476 



NA TURE 



[F^hruary i8, 19C9 



is not proved, tln-n iherc is no need of racl^ing our braijis 

 as to its piivsical origin. 



Tile ditliculty disclosed by ttiis example is of the same 

 liind as tile one treated in spherical harmonics, viz. that 

 we are attempting to represent a discontinuous function 

 having a duration coniniciisuralc with that of the daylight 

 hours by functions running smoothly through their in- 

 dividual courses for twenty-lour hours. 



1 cannot close this section better than by quoting the 

 following passage from the address of the first president of 

 this society, Joseph Henry, given on November 24, 1877 : — 



" The general mental qualification necessary for scien- 

 tific advancement is that which is usually denominated 

 ' common sense,' though, added to this, imagination, in- 

 duction, and trained logic, either of common language or 

 of mathematics, are important adjuncts. Nor are the 

 objects of scientific culture difficult of attainment. It has 

 been truly said that the ' seeds of great discoveries are 

 constantly floating around us, but they only take root in 

 minds well prepared to receive them.'" 



Henry's insistence on the application in our scientific 

 work of " common sense " reminds one of Clifford's apt 

 definition of science as being " organised common sense." 



It may be taken as almost axiomatic that whatever is 

 worthy of investigation should be made known in some 

 effective manner, so as to reach without question those 

 concerned. The multiplicity of literature on any one sub- 

 ject, or even on any small portion thereof, is nowadays 

 such that the worker finds it utterly impossible to keep 

 abreast of publications, even those in his own field, to say 

 nothing of kindred ones. 



He is forced more and more to rely on abstracts — at 

 least in so far as to direct him to that which he un- 

 questionably must consult in the original, if possible. As 

 the investigator usually finds it necessary to consult the 

 original publications, the next conclusion to be drawn is 

 that the publication of any research work should, in 

 general, be of such form and size as to permit the widest 

 distribution possible, not only among the libraries and the 

 principal seats of learning, but also among the workers 

 and institutions immediately interested. 



The scientific worker generally does not possess the 

 means to purchase or to construct the instruments he re- 

 quires for the prosecution of his work, and a book bearing 

 in any way on the line of work to be pursued is as much 

 to be considered part of his equipment as the purely 

 mechanical tools. Indeed, I was told by the late von 

 Bezold that Wilhelm Weber set his laboratory students 

 to work by telling them, " Here are the instruments, and 

 there are the Annalen der Physik ; now go to work." The 

 man of science usually wants his tools close by and within 

 ready reach. He cannot afford to go to a distant library 

 and then possibly find the book out. Private possession 

 permits him, furthermore, to make marginal notes and 

 ■references to enable him quickly to put his finger on the 

 very thing needed. 



Owing to these well-recognised needs, there has grown 

 up a courteous and friendly interchange of publications 

 among co-workers and sympathisers in the same field that 

 to my mind deserves the highest encouragement. The 

 time has unfortunately gone when scientific investigators 

 can write such delightful and voluminous letters as passed 

 between the research workers of half a century and more 

 ago. The present system of interchange of publications has 

 necessarily taken the place, to a very large extent, of the 

 early letter-writing. 



It is as important to make research work known as to 

 do it. To get our friends to read the contributions we 

 may make to science requires nowadays no little skill and 

 diplomacy and an attractiveness of literary style on the 

 part of the author not so essential in the days of less fre- 

 quent printed works. The original purposes of important 

 and costly expeditions arc sometimes well-nigh defeated or 

 superseded, because of the delay in publication, ensuing 

 from the elaborateness of the plan adopted for the reduc- 

 tion of the field results and the form of publication decided 

 upon. Reduction in the pretentiousness, size, and cost of 

 scientific publications appears to me to be one of the 

 greatest needs of research to-day. 



