete scheme of Imperial wireless com- 

 munications in the light of modern wireless science 

 and Imperial needs. " The Committee will (i) con- 

 sider what high-power wireless stations it is desirable 

 on commercial or strategic grounds that the Empire 

 should ultimately possess ; (2) prepare estimates of the 

 capital and annual costs of each station— the life of 

 the plant and buildings, as taken for the calculation 

 of depreciation, to include an adequate allowance for 

 obsolescence ; (3) examine the probable amount of 

 traffic and revenue which may be expected from each 

 station ; and (4) place the stations recommended in 

 their order of urgency. The Committee is composed 

 as follows :— The Right Hon. Sir Henrv Norman, 

 Bart, (chairman), Mr. P. J. Brown, Rear-.Admiral F. L. 

 Field, Sir John Snell, Prof. J. E. Petavel, Dr. W. H. 

 Eccles, Mr. J. Swinburne, and Mr. L. B. Turner. 

 The secretary is Brig.-Gen. S. H. Wilson, and the 

 assistant secretary Lt.-Col. C. G. Crawley. .Ml com- 

 munications in connection with the Committee should 

 be addressed to the Secretarv, 2 Whitehall Gardens, 

 S.W'.i. 



The work of the National L^nion of .Scientific 

 Workers is described in the first annual report of the 



