450 

LETTERS TO. THE EDITOR. 
{The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 
opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 
can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 
the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 
this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 
taken of anonymous communications. ] 
The Mobilisation of Science. 
Tue article in Nature of June 17 expresses forcibly 
what many men of science are thinking. The strange 
part of the matter is that the Government and the 
country generally do not share in these thoughts and 
do not take action by insisting on scientific men taking 
on themselves their share of the common burden. The 
general disregard of science is, of course, the fault 
of scientific men, and particularly of the Royal Society, 
but limitations of space do not permit me to enter 
upon that fascinating theme here and now. The 
point to be dealt with is: What is to be done now ? 
NaTURE says, On p. 419, that what is required is 
“the appointment of a National Committee with a 
free hand and ample funds for experimental work”; 
and that “we should possess a scientific corps, with 
men investigating at the Front as well as at home, 
instead of one or two committees advising officials as 
to possible means of offence or defence.” 
Mr. H. G. Wells, in his letters to the Times, seems 
to show that he holds the same views. Now, with all 
due respect to Nature and to Mr. Wells, those methods 
are not in accord with our national characteristics, 
and are not suited to the needs of the moment. To 
be plain, they are counsels of perfection with the 
practical defects usually associated with such counsels. 
Progress in our country, if not throughout the world, 
comes mainly, not from scientific discovery, but from 
its application. It is beside the mark to point out 
that without the researches of scientific men, the 
results could not be applied in practice. The advance 
of science is a blindfold march. No man knows 
whither it will lead, or what landmark may be reached 
even by the next step. This is not to say that each 
step is not carefully considered beforehand and its 
probable landing-place made the subject of the most 
earnest and profound thought. But it is to say that 
each step is only the preliminary to another step, and 
that science cares little about landmarks. The good 
scientific investigator is not concerned as to the imme- 
diate value of his work. He is in pursuit of truth. 
Let the world benefit by the way he has opened out 
if it is sufficiently wise. The imprisoned splendour 
has blazed forth. Let others work by its light. 
This is precisely what the inventor does. He is 
not greatly interested in the splendour, but he is very 
much interested’ if he can see his way to making 
use of it in something “practical.” He is often not 
particularly scientific, or at any rate has little scien- 
tific reputation. Yet a man who can apply science 
is in his way as useful to science as science is to him. 
Just now it is the applications of science we want, not 
the underlying science itself. We want to stimulate 
invention, to get hold of the men with a “ practical” 
turn, and induce them to do their best. How is it 
to be done? 
To find the answer, the question must be considered 
a little further. The main thing with an inventor— 
the applier of science—is to know for certain of some 
competent person who will listen to what he has to 
say, who can judge of the value of what is said, and 
will not rob him of his ideas. The inventor wants 
the credit for his own work, and if he often positively 
prefers something more tangible, he may perhaps be 
forgiven in a world where success is nearly always 
NO. 2382, VOL. 95] 
NATURE 


[JUNE 24, 1915 

measured in one way. But does an inventor like to 
approach the Government? Of course, the man with 
superb self-confidence will do the most unlikely things. 
I will content myself with saying that many inventors 
would not do so. At this juncture some men at least 
are convinced, rightly or wrongly, that they would 
not receive a patient and intelligent hearing. It is 
impossible for the average Briton to get into his head 
that an official can be anything but stupid, incapable, 
and lazy, with a rooted objection to new ideas, 
especially if, as is probable, he does not fully under- 
stand them. 
The method for the Government to adopt is to let 
it be known that the hearing will be patient and 
intelligent, and the adoption of new ideas immediate, 
if they are to be adopted at all. It is useless to set 
up Advisory Committees if they do not command the 
confidence of the men who have the knack of applying 
science. Possibly—I say it with bated breath—even 
the council of the Royal Society might not be the 
best Advisory Committee. Perhaps an admixture of 
more mundane material, even men froin works who 
live by applying science, might be to the good. But 
at least it must be made clear to all by the widest 
publicity that the Committee is not one of officials, 
whose attainments are chiefly in directions other than 
science. 
To me it seems that the various scientific and tech- 
nical societies are enough, that any electrician would 
trust the council of the Institution of Electrical 
Engineers, that any chemist would trust the councils 
of the Chemical Society and the Society of Chemical 
Industry, that any metallurgist would trust the coun- 
cils of the Iron and Steel Institute, the Institution of 
Mining and Metallurgy, and the Institute of Metals, 
and so on. These organisations are already in exist- 
ence and: consist of the mixture of men of the labora- 
tory and of the works which would possibly give the 
best results. 
The setting of men to work, whether at the Front 
or at home, in directions specified by the Committees 
is a matter which I have not touched, but this letter is 
already too long. T. K. Rose 
(President). 
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, June 19. 

The Magnetic Storm and Solar Disturbance of 
June 17, 1915. 
THE greatest magnetic disturbance of the present 
cycle of sun-spot activity, which commenced in March, 
1914, and the most violent since that of September 25, 
Igog, occurred on June 17, I915. It commenced 
G.M.T. 1.50 a.m. with a sudden increase of H.F., 
and a corresponding sharp, though slight, movement 
of the declination needle towards the west. The 
greatest angular range in declination was 91-5’ of arc, 
which occurred at 6 p.m. The spot of light on the 
recording drum of the H.F. gradually swung down- 
wards with decreasing force, until at 7.35 a.m. it 
passed beyond the limits of record, and remained off 
for thirty-seven minutes. Jt then returned for a 
moment, when a further sharp decrease took it beyond 
the limits of record until 11.30 a.m. Then with a 
succession of oscillations it increased, attaining a 
maximum of angular displacement of 100! at 4.15 p.m. 
(1'=0-44 x 10—-* C.G.S. units). The total range ex- 
ceeded 130’. The V.F. also attained its maximum 
value of increasing force at 4.15 p.m. In all the 
elements the disturbance was most intense between 
4 and 6 p.m., although it did not exhibit any of the 
very rapid oscillations sometimes characteristic of such 
movements. A second phase, or repetition of the 
storm, consisted, as so often happens, of a few isolated 
well-marked swings in the form of peaks on the photo- 
