DISCOVERY 



A MONTHLY POPULAR 

 JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE 



Vol. II. No. 16. APRIL 1921. 



PRICE Is. NET. 



DISCOVERY. A Monthly Popular Journal of Know- 

 ledge. 



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

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Editorial Notes 



I AM going to allow correspondents to get a word in 

 edgeways this month. One writes, " In your Editorial 

 Notes in the March issue you mention the possibility 

 of an e.xpedition to climb Mount Everest. If it be not 

 too late in the day, might I ask in all seriousness what 

 is the use of such a climb ? Does it do any good ? 

 Are the scientific results hoped for (I suppose the expe- 

 dition is going to be a scientific one) worth the trouble 

 and the expense ? Barring the view, what does any- 

 one expect to find at the top ? Isn't it time that this 

 kind of thing were looked upon by all decent people in 

 the same light as attempts to reach the North and 

 South Poles — namely, a pathological manifestation, or, 

 in less technical language, a singularly futile waste of 

 energy and good mone}' ? " 



* * * # * 



I do not agree with this view. If one went on tour, 

 hired halls and delivered addresses on the value of 

 science, what would one say ? This, that every fact 

 discovered, every conquest of our surroundings, is a 

 step forward in the upward march of humanity. It 

 may lead to great developments. Of course, it may not. 

 The important thing, however, is that it may. .'Vll 

 the discoveries of modern science are based on the 

 patient work of those who have laboured to discover 



the secrets of nature without caring twopence whether 

 or not they were of " practical value." No one should 

 say to these men, " Do this particular thing ; go in 

 this particular direction ; drop this, it is too expensive." 

 .•Ml things must be tried ; all avenues explored, .\fter 

 all, in this particular case, what is ten thousand pounds 

 (the cost of the expedition) ? It is not going to 

 " burst " a wealthy nation like ours. .\nd a score of 

 men only out of a population of forty-five millions are 

 being detached from, shall we say, utilitarian ends to 

 pursue this new adventure. Should it fail, the world 

 will still go on. Indeed, -is it not true to say that the 

 world, except in a material sense, would long ago have 

 ceased had it not produced in all ages the men and 

 women who could resolutely attack a difficult piece of 

 work like the ascent of Everest ? 



***** 

 The President of the Royal Geographical Society, as 

 reported in the March issue of The Geographical Journal 

 (p. 204), has expressed the same idea in better words : 

 " I entirely agree with what Sir Ernest Shackleton 

 said about the necessity of a spirit of adventure being 

 behind these [Polar] expeditions. But I think that 

 the two — the spirit of adventure and the pursuit of 

 science — go admirably together, because when men of 

 adventure go into these terrible places, they like to 

 feel that all their efforts and all the hardships they 

 undergo may result in the attainment of some know- 

 ledge which will be of real use to the human race. 

 I suppose that it is the adventurous spirit which all 

 scientific men need in their pursuits. Unless they had 

 it behind them in their work, they would not get very 

 far even in laboratories. After all, it is only a matter 

 of time before all the items of knowledge do come in 

 useful for ' the amelioration of the lot of mankind.' 

 It may be sooner or it may be later, but in the long result 

 the utility of each will be found. The human race will 

 never be satisfied until it has completed its knowledge 

 of its surroundings. We want to know ever\'thing 

 about this planet, even its furthest confines, because 

 we not only have to adapt ourselves to our surround- 

 ings, but in the true spirit of man wc have to master 

 them." 



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