DISCOVERY 



give the verdict. Every respect and honour must 

 be given to our contemporary pioneers of knowledge, 

 but we feel that encouragement cannot fail to assist 

 them. The finest form of encouragement is the 

 interest shown by our thinking public. It is to promote 

 that interest, and to ascertain into what channels that 

 interest runs, for which Discovery stands. Our 

 readers will be doing a service to themselves, their 

 journal, and the cause of intellectual progress if they 

 will inform us of the special subjects which interest 

 them and, generally, of their ideas and wishes 

 concerning the conduct of Discovery. 



^ ^ :): ^ H: 



There were some very sharp criticisms expressed in 

 England a few months ago when a report was received 

 that a new German drug for the cure of sleeping- 

 sickness would be kept secret in the interest of German 

 colonial schemes. We heard it said that this was a 

 typical example of German ways of thinking — an 

 unkind comment on the land that gave us Koch's 

 treatment of tuberculosis, to mention only one of its 

 services to medicine. Our national sense of superiority 

 must have received a shock recently to learn that the 

 production of " Insulin," a substance used in the 

 treatment of diabetes, was to be controlled. There 

 was some hint of the same spirit in the suppression of 

 formula; for a lead compound which is being tested in 

 cancer by workers in Liverpool. We need not say 

 that there is no suggestion that in either case were 

 the motives of the investigators other than creditable. 

 The fact remains, however, that we must face a new 

 attitude towards scientific remedies for disease. Their 

 usefulness is to be examined by a minority ; their 

 development, if it comes at all, must come from a 

 small group of experimenters. 



It is argued that a misapplication of a valuable 

 agent for the relief of disease may lead to its discredit. 

 This, of course, is a different motive for secrecy or 

 control than that which inspired the commercial 

 exploitation of the first forceps employed in child- 

 birth. But is it a fact that a really v'aluable invention 

 loses anything by the widest possible investigation and 

 development ? We owe a great deal to the large 

 English manufacturing chemists for their modifications 

 of such drugs as thyroid gland, quinine, and chloroform. 

 The wish to restrict investigations to a selected body 

 of men is in truth a form of egotism. Not even the 

 most eminent scientist is the seat of all learning ; even 

 if he were, he could not hope that all the fortunate 

 accidents which often bring success would happen to 

 him and to him only. The freemasonry of science is its 

 great glory and its great advantage in the search after 

 truth, and any tendencies to a narrowing of the fields 

 of research are unwelcome. 



The First World Flight 

 Attempt 



By Major W. T. Blake 



[The first attempt to fly round the world was 

 organised by Major W. T. Blake last year. The three 

 participants in the flight were the author. Captain N. 

 Macmillan, and Mr. G. Malins. In this article Major 

 W. T. Blake gives his first complete description of the 

 flight to appear in an English magazine. — Ed.] 



At ■^.'j p.m. on 24th May last year we left Croydon 

 Aerodrome, subsequently reaching Paris and Lyons, 

 whence we intended crossing the Alps. On reaching 

 Chambery we found the whole mountains shrouded in 

 mist, making the passage too risky to attempt. I 

 therefore passed a note to Macmillan, who was piloting 

 the machine, to proceed due south for Avignon and 

 Nice. Shortly afterwards our trouble began. Wlien 

 over Ai.x- en- Provence the engine began to run extremely 

 badly, and it became necessary to land as soon as 

 possible. 



A Forced L.wdixg .at .\ Race-meeting 



At Lyons we had been told that there was an 

 aerodrome at Marseilles, and we therefore headed for 

 this city. We arrived over Marseilles to find it 

 situated in the midst of country, with hills, boulders, 

 and ravines, with no single space ur which it would 

 have been possible to land a machine for miles around. 

 In the city itself the only possible place was a small 

 race-course, surrounded by trees and houses, and more 

 than half covered by what we afterwards discovered 

 to be stands erected for a gymnastic display. A race- 

 meeting was in progress. 



After flying low over the course to inspect it thor- 

 oughly, Macmillan turned in, threw the machine into 

 a vertical side-slip, coming over the stands, flattening 

 out at the last possible moment and nearly bringing 

 off the landing. Unfortunately there was a ditch 

 across the only open part of the race- course. This 

 caught the left wheel of the under- carriage, crumpling 

 it up and throwing the machine on to her nose, the 

 tail shot into the air and I was jerked violently forward 

 in my seat. For a moment the machine stood almost 

 vertical on her nose, undecided whether to turn right 

 over or to fall back. Then she fell back on to her tail 

 skid. The only damage was to the under- carriage, 

 a broken propeller and a broken wing skid. 



Our repairs here, owing to our having to dismantle 

 the machine, occupied three weeks, but on 23rd June 

 we took off once more and flew to Pisa, Rome, Naples, 

 Brindisi, and across the Adriatic to Athens. 



Above Vesuvius 

 As Vesuvius was in a mild state of eruption, we 



