200 
present war, the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, the 
War Office, and the Ministry of Munitions, have all 
been concerned with the collection of information bear- 
ing on the sources of supply of minerals and the pro- 
duction of metals. There does not appear, however, 
to have been any serious attempt to co-ordinate and 
render available even such information as has been 
collected by these departments, and it is certain that 
there have been considerable overlapping and duplica- 
tion of effort with corresponding waste and confusion. 
It is, we submit, obvious that the overlapping and 
confusion will be seriously increased if the various 
technical committees appointed by the Advisory Council 
attempt to collect the information which is essential 
to enable the beneficent object of the committee of the 
Privy Council to be attained, in its wider aspects, in 
regard to the mineral and metal industries. 
We respectfully urge this view upon the serious 
attention of the Advisory Council, as already there are 
evidences of increasing overlapping and consequent 
waste of time and energy, which we believe it is one 
of the main purposes of the committee of the Privy 
Council to eliminate so far as possible. 
In the opinion of the institutions represented by us 
the organisation of a central Department of Minerals 
and Metals is imperatively necessary in the public in- 
terest, and the work of organisation, which will neces- 
sarily take much time to complete, should be com- 
menced at the earliest possible moment. 
It cannot be doubted that if a properly organised 
and efficiently conducted Department of Minerals and 
Metals had been in existence, much valuable time, 
many lives, and vast sums of money would have been 
saved to the nation in the conduct of the present war, 
and much of the cost and inconvenience to British 
industries depending largely for their raw materials on 
mineral products would have been saved, with corre- 
sponding advantages to the prosecution of the war 
and to many industries. 
A Department of Minerals and Metals should not 
only be in intimate relationship with the Geological 
Surveys and Mines Departments of the Dominions, 
‘but also with the organisations representing the 
different branches of the mining and metallurgical 
industries, whose co-operation in the work of the 
department should form a vital part of its machinery. 
The Geological Surveys of Great Britain and Ire- 
land and the Museum of Practical Geology should 
also form an integral part of the department. 
The functions of the department should be active 
and constructive. All overlapping by other Home 
Government departments, and also by the institutions 
representing the industries, should be absolutely pre- 
vented. 
The duties of a Department of Minerals and Metals 
would include :-— ; 
(1) Arrangements for expediting the completion of 
mineral surveys of the United Kingdom and of the 
Crown Colonies and other British possessions. 
(2) The systematic collection and co-ordination of 
information bearing on the occurrence, uses, and 
economic value of minerals and their products, special 
attention being devoted to securing industrial applica- 
tions for newly discovered minerals or metallurgical 
products and to finding mineral materials required for 
new metallurgical products or inventions. Some of 
this information should be promptly and widely dis- 
seminated in summarised form to those interested in 
. the industries, through the medium of the existing 
publications of the institutions directly concerned. 
(3) The investigation of all questions and problems 
relating to the utilisation of the mineral or metal- 
turgical resources of the Empire. 
(4) The co-ordination and dissemination of informa- 
tion on mining laws, development of mineral areas, 
NO. 2454, VoL. 98] 
NATURE 
[NovEMBER 9, 1916 
output, processes of extraction, plant, capital employed, — 
markets, etc. fe 5 
(5) A general review from time to time of the de- 
veloped and undeveloped mineral resources and of the 
position of each mineral or metal, to ensure that the - 
mineral wealth of the Empire is being exploited with — 
due regard to Imperial interests. "a 
(6) Generally, to advise the Imperial Government on 
all questions bearing on the mining and metallurgical 
industries. To perform this function efficiently, it is” 
essential that complete information should be available, 
and also that the industries concerned should be. con- 
sulted through their respective organisations. ; 
We feel sure that the Adviscry Council will fully 
appreciate the urgency of the question and the neces- 
sity for prompt action, so that the process of co- 
ordination may be inaugurated at once. a 
Wm. BrarpMore, ; 
President. | The Iron and Steel 
G. C. Lioyp, Institute. 
Secretary. | 
GrorGcE BEILBy, ; 
G' Seay ghar resident. The Institute of Metals. 
Secretary. 
W. THORNEYCROFT, 
President. 
L. T. O'SHEA, The Institution of Mining 
Hon, Secretary. Engineers. 
P. STRZELECK!, 
Secretary. j 
President. \ The Institution of Mining 
and Metallurgy. : 
Epcar TAayLor, 
C. McDermip, 
: Secretary. 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT 
NEWCASTLE. 
SECTION I. 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
OPENING ADDRESS (ABRIDGED) By Pror. A. R. CusHny, 
M.A., M.D., F.R.S., PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 
On the Analysis of Living Matter through its Reactions 
to Poisons. 
I wisH to-day to discuss an aspect of pharmaco- 
logical investigation which has not been adequately 
recognised even by  pharmacologists themselves, 
and which it is difficult to express in few words. In 
recent years great advances have been made in the 
chemical examination of the complex substances which 
make up the living organism, and still greater harvests 
are promised from these analytic methods in the 
future. But our progress so far shows that while 
general principles may be reached in this way, the 
chemistry of the living organ, like the rainbow’s end, 
ever seems as distant as before. And, indeed, it is 
apparent that the chemistry of each cell, while possess- 
ing general resemblances, must differ in detail so long 
as the cell is alive. No chemistry dealing in grams, 
nor even microchemistry dealing in milligrams, will 
help us here. We must devise a technique dealing 
with millionths to advance towards the living organ- 
ism. Here I like to think that our work in pharma- 
cology may perhaps contribute its mite; perhaps the 
action of our drugs and poisons may be regarded as 
a sort of qualitative chemistry of living matter. For 
chemical investigation has very often started from the 
observation of some qualitative reaction, and not-infre- 
quently a good: many properties of a new substance 
have been determined long before it has been possible 
ine 
