154 



NATURE 



[April 24, 19 19 



them under the disadvantageous conditions found in 

 these areas was scarcely covered by the value of the 

 by-products. But by increasing the value of these 

 products the scale may be turned, and such a system 

 rendered profitable, and it would certainly be an 

 advantage to these areas to have such a supply of 

 oil and cattle and other foods as these by-products 

 would yield. Again, there are other areas where 

 cotton is struggling against the rivalry of other com- 

 peting crops, and where the scale might just be turned 

 in its favour by the increased value of its by-products. 

 Reference was made to the position of India, where 

 the seed-crushing industry has never been properly 

 developed, and it was agreed that such a process as 

 the seed-lint removal might make all the difference. 



A seed-lint defibrating machine was shown working 

 at the lecture, and samples of all the by-products were 

 exhibited, including bread, scones, and cakes made 

 with a proportion of cotton-seed flour. There was a 

 very useful discussion after the lecture by a number 

 of experts representing different sections of the trades 

 affected. 



A BRITISH GEODETIC AND 

 GEODYNAMIC INSTITUTE. 



A COMMITTEE, consisting of Dr. Shipley (the 

 Vice-chancellor), Dr. H. K. Anderson, Col. Sir 

 C. F. Close, Sir Horace Darwin, Sir F. W. Dyson, 

 Dr. E. H. Griffiths, Sir T. H. Holdich, Sir Joseph 

 Larmor, Col. H. G. Lyons, Prof. Newall, Sir Charles 

 Parsons, Sir Napier Shaw, Sir J. J. Thomson, and 

 Prof. H. H. Turner, has been formed for the purpose 

 of making an appeal for the creation and endowment 

 of a geophysical institute at Cambridge. The ques- 

 tion of the establishment of an institute of this 

 character has been under consideration by the British 

 Association for the last three years. A large and 

 representative committee reported unanimously in 

 favour of the project, which was then considered by 

 the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies. This Board 

 also reported that there was a real need for such an 

 institute. The chief reasons which have been put 

 forward on behalf of the scheme are : — (i) Geodetic 

 work must form the basis and control of all the State 

 surveys of the Empire, on which about a million 

 sterling was spent annually before the war. (2) A 

 geophysical institute could render great assistance in 

 connection with the particular group of geodetic 

 problems now of most practical interest in the United 

 Kingdom, namely, those associated with levelling, 

 mean sea-level, and vertical movements of the crust 

 of the earth. (3) Such an institute is greatly needed 

 to assist in the study of the tides and in attacking 

 the great problems which must be solved if tidal pre- 

 diction is to advance beyond its present elementary 

 and fragmentary state. (4) There is at present no 

 provision for the collection and critical discussion of 

 the geodetic work which is being done within the 

 Empire, or for its, comparison with the work of other 

 countries. There is no institution available for re- 

 search work or higher training in geodesy. There is 

 no British institution which can be referred to for the 

 latest technical data and methods, and until the out- 

 break of war it was the custom of many British 

 surveys (notably the Survey of India), when con- 

 fronted with geodetic problems, to refer to the Geo- 

 detic Institute at Potsdam. This was not even then 

 a very satisfactory arrangement, and now a radical 

 change is inevitable. 



Discussion as to where the institute could most 

 suitably be established has led to the selection of 

 Cambridge, for it is essential that an institute of 

 geodesy and geodynamics should be closely associated 

 with a great school of mathematics and physics, and 



NO. 2582, VOL. 103] 



it is only in connection with a great Imperial uni- 

 versity that that width and freshness of outlook are 

 to be sought which are essential to a progressive and 

 practical science. The committee has evidence that 

 an institute at Cambridge would be cordially wel- 

 comed by the national Survey Departments, both 

 terrestrial and oceanographic. 



It is estimated that an endowment of 50,000!. will 

 be necessary if the proposed institute is satisfactorily 

 to perform the double task of research and education, 

 but it is hoped that if half that sum were contributed 

 by private benefactions the remainder would be forth- 

 coming from national funds. An essential part of the 

 scheme would be the foundation of a university pro- 

 fessorship of geodynamics to be held by the director 

 of the institute. To place this professorship in line 

 with other chairs recently endowed by private benefac- 

 tions, and usually associated with the names of the 

 donors or founded as memorials of national sacrifice 

 in the great war, a sum of 2o,oooZ. (which is included 

 in the 50,000/. mentioned above) would be required. 

 It is certain that all who have to do with our shipping 

 interests or with aerial navigation would ultimately 

 profit from the establishment of such an institute. 



RESPONSIBILITIES OF BOTANICAL 

 SCIENCE. 



" COME Responsibilities of Botanical Science" is 

 *-' the subject of Prof. B. E. Livingston's address 

 to the Botany Section of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science meeting at Baltimore 

 last December {Science, February 28, 1919). The 

 work of botanical science is at present carried on by 

 a sort of guerrilla warfare, each man for himself; for 

 a planned and productive campaign co-operation is 

 necessary. The objects to be attained are twofold. 

 The first is the conservation of knowledge already 

 attained. The existing means for presenting botanical 

 abstracts and resumes are merely makeshifts; there 

 is need for a national or international institute for the 

 furnishing of bibliographical information on request. 

 Such an institute would be a great undertaking, with 

 a permanent staff of departmental heads and a corps 

 of bibliographical assistants; but it would seek the 

 co-operation of all men of science. It would avoid 

 enormous waste of time and energy on the part of 

 scientific workers and research institutions, and give 

 congenial employment to many who wish to serve in 

 scientific work, but may not find their best places as 

 teachers or research workers. 



The second object is botanical research, which is 

 considered under three heads : the planning of re- 

 search, the procuring of data, and the interpretation 

 and presentation of results. Prof. Livingston em- 

 phasises the absence of any recognition of the inves- 

 tigator as such, and the striking characteristic that 

 most of the oublished work aooears to be done bv 

 apprentices. The planning of scientific investigation 

 deserves much more attention than it generally 

 receives, and our selection of problems and planning 

 of projected investigations would be greatly im- 

 proved if co-operation between competent thinkers 

 were more in vogue. The securing of the requisite 

 observational or experimental data is the easiest part 

 of investigation, but comparatively few writers trouble 

 to interpret their results in a logically complete 

 manner. A discussion is written from the point of 

 view of one out of several or many logically possible 

 hypotheses, and one of the greatest wastes in biological 

 research lies in the publication of so many uninter- 

 preted observations. Finally, there are the responsi- 

 bilities towards applied botanical science, not only the 

 practical applications in the arts, but also the philo- 

 sophical applications to other branches of science. 



