January 29, 1920J 



NATURE 



585 



for experimental control is a pressing one in those 

 fields. The behaviour of the complex mechanism of 

 the cell is a matter of sight, followed by inference, 

 when we know that invisible factors enter into the 

 performance. How the cell programme can ever be 

 brought under experimental control remains to be 

 seen, but we must realise that in the meantime we 

 are seeing actors without understanding their action. 

 In fact, we are not sure that we see the actors ; the 

 visible things may be simply a result of their action. 

 The important point is to keep in mind the necessary 

 limitations of our knowledge, and not mistal^e infer- 

 ence for demonstration. 



Even more baffling is the problem of adequate ex- 

 perimental control in genetics. We define genetics 

 as breeding under rigid control, the inference being 

 that by our methods we know just what is happening. 

 The control is rigid enough in mating individuals, 

 but the numerous events between the mating and the 

 appearance of the progeny are as yet beyond the reach 

 of control. We start a machine and leave it to its 

 own guidance. The results of this performance, 

 spoken of as under control, are so various that many 

 kinds of hypothetical factors are introduced as tenta- 

 tive explanations. There is no question that this 

 is the best that can be done at present, but it ought 

 to be realised that as yet no real experimental control 

 of the performance has been devised. The initial 

 control, followed by inferences, has developed a 

 wonderful perspective, but a method of continuous 

 control has yet to come. 



Having considered the conspicuous evolutionary 

 tendencies of botanical research and their projection 

 into the future, it remains to consider the possible 

 means of stimulating progress. It will not be accom- 

 plished by increasing' publication. It is probably our 

 unanimous judgment that there is too much publica- 

 tion at the present time. What we need is not an 

 increasing number of papers, but a larger percentage 

 of significant papers. This goes back to the selection 

 of problems, assuming that training is sufficient, h. 

 leader is expected to select his own problems, but 

 we are training an increasing army of investifjators, 

 and the percentage of leaders is growing noticeablv 

 less. There ought to be some method bv which 

 botanists shall agree upon the significant problems at 

 anv given time in the various fields of activity, so 

 that such advice might be available. It is certainly 

 needed. 



I realise that our impulse has been to treat a desir- 

 able problem as private property, upon which no tres- 

 passing is allowed. Of course, common courtesy 

 allows an investigator to work without competition, 

 but the desirable problems are still more numerous 

 than the investigators, and we must use all our 

 investigative training and energy in doing the most 

 desirable things. There need be no fear of exhausting 

 problems, for every good problem solved is usually 

 the progenitor of a brood of problems. We shall never 

 multiply investigators as fast as our investigations 

 multiply problems. In the interest of science, there- 

 fore, we should pool our judgment, and indicate to 

 those who need it the hopeful directions of progress. 



Not onlv is there dissipation of time and energv in 

 the random selection of problems, there is also 

 wastage in investigative ability. Every competent 

 investigator should have the opportunitv to investi- 

 gate. The pressure of duties that too often submerge 

 those trained to investigate is a tremendous brake 

 upon our progress. I am not prepared to suggest a 

 method of meeting this situation, but the scientific 

 fraternity in some wav should press the point that 

 one who is able to investigate should have both time 

 .nnd opportunity. A university regulation, with which 

 we are all too familiar, which requires approximately 

 NO. 2622, VOL. 104] 



the same hours of all its staff, whether they are 

 investigators or not, should be regarded as medieval. 

 In conclusion, speaking not merely for botanical 

 research, but for all scientific research, it has now 

 advanced to a stage which promises unusually rapid 

 development. The experience of the recent years has 

 brought science into the foreground as a great national 

 asset. It should be one of the functions of this 

 association to see to it that full advantage is taken 

 of the opportunity offered by the present evolutionary 

 stage of research and public esteem. We must choose 

 between inertia and some display of aggressive energy. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



London. — The faculty of medicine has elected Dr. 

 H. L. Eason to be its representative on the Senate 

 in succession to Sir Cooper Perry, who has resigned 

 on his appointment to the post of Principal Officer 

 of the University; and the faculty of science has 

 elected Prof. L. N. G. Filon to be "its representative 

 on the Senate in succession to Prof. G. A. Buck- 

 master, who has resigned on his appointment to the 

 chair of physiology in the University of Bristol. 



Prof. T. Loveday, professor of philosophy at Arm- 

 strong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has been ap- 

 pointed principal of Southampton University College 

 in succession to Dr. Alex Hill, resigned. 



Mr. a. V. Hill, F.R.S., fellow of King's College, 

 late fellow of Trinity College, and lecturer in physio- 

 logy in the University of Cambridge, has been ap- 

 pointed to the vacant chair of physiology in the 

 University of Manchester. 



GiRTON College, Cambridge, has received a gift of 

 io,oooL, the capital and interest of which are to be 

 applied during the next twenty years for the en- 

 couragement of scientific research by women in mathe- 

 matical, physical, and natural sciences. 



Lt.-Col. p. S. Lelean, professor of hygiene. Royal 

 Army Medical College, -will distribute prizes and 

 certificates at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute 

 on Tuesday, February 3, and will give an address on 

 applied science in gas warfare. 



On Wednesday, January 21, Mr. E. Wyndham 

 Hulme was presented by the Patent Office Library 

 staff with an illuminated' address, bound in rnorocco, 

 recording their appreciation of his work as librarian 

 during the last twenty years. We understand that 

 Mr. Hulme will continue his editorial supervision of 

 the " Subject Index to Periodicals " published by the 

 Library Association. Mr. Hulme has been succeeded 

 in his "office bv Mr. Allan Gomme, son of the lateSir , 

 Laurence Gomme, and formerly an assistant examiner 

 in the Patent Office. 



The statement of the Rhodes Scholarships Trust 

 for the year igig shows that the number of scholars 

 actually in residence for either the whole or some part 

 of the academic year 1918-19 was eighty-seven, viz. 

 sixty-six Colonials and twenty-one Americans. _ Of 

 these, thirty-one came into residence for the first time. 

 There were also in residence nine ex-scholars, of 

 whom five were Colonials and four Americans. In 

 the United States the elections this year have been 

 held under new conditions. In the first place, there 

 has been no qualifying examination. The competition 

 has been open, limited only by the fact that, in any 

 given State, no one institution could be represented 

 in the competition by more than a small number of 



