DISCOVERY 



A MONTHLY POPULAR 



JOURNAL or knov^lt:dgi: 



No. 12. DECEMBER 1920. 



PRICE 6d. NET. 



DISCOVERY. A Monthly Popular Journal of 

 Knowledge. 



Edited by A. S. Russell, M.C, D.Sc, 4 Moreton 

 Road, Oxford, to whom all Editorial Communications 

 should be addressed. 



Published by John Murr.w, 50A Albemarle Street, 

 London, W.i, to whom all Business Communications 

 should be addressed. 



Advertisement Office : 16 Regent Street, London, 

 S.W.I. 



Annual subscription in the future, 12s. 6d. post free ; 

 single numbers, is. net, postage 2d. 



Editorial Notes 



The continued success of Discovery has naturally 

 attracted a number of suggestions for its improvement. 

 Among the wants most strongly felt has been the need 

 for fuller illustration, especially of the scientific articles. 

 This is impossible without a change from the paper 

 hitherto employed to one which will receive photographic 

 reprints ; and, of course, both this and the illustrations 

 themselves will add much to the e.xpense of production, 

 which already, through the present rise in the cost of 

 printing, has gravely exceeded the estimates. After 

 careful consideration, the Committee has decided to 

 provide more illustration, trusting that the generous 

 support hitherto accorded to Discovery will not be 

 diminished by the consequent increase in price stated 

 above, which is more than justified by the increase in 

 the cost of production. 



***** 



With this number we complete the first year of our 

 life. It has been an interesting year full of the sur- 

 prises, adventures, and new beginnings that serve to 

 make life, even at its v.orst, a much greater and finer 

 thing than mere existence. In politics, in industry, 

 and in the intellectual world, we are beginning to 

 realise that the war is really over, and that hope and 

 progress lie not in dwelhng on the past, but in working 

 in the present and planning for. the future. This 

 year has witnessed the first signs of resumed co-opera- 



tion in intellectual work between ourselves and our 

 late enemies ; and although we must always respect and 

 refrain from criticising the attitude of those who 

 cannot see their way at present to resume the old 

 friendly, co-operative spirit of the past, yet one may 

 rejoice that many at least realise, and among them 

 some who were not the least zealous in the fight, that 

 the sooner we get back to the old attitude of mutual 

 regard and understanding with those who wish it, the 

 speedier will be the solution of those problems of 

 science, of letters, and of life, on which the future of 

 humanity so largely depends. 



***** 

 Two of the outstanding subjects of interest in the 

 intellectual world have been the New Psychology and 

 the theory of Relativity. Books, lectures, and dis- 

 cussions on these subjects have been popular every- 

 where, and when able men have lectured upon them, 

 long queues of men and women have waited patiently 

 for admission to the lecture-room. Aviation, in spite 

 of the excellent and hopeful Air Conference in Octo- 

 ber, seems to have suffered a set-back. The climate, 

 lack of generous endowment, and impatience seem to be 

 contributory causes of this. A new star was dis- 

 covered in the heavens in August. Mr. Wells's Outline 

 of History has been completed and published, and the 

 great biography of Disraeli commenced by W. F. 

 Monypenny has been successfully finished by Mr. 



Buckle. 



***** 



These are but a few of the events of the year which 

 concern us. Progress in all the chief departments 

 into which intellectual matters in this country are 

 divided seems good. It is sad to have to record that 

 elsewhere things are different. Many eyes during the 

 year have turned towards Vienna, a city that has for 

 centuries been an outpost of light and learning towards 

 the East, and which now seems to be falling into ruin 

 and decay because of a lack of the necessities of life. 

 WTiat a splendid city was Vienna before the war! 

 Brightness and mirth were in her streets. One re- 

 members little things like the cream in the cups of 

 coffee sold in her cafes, so_thick that a lump of sugar 



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