350 



NATURE 



[May 19, 1910 



places, there were brains, and that there were persons 

 who, if they would, could solve those complex problems 

 which were so costly, and yet for which one had to find" 

 some immediate solution. Now the intelligent manu- 

 facturer — just as a Government does — provides himself with 

 a permanent staff to keep things going ; but, further than 

 this, he brings in other people in order to consult with 

 them if anything goes wrong, or if he has reasonable 

 grounds for believing he can make an improvement. The 

 pe'rson thus consulted receives a retainer, perhaps — gets so 

 rnuch a year and so much a job. " It is suggested," con- 

 tinued Sir William, " and I think it is an admirable notion, 

 that the same plan which has proved itself successful in 

 helping our manufacturers should be applied by the 

 ■Government. There is an enormous number of people in 

 this country who could be got by a very small retainer 

 indeed, or perhaps feel honoured by being chosen, and 

 when required they would be at hand to help with their 

 advice." 



The question of dirigible balloons threatened our naval 

 supremacy, continued Sir William. What was the best 

 way to destroy them? The natural way was to project a 

 shell at them ; but our mechanical art had not grown so 

 perfect as to enable us to time the explosion of a shell to 

 the thousandth part of a second, while, on the other hand, 

 the substance of the balloon would be too soft to explode 

 the shell by concussion on contact with the balloon itself. 

 ■*' I was asked," Sir William proceeded, " what was the 

 ■best way to destroy those balloons, and I made several 

 suggestions. I am perfectly willing to put any suggestions 

 1 have at the disposal of the Government for the benefit 

 ■of my country, and I am sure there are hundreds of 

 thousands in the same position who are able and willing 

 to do something for the benefit of this country without 

 pay.'' Concluding, Sir William said that the practical 

 solution of that problem was that there should be con- 

 sultative committees formed in all branches of inquiry 

 appertaining to the national welfare, and he saw no 

 reason even why such parties called in for consultation 

 should not be paid just as the ordinary consultee was paid 

 "by the manufacturer when called in to tender advice. The 

 appointment of a large number of such consultative bodies, 

 call them what they wished, would be of inestimable 

 advantage to the nation in solving many of the complex 

 problems which were so bafTfling to the ordinary advisory 

 resources of a Government dependent practically altogether 

 upon its permanent staff. 



Mr. Frederick Verney, M.P., responding in the absence 

 ■of Sir William Mather, said it was most interesting to hear 

 a man of science speaking on politics. He heartily agreed 

 with Sir William Ramsay in his main contention "that the 

 "Government would be immensely helped and rendered far 

 more efficient if they had at their disposal and took advan- 

 tage of the enormous amount of latent wisdom which only 

 required to be called forth to be put at the service of the 

 country. If England could boast of one thing more than 

 any other nation, there was one thing which we might 

 safely say, and that was that in no other country was so 

 much and so good unpaid work done to-day as was done 

 in England. It was not so desirable to increase that work 

 as to render it more efficient for the Empire at large, and 

 he did not believe any member of the House of Lords or 

 House of Commons would be against that proposal. 

 Certainly no one in England would have welcomed more 

 warmly Sir William Ramsay's proposal than Mr. Haldane 

 himself, as there was no statesman who had shown himself 

 rnore eager to avail himself of all the science put at his 

 disposal than the Secretary of State for War. In any case, 

 if^ there was any consolation for people to be killed 

 scientifically, they would have abundance of chance of it 

 in due time, and in the next great war he was afraid 

 they would have too much of it. There was one essential 

 difference between politics and science. In politics they 

 "had nothing but uncertainties to deal with, but in science 

 they had perhaps something tolerably certain to deal with. 

 In politics one had to deal with human nature — with 

 character — and thus the uncertainties of political life were 

 the hardest to foresee and the most difficult to deal with ; 

 and the man who could fight his way through the uncer- 

 tainties of politics, and could do something for the good 

 of the nation at largp, deserved well of his country, and 

 -merited the name of British statesman. 



