February 19, 1920] 



NATURE 



661 



V.C. stands pre-eminent. Amongst the other four %vc 

 find that the populations calculated for decorations 

 awarded to non-commissioned ranks are to those cal- 

 culated for decorations awarded to officers as approxi- 

 niatolv 5 to I. 



In the values of c/b we have a measure of the 

 amount of increase in the probability of attainment 

 as the individual passes from grade to grade. Thus 

 if the liUelihood of winning the decoration be unity, 

 the likelihood of obtaining a first bar is i + c/b, and 

 of obtaining a second i + 2c/b. -The value of c/b is 

 positive if the likelihood increases with the grade, and 

 negative if it decreases. The actual values mav 

 clearly be the resultant of both positive and negative 

 influences. For the V.C. and the M.M. these values 

 are franklv negative, that for the M.C. is nearlv zero, 

 and those for the D.S.O. and D.C.M. are frankly 

 nositive. This would suegest that the decorations 

 fall into two classes which are earned under different 

 conditions. Take, for example, the effect of risk. 

 The value — 0-5 for the V.C. would be accounted for 

 if it could be shown that ^o per cent, of those who 

 earned it died or were incapacitated in the winning. 

 Thus the negative values of the first class of decora- 

 tion can be accounted for bv assuming a high degree 

 of risk in the winninfJ of them. .Again, let us con- 

 sider the questions of leadershio and administrative 

 abilitv. In these a nositive value mifht indicate that 

 although it was difficult for a soldier to get his 

 onportunitv in the first instance, once he had made 

 his mark his opnortunities for further distinp-uished 

 service would be increased. The nositive values found 

 in the second class of decoration might thus be 

 accounted for. Whether this exolanation be the tnip 

 one ^ or not, it would aooear that once the British 

 soldier has got his foot on the ladder he makes rtood. 



Tn the third column are tabulated values of hj'f{t)dt, 

 calculated from log(N/i'„). If we assume that the 

 ebb and flow of the conflict operate uniformly 

 on the chance of winning each of these decoration.s', 

 or that they do so within the respective classes, then 

 the tabulated values may be taken as relative values 

 of b, i.e. of the chance that an individual, potentiallv 

 capable of winning the decoration, obtained it in the 

 first instance. In this case also the factor is com- 

 pounded of the chance that opportunitv offers and the 

 chance that recognition is received. Here again the 

 V.C. stands pre-eminent. The low value for the 

 D.C.M. is in agreement with what has been sug- 

 gested in the preceding paragraph, viz. that it is 

 relatively difficult for non-commissioned ranks to 

 obtain a footing on the ladder. The high values* for 

 the M.C. and the M.M. would indicate that in this 

 war of the trenches the opportunities for brave deeds 

 were all too frequent. Taking the decorations 

 separately, the results of this analvsis are as 

 follows : — 



(i) The V.C. stands pre-eminent amongst the 

 decorations, equally as regards the high standard 

 which js required, the high degree of risk with which 

 the winning is accompanied, and the difficultv of 

 attainment even in the case of the individual who is 

 admittedly of the required standard. 



(2) The D..S.O. is an officers' decoration awarded 

 both for deeds of valour, probably of a .skilled kind, 

 and for distinguished service of other sorts. The 

 chance of opportunity offering and recognition being 

 received may, in the first instance, be low, but, once 

 obtained, there follows increasing opportunitv. 



(-!) The M.C. is an officers' decoration in which 

 probablv the influences of both classes are combined, 

 viz. risk and increasing opportunity. Opportimities of 

 earninrt it were all too many. 



(4) The D.C.M., for non-commissioned ranks, is of 

 the same type as the D.S.O.. though the chance of 

 NO. 2621;. VOL. lOdl 



opportunity offering and recognition being received in 

 the first instance is relatively less. 



(5) The .M.M., for non-commissioned ranks, belongs 

 to the class of the V.C. It is characterised by the 

 risk which the winning entails, and by the indication 

 that the opportunities for the performance of brave 

 deeds wera many. 



These, then, are the inferences which appear to me 

 to emerge from the hypotheses which I have adopted. 

 There may be others of which I am ignorant, but, 

 such as they are, I venture to offer them as a tribute 

 to the vast potentialities of the British Army, both 

 for valour and for service — potentialities which even 

 at the end of the great war remained to a large extent 

 unexplored ; and also as a tribute to the consistency 

 and fairness which characterised the manner in which 

 these decorations were awarded. 



-\. Ci. McKevdrick, 



Director. 



Pasleur Institute of India, Rasauli, 

 January i. 



Sugar-beet Seed. 



.Vr a recent meeting of the .Sigma Xi Society of the 

 University of Colorado Dr. W. W. Robbins, botanist 

 to the Great Western Sugar Co., read a paper on 

 lieet-seed production. Dr. Robbins related that so early 

 as 1909 Mr. Hans Mendelson, a German in the employ 

 of the company, undertook to grow beet-seed in Mon- 

 tana. In those days all the seed was imported annually 

 from Europe, principally from German^, Austria- 

 Hungary, and Russia. It was held by experts that 

 the climate and other conditions would not permit the 

 growing of the seed in -America on a commercial 

 scale. Mr. Mendelson thought otherwise, and stated 

 that the time might come when it would be impossible 

 to get European seed. So he continued his experi- 

 ments on a small scale ; and when the war came, and 

 the supply of seed was actually cut off, he had 

 developed his methods to such an extent that it was 

 possible to save the industry. In 1916 the United 

 .States was able to produce 5,211,000 lb. of seed, and 

 in 19 17, 5,546,000 lb. Furthermore, experimental 

 work had already determined the fact that American- 

 grown seed gave a larger tonnage and a greater amount 

 of sugar per acre than imported seed. From this time 

 the policy of raising -American seed will be continued. 



I hope that Dr. Robbins will later on tell the whole 

 story of the sugar-beet in relation to the war. The 

 various events are part of the significant history of 

 human progress. But just now it is worth while to 

 note the value to the country of such men as Mr. 

 Mendelson, and the importance of giving them a 

 chance to test their ideas. The public is too apt to 

 think that scientific progress comes only through great 

 discoveries, or requires a Darwin, a Newton, or a 

 Kelvin. It is difficult to exaggerate our debt to the 

 great men of science, but it remains true that the 

 current work of the world does not rest so much on 

 sensational discoveries as on the multitudinous minor 

 fncts determined by a host of patient workers. Even 

 Darwin could not have done his work without the 

 aid of such. We shall never get on a proper basis 

 until the scientific worker — no genius, but a normal 

 man (or woman) doing his day's work — is estab- 

 lished as a member of the community on a par with 

 the tailor, the baker, or the policeman. 



T. D. A. COCKERELL. 



ITpiversity of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 

 January 18. 



An Electronic Theory of Isomerism, 



The application of the Bohr theorv to organic 



chemistry suggests a_ possible explanation of the 



hitherto unexplained isomerism of certain organic 



