PREFACE 



book does not pretend to establish any thesis. 

 Incidentally it may point a moral which different 

 readers will interpret in different ways. Our main 

 purpose was to give a plain account of Britain's great 

 heritage of science; an heritage that handed down 

 through several centuries of distinguished achieve- 

 ments will, if the signs speak true, be passed on to 

 the coming age with untarnished brilliancy. 



A limit had to be set to the extent to which 

 contemporary science should be included, and some 

 difficulty was felt in fixing that limit. It seemed 

 desirable for obvious reasons to avoid discussing the 

 work of living men ; but no fixed rule could be enforced 

 because that work is often too much interwoven with 

 that of others who are no longer with us to be com- 

 pletely ignored. Sometimes, also, researches undertaken 

 by our present leaders have led to results that are 

 firmly established, and to have omitted them would 

 have conveyed a false idea of the part which Great 

 Britain has played in the recent progress of science. 

 In such cases we had to use our discretion in breaking 

 through a rule which as a principle we have tried to 

 adhere to. 



