470 



NATURE 



[August 14, 19 19 



of scientific attainments having- a technical know- 

 ledge of forestry. This amendment was rejected 

 on a vote, but Sir Philip persisted with it in the 

 Report stage, which followed immediately after 

 Committee was over, and it was then accepted 

 and added to the Bill. He also put forward an 

 amendment, which was accepted, that the Com- 

 missioners should have power, in addition to 

 collecting and preparing forestry statistics, to 

 publish and distribute them. 



From the point of view of assuring that 

 the new Forestry Authority should have 

 expert guidance in inaugurating- and formu- 

 lating- its forest policy, the acceptance of 

 Sir Philip Magnus's amendment with reference 

 to the inclusion of expert scientific opinion on 

 the Commission is of the very first importance, 

 for on that member will lie a heavy responsibility. 

 It is to be hoped that in his selection the Com- 

 missioners will make every effort to secure a man 

 of recognised scientific attainments and merit, 

 who at the same time possesses a wide knowledge 

 of up-to-date forestry methods as existing in the 

 different forestry services in the world. The 

 appointment will not be an easy one to fill. 



To those acquainted with the requirements of a 

 truly scientific forestry department, the setting up 

 of which is arrived at in this country. Sir Philip's 

 other amendment, with reference to the publica- 

 tion of forestry statistics, which was also urg-ed 

 by the British Science Guild, is of not less import- 

 ance. The publication of the material collected 

 in proper form — that is, in a form which shall 

 comprise the issue of that collected in a 

 separate series of publications, some for the 

 scientific reader, and others for the lower g-rades 

 of a forestry service and for laymen — is a 

 matter of supreme importance. This importance 

 is accepted by the man of science without ques- 

 tion, but to the public the value of such reports 

 is not self-evident. In this respect, therefore, the 

 House of Commons is to be congratulated on 

 possessing at least one Member having- the know- 

 ledg-e and foresight to recog-nise the vital necessity 

 of assuring that this aspect of the question is 

 safeguarded, and to be an advocate of scientific 

 interests generally. After passing through Com- 

 mittee the Bill was read a third time. 



NOTES. 



The following names appear in the deferred list of 

 honours in connection with the King's birthday, which 

 was published yesterday : — Viscount Iveagh, chan- 

 cellor of Dublin Universit\ (promoted to an earldom) ; 

 Lt.-Col. H. G. Barling, vice-chancellor of Birmingham 

 University, and Mr. C. H. E. Chubb, donor to the 

 nation of Stonehenge (baronetcies) ; Dr. R. C. Brown, 

 founder of a scholarship for research at Cambridge 

 University, Prof. W. Bo\d Dawkins, F.R.S., and Mr. 

 J. Y. W.'MacAlister, president of the Library Associa- 

 tion and secretary of the Royal Society of Medicine 

 (knighthoods). 



The Pont^coulant prize of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences has been awarded to Prof. A. S. Eddington 

 for his work on astronomical research. 



NO. 2598, VOL. 103] 



An important demonstration in wireless telephony 

 was given by the Royal Air Force in the Houses of 

 Parliament on Monday, August ii. So far as can be 

 judged from the Press accounts, the demonstration was- 

 entirely successful, over a range of twenty miles. 

 General^ Seel\ explained that the Air Force took up 

 the subject of wireless telephony early in 1915, and by 

 March, 1918, the first two squadrons of aeroplanes 

 had been fitted with the apparatus, which gave them 

 such an advantage that it was found that German 

 machines took care to avoid them. The postal aero- 

 planes, such as those plying between Kenley and' 

 France, are now so fitted. Ranges of 100 miles from 

 an aeroplane and of 165 miles from an airship have 

 been obtained, and could be increased by the use of 

 larger aerials at the receiving stations, if any good 

 purpose would be served thereby. Improvements still 

 remain to be effected, such as the elimination of the 

 trailing aerial on the aeroplane, and of the need of 

 switching over between sending and receiving, which 

 makes the interchange of conversation not quite so- 

 easy as it Is with an ordinary telephone. Another part 

 of the demonstration concerned direction-finding by 

 wireless for the navigation of aircraft. For this pur- 

 pose the aerial in the aeroplane takes the form of a 

 coil of wire mounted on a rectangular frame about 

 4 ft. high and 3 ft. wide, which can be turned on a 

 veitical axis, and the variations in the -strength of the 

 signals as this is turned round enable the direction of 

 the sending station to be located. A coil of this kind 

 was on view, and by its aid signals were picked up 

 from the Eiffel Tower, a portion of a message received 

 announcing itself as being an "order particularly for 

 Budapest." An inter-communication telephone was 

 also shown by General Seely. Worn on the neck of a 

 member, with a wire-connection down the trouser-leg, 

 It would enable him to speak to all the world. 



In a letter published In the Times of August 4 

 Prof. Karl Pearson directed attention to the serious 

 financial difficulties of the Galton Laboratory. Owing 

 to the war the equipment of the buildings provided 

 for the housing of the laboratory staff was not pro- 

 ceeded with, and the Institute was used as a military 

 hospital. Now, owing to the rise in prices, not only 

 will the equipment cost from two to three times as 

 much as it would have done In 19 14, but the slender 

 endowment Is quite Inadequate to defray ordinary 

 establishment charges, the cost of printing, and the 

 provision of a living wage for the staff. Prof. Pearson 

 writes :— "The Biometric and the Galton Laboratories 

 were the first of their kind to be established; they 

 no longer stand alone. The United States have their 

 professors of biometry and their eugenics laboratories 

 backed by funds which we cannot hope to rival. Why 

 Is It that Britain so often starts the new idea but 

 leaves it to fructify In other lands? Especially _ im- 

 portant at the present moment is the field of activity 

 for our science. The war has brought many problems 

 to the fore; eugenlcal research has much ground to 

 make up, and most serious questions as to national 

 efficiency are demanding scientific treatment." This 

 reasoning is cogent, and It will be a serious scandal If 

 the Galton and Eugenics Laboratories are starved. 

 The enlightened patronage by the State of research 

 institutes maintained In connection with universities 

 Is nearly always a better method of promoting the 

 true interests of science than the segregation of re- 

 search workers In State Departments out of touch 

 with the general developments of academic thought. 



We regret to have to record the death, at the early 

 age of fortv-three, of Prof. George Stephen West, 

 holder of the chair of botanv and vegetable physio- 



