414 



NATURE 



January 23, [919 



craft. One of these was the simple and ingenious 

 sound-ranging apparatus thai had enabled search- 

 lights to pick up, almost invariably, enem\ machines 

 over London'. The secret of the othei device was Mill 

 locked up in the Ministry of Munitions, but the 

 weapon was so powerful that hostile aircraft could 

 not face it. Both these inventions were mainly due 

 to nun whose names were unknown to the general 

 public. Mr. Kellawax also quoted facts to show how 

 British manufacturers, aided b\ science, had met the 

 sudden demands of the war. Sixt) per cent, ol the 

 world's stores of mica, a material essential in the 

 electrical industry, wen located within the British 

 Empire, yet before the war 50 per cent, was sent to 

 Germany for treatment. Now things were very 

 different'. Similarly, we had formerly to go to Ger r 

 many for magnetos and ignition plugs, yet to-daj the 

 British magnetos and plugs were the best in the world, 

 and the output of these two articles had risen 

 enormously during the war. It was the task of the 

 British Scientific Products Exhibition to make such 

 facts known and to encourage similar advances in the 

 iuture. 



This toast was responded to b\ Sir Robert Hadtield, 

 who supplemented the remarks of the last speaker by 

 referring to some of the achievements of the iron and 

 steel industry. The biggest shell used in the war, 

 iS in. in diameter and weighing t \ tons, was produced 

 in this country. It was capable of penetrating armour- 

 plate 41 in. thick; at a range of ten miles it would 

 still penetrate 22 in., and at twenty miles 12A in. of 

 armour-plate. We should not, however, follow Ger- 

 many in using science a* a weapon of aggression, but 

 would, as the chairman said, apply it for peaceful 

 ends in the spirit of reverence and humanity. Sir 

 Robert proceeded to give some facts showing the 

 success of the British Scientific Products Exhibition, 

 which had attracted more than 30,000 visitors in 

 London and 15,000 in Manchester — more than 45,000 

 in all. This year tiny hoped to make the exhibition 

 much wider in scope. He wished to thank all who 

 had contributed to the success of the exhibition in 

 [918, and referred especially to the services of the 

 chairman of the organising committee, Prof. R. A. 

 Gregory, an I the secretary, Mr. F. S. Spiers. 



The toast of "The Donors of the Exhibition Fund" 

 was proposed by Mr. Charles F. Higham, M.P., who 

 acted as honorary director of publicity to the exhibi- 

 tion. Mr. Higham explained that the cost of tin 

 exhibition had been defrayed from private enterprise, 

 and it had not bei 11 assisted by the Government. He 

 wished to express thanks to all those who had given 

 their support, including the original donors (Sir Wil- 

 liam Mather, Sir Robert Hadfield, and Mr. Robert 

 Mond) and the manufacturers who had responded to 

 tin- invitation of the organising committee to contri- 

 bute. Now that the exhibition had proved its worth 

 he hoped manv other manufacturers would participate 

 on the next occasion, and that their contributions 

 would be even more generous than in the past year. 



Mr. Milne Watson, responding for the donors, 

 emphasised the value of scientific methods of test in 

 improving the quality of products, using as an illus- 

 tration some experience in the ammonium sulphate 

 industry- Manufacturers must be taught that the per- 

 petuation of mediocre methods was wrong, and that 

 it paid to use evi ry available scientific weapon to 

 secure the finest possible results. 



In the absence of Mr. John Hodge, M.P., the toast 

 of "The Chairman" was proposed by Prof. d'Arcy 

 Thompson, the Marquess of Crewe briefly responding. 

 This terminated the proceedings. The dinner was 

 attended bv about 150 men of science, manufacturers, 

 and others associated with the exhibition. 



NO. 2569, VOL. I02] 



EDUCATIOX 1 /. CONFERE \ < 'ES. 

 •"THE seventh annual conference of Educational 

 ' Associations, comprised of thirty-four educa- 

 tional societies, which was numerously attended, was 

 opened at the University College, London, on 

 Januar) 1 and concluded on January 11. The in- 

 augural address, characterised by abundant wit and 

 humour, was delivered by Mr. Fisher, the President 

 of the Board of Education. The- conference week 

 included also the annual meetings of the Headmasters' 

 Conference, the Incorporated Association of II 

 masters, the Association of Directors ami Secretaries 

 of Education, and the Association of Public School 

 Science Masters, some of the proceedings of which 

 have already been reported in Naturb. 



Al a joint conference of the educational associations 

 held on January 3 an interesting address bv Prof. 

 John Adams, who is now in France, was read on 

 "The I tility Motive in Education," in which he 

 urged that pure knowledge often owed its opportunities 

 to the help offered by practical applications, which he 

 illustrated by reference to the strides made by 

 physiology, the progress of which had hitherto b< 1 n 

 slow, so soon as it became associated with the teach- 

 ing of students of medicine; to psychology, when 

 education captured it, and it became included in the 



professional training of teachers; to navigation, which 

 made possible the development of pure astronomy; 

 and, lastly, to the technical demands of dyers and 

 other practical people, which had led to such 

 subsidising of chemistry teaching as had greatly 

 favoured the disinterested study of the subject. 

 Might we not find in all this, he said, somi 

 justification for the plea that a working arrangi - 

 ment could be made by means of which a clash might 

 be prevented between the claims of the cultural and 

 the utilitarian ideals? The demands of the practical 

 man might be met, not only without forfeiting the 

 right to carry on disinterested work, but also in 

 a way to favour such work in its proper place. Man 

 was one and indivisible; he must be trained to hold 

 his own in both spheres, utilitarian and cultural. 

 Knowledge that refined a man's character was as use- 

 ful as knowledge that increased his productive power 

 in a material sense. The swing of the pendulum was 

 at present strongly in favour of tt\o practical, and a 

 hard fight might be necessary to get due attention to 

 the other aspect. But they would certainly not succeed 

 in maintaining a due proportion of the cultural 

 elements if they set out on a crusade for the useless. 



Miss Mercier, head of Whitelands College and 

 president of the Training College Association, in de- 

 livering her presidential address to the latter, pleaded I 

 for a higher type of education for students training as 

 teat hers. The training college might, and should, 

 become also a school of social service. Neither read- 

 ing alone, nor desire of service alone, made the good 

 teacher, but a blend of both. Students would often 

 benefit by a university course, but some would not 

 be suited to it. There should be large liberty in 

 devising courses. Mr. George Lansbury, who spoke 

 later to the same body upon teaching, urged that the 

 teachers should cultivate a really radical outlook, fjv 

 which he meant that outlook on life which went to tin 

 root of things. Unless there were a tremendous 

 amount of idealism in the teachers, they would not 

 make verv much impression upon the children. 



At the meeting of the Eugenics Education Society 

 Prof. J. Arthur Thomson, of Aberdeen, Cave an 

 address on "The Eugenic Ideal of Education," which 

 he defined as the organic improvement of tlv human 

 breed, but one which, thour/h primarily a biological 

 ideal, had an horizon far wider than the poultry yard 



