July 5, 1917I 



NATURE 



377 



the chemist as a necessarv evil, to be avoided if pos. 



One of the most important articles is that by Dr. 

 Levinstein, inasmuch as he carefully p>oints out the 

 respective spheres of the university and the works in 

 the effective training of the future industrial chemist. 

 Once those concerned with the successful administration 

 of our industries realise the necessity for encouraging 

 by a liberal payment the work of the efficiently trained 

 chemist there will be no lack in the supply of suitable 

 men. That the nation contains such men has been 

 shown by the fact that the demands of this devastating 

 war for the supply of high explosives have been met 

 with an energy and an efficiency which have surprised 

 our chief enemy. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 

 Sr.^NFORD Meeting of the Pacific Division. 

 T^HE second annual meeting of the Pacific Division 

 -•■ of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science was held at Leland Stanford Junior 

 University on April 5-7. In all a series of twenty-two 

 sessions was provided, at which more than 130 papers 

 were presented. At a general session on the evening 

 of April 5 an address was given by Dr. J. C. Branner, 

 retiring president of the Pacific Division, upon " Some 

 of the Scientific Problems and Duties at Our Doors," 

 and on the evening of April 6 Dr. F. J. E. Wood- 

 bridge, professor of philosophy at Columbia Univer- 

 sitv, presented an address upon "History and Evolu- 

 tion." 



One of the principal features of this meeting was a 

 symposium arranged under the direction of Dr. D. T. 

 MacDougal, director of the Desert Laboratory, Car- 

 negie Institution of Washington, Tucson, Arizona, 

 upon "Co-ordination and Co-operation in Research 

 and in Applications of Science," at which the following 

 addresses were given: — "Science and an Organised 

 Civilisation," W. E. Ritter; "The National Research 

 Council as an Agency of Co-operation," A. A. Noyes ; 

 " Plans for Co-operation in Research among the Scien- I 

 tific Societies of the Pacific Coast," J. C. Merriam ; 

 and "The Application of Science," W. F. Durand. Ab- 

 stracts of the two written reports of the symposium are 

 subjoined. 



The ideals expressed in this symposium were given 

 action in the formation of a Pacific Coast Research 

 Conference, composed of the Pacific Coast Research 

 Committee (which is a sub-committee of the Com- 

 mittee of One Hundred on Research of the American 

 Association), and of representatives of societies 

 affiliated with the Pacific Division. The purpose 

 prompting the organisation of this conference is fur- 

 ther expressed in the following resolution : — " Whereas 

 it is the opinion of this conference that the important 

 scientific problems before men of science to-day are 

 those problems relating to preparation for war, which 

 require scientific research, therefore be it resolved that 

 this conference, representing the scientific interests of 

 the Pacific Division of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, ofi'ers to the State Council 

 of Defence already formed in California, and to such 

 other similar State or national organisations as may 

 be organised, the full support and assistance of this 

 conference in so far as it may be desired for the direc- 

 tion of research upon problems arising out of a con- 

 dition of preparation for war." 



Science and an Organised .Civilisation^ 

 The importance of science in Western civilisation 

 is abundantly recognised. The dependence upon it of 

 agriculture, manufacture, commerce, hygiene, medi- 



1 By William E Ritter Director, Scripps Institution for Biological 

 Research, I^Jolla, California. 



NO. 24.88. VOL. 99] 



cine, war, etc., gives it an enormous and secure place 

 in all modern society. Questions of its becoming still 

 more serviceable in these ways no longer concern the 

 fact and general principles of its usefulness, but only 

 matters of its financial support, its special agencies 

 and methods, and its further specialisation and organ- 

 isation. My commission is to speak about science 

 not so much as an element in civilisation as an inter- 

 preter of, and a general contributor to, the very 

 essence of civilisation itself. The propositions sup- 

 ported are : — 



(i) That in a catastrophic time like the present, 

 when the social and political conventions and prac- 

 tices and ideas by which civilisation is guided under 

 normal conditions are largely shattered, men are 

 thrown back on the basic principles of their natures 

 to a degree not approximated at other times. 



(2) That such conditions are exactly those for science 

 to take cognisance of, and to bring its methods and 

 accumulations of knowledge to bear upon, to the end 

 of making the new regime which shall supervene more 

 in accord with the basic principles of man's nature 

 than were those of the old rigime. 



(3) That the scientific men of the Americas, par- 

 ticularly of the United States, are specially well cir- 

 cumstanced to take a leading part in such a move- 

 ment from the fact that their Governments and special 

 institutions are avowedly (as through the Declaration 

 of Independence, the organic law, and the Monroe 

 Doctrine of the United States) based more on the 

 fundamental nature of man than on political and 

 social tradition. 



(4) That in view of this it is the duty of American 

 men of science to exert themselves to the utmost to 

 secure due recognition and participation of science in 

 the gigantic problemsof national and international 

 readjustment by which the world will soon be con- 

 fronted. 



The Application of Science.^ 



There are two fundamental motives determining 

 interest in science : (i) a desire to know the universe, 

 its constitution, phenomena, and laws of evolution ; 

 and (2) a desire that the facts disclosed may be applied 

 to the service of humanity. 



The broadest significance of a fact of science is 

 only reached when it is applied to some useful, end. 

 Without such application its significance is limited 

 to its intellectual or aesthetic appeal. W^ith such appli- 

 cation it takes its place as one of the factors in the 

 life of humanity. 



Not all facts of science are equally susceptible of 

 useful application. Some possibly may have no such 

 application. It is impossible to foresee the future, 

 however, and it is not unreasonable to assume that, in 

 a large way, all facts of science contain the potential 

 of some useful application at some stage in the 

 evolution of humanity on the earth. 



The problem of the application of the facts of science 

 is that of bridging the gap between the observed fact 

 and the correlated demand presented by the needs of 

 civilisation. This problem divides under two types, 

 (i) Given a fact of science, what are its applications?-* 

 (2) Given a need of civilisation, what is the foundation 

 in science for meeting the need? 



The factors most likelv to be of significance in deal- 

 ing with the first problem are (i) imagination or 

 vision ; (2) wide acquaintance with the needs of 

 humanity as expressed in terms of their scientific 

 elements. For the second typical problem there are 

 required likewise (i) imagination or vision, and (2) 

 wide acquaintance with the facts of science likelv to 

 bear upon the specific problem in hand. 



2 Ry Prof. W. F. Durand, professor of mechanic.nl engineering, Stanford 

 Un'versity, California. 



