July 24, 1919] 



NATURE 



41 



had the advantage that at ever}- meeting the papers 

 were taken as read, and the leaders of the discussions 

 could concentrate at once on the important points in 

 iheor\ or criticism of theory which they had set forth. 



The subject of discussion at the first meeting was 

 " Propositions : What They Are and How They 

 Mean." The paper was by Mr. Bertrand Russell". 

 It was the outcome of a philosophical research into 

 the tenability of the behaviourist theory in psychology. 

 The neutral monism which forms the basis of this 

 theory had proved very attractive to Mr. Russell, and 

 he put forward as his own view that it is true in so far 

 as that the psychical and the physical are not distin- 

 guishable by the stuff of which they are made, but bv 

 the order of the causal laws to which they are amen- 

 able. He parted from behaviourism, however, on the 

 question of "images." So far as he had been able to 

 i;o at present, he was convinced that there are images, 

 and he could see no way of interpreting them in 

 l)hysical terms. An interesting discussion followed, led 

 by Dr. G. E. Moore, who presided. 



The second meeting attracted the largest audience 

 of the session. The subject was a symposium on 



Instinct and the Unconscious," to which Dr. 

 W . H. R. Rivers, Dr. C. S. Myers, Dr. C. G. Jung 

 (of Zurich), Prof. Graham Wallas, Dr. J. Drever, and 

 Dr. W. .McDougall contributed. Sir Leslie Mackenzie 

 presided. The interest of this discussion centred round 

 the neurological and psychological discoveries in regard 

 to war-neuroses. Dr. Jung received a warm welcome, 

 and surprised everyone by the ease and fluency with 

 which he expounded his theory in English. The 

 theor\' created a lively impression. At a subsequent 

 meeting its mor^^ philosophical aspect, particularly its 

 relation to Bergson's doctrine of a vital impulse, was 

 the subject of a discussion opened by Mr. J. W. Scott. 



The third meeting was a symposium on " Space, 

 Time, and Material : Are They, and if so in what 

 Sense, the Ultimate Data of Science? " Sit- Joseph 

 Larmor presided. Sir Oliver Lodge, who had con- 

 tributed one of the papers, was unavoidably absent, 

 and a reply to a criticism of his thesis was read. 

 The other contributors were Prof. A. N. Whitehead, 

 Prof. J. W. Nicholson, Dr. Henry Head, Mrs. Adrian 

 Stephen, and Prof. Wi^flon Carr. Two problems 

 emerged in the di^^russion : the physical problem of 

 continuity and the physiological problem of the nature 

 of the mechanisms and neurological contrivances 

 which condition conscious experience. Prof. White- 

 head contended that the first chapter in science, 

 i.e. in the systematisation of Nature, must deal with 

 an event. Process is the fundamental fact which 

 requires explanation ; there is no element in experi- 

 ence prior to and simpler than an event. 



The fourth meeting was devoted to the metaphysical 

 problem of the relation of the finite to the infinite, 

 or, in the terms of the symposium, " Can Finite 

 Minds be Included in the Mind of God? " Lord Hal- 

 dane presided. The papers were bv the Dean of Car- 

 lisle, Dr J. H. Muirhead, Dr. F. C. S. Schiller, and 

 the Bishop of Down. 



The fifth and final meeting was a symposium on 

 "Is there 'Knowledge by Acquaintance'?" The 

 papers were by Prof. G. Dawes Hicks, Dr. G. E. 

 Moore, Dr. Beatrice Edgell, and Mr. C. D. Broad. 

 Prof. W. R. Sorley was in the chair. 



The dominant note in the discussions was, to most 

 of those taking part, the physiological problem. Dr. 

 Head's description of his researches, based on the 

 treatment of war injuries, into the function of the 

 cerebral cortex, and his theory of the survival of older 

 responses beneath the superposed control of the higher 

 centres, though freely criticised, was felt to have im- 

 portant consequents both for psychological and 

 epistemological theorv. .Also, it left the impression 

 NO. 2595, VOL. 103] ■ • 



of a new and unsuspected approach to one another 

 of science and philosophy. 



The meeting in 1920 is to take place at Oxford, and 

 it is intended to invite the participation of the Societe 

 Fran^aise de Philosophic. 



.4 LEAGUE OF UNIIERSITIES. 

 A CONFERENCE of Universities was held at the 

 ■^^- Imperial Institute on July 18. It was con- 

 vened in order that representatives of British uni- 

 versities, including such membefs of the universities 

 of the King's Dominions overseas as are still in 

 England in connection with the war, might take 

 counsel with their colleagues from the U.S.A. Not- 

 withstanding the difficulties created by Peace Day, 

 especially in regard to finding hotel accommodation, 

 the conference was well attended. The subject for 

 discussion was the contemplated extension of the 

 activities of the Universities Bureau. Representatives 

 were invited to give expression to their views regard- 

 ing the ways in which the Bureau might be of greater 

 service to the universities. 



The chairman, Sir Donald Mac.Mister, was able to 

 announce that, the Treasury having, on the advice of 

 the President of the Board of Education, promised to 

 the Bureau a non-recurrent grant of 5000/., provided 

 the universities made adequate provision for its main- 

 tenance, almost all the universities of the United 

 Kingdom had already adopted a proposal made at the 

 last meeting of the conference for each to contribute 

 a sum of looZ. per annum to the Bureau funds, 

 and two of the university colleges had promised 

 5oi. each. The Treasury grant is intended to enable 

 the Bureau Committee to acquire and furnish premises 

 suitable for the accommodation of the staff and for 

 the reception of visiting professors and immigrant 

 students from the Dominions and foreign countries. 

 Probably in a short time it will be possible to announce 

 the address of the new headquarters. 



When the delegates who attended the congress of 

 1912 decided that it was desirable that a "clearing- 

 house " for universities should be established, thev 

 were thinking of it chiefly as an agent for promoting 

 co-operation am.ongst the universities of the Empire, 

 although its international relations were not absent 

 from their minds. No one then could have foreseen 

 that during the autumn of 1914 and the year which 

 followed, the secretary of the Bureau would be in 

 correspondence with all the universities and colleges 

 of the United States and other neutral countries, 

 or sending them parcels of State papers, books, 

 and pamphlets on the causes of a great war, 

 the responsibility for it, and the moral issues which 

 it raised. Nor could anyone have foreseen that, 

 as an outcome of the war, there would be an urgent 

 demand for co-operation amongst the universities of 

 the .Mlied and neutral countries, and especiallv for 

 the interchange of teachers and graduate students, on 

 a scale which will appreciably aflect our knowledge of 

 one another's ways of thought and trend of senti- 

 ment. 



.Ml who look to the League of Nations as the only 

 guarante<^ of peace recognise that rne of its strongest 

 supports would be a League of L^niversities. In illus- 

 tration of what may be done to promote such a league, 

 the nine representatives of the universities of the 

 Ignited Kingdom and Capt. Holme, who represented 

 the universities of Australasia, gave an account of 

 their experiences and of the impressions which they 

 received during their recent visit to France as guests 

 of the French Republic, and Dr. Fish, on behalf of 

 Dr. Duggan, the director, who was detained in 

 France, described the aims of the new Americani 

 Institute of International Education. 



