38o 



NA TURE 



[January 28, 190Q 



the natural sequence is that unless they have extraordinary 

 energy they neglect research, lose their originality, and in 

 consequence, become inefficient teachers. 



We are glad to acknowledge that in many ways the 

 present Government has made new departures in directions 

 which cannot fail to benefit the nation by bringing science 

 to bear more fully upon various departments and utilising 

 it to greater effect. 



We also note an increasing recognition of the national 

 importance of the work done by scientific men, and of the 

 men themselves as nation builders. A remarkable indica- 

 tion of this new spirit was recently afforded by the official 

 dinner, presided over by a Cabine't Minister, given to the 

 members of the International Conference on Electrical 

 Units, and provided for out of a new fund. 



The new Irish Universities' Bill, which enacts that 

 universities shall be erected and endowed in Dublin and 

 Belfast, is very welcome, and there is alrcadv some evidence 

 that advantage will be taken of the greater educational 

 opportunity thus given to the Irish people. 



The Colonial Office, after consultation with the Royal 

 Society, has established a national bureau in London 'to 

 deal with sleeping sickness, that terrible disease which 

 decimates yearly the population in manv of our tropical 

 possessions. The cost of administration 'is to be defrayed 

 from imperial funds, including a contribution from 'the 

 Sudan. The bureau was established in June, and one of 

 the rooms of the Royal Societv has been placed at its 

 disposal. 



.■\ftcr centuries of neglect, the condition of our ancient 

 and historic monuments is now recognised as a matter 

 worthy of the nation's care. Three Royal Commissions 

 have been appointed dealing with them in England, Scot- 

 land, and Wales respectively. 



The Board of Trade has appointed a committee to deal 

 with international exhibitions, in order to organise and 

 arrange the part to be taken by this country in connection 

 with them. This permanent committee is to take the place 

 of the special commissions which have in the past been 

 appointed by Government to deal with each large inter- 

 national exhibition. In all probability, by having a per- 

 manent committee, a more continuous policv will be 

 evolved. The French have had such standing committees 

 for many years, the committees having to deal both with 

 internal exhibitions and with those held outside France. 

 '1 hey have also a special organisation to deal with jury 

 awards, and it would be well if some such organisation 

 could be arranged in this country. The value of such an 

 organisation was particularly noticed bv those who served 

 on the juries at the Franco-British Exhibition. The French 

 jurors came over here complctelv organised, but the 

 British jurors had to start their organisation de novo. If 

 there had been a British standing committee to arrange 

 beforehand the modus operandi, this would not have been 

 the case, and much valuable time would have been saved. 



In consequence of the new allocation of the land follow- 

 ing the withdrawal of the Board of Education from South 

 Kensington, the Solar Physics Observatory, which was 

 founded by the Government in 1879, and located there as 

 a temporary measure, is to be removed elsewhere. It has 

 been decided to locate it near Caterham, to occupv a posi- 

 tion 000 feet high, previously a mobilisation centre, which 

 has been placed at the disposal of the observatory bv Mr. 

 Haldane. In the near future,' therefore, it will be possible 

 to carry on the important investigations under much more 

 satisfactory conditions. 



The President of the Local Government Board has 

 authorised for the current year a large number of re- 

 searches in connection with the annual grant voled bv 

 Parliament in aid of scientific investigation connected with 

 Ihe causes and progresses of disease ; also chemical and 

 bacteriological investigation, as to the influence of soften- 

 ing nnd other chemical processes on the purity of \vater 

 sunnlies from chalky sources. 



The Board of .Agriculture has shown increased activity, 

 and although little is so far done for research, pamphlets 

 of great use to farmers have been widely distributed. 



The appointment of these committees and the increased 

 means of research ,nre steps in the right direction, but they 

 are purflv departmental. 



It is interesting in this connection to direct attention to 

 NO. 2048, VOL. 79] 



the speech made by our president at the anniversary dinner 

 of the Chemical Society nearly four years ago (Daily 

 Telegraph, March 30, 1905) : — " Mr. Haldane expressed his 

 conviction that the problem that lay in front of the British 

 nation was how to develop the grey matter of the e-xecutive 

 brain. .'\11 the controversies that agitated the minds of 

 politicians were of less importance than the big question 

 of how to make the permanent element in politics more 

 powerful and better. There was too little science in it at 

 the present time. There was hardly a department which 

 did not require the aid of science if it was to be effective, 

 but there were not attractions like those held out by private 

 firms and foreign Governments to lead men of the highest 

 attainments to put themselves at the disposal of the State. 

 Was It impossible to hope for the birth of an era when 

 the head of the Government should have at his disposal 

 a corps of the finest brains which the nation could produce? 

 If great Britain was to hold her own, she must not be 

 behind Germany, the United States, or France in this 

 matter." 



The Importance to the nation of such a council as that 

 referred to by Mr. Haldane was first pointed out by the 

 Duke of Devonshire's Commission in 1874. 



As mentioned in last year's report, a deputation of the 

 Guild on the pollution of rivers and water supplies was 

 received by the Right Hon. John Burns (President of the 

 Local Government Board) on October 31, 1007. Mr. Burns 

 expressed his intention of bringing in a Bill to deal with 

 the subject in the spring of iqo.S. No legislation upon this 

 subject was, however, brought forward. It is hoped that 

 this does not mean that nothing Is to be done next session, 

 as the matter is one of the utmost urgency. 



Conveyance of Scientific Literature at licduccd Rates. 



The question of a reduction in postal rates on scientific 

 literature was brought before the Postmaster-General by 

 a deputation organised by the Guild, and received by him 

 on ilarch 12, 1908. 



The following memorandum was submitted to the Post- 

 master-General by the deputation : — 



This deputation has been organised by a committee of 1 

 the British Science Guild, and represents seventy-five | 

 societies which have asked to have this matter favourably 

 considered. The names of these societies are given as an ; 

 appendix. 



This list of societies is very far from exhaustive, and, as \ 

 a matter of fact, only too societies were consulted in the : 

 first instance, a good many of which by their position could 

 not take action in this matter. It will be understood, 

 therefore, that there is an almost unanimous desire on the ■ 

 part of the scientific and learned societies in Great Britain 

 and Ireland that the Government will see its way to help 

 ihcm in the matter which is now put forward. 



These societies fully acknowledge the sympathetic treat- 

 ment which a few of their number have received from the 

 Government in such matters as the provision of rent-free 

 quarters, monetary help in the prosecution of original re- 

 search, in exemption from income tax, and in other ways, 

 but they wish to point out that only a few societies really 

 benefit by the first two of these concessions, and that even 

 then this help is small. 



The societies wish, however, that these may be taken 

 as precedents for conferring upon them the further small 

 benefits which they now ask for. 



This deputation would claim that the scientific and 

 learned societies in this country are thoroughly deserving 

 of sympathetic and generous aid from the Government, for 

 the ' advancement of science and of original Investigation 

 in Great Britain is to a large extent due to their fostering 

 care and to the fact that they afford facilities for the publi- 

 cation of original work and for its free discussion, and by 

 circulating large numbers of their proceedings and trans- 

 actions describing such original work, they disseminate 

 wfdely the most recent scientific and other discoveries. 



The societies in question are thus practically the 

 custodians of the national advance in science, and it is 

 almost a truism to say that the material nrogrcss of the 

 country is strictly dependent on the applications of science, 

 and hence that such societies help largely in keeping. our 

 country in a position to compete with other countries in 

 ( commerce and industry, and that without this continuous 



