March i, 19 17] 



NATURE 



1 1 



Such a home, provided not only with lecture- 

 rooms and laboratories, but also with meeting- 

 places for societies, traders, and students, and 

 especially with an adequate library, "would con- 

 centrate the efforts of all who are concerned with 

 the manufacture or use of optical instruments." 

 We have ourselves more than once advocated such 

 a project, and it is to be hoped that those en- 

 trusted with the administration of the large public 

 funds which are, and will be, we hope, more in 

 the future, devoted to similar objects, will not, as 

 in a scheme criticised in the report, take the line 

 of least apparent resistance and relegate the estab- 

 lishment of an optical institute to the dim and 

 distant future. Such a course would be, we 

 assert, simply disastrous. It may not be inop- 

 portune to recall that the establishment of such an 

 institute received, only a few months ago, the 

 cordial approval of the present Prime Minister, 

 who was doubtless influenced by his experience 

 as Minister of Munitions. 



Space does not permit us to dwell in detail on 

 other valuable suggestions in the report, but there 

 is one of great importance which may be mentioned 

 in conclusion. \\'e refer to the provision of suit- 

 able optical text-books, the translation, in the first 

 instance, of suitable foreign books, and to the 

 abstracting of important publications on technical 

 optics. 



National Instruction in Technical Optics.^ 

 Several attempts have been made during recent 

 Aears to provide systematic training in technical 

 optics, and a scheme prepared by the London County 

 Council will be referred to in this report. But, before 

 discussing the details of any proposals^ it is advisable 

 to form a clear conception of the requirements of the 

 optical trade, and of the organisation of the teaching 

 best adapted to promote the interests of that trade 

 without regard to existing conditions, which no doubt 

 will place some difficulties in the way of the imme- 

 diate adoption of a thorough-going and satisfactory 

 scheme. 



It is necessary at the outset to emphasise one 

 point which is of vital importance. If a perfect 

 organisation for instruction and research in optics 

 could instantaneously be called into being, some years 

 would necessarily elapse before the trade would appre- 

 ciably benefit by it, because that trade requires above 

 everything a sufficient supply of men thoroughly 

 trained in the scientific principles underlying the 

 proper construction of optical appliances. Such men 

 are not obtainable at the present moment; they will 

 have to be trained, and this requires time. But the 

 next few years are the years which will determine 

 the future of the industries of the country. To avoid 

 a delay which might prove fatal, it is essential that 

 provision should be made at once to give the trade 

 such assistance and advice as will ultimately be sup- 

 plied by the body of trained men which, it is hoped, 

 will be available in a few years. 



This leads us to our first recommendation. What- 

 ever scheme be adopted, it is essential that It should 

 include the appointment of a highly qualified scientific 

 man, who will be charged with the organisation and 

 direction of the whole of the teaching. This man, to 

 whom we shall refer as the " director " — whatever 



1 Report approved by the Board of Scientific Societies of a Sub-Com* 

 mittee consisting of Mr. Conrad Beck, Mr. F. J. Cheshire, Mr. E. B. 

 Knobel, Sir Philip Magnus, Prof. H. Jackson, and Prof. A. Schuster 

 {chairman). 



title he may subsequently receive — ought to be a{>- 

 pointed at once. Among the duties specially assigned 

 to him in the preliminary period should be that of 

 advising the trade in any difficulties they may en- 

 counter. A sufficient staff should be assigned to him 

 for the purpose. The director should not be attached 

 exclusively to any of the existing institutions. 



A further need, which is urgent, is the supply of 

 standard text-books dealing with those parts of optics 

 which at present are greatly neglected in this 

 country; this includes practically the whole of geo- 

 metrical optics and a large part of technical optics. 

 In our opinion, the quickest and most effective 

 rnanner of dealing with this requirement is by pub- 

 lishing translations of existing foreign books and 

 abstracts of important papers on the subject. 



In defining the range of teaching to be provided, 

 and forming an estimate of the number and type of 

 the students who may avail themselves of the oppor- 

 tunities offered, we must keep in mind that the us« 

 of a knowledge of optics is not confined to those in- 

 tending to enter the optical trade. The Army, the 

 Navy, the Patent Office, and other Government depart- 

 ments employ optical experts. We are informed that 

 the Royal Naval College habitually sends some of its 

 ablest young officers to an optical firm, to be in- 

 structed in the principles and designs of range-finders, 

 gun-sights, and other optical instruments. Medical 

 men, bacteriologists, surveyors, and nautical men 

 would also, in many cases, welcome instruction in 

 special branches of optics. We may here refer to the 

 School of Economics, an institution mainly devoted, 

 as its name implies, to a highly specialised branch of 

 knowledge, which derives its practical importance 

 from its connection with matters affecting the welfare 

 of^ the country. In these respects, it presents a cer- 

 tain analogy with the proposed school of optics. Ex- 

 perience in this case shows that the instruction given 

 has attracted, from much wider circles than was 

 originally contemplated, students desirinpr instruction 

 in special departments of economics. It is, therefore, 

 well not to take too narrow a view, but to look upon 

 the practical application of optics as being one of the 

 many points of contact between the industries and 

 pure science. Any advance in its study will hence 

 react beneficially on the advance of the science on 

 which it is based. 



We therefore look forward to the establishment of 

 an optical institute which would concentrate the 

 efforts of all who are concerned with the manufacture 

 or use of optical instruments. It would bring to- 

 gether the several optical societies, which might find a 

 home within its building; it would be the centre for 

 the co-operation of the trade with students and 

 teachers; it should contain a library with periodicals 

 and books on optics. 



The general direction of the courses of study should 



— as is the case in the scheme of the London County 



Council — be vested in an Advisory Council on which 



the trade, as well as the optical and learned societies, 



is represented. It has already been insisted upon 



that there should be a principal or director who is 



highly qualified on both the theoretical and the practical 



side, and who would be responsible to the Advisoj-v 



I Council. Full courses of instruction, in both day and 



I evening classes, will be required. The day d'epart- 



I ments would consist mainly of youths between the 



i ages of fifteen and twenty, who would receive general 



' and technical instruction, including mathematics, 



physics, chemistry, and practical optical work. 



The evening work would be adapted to the require- 

 ments — 



(i) Of students engaged in the trade during the 

 daytime ; 



(2) Of advanced students, some of whom would have 



NO. 2470, VOL. 99] 



