DecEMBER 6, 1906 | 
NATURE Ean 
Beattie, of Cape Town, and the field work is now 
practically completed. In reply to a request that the 
results might be published under the auspices of the 
Royal Society, the council willingly expressed its 
assent, as uniformity would thereby be secured with 
the British survey executed by Riicker and Thorpe, 
and with the magnetic surveys, in which the Royal 
Society is concerned, proceeding in other parts of the 
Empire. The council agreed to undertake the pub- 
lication of a separate volume, uniform with the 
Philosophical Transactions, on condition that the 
expenses were repaid by the Colonial Government 
concerned. The society has since been officially in- 
formed that the sum of 6001. is held by the Public 
Works Department at Cape Town to meet the ex- 
penses of publication of the magnetic survey of South 
Africa. 
The council has also taken steps to secure that the 
magnetic survey of New Zealand, now nearly com- 
pleted, under the direction of Dr. Coleridge Farr. 
and to be published by the Government of New 
Zealand, shall appear in a form uniform so far as 
possible with the above. 
In the absence of the president, Lord Rayleigh, 
the presidential address, which is reprinted below 
almost in its complete form, was read at the anniver- 
sary meeting by Mr. A. B. Kempe, treasurer and 
vice-president of the society. 
In the report of the council there has been laid before 
you an account of the work of the council and of various | 
committees in a very wide field. The investigation of the 
terrible disease known as sleeping sickness has unhappily 
been marked by the tragic death of Lieut. Tulloch, who 
has fallen a victim to his zeal in studying the disease in 
Uganda. Vigorous efforts are being undertaken to dis- 
cover some therapeutic remedy for the malady. In the 
case of Malta fever, too, the investigation of which was 
entrusted to the Royal Society by the Colonial Office, good 
progress has been made. It has been ascertained by the 
society’s commission in Malta that the main source of 
propagation is the milk of infected goats. When this 
discovery was made the authorities of the island were at 
once warned of the danger in the milk supply, and the 
necessary precautions were taken. Since then the number 
of cases of fever in the hospitals has so greatly diminished 
as to afford good hope that this disease, which has been 
so great a scourge in Malta, may ere long be reduced to 
insignificant proportions or altogether exterminated. 
I observe that a movement has been started in this 
country in aid of the Greek Anti-malaria League. Prof. 
Ronald Ross, than whom there is no higher authority, 
bears witness to the unexpected prevalence of the infection 
in most of the localities examined, and he is confident that 
practical results of the highest value would follow expendi- 
ture in combating the disease on lines already laid down. 
Although I speak only from general knowledge, I cannot 
let this opportunity pass without emphasising my _ sense 
of the enormous importance of this class of work. If men 
knew where their real interests lie, our efforts in this 
direction would be doubled or quadrupled. In this way 
discoveries, which the future will certainly bring, might 
be accelerated by decades, giving health and life to 
thousands or millions who now succumb. Willing and 
competent workers would soon offer themselves; the prin- 
cipal obstacle is the want of means. 
The preparation of the ‘‘ Royal Society Catalogue of 
Scientific Papers ’’ for the remaining portion of the nine- 
teenth century, which has proved a task so much more 
gigantic than can have been contemplated by the originators 
of the catalogue nearly half a century ago, has been 
actively pushed forward. In consequence of the increased 
expenditure, now at the rate of nearly 20001. a year, the 
funds available are again approaching exhaustion. The 
difficulties of the president and council and of the cata- 
logue committee on this subject have once more been 
promptly resolved by the action of our fellow, Dr. Ludwig 
Mond, who, after consultation with the officers, has again 
made himself responsible for a further subsidy amounting 
NO. 1936, VOL 75] 
to 20001. a year for three years. It is hoped that with 
the balance in hand and other sources of income, including 
the Handley fund of the Royal Society, the income of 
which is devoted to this purpose, this subvention will 
suffice for the preparation of the work and for passing it 
through the press. Since the Royal Society took this 
great national task in hand, there has already been spent 
on it than 
more 23,5001., while on each occasion of 
financial stress Dr. Mond has come forward with the 
means of relief, his direct contributions, including that 
| just promised, now amounting in the aggregate to 14,o00l. 
Chis great work when published will thus be a tangible 
memorial of Dr. Mond’s practical insistence on the import- 
ance of adequate indexes of the vastly increasing literature 
of science. 
Of the activities working under the Royal Society, the 
one with which I have been especially connected is the 
National Physical Laboratory. As the result of a memorial 
to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, signed by about 150 
Members of Parliament, the grant for building and equip- 
ment for the year was increased from 5o00l. to 10,000l., 
and this has enabled the committee to take in hand some 
urgently needed extension. 
Buildings are now in course of erection for metrology 
and for metallurgical chemistry, while the engineering 
laboratory is being doubled in area. The two last additions 
were called for in great measure in consequence of an 
arrangement with the India Office whereby the testing 
work required for the Indian Government, hitherto carried 
on at Coopers Hill, is to be transferred to the laboratory. 
The Indian Government provide the testing machine and 
other appliances required for the work, and, in addition, 
have intimated their intention of placing in the charge of 
the committee the very admirable electrical equipment now 
at Coopers Hill. 
Towards the equipment of the metallurgical laberatory 
the Goldsmiths’ Company have made a very generous 
donation of 1oool., while the Governments of New Zealand 
and Western Australia have contributed rool. each to the 
equipment of the metrological laboratory. 
A question of importance has arisen as to the perform- 
ance at the laboratory of tests, partaking of a routine 
character, on the physical and mechanical properties of 
specimens of material. To this objection has been taken 
on the ground of competition with the work of, private 
establishments. In one of its aspects the question is 
financial. But the executive committee are of opinion that, 
even if the pecuniary loss were recouped, the efficiency 
of the laboratory would suffer from the abandonment of 
this work. While anything like unfair competition with 
private establishments should be avoided, the execution of 
tests is good practice for the staff, and tends to keep them 
in touch with the manufacturers and with the practical 
problems which may demand examination. In view of 
the difference of opinion that has manifested itself, the 
Treasury has decided to appoint a small committee to 
inquire into the working of the laboratory, with a special 
reference to this question. 
On a former occasion, my distinguished predecessor, Sir 
William Huggins, directed attention to some of the more 
important matters on which the society in the past had 
initiated, supported or given advice about scientific ques- 
tions in connection with the State, and in other ways had 
made its influence felt strongly for the good of the country. 
It would hardly become me, with my short experience of 
the working of the society, at least in recent years, to 
pursue this theme. The function of the society which lies 
most open to the observation of an incoming president is 
that exercised at the ordinary meetings. I am impressed 
with the difficulty, arising out of the ever-increasing 
specialisation of science, in rendering really useful the 
reading of papers and discussions thereupon. It is, of 
course, felt more severely in a society like our own, which 
embraces within its scope the whole scientific field. It 
not infrequently happens that a paper is addressed to an 
audience among whom there is no one competent to follow 
the detailed observations and reasonings of the author. I 
am sometimes reminded of a saying of Dalton’s on similar 
occasions at Manchester, quoted by Sir Henry Roscoe in 
his genial and entertaining ‘‘ Reminiscences ’’ :—‘‘ Well, 
this is a very interesting paper for those that take any 