Some time could profitably be spent on a consideration 

 of the general agencies eng.nged in furthering research 

 NO. 2051, VOL. 79] 



work and the methods employed for doing so. Being con- 

 nected with a "research institution," 1 should consider 

 myself incompetent to enter upon a free and unbiased dis- 

 cussion of the nietliods of such organisations for the 

 furthering of research work. I will, however, take as an 

 example the general magnetic survey of the earth as re- 

 presentative of the kind of world-embracing research 

 enterprises I have in mind. 



Alexander von Humboldt, whose mental grasp was 

 extraordinary in more than one science, set forth the 

 following plan in his " Cosmos " for a general magnetic 

 survey of the globe.' 



" Four times in every century an expedition of three 

 ships should be sent out to examine as nearly as possible 

 at the same time the state of the magnetism of the earth, 

 so far as Jt can be investigated in those parts which are 

 covered by the ocean. . . . Land expeditions should be com- 

 bined with these voyages." ... 



" May the year 1S50 be marked as the first normal epoch 

 in which the materials for a magnetic chart shall . be 

 collected, and may permanent scientific institutions 

 (academies) impose upon themselves the practice of re- 

 minding, every twenty-five or thirty years, Governments, 

 favourable to the advance of navigation, of the importance 

 of an undertaking whose great cosmical importance depends 

 on its long-continued repetition." 



Here was a noble project, universally conceded to be not 

 only of the greatest scientific interest, but also of the 

 greatest practical importance. Vet why is it that this 

 grand plan has never been carried out by the foremost 

 nations in friendly concert? Have our academies, as 

 Humboldt suggested, never " imposed upon themselves the 

 practice of reminding every twenty-five, or thirty years 

 (iovernments, favourable to the advance of navigation, of 

 the importance of an undertaking" of this character? 



Instead of working along a common and definite plan, 

 the magnetic operations hitherto have consisted of more or 

 less isolated and incomplete surveys, independently under- 

 taken by various nations and distributed over a great 

 number of years. Not even for a single epoch has it been 

 possible to construct the magnetic charts on the basis of 

 homogeneous material, distributed over the greater part of 

 the earth, with some attempt, at least, at uniformity. .As 

 to the possibility of constructing the charts, with the aid 

 of similar data, for epochs twenty-five to thirty years apart, 

 as Humboldt had dreamed, this, in spite of the cnlightenecl 

 interest of many countries, is even more remote. 



Why should it have remained for a purely research 

 organisation to undertake a problem touching so keenly 

 as this on even the so-called sordid, purely practical 

 interests of man? Is it a fortunate fact that Humboldt's 

 fascinating international scheme failed of execution, and 

 that the chief brunt of the work is now being borne by 

 a single organisation ? The magnetic work of the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington has embraced, since 1904, a 

 general magnetic survey of the Pacific Ocean, and land 

 observations have been made in more or less unexplored 

 regions in different parts of the world. The ocean mag- 

 netic work is to be undertaken next in the Atlantic Ocean, 

 in 1909, on a specially built vessel, the first of its kind. 



It is believed that an effective scheme of operation has 

 been evolved, with the aid of the valuable advice received 

 from eminent investigators. Without danger of giving 

 offence to anyone, it is possible to deal directly with the 

 oflficials concerned, submitting to them our plans and 

 ascertaining whether they contemplate doing anything 

 similar, and, if so, whether, in case their funds are in- 

 sufficient, they could suggest some friendly basis of co- 

 operation between their organisation and ours. This plan 

 of action has met with entire success thus far. Duplica- 

 tion, overlappings, and possible jealousies are all avoided ; 

 and in countries where no organisation whatever exists to 

 do the work, we are free to go ahead and finish the task 

 in less time than it would necessarily take to get an 

 official action or official consensus of opinion from a large 

 scientific body. 



Slow deliberation in terrestrial magnetic work would be 



disastrous, for the prime reason that the phenomena of 



investigation in this field of research are continuously 



J The quotation is from E. C. Ott6"s translation of the '"Cosmos," vol. 



I PP- 



