December 2, 1909] 



NA TURE 



audisputed sway over the whole realm of natural know- 

 Itdge, was disposed to look with disfavour on this multi- 

 plication of separate and independent institutions ; but that 

 time has long since passed away. Subdivision is now 

 admitted to be necessary, and, if properly directed, even 

 desirable. Hence this society, like a proud parent, now 

 rejoices in the growth and energy of the increasing family 

 which has grown up around her, while she in turn is 

 regarded with respect and esteem by the various members 

 of that family, among whom there is a general desire to 

 be enrolled in her ranks. 



Nevertheless, it is impossible not to perceive that the 

 rise of all these younger societies has materially affected 

 the position of the Royal Society in regard to the general 

 advance of modern science. This society is no longer the 

 general depository of the records of that progress in all 

 its branches. So completely, for instance, do the Geo- 

 logical and Chemical Societies provide for the requirements 

 of their respective fields of investigation that communica- 

 tions from these fields come now comparatively seldom 

 before us. If one desires to follow the modern growth 

 of geology or chemistry, one must turn for its record to 

 the publications, not of the Royal Society, but of the two 

 learned bodies that are specially devoted to the cultivation 

 of these sciences. Nor can we see any reason why this 

 process of devolution should not continue in the future. 

 Hence, if the system of reading and publishing papers 

 which has been in use here for so many generations is 

 to be perpetuated without modification, there may come a 

 day when every great department of natural knowledge 

 will be provided with its own special society, and then we 

 may ask in anticipation, what will be left for the meet- 

 ings of the Royal Society? For myself I do not believe 

 that such a time of impoverishment ever will befall us. 

 We cannot, and would not if we could, do anything to 

 prevent the foundation of fresh societies for sciences that 

 have not yet been provided with them ; but we may so 

 adjust our programme as to bring it into harmony with 

 modern conditions, and thus to maintain and e.xtend the 

 prestige and usefulness of the Royal Society. The danger 

 to which I have referred, however, is by no means 

 imaginary, and it should be faced before it has time to 

 become serious. 



Some years ago the society departed from the time- 

 honoured practice of dealing with natural knowledge as 

 one great subject, and now groups its papers in two 

 separate series, one devoted to physical (\) and the other 

 to biological (B) questions. It is undoubtedly a consider- 

 able convenience to have the memoirs in each of those 

 two great divisions gathered together into a separate series 

 of volumes. More recently the practice has grown up of 

 introducing a similar principle in the grouping of papers 

 to be read at the weekly meetings of the society. It was 

 hoped that by taking the physical papers on one day 

 and the biological communications on another a better 

 attendance could be secured, especially of the representa- 

 tives of each division. I cannot say that this arrangement 

 has been attended with the success which was anticipated. 



That there are some practical advantages in this separa- 

 tion of subjects cannot be gainsaid, and I would not for 

 a moment seek to undervalue them ; but I confess I am 

 often led to consider this subject with feelings of regret 

 and misgiving, and to ask myself whether the conveniences 

 afforded by the subdivision are not more than compensated 

 by the disadvantages that accompany them. Undoubtedly, 

 the constantly quickening pace of the march of science 

 makes it every year increasingly difficult for those whose 

 lives are devoted to the active and engrossing prosecution 

 of research in one special department of inquiry to keep 

 in touch even with the broader features of the advance 

 that is being made in other departments. We cannot be 

 surprised that a man whose whole energies are absorbed 

 in one line of study should neither care to listen to, nor 

 to burden his library shelves with, papers in other lines, 

 full of technicalities which he has had no time to master, 

 and written, therefore, in a language which to him is more 

 or less unintelligible. In this way the workers in widely 

 separated fields of inquiry tend to be more and more com- 

 pletely isolated from each other. 



But surely such isolation is a defect in our organisation 

 which deserves serious attention. It cannot be for the 

 NO. 2092, VOL. 82] 



general, good of scientific progress that the eyes of an 

 investigator should seldom or never be lifted from his own 

 field ot work, nor his ears be open to the reports of the 

 advances made in other fields that lie outside his 

 immediate interests. The wider his outlook, the greater 

 must obviously be his capacity for judging of the general 

 bearings of discovery in his own domain on other depart- 

 ments of research, and the broader and more intelligent 

 will be his sympathies with the whole range of activity 

 on which the continued march of natural knowledge 

 depends. 



The Royal Society is still the one great institution in 

 this country which draws its members from the cultivators 

 of every branch of science, and freely opens its publica- 

 tions to receive their communications of observation and 

 discovery. It should thus be specially fitted to bring the 

 workers on the two sides of science, physical and bio- 

 logical, into touch with each other. It has recognised, and 

 in various ways endeavoured to discharge, its duty in this 

 respect. In its Croonian and Bakerian lectures it has 

 given to the world many masterly expositions of the pro- 

 gress of research in different branches of inquiry. It has 

 likewise provided, by one of its standing orders, for 

 occasional meetings devoted to the discussion of papers of 

 general interest specially prepared for the purpose. Never- 

 theless, it may be urged that some more frequent and 

 effective procedure might still be devised to lessen the evils 

 of isolation and to make the work that is in progress in 

 one section of the scientific domain more comprehensible 

 in the others. It is futile to find fault with the techni- 

 calities of a science. These are its symbols and language 

 with which its students cannot dispense ; but without trv- 

 ing to provide for all the needs of the " man in the street," 

 it is often possible to give the gist of an observation or 

 a discovery in simple words that will convey a definite 

 conception of what has been observed or discovered ; and 

 thus a subject which, when expounded in brief technical 

 phraseology, repels men of another science, may yet be 

 made interesting and suggestive to these same men. 



It may be worthy of consideration whether in those 

 branches of science which, having special societies of their 

 own, are seldom represented by papers at our meetings 

 or in our publications, some of their cultivators might 

 not be invited from time to time to bring before the societv 

 reports of recent advances in their different fields of re- 

 search. Would it not be practicable, for example, to find 

 among the many distinguished chemists in our ranks a 

 few who would be willing to present occasionally at our 

 meetings, in language intelligible to a general audience of 

 scientific men, an outline of the latest progress, present 

 condition, and future problems of some section of their 

 great science? 



But, above all, there is an aspect of scientific thought 

 which, although fully recognised by the early fathers of 

 the Royal Society, is too apt to be overlooked amidst the 

 engrossing pressure of modern research. I allude to the 

 philosophy of science. At intervals in the progress of 

 scientific inquiry it is desirable to look at the subject from 

 the philosophical side, and to seek for a correlation and 

 synthesis of the various processes of nature which dis- 

 covery has revealed. The mental vision required for this 

 quest is not given to more than a few gifted minds; but 

 we can count among the number of our fellows more than 

 one admirably qualified by wide knowledge and rare 

 powers of generalisation to present a connected view of 

 the broader bearings of discovery in the scientific domain 

 in which each is a master. Memoirs of this type will, I 

 trust, continue to be laid before us, perhaps at more 

 frequent intervals, thus upholding the renown of our 

 Philosophical Transactions and sustaining the prestige of 

 the society. 



Had the Royal Society no other duties to discharge save 

 those in connection with the preparation of its publications, 

 it would, like other scientific societies, have work enough 

 on hand fully to occupy its time and absorb its resources ; 

 but the performance of these duties fills up only part of 

 its programme. In this respect the society differs from 

 other learned bodies. It possesses a large and diversified 

 field of activities about which most, even of our fellows, 

 know little, and the world outside still less. Our Year- 

 book, indeed, presents a formidable list of the public func- 



