2*6 



NATURE 



[November 28, 191S 



world a store which enables man more and mon to 

 triumph over Nature, and one thai for ever remains 

 practically indestructible as the real permanent capital 

 of the race, and by far its most precious heritage. 



Now, though the devastation due to the war will 

 in time be readily enough repaired, and this without 

 any call for new scientific invention 01 discovery, it 

 is otherwise with the general future. Though the 

 doctrine of Malthus- that whilst the population in- 

 creases in geometrical ratio, the supplj of food onlj 

 increases in arithmetical ratio is n<>\\ discredited, the 

 war, in fact, has shown us how nearly the world 

 lives up to iis supply of food and other necessaries, 

 and how disturbances, such as those that the war 

 has occasioned, may lead in the disappearance of the 

 little margin there is. Were it not for the aid that 



Science already affords to agricultttp — in mechanical 

 means of cultivation, and in methods of irrigation, 

 fertilisation, and the like, together with facilities as 

 regards transport and countless other matters- neither 

 a country like this nor the whole earth could even 

 now support its present population; whilst in the 

 future, as human beings increase still further, the 

 stress will be accentuated. Whether we are dealing 

 with present-time requirements or with those that are 



more remote, the shortage of the necessaries of life 

 and of civilisation that is hound to grow in extent, 

 vis-a-vis of the increase of the population of tin- 

 world, can be met only by new achievements in the 

 way of scientific discovery and invention, and by 

 improved and more scientific organisation. 



Just as John Stuart Mill feared that the limited 

 number of notes in the audible musical scale would 

 in time lead to the exhaustion of all possible melodies, 

 so there have been those who have thought that 

 scientific discovery would before long come to a stop 

 owing to the dearth of subject-matter and to the 

 limitations of the human intellect. Whatever may 

 be the fact in regard to music, nothing could be more 

 erroneous than this idea in respect to Science, for the 

 reason that every new discovery and invention opens 

 up the path for others, and thus the scientific horizon 

 surely widens year by year. Indeed, so far from dis- 

 covery and invention being likely to come to a stop, 

 both are sure to extend at a rapidly increasing rate, 

 particularly if we have more science taught to young 

 people and greater encouragement given to scientific 

 workers, with consequent additions to their numbers. 



In the comparatively new fields of radio-activity, 

 electro-magnetic radiation, synthetic chemistry, 

 chemical catalysis, electrical osmosis, photo-elec- 

 tricitv, and corpuscular matter, to mention at random 

 only a few of those thai readily occur to one, the 

 pro'spect seems practically illimitable. Moreover, new- 

 materials with new properties, whether elementary 

 substances such as the new gases — argon, helium, 

 krypton, neon, and others; the so-called rare earths — 

 thorium, cerium, yttrium, scandium, and the rest ; or 

 new alloys and compounds which chemists and metal- 

 lurgists keep providing for particular purposes, afford 

 fresh means for pursuing research. We have also 

 new mechanical appliances of all sorts, and new 

 methods which enable us to obtain, on one hand, 

 in the electric furnace, temperatures approaching in 

 degree to that of the sun, and, on the other, in special 

 refrigerators, to cold quite near to that of space and 

 of the absolute zero — temperatures both high and low, 

 quite beyond reach only a few years ago. Again, 

 we have learnt how to apply prodigious mechanical 

 pressures and how to obtain gaseous vacua on un- 

 precedented scales. We can produce and employ- 

 electric currents and pressures, and both electric and 

 magnetic fields, of intensities previously unknown, 

 and measurements of all kinds can be made with a 

 delicacy and an accuracy almost beyond belief. 

 NO. 2561, VOL. T02"l 



The number of these things is much greater than 

 then- is time to record here, and their import 

 intensified by the fact that each reacts on the others 



with tin- production of more, so that the tools ami 

 agents al the disposal of research are- continually 



being added to. Nor, if we- turn from pun' scieno 

 and its possibilities and means for discovery te> inven- 

 tions and the science that is applied to utilitarian 



uses, is the case in an\ wise- different. Here, again, 



the effects are cumulative', both discover} and inven- 

 tion assisting t < > bring still further invention within 



oin reach. The petrol engine, originally invented 



for propelling boats, and later adapted to driving land 

 vehicles, has rendered possible the- conquest of the- 

 air by the- aeroplane, as also the depths of tin 

 the deadly submarine. Bill's telephone, that instru- 

 ment of almost sublime simplicity, which, as 

 originally produced, was intended for transmitting 

 Speech, is now used for receiving the inarticulate 

 signals of wireless telegraphy, which could scarcely 

 have- reached its present development without it. 



Photography and its sensitive plates and papers 

 an- now applied in radiography and in other direc- 

 tions of which the original photographic inventors 

 never dreamed. The metal cerium, first brought into 

 notice b} its be-ing a necessary constituent of incan- 

 descent i;a< mantles, now in pocket-lighters helps 

 the' smoker in these difficult times to dispense with 

 matches; The vacuum jacket, invented by Sir James 

 De-war for keeping liquid air cold, is used to-day for 

 keeping things hot. Radium, which when discovered 

 by Mine-. Curie was only a scientific curiosity, has 

 many applications in medicine, and is now used t<> 

 illuminate watches and instrument dials so that the} 

 Can be- read in the dark. The gyrostat, which is a 

 development of the child's spinning-top, and use-d t < > 

 be- merely a scientific toy, is now the- foundation of 

 a description of ship's compass which points to the 

 true-, ami not to the magnetic, north pole of the earth, 

 and without which the navigation of submarines 

 would be almost impossible. Tungsten, which a few 

 years ago was unknown in true metallic form, now 

 constitutes the filaments of all our incandese ■< 

 trie lamps; while the discoveries of Crookes, J. J. 

 Thomson, and others in connection with rareti- 

 have rendered possible the so-called half-watt lamp of 

 surprising efficiency. By an electric process as old 

 as the time of Cavendish, who discovered it, nitrogen 

 from the air is now being extracted to make nitrates 

 so necessary for agricultural fertilisers and for ex- 

 plosives, which latter have their uses apart from their 

 application to warfare. The kincmatograph of the- 

 modern picture palace has been developed out of the 

 old Wheel of Life of the days of our childhood. 

 Inele-eil, the list that could be compiled is almost 

 endless. 



One of the most interesting of modern inventions 

 is that of wireless telegraphy, and it is also one which 

 appears to present great scope for improvement and 

 extension. There is a mysterious fascination that 

 captivates the imagination about these wireless 

 signals, which come over hundreds and thousands eel 

 miles of space without any visible or tangible means 

 of connection. Vet, as a matter of fact, the} in 

 in nowise more wonderful than telegraphy by win-. 

 [ndeed, had, as might quite have been possible, the 

 wireless method been the first to be discovered, then 

 out wonder would have' been excited at the'- ease with 



which, b} tin arts of a wire e.f minute section, the 

 signals could so easily be conveyed over prodigious 

 distances in any direction to anv required point. For 

 tin- wireless system is really analogous to the up- 

 roarious feig-horn, the signals eef which are sent out 

 fat and wide in all directions, for all who have 'a:-. 



