JULY. 22, 1915] 
NATURE 563 

capable of taking their places in workshops. 
A register of the names and addresses of all 
persons who are willing to devote either the whole 
or some definite part of their time to industrial 
service of the kind indicated is being made at 
many engineering laboratories, so that no one with 
any mechanical aptitude need now lament absence 
of opportunity of employment in national work. 
In a number of engineering laboratories of 
universities and technical colleges in different 
parts of the country, short courses are now being 
conducted by means of which, for a nominal fee, 
preliminary training can be obtained which will 
enable suitable persons to be recommended by the 
Local Munitions Committees for employment in 
the manufacture of munitions of war. Practical 
experience of employers has shown that compara- 
tively unskilled assistance may materially increase 
the output of munitions in a district. Of course, 
persons who have already had some experience in 
engineering workshops can render more effective 
service than those who lack such experience ; but 
there is much work to be done on machines which 
are so arranged that unskilled men—or women— 
can use them after very little preliminary training. 
The classes arranged in engineering laboratories 
will provide the necessary instruction to enable 
these persons to perform useful national work. 
The laboratories of our universities, university 
colleges, and technical institutions are at the dis- 
posal of the Government, and in many of them men 
are devoting twelve hours a day to work in connec- 
tion with the supply of munitions of war. A few 
days ago the members of the Royal Institution 
decided to offer the resources of their laboratories 
and of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory to 
the Government for the prosecution of any par- 
ticular research by officers of the Admiralty, War 
Office, or Ministry of Munitions ; and the managers 
invited communication from these departments 
“in case there is any field of research in relation 
to or connected with chemical and _ physical 
science, or either of them, to which the professors, 
assistants, and staff of the Royal Institution or 
of the laboratory can usefully direct their attention 
with the view of giving assistance to his Majesty’s 
Government in the conduct of the war.” 
We notice that this resolution was sent to the 
First Lord of the Admiralty, the Minister of War, 
the Minister of Munitions, and the chairman of 
the Inventions Board of the Admiralty, but we 
can scarcely suppose that each of these officers 
of State will act independently in making what- 
ever use is possible of the offer. Mr. Lloyd 
George has announced in the House of Commons 
that he has made arrangements with the Secretary 
of State for War to take over the invention work 
relating to the munitions of war for the supply 
of which his department is responsible. He has 
also arranged with the First Lord of the Ad- 
miralty to take over the work relating to new 
expedients and inventions for purely Army pur- 
poses which are at present in charge of that 
department. 
This action is in the direction of the establish- 
-ment of the proposed central committee or bureau 
NO. 2386, VOL. 95| 

to direct scientific and inventive energy into 
channels of effective work. In his recent address 
to the British Science Guild, Sir William Ramsay 
described Lord Sydenham’s scheme for the con- 
stitution by the Royal Society of a general ad- 
visory committee to which all Departments of 
State would be directed to apply for assistance in 
problems requiring scientific treatment and inves- 
tigation. The Royal Society is already in close 
association with the Government departments, 
and has instituted helpful work on many _ pro- 
blems relating to the war, but there seems to be 
a need for common action between it and other 
scientific societies, both as regards the prepara- 
tion of a joint register and the co-ordination of 
consultative committees. When such an organi- 
sation has been established, it should not be in 
separate connection with the Admiralty, War 
Office, Ministry of Munitions, and Board of 
Trade, but with a bureau to which scientific sug- 
gestions or inventions would be addressed, with 
the sure and certain knowledge that they would be 
submitted to expert trial and judgment. It is not 
yet clear whether Lord Fisher’s Board is to be 
this central body or whether further committees 
are to be established by other Government de- 
partments concerned with scientific problems of 
the war and munitions. Good organisation de- 
mands concentration of effort upon common pro- 
blems; and that end will not be reached by 
separate departments and_ separate scientific 
societies appointing their own committees and 
panels of consultants for independent work and 
advice. Co-ordination might be attained by the 
constitution of a grand committee on which each 
department and each scientific society concerning 
itself with national work would be represented, 
or a sort of official exchange might be established 
to which all suggestions or needs would be com- 
municated, either to be dealt with by a small 
scientific staff attached to it or distributed to 
expert advisers for judgment. Only by linking 
up the various departments with one another and 
with scientific societies somewhat in this fashion 
can overlapping be avoided and the fullest ad- 
vantage be secured most expeditiously from the 
services which men of science are prepared to 
place at the country’s disposal. 
Most people assume that these services will be 
voluntary; and a correspondent directs our atten- 
tion to the fact that in the forms circulated by 
the Physical Society in connection with the pro- 
posed “War Register,” it is stated that: “It is 
to be understood that all service would be volun- 
tary, and unpaid, being given for the good of the 
country during this period of emergency.” He 
adds: “I should like to inquire how it comes 
about that the Physical Society is not in a position 
to offer remuneration for work of the character 
specified in the circular on a scale at least bear- 
ing a reasonable proportion to the wages paid by 
the Government for the performance of less re- 
sponsible labour. Is it really for the good of the 
country that this work should be unpaid?” 
Government departments and statesmen find 
their requests for expert advice and guidance re- 
