490 



NATURE 



[February 20, 1919 



and physical laboratories sprang up in many direc- 

 \i the presenl da) lectures without labora- 



!di\ work an a deadly anachronism, even for, or 

 ii rhaps 1 iai 1 ii ulai I) for, junior men. 



\s a thinker, Carey Foster was somewhat hesi- 

 tant in forming definitive opinions on philosophical 

 and scientific theories. To this cause, no doubt, is 

 due the comparative fewness of his publications. 

 It did not seem logical to him to derive extensive 

 theories from a leu- experimental observations, 

 For this reason lie postponed publication both in 

 his own case and in thai of his students. But a 

 method of measurement was another matter, and 

 his published extensions of Wheatstone's bridge 

 method of measuring resistances and of the 

 measurement ol mutual inductances are remark- 

 able for their neatness and value. Mis services 

 on the Electrical Standards Committee of the 

 British Assn. iation lor the Advancement of 

 Science, and on the K<-« Observatory Committee 

 of the Royal Society, prove the direction in which 

 his hint really lay. His publications include an 

 article in Walls's "Dictionary of Chemistry, " and 

 he was joint author of a text-book on electricity 

 and magnetism. In the first edition of the latter 

 he strove to develop the subject on the lines laid 

 down by Maxwell, according to which the elec- 

 trical actions in the aether are all-important; but 

 in later editions he gradually yielded to the 

 pressing- claims to recognition of the very large 

 number of new phenomena discovered in the last 

 twenty years, which require a modification of the 

 most extreme of Maxwell's conclusions. 



In his writings Carey Foster had the mastery 

 over a lucid and logical prose of a remarkable 

 order. He was much sought after as a sage 

 counsellor, for his kindly method of criticism dis- 

 armed resentment when his counsel was adverse. 

 He lived at peace with all men, his main aim 

 being, as expressed in his last Christmas greeting, 

 "to do all which may achieve and cherish a just 

 and lasting peace among ourselves and with all 

 nations. " 



NOTES.. 

 The following announcement is made in the political 

 notes of Tuesday's Times: — "Sir Watson Cheyne 

 has been appointed chairman of the newlv formed 

 House of Commons Medical Committee, which con- 

 sists of Members who possess a medical or surgical 

 ire interested in medical or scientific 

 matters. I lie Committee will exchange views upon 

 all proposed legislation which has relationship to any 

 medical 01 allied question, ["he main object of these 

 deliberations will he the avoidance, so far as possible, 

 of the expression of conflicting medical or scientific 

 views in Parliamentary debate. The Committee will 

 also invite reports from, and hold conferences with, 

 medical and scientific b Major Farquharson is 



secretary to the Committee, and Sir William Whitla, 

 Lt.-Col. X. Raw, and Capt. Elliott form the execu- 

 tive committee." As men of science- are not suffi- 

 ciently organised to secure 31 its for members of their 

 own body in Parliament, they she mid be glad to know- 

 that members of the medical profc ssion are willing to 

 as well as medical matters of 

 national interest. We sheeuld n« .1 like to think, how- 

 0. 2573, VOL. I02] 



ever, that scientific men, knowing the needs of the 



co and the service e,i progressive knowledge to 



civilisation, will In- content to remain permanently 

 without representation among i«n legislators. Medi- 



'- only one branch of science, but, as things an 



al present, science is a department ol lien,. 50 far 



as Parliamentary action is e :erned. 



A \ ig attack on the policj of tie. I : 



Agriculture was made in tie Men,, ,,f lauds last 

 week by Iwe. Tn >1 »I. le.nU, he, ih ,,! whom in the past 

 have had some -line' in directing tin- operations of 



11 department. 1 'riiic ism was directed to a n 

 circular in which it was announced, m/e-r alia, that 

 what has been known during the- war as the "plough- 

 ing policy" would no longer I" activelj prosecuted, 

 and thai eiiei 1- should he- 1 oik ated em impt - 



hi leeaditiein of the existing arable- land lather ill. en 



em adding to its area. Lord Ernie had no difficult) in 

 parrying the- attack, lb- pointed out that much of 

 the increase- of ploughed land had been secured at the 

 expense e.f thi 1 ffective lillagc- of the existing acreage , 

 and that an increase- in food production would be 

 secured at least cost by thorougblv cleaning and con- 

 ditioning tin- land already under the plough rather than 

 by breaking up new areas < > 1 grassland al 

 always a speculative opwation. The ideal which the 

 President of the Board eei Agriculture has s.-t before 

 the farming community is a modest one, merely to 

 raise the general standard of farming to the level of 

 that attained by the best farmers in the adjoining dis- 

 trict. It is not generally recognised how wide is the 

 gap indicated, but instances could be- given where the 

 value of land has been quintupled by the application 

 of scientific knowledge without moving adjoining 

 farmers a hair's-breadth from the ruts of their out- 

 worn practice. 



A leading article- in the . Times of February 17 



states that the Prime Minister has agreed t< 



a deputation on the subject of fisheries administra- 

 tion. It points out that the present peesition of our 

 sea fisheries is anomalous and unsatisfactory, anil 

 thai the- establishment of a Department e,l Fishe 

 would remedy this, giving the fishermen one- special 

 department, instead of half a dozen, to deal with; 

 improvement in transport, a better regulation and 

 supervision of the fisheries, and other urgent matters, 

 would then receive attention. In relation to the 

 alternative proposal for a Ministry of Water, the 

 1 idiis remarks that the question of the use of water- 

 power is very remote from that of food supply, nor 

 is it more favourably disposed towards the scheme 

 of State control propounded by the Empire Resources 

 Development Committee. The following referet 

 made to the need for scientific investigation :—" An 

 important branch of the work of the proposed Ministry 

 would be the organisation of scientific research into 

 the habits and movements of fish. Although the study 

 of marine biology and kindred subjects has made 

 greal strides in the Cnited Kingdom in the- last few 

 years, our scientific equipment is utterly unworthj 

 of the greatest fishing nation in the world. We have 

 been far outstripped by the Cnited States and by 

 Canada, the- splendid sea-fish hatcheries of which put 

 us ice shame." With the first two sentences we fully 

 . hut with regard to the last we mav remark 

 that the utility of hatcheries is disputed, and that we 

 have fai less reason to feel ashamed when looking at 



I he s,-a-lish hatcheries of the Cnited States than when 

 considering what we, whose fisheries are- as important 



is those ef the rest of F.uieipe, have tee -e-t against 



tin- marine investigations ef the- Norwegian M 



Mm,- Petersen and Johannes Schmidt, and the 

 Dutchmen Redeke and Iloek. 



