DISCOVERY 



A MONTHLY POPULAR 

 JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE 



Vol. Ill, No. 33. SEPTEMBER 1922. 



PRICE Is. NET. 



DISCOVERY. A Monthly Populnr Jc.urnal of Knnw- 

 Ic.l^e. 



Edited bv Edward Liveing, B.A., Rothersthorpe, 

 Northampton, to whom all Editorial Communications 

 should be addressed. (Dr. A. S. Rlsskli. continues to 

 act as Scientific Adviser.) 



Published bv John MfRR.w, 50A, Albemarle Street, 

 London, W.i, to whom all Business Communications; 

 should be addressed. 



.Advertisement Office: 34, Ludi^ate Chambers, j2, 

 Ludgate Hill, London, E.C.4. 



Annual Subscription, 12s. hJ. post free; single numbers, 

 Ks. net; postage, 2d. 



Binding cases for Vol. IL iqji, are now ready. Price 

 :!v. hd. net each; postage, c;d. 



Editorial Notes 



The highest mountain in the world still remains 

 undefeated. This is not for want of daring- and 

 endurance on the part of its attackers, or of highly 

 efficient arrangements on the part of their supporters. 

 Captain Bruce and Captain Finch got to a point 1,800 

 feet from the summit. This in itself was a great 

 achievement. \\'e mentioned a few of the difficulties 

 that beset the climber of Everest's final 6,000 feel in 

 these notes last April. In our November number 

 that well-known explorer, Dr. Rudmose Brown, will 

 explain the.se difficulties in fuller detail, and will give 

 a general account of the work of the expedition. 

 Meanwhile we must take up the cudgels once more 

 against those people who continue to insist that these 

 expeditions are mere " suicide clubs." 



This year they have rather strong ground for 

 defending their ideas on the subject, in that several 

 members of the carrying party perished in the return 

 from the second assault. At once they were able 

 to turn round and say, " There you are. We told 

 you that a disaster would befall this sort of under- 

 taking. Do you really consider this loss of life worth 

 while in an attempt to attain to what is an entirelv 



225 



useless object?" Superficially their objections seem 

 well merited. The most useful gains to knowledge 

 resulting from these two expeditions have been 

 brought back not from the higher altitudes of Everest, 

 but from its lower slopes and surrounding country, 

 which have been mapped out by surveyors, and 

 explored by botanists and geologists. It is not very 

 likely that the men who reach the summit will find 

 a new type of rock, or observe a new star. No; the 

 work that is most apparently useful is done below, 

 and it could be done without anvone ascending beyond 

 20,ooQ feet at the most. 



***** 



All this is exceedingly rational, a sound piece of 

 " common sense." But the queer characteristic of 

 ■' common-sense " notions and " common-sense " 

 persons is that they rarely achie\-e anything important 

 in life. But, to extend these arguments, why play 

 tennis or cricket? Vou may beat your opponents, 

 but, even if you do, you have made no material gain 

 and, incidentally, you have run the risk of being 

 hit over the head with a racket up at the net, or of 

 losing the sight of an eye from a fast ball. \\"hat 

 the whole matter comes to is this : " Never take any 

 risks unless you are pretty certain that they may 

 bring you some material gain." Admittedly, this 

 is a crude presentation of these people's point of 

 view, but we will look at it from both a deeper and 

 broader angle. Months ago we maintained in our 

 'columns that "every conquest of our surroundings is 

 a step forward in the upward march of humanity. It 

 may lead to great developments. Of course, it mav 



not All the discoveries of modern 



.science are based on the patient work of those who 

 have laboured to discover the secrets of Nature with- 

 out caring twopence whether or not they were of 

 practical value.' " 



***** 



The growth of ci\ llisation has graduallv and largely 



freed us from the necessity of a continuous effort to 



preserve our physical welfare, and has allowed the 



instincts and energy, hitherto devoted to the.se 



' Discovery. Editorial Notes, Vol. IL, No. 16. 



