October 6, 19 lo] 



NATURE 



431 



the emanation content of springs and waters may make 

 it desirable to adopt a convenient unit for expression 

 of sucli quantities. 



Tlie committee pointed out tliat its recommenda- 

 tions were tentative, as all the members of the 

 standards committee were not present at the congress, 

 and had no opportunity of expressing their opinions. 

 It is intended that the preparation of the radium 

 standard should be proceeded with as soon as pos- 

 sible, and it is hoped that the standardisation of sub- 

 standards will be possible before a year has elapsed. 

 Prof. Stefan Meyer, of the University of Vienna, was 

 appointed secretary of the international committee, 

 and all communications relative to standards should 

 be addressed to him. 



The question of the nomenclature of radio-active 

 products was informally discussed at the congress. 

 There was a general consensus of opinion that it was 

 not desirable to alter materially the present system 

 of nomenclature, although it was recognised that it 

 is far from perfect. It was felt that the gain to be 

 obtained by a possibly more systematic nomenclature 

 was more than counterbalanced bv the confusion that 

 would arise in consequence of a change of names. It 

 was pointed out that the present system of nomen- 

 clature was capable of extension to include possible 

 new products. For example, if future investigation 

 should disclose that the product radium C consists 

 of several products these coidd be named radium C,, 

 radium C„, radium C,, &c., but the term radium C 

 would be used generally to represent the group of 

 products as thev normally always occur together. 

 Reference was made to the undesirability of individual 

 workers assuming the right to giv'e new and fancy 

 names to well-known substances. 



A number of suggestions in regard to general 

 nomenclature in radio-activity and ionisation were 

 also made to the congress. For example, it is pro- 

 posed that the term "half-value period" should be 

 used in all cases to represent the term required for a 

 substance to be transformed to half its original value. 

 It is sugirested that the terms "induced" and "ex- 

 cited " activitv should be abandoned and the term 

 "active deposit" emploved in its stead, as reference is 

 usuallv made to the radio-active matter itself and not 

 to its radiations. There was a good deal of informal 

 discussion amoncst members as to the exact use of 

 a number of scientific terms arising in radio-activity 

 and allied subjects. .Such discussions are of great 

 importance in preventing unnecessary confusion in 

 nomenclature due to the development of a rapidly 

 growing subject. 



A more general account of the meetings and 

 deliberations of the congress, prepared by Dr. 

 Makower, will appear in another issue of Natlke. 

 E. Rutherford. 



HEREDITY AT THE CHURCH CONGRESS. 



'T^HE discussion on heredity and social responsi- 

 ■•■ bility at the meeting of the Church Congress 

 at Cambridge showed clearly the growing appre- 

 ciation of the importance of biological principles in 

 the study of social phenomena. The debate was 

 opened by a paper by Dr. G. E. Shuttleworth, who 

 dealt with the subject of the feeble-minded, chieflv 

 from the medical point of view. After tracing the 

 history of the different methods of treatment, he 

 pointed out that in the case of most of the feeble- 

 minded "there existed mbrbid hereditv of a strongly 

 transmissive character," and that the onlv sound pro- 

 cess of attacking the problem was to be found in 



NO. 2136, VOL. 84] 



segregating the rising generation of the feeble-minded 

 in industrial colonies, apart from the general com- 

 munity, for in that way alone could the propagation 

 of the evil be prevented by means in harmony with 

 our feelings of humanity. 



Mrs. Pinsent, of Birmingham, a member of the 

 Royal Commission on the Feeble-Minded, gave a 

 brilliant address, which was clearly the chief feature 

 of the meeting. She produced the histories of several 

 mentally defective families, in which disease, mental 

 defect, and crime appeared generation after genera- 

 tion. She pointed out the cost of such families to 

 the community, and the appalling waste of social 

 effort involved in their supervision and maintenance. 

 Good and useful families, themselves often with 

 narrow means, were being taxed to support these 

 degenerate folk, until the more efficient restricted 

 their families under the growing economic pressiire, 

 and reduced expenditure on maintenance and educa- 

 tion. Thus the unfit replaced the fit within our own 

 civilisation and under our own eyes. 



The crowded audience was clearlv in svmpathv 

 with Mrs. Pinsent's view of the situation, and realised 

 the dangers of ignoring any longer the increased 

 chances of reproduction and survival which our 

 modern humanitarian legislation and social action 

 had given to the degenerate classes. 



The Bishop of Ripon spoke on the declining birth- 

 rate, and said that, had it appeared in the less worthy 

 elements of society it would have been welcome, but 

 that, as it chiefly affected the better stocks of our 

 race, it was deeply to be deplored. Especiallv was it 

 disastrous from the point of view of the Empire, 

 which could not hope to stand against other peoples, 

 and especially against the increasing birth-rate, the 

 growing numbers, and the improving organisation of 

 the Eastern nations, unless our empty spaces in the 

 Colonies were filled with men of British race. Mar- 

 riage ought to be discouraged among the unfit, while 

 the growth of the fit should be encouraged by a 

 higher sense of duty in the homes and an imperial 

 ideal of national life. 



Mr. W. C. D. Whetham traced the part played by 

 religion in the sociological development of society, 

 and pointed out that it alone could give a motive 

 strong enough to lead the mass of mankind to prefer 

 the ultimate good of humanitv to the immediate ad- 

 vantage of the individual. Hence relicion possessed 

 a real biological survival value, as I\idd showed in 

 his book on "Social Evolution." It followed that 

 the National Church had a very great responsibilitv 

 towards the race. To play its proper part, it must 

 maintain its hold on the efficient families of the 

 nation, and preach the duty of encouraging the rapid 

 reproduction of the good stocks, while limiting the 

 output of those defective in mind or bodv. The 

 future belongs to those nations whose religious 

 teachers realise this responsibilitv. 



In the eeneral discussion which followed, there 

 was an almost unbroken agreement with the main 

 point of view of the readers of papers. While one 

 speaker thought that onlv 50 per cent, of mental defect 

 could be traced to hereditv, and another emphasised 

 the importance of alcoholism, there was a general 

 consensus of opinion that the countrv must be 

 awakened to the need of encouraging the growth of 

 good stocks, and that the reproduction of the feeble- 

 minded nvjst be orevented by legislative action. 



The general effect of the meeting on the mind of 

 the listener was to produce the belief that the Church 

 Congress, at all events, was ready, in matters of 

 social action, to "think biologically" — surely an 

 encouraging sign. 



