lOO 



NATURE 



[March 24, 1910 



Shackleton also spoke. We propose to print the main 

 parts of these speeches later, and here limit our- 

 selves to the mention of a few points of wide interest 

 included in the report. 



The following gentlemen were elected as new vice- 

 presidents :— Sir William White, K.C.B., F.R.S., Sir 

 Clifford Allbutt, K.C.B., F.R.S., Sir George Darwin, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., Surgeon-General Sir A. Keogh, 

 K.C.B., Right Hon. Sir George Reid, K.C.M.G. 

 The following new members of the executive com- 

 mittee were also elected : — Sir David Gill, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., Sir William White, K.C.B., F.R.S., the Rt. 

 Hon. the Earl of Chichester, Sir A. Keogh, K.C.B., 

 Mr. A. Mosely, C.M.G., Sir Boverton Redwood, 

 Colonel Sir John Young, C.V.O. 



The executive committee proposes to offer two 

 prizes for an essay on "The best way of carrying on 

 the struggle for existence and securing the survival 

 of the fittest in national affairs." The essay should 

 state the main points to which attention must be 

 directed ; the following, in which the practice of 

 modern nations differs, may be touched upon : — 



(i) The training of the citizen to secure national 

 efficiency in peace, and national defence in war. 



(2) State organisations for securing the same 

 objects. 



(3) The State endowment of the higher teaching 

 and research in universities and elsewhere. 



(4) Whether a system of party government alone is 

 sufficient to secure all the best interests of the State 

 in those directions in which brain-power and special 

 knowledge are needed, or whether a body free from 

 the influence of party politics and on which the most 

 important national activities are represented by the 

 most distinguished persons is desirable. 



(5) Whether it is of advantage that the nation's 

 greatest men in science, learning and industry on 

 whom, in peace, the prestige and progress of the 

 nation chiefly depend should be in touch with the 

 head of the State. 



(6) How discoveries and applications of science can 

 be best and soonest utilised for State purposes both in 

 peace and war. 



Formation of Colonial Branches. 



In the last annual report reference was made to the 

 proposed formation of branches of the Guild in Australia 

 and Canada. During the year further progress has been 

 made, and inaugural meetings have been held in Winnipeg 

 (Canada) and Sydney (New South Wales). A branch is 

 also being formed in South Australia. 



In Canada an organising committee has been formed, 

 consisting of the leading educational, scientific, and busi- 

 ness men. By forming such a committee, it was considered 

 that not the least of the advantages would be the keeping 

 in touch with the scientific methods throughout the Empire, 

 and it was hoped that the Canadian committee might thus 

 be the means of obtaining accurately for the British Guild 

 information on Canadian matters. 



The inaugural meeting of the New South Wales branch 

 was held on October 13, 1909, at the Royal Society's 

 House, Sydney, the Governor of New South Wales, Lord 

 Chelmsford, occupying the chair. In the course of an 

 address Lord Chelmsford said that what is wanted to-day, 

 and what he thought the Guild intends to try to do, is 

 to get a scientific spirit to permeate the public at large. 

 Science is an end in itself ; but the general public should 

 be convinced that in giving money for scientific purposes 

 they are giving it for a good cause, and also that scientific 

 knowledge is worth something in pounds, shillings, and 

 pence. He hoped in that way to get the public alive to 

 the importance of scientific knowledge in everyday life. 

 Departments of public instruction may bring forward 

 schemes of coordination and the like, but until the parents 

 have been convinced that education is of value to them, all 

 the schemes in the world are not going to make them 

 NO. 2108, VOL. 83] 



alive to education. In Germany and in America parents 

 in the homes are alive to the importance of education, and 

 they are determined to undergo any personal sacrifices if 

 they can only give their sons and daughters the best 

 possible education. 



In the case of agriculture, we have to convince the farm- 

 ing community as a whole that there is something in 

 scientific knowledge that is going to be of value to them. 

 This is very hard to do. It is to be hoped that by "ts 

 methods the Guild will be able to press home, not only 

 upon men in authority — he believed men in authority are 

 fully alive to the value of scientific knowledge — but also 

 upon the men in the street, that scientific knowledge is 

 not a mere abstraction, and that if devoted to commerce, 

 trade, and everyday life, it will sweeten and enrich the 

 lives of all and help the well-being of the community at 

 large. 



Speaking of the objects of the Guild, Dr. F. A. Bennet 

 said that Germany spends more money on the University 

 of Berlin alone than does England upon the whole of her 

 universities put together. "It is not the German Dread- 

 noughts we have to be afraid of, but the German school- 

 master," observed Sir James Graham. " He is the man 

 who is doing the damage." 



In South Australia, the Governor, Sir Day Hort 

 Bosanquet, is acting as patron of the branch. In a 

 circular, issued by the secretary, the ideals of the Guild 

 are stated as : — 



" To give one kind of education only to the people of 

 the Empire — the best (both practical and theoretical) — and 

 to secure its economic application to the wants of mankind. 



" To help us to keep our Empire the greatest factor in 

 the world and retain our immense commerce. To do this 

 we must teach the people the necessity of applying the 

 methods of science to all branches of human effort. It 

 must be observed that practical and scientific knowledge 

 combined, and its application to useful purposes, is the 

 secret of all human mental influence and power. It reduces 

 labour, increases pleasure, and gives health and content- 

 ment. 



" Scientific straight-thinking is just as good for us as a 

 navy is for Germany. Brains lie at the root of all 

 things/' 



The Want of National Organisation. 



The president of the Guild in his address last year re- 

 marked : — " The exertions of our people as a united people 

 are necessary if we are to hold our own in the stress of 

 the competition of nations." These remarks have led the 

 executive committee to consider how best the suggested 

 changes can be brought about. The committee points out 

 that in the case of the armed forces of the country, follow- 

 ing the example of Germany, a general staff for army 

 purposes is alread}' in being, and the Government has 

 announced that a similar organisation is being established 

 for naval purposes. The view that the peace purposes of 

 the nation could be well served by an organisation dealing 

 similarly with peace requirements, and indeed that they 

 cannot be best served without it, is rapidly gaining ground, 

 all the more because it is becoming fully recognised that 

 party politics deal more with the temporary success of a 

 party than with the permanent welfare of the State. A 

 body composed of men selected from among the most 

 eminent representatives of science, education, industry, 

 commerce, and finance, associated with the technical heads 

 of the Government institutions dealing specially with such 

 matters, would provide such a general staff fully com- 

 petent to deal with questions in which united action would 

 be conducive to the nation's welfare and progress. 



In university organisation there has been steady growth 

 of opinion in two directions. First, the necessity for the 

 fullest consideration of research in connection with all the 

 higher teaching ; and, secondly, the national loss which 

 results from the exclusion of the universities from the 

 Government view of education as represented by its 

 Board. 



In giving a statement of some scientific researches which 

 have recently been aided by the State, the executive com- 

 mittee remarks that the present Government has shown 

 itself more anxious to promote scientific inquiry than any 

 of its predecessors. 



