312 



NATURE 



[June 19, 1919 



The Astrographic Catalogue.— Reference is made 

 in the report of the Oxford University Observatory 

 for the past year to the progress made in certain zones 

 of this work, which were originally allotted to the 

 observatories that have been unable to complete their 

 undertaking without some help. The plates taken 

 and measured at the Vatican Observatory are reduced 

 and published under the direction of Prof. Turner, 

 and the printing of vol. iv., which will complete nearly 

 half this section, is in progress. The plates taken at 

 the Santiago de Chile Observatory are sent to the 

 University Observatory for measurement and reduc- 

 tion, but the supply is slow and scarcely satisfactory. 

 The Hyderabad Observatory, which took over a zone 

 left undone by a South American observatory, and 

 may be considered an offshoot of Oxford, for both its 

 directors received their training there, has made rapid 

 progress, but this may be somewhat hindered by the 

 death of its young and energetic director, Mr. Pocock, 

 to whose widow the Nizam has granted a pension of 

 looZ. a year. 



THE BRITISH SCIENCE GUILD. 



'T^HE thirteenth annual meeting of the British 



-^ Science Guild was held (by kind permission of 

 the Master and Wardens) at the Goldsmiths' Hall on 

 Tuesday, June 17, the Right Hon. Lord Sydenham, 

 president of the guild, in the chair. 



The adoption of the annual report, which recorded 

 the various activities of committees of the guild, was 

 moved by Sir Richard Gregory. Special reference was 

 made to the report presented by the Education Com- 

 mittee on " Industrial Research and the Supply of 

 Trained Scientific Workers," which has been sent to 

 the Prime Minister, the Minister of Education, and 

 other authorities concerned. Shortly after its issue 

 a deputation of representatives of British universities 

 was received by the Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 and the President of the Board of Education, who 

 expressed sympathy with the plea for more generous 

 State aid to the universities. The Civil Service Esti- 

 mates for 1919-20, since published, show that 

 i,ooo,oool. is allotted to the maintenance of university 

 institutions, as compared with 500,000/. for the year 

 1913-14. It is felt, however, that a full inquiry into 

 the provision of university and higher technical 

 education in this country is still needed. 



Another subject that has received attention from a 

 committee of the guild is the organisation of research 

 in relation to fisheries. The report emphasises the 

 importance to a maritime nation of investigations of 

 the sea and development of its fishing resources. The 

 work of existing bodies in this field deserves fuller 

 support, and the establishment of an Advisory Council 

 or Board of Marine Research is suggested. Especially 

 it is urged that there should be a properly equipped 

 institute and museum of oceanography in this country 

 similar in scope to those existing in France, Germany, 

 and now being planned in Denmark. A memorandum 

 on the Decimal Coinage Bill is presented by the 

 Metric System Committee, while the Technical Optics 

 Committee has urged upon the President of the Board 

 of Trade the necessity of establishing a strong optical 

 industry in this country. 



Simultaneously with the adoption of the annual 

 report, the election of Major-Gen. the Right Hon. 

 J. E. B. Seely, Admiral Sir David Beatty, Field- 

 Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, and the Right Hon. the 

 Lord Mayor of London as vice-presidents of the guild 

 was announced. Major-Gen. Seely, in addressing the 

 meeting, expressed his appreciation of this honour 

 and his sympathy with the aims of the guild in 



NO. 2590, VOL. 103] 



regard to higher technical education and research, 

 illustrating from his experience the important part 

 played by the latter both in the war and in relation 

 to industry. He referred particularly to aviation, a 

 field in which progress was absolutely dependent on 

 science — a fact repeatedly illustrated in the war and 

 in the recent Atlantic flights. Of great importance 

 was the perfecting of a system by which an aviator 

 could at any moment ascertain his whereabouts or 

 determine when he was flying upside down. He 

 believed within a few years wireless telephony would 

 go far towards the solution of the first of these 

 problems. 



An address was then delivered by the president, 

 Lord Sydenham, on " Science and Labour Un- 

 rest." Such unrest, he remarked, was largely due to 

 the revolution in industry brought about by the intro- 

 duction of tools and machinery and the subsequent 

 tendency, still pi'oceeding, towards larger under- 

 takings. In this process the intimate and friendly 

 relation formerly prevailing between master and man 

 had been partially lost. Moreover, the introduction 

 of scientific methods of reproduction rendered work 

 repetitive and monotonous, so that the personal skill 

 of the craftsman to-day was, in general, inferior to 

 that he possessed in the pre-machinery age. Science, 

 however, which was responsible for these causes of 

 unrest, could also remove them by providing for the 

 worker better conditions of living; and among the 

 pressing problems of this nature housing was one of the ' 

 most important. Science had also shown that unduly| J 

 long hours meant diminution of output, and research ; 

 was now being made into the best means of eliminating 

 industrial fatigue. Lord Sydenham -also referred to 

 various economic fallacies current among workmen, 

 which found a congenial soil in the present unrest. 

 Fuller education in economic subjects was necessary 

 in order that these errors might be corrected. 



Sir J. J. Thomson, who followed, referred to the 

 many developments in applied science which had taken 

 place during the war, and expressed the hope that the 

 manipulative skill and aptitude for research developed 

 in various special industries or for purposes of war 

 would be preserved and utilised in the future in peace- 

 ful pursuits. He also emphasised the vital importance 

 of scientific knowledge to officers in the Army and 

 Navv, and esoeciallv to the General Staff — a matter 

 which had been much neglected in the past. Similarly 

 we should not make the progress we ought to make 

 until the boards of public companies and the Govern- 

 ment Departments included men imbued with scientific 

 method, which he believed could be evolved only by 

 scientific training. Sir J. J. Thomson also referred 

 to the changes which were being made in the condi- 

 tions of examination for the public service, whereby 

 scientific subjects would be placed in a better position. 

 He did not, however, mean to imply that the selection 

 of men for appointments involving scientific^ know- 

 ledge should rest only on the results of examination. 

 At ^'the present time an opportunity offered itself of 

 selecting" men whose record showed ability in some 

 field of Science, and it was suggested that advantage 

 should be taken of it. , „t 1 r 



In conclusion, a vote of thanks to the Wardens 01 

 the Goldsmiths' Hall was moved by Lord Avebury and 

 seconded bv Col. Sir John Young, who referred to the 

 loss which the guild had sustained in the recent death 

 of Sir Boverton Redwood, who had taken a keen 

 interest in its work for many vears, and was a past 

 master of the Goldsmiths' ' Company. A vote of 

 thanks to the chairman and speakers, moved by Major 

 Sir Ernest H. Shackleton, was adopted by acclama- 

 tion. 