NO. 2 1X6, VOL. 83] 



Sir Alfred Keogh, K.C.B., also responded to the toast. 

 As to the application of science to methods of government, 

 he was glad to hear allusion made to their distinguished 

 president, who was the great exponent of that idea. 

 Regarding the possibility of war with Germany, we were 

 at present engaged in real warfare with her, but that 

 war was being waged in the laboratories of the two 

 countries. The German nation deserved scientifically all 

 the admiration we could give to it. It had recognised the 

 relation of science, not only to industries, but to methods 

 of government and the general education of the community. 

 The great disadvantages in this country were that our 

 rulers and governors did not appear to be acquainted with 

 the fact that they had at their elbow men who, over and 

 over again, would help them in all the problems they had 

 to solve. 



Sir William White, K.C.B., F.R.S., in giving the toast 

 " The Armed Forces of the Empire," said that that toast 

 was not a novelty, but although he had known it by many 

 titles, it always meant the same thing — namely, that, as 

 British citizens, they desired to honour and remember those 

 who gave or were ready to give their lives for the service 

 of the country and of the empire. Behind " the armed 

 forces of the empire," he reminded them, lay the principle 

 of personal service, and whatever else we could give, there 

 was one thing we could all give to our country and empire, 

 and that was personal service. In modern times war was 

 a very complex thing. The day had passed when personal 

 courage alone and readiness to do or die were an assurance 

 of victory, because nowadays so much depended upon the 

 equipment of war, in the perfecting of which every branch 

 almost of art and science was laid under tribute ; but 

 although the material was important, it required the man 

 and mind to utilise it ; and when the man and mind were 

 employed in competition with others struggling for victory, 

 it was in the highest degree important that those who 

 served in our armed forces should be equipped mentally, 

 scientifically, and in every way possible so as to give the 

 fighting unit an honest chance. Those were matters, how- 

 ever, which depended upon the central administration, and 

 if it was not conducted on scientific lines, then there was 

 little hope of that object being fulfilled. _ 



Col. Sir John Young, in responding, concurred with 

 the proposer of the toast in regard to the importance ol 

 science to the efficiency of the naval and military forces. 

 He was glad to say that in Mr. Haldane, at any rate, true 

 scientific principles have had a friend who understood 

 thoroughly the job he had to accomplish. _ _ '^- 



Sir Boverton Redwood proposed the toast of " The BritisM 

 Science Guild in Greater Britain." Some misconceptionj 

 he said, existed still as to what the guild really was. Many 

 people thought it was only an addition to previous learned 

 societies. He reminded them that the British Scienc^ 

 Guild was not a scientific society in the ordinary .acceptation 

 of the term, but was an organisation intended primarily 

 to bring about the adoption of scientific methods in all 

 matters of daily life, and incidentally to promote and foster 

 the study of science by people who were not what might 

 be called " scientific people." The term " science," how-; 

 ever, frightened and repelled many, although it had beert 

 defined over and over again as the organised applicatior" 

 of common sense. He cordially endorsed Sir Willjann 

 Ramsay's opinion that the attention given to that organised 

 application of common sense was lamentably lacking in 

 many quarters, from the Government downwards. NoWj 

 that state of things must not continue if the British nation 

 was to hold its dominant position amongst the nations 

 of the world. The British Science Guild had shown them 

 already what ought to be done, and how to do it, and 

 it was' not only in this country that there was scope for 

 its work. From its inception there had been a gradually 

 increasing number of members in Greater Britain beyonc^ 

 the seas, and that was an exceptionally good feature oi 

 the movement. Already some action had been taken in 

 the direction of organising those members,^ and branches 

 or committees had been formed with that object in Canada 

 and Australasia. The effect of that was to stimulate the 

 interest they took in the guild and to bind them to the 

 common body, and generally they had evidences that there 

 was the opportunity for great benefit from the work d 

 those branches in the empire beyond the seas. 



The chairman, in responding, gave an interesting accouni 



