228 



A^A TURE 



[December 23, 1909 



(i) that the irregularities are not in the band itself, but 

 are due to a number of real, grey spots which are left 

 isolated by the retreat of the disappearing cap ; (2) that 

 the distance of the dark band from the edge of the cap 

 is too great to be covered by the " spreading " of the 

 image of the latter. Further, he continues, if the pheno- 

 menon of the daric band is real, it should obey the ordinary 

 laws of perspective, and should appear about two and a 

 quarter times as broad at the extremities of the major axis 

 of the projected cap as it does at the ends of the minor 

 axis ; but the majority of drawings show tlie band to be 

 the same width all round, and M. Antoniadi therefore 

 contends that it is a subjective effect produced by contrast. 



Temperature Classificatio.v of Stars. — In No. 4375 

 of the Aslronomische Nachrichten Drs. Wilsing and 

 Scheiner publish a list of 109 bright stars of which they 

 have determined the effective temperatures by spectral 

 photometric observations. The temperatures determined 

 range from 2800° (absolute) for x Serpentis, to 12,800° 

 for ^ Orionis, and, in a summary, the range from Vogel's 

 type lai to type III. is given as 96oo°-32oo°. 



Dr. Nordmann, also, has recently published several 

 notes, in the Cotnptes rcndus, giving the results obtained 

 by his method of photometric comparisons of various 

 definite regions of the spectra. In No. 4 he gave a list 

 of fifteen temperatures ranging from 2870° to >6o,ooo° 

 (absolute), and compared the order in which the stars were 

 thus arranged with the order given, for the same stars, in 

 Sir Norman Lockyer's temperature classification. The 

 latter, of course, does not deal with actual temperatures, 

 but in general the two arrangements were found to agree 

 fairly well; Dr. Nordmann 's value for the solar tempera- 

 ture also agrees well with the values determined by previous 

 observers. In a later note confirmation of the tempera- 

 ture given for Algol was obtained by an independent 

 method, whilst in the most recent publication (Comptes 

 rcndus. No. 23, December 26) Dr. Nordmann gives 

 amended values of the temperatures primarily published. 

 The only important alterations are found towards the 

 upper temperature limit, and do not involve any re- 

 al rangement of the sequence ; the highest temperature (for 

 \ Tauri) is now given as >40,ooo°. 



A New Variable Star, or a Nova. — In No. /i-!7, of the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten Prof. Ceraski announces that 

 o'l a plate taken on March 23, at loh. 6m. to I2h. 6m. 

 ^M.T. Moscow), Madame Ceraski discovered an image of 

 a tenth-magnitude object which is absent from twenty-four 

 earlier plates, showing 12.5 magnitude stars, of the same 

 region. The approximate position of this object is 

 8h. 2gm. 26s., +53° 50' (1900), and the shape of the image 

 shows it to be a star ; the suggested explanations that it 

 might be a planet or an end-on meteor are thought to be 

 improbable, and Prof. Ceraski suggests that all observers 

 having plates of this region should examine them for traces 

 of what may be either a nova or a new variable star. 



The " Companion to the Observatory." — Edited by 

 Messrs. T. Lewis and H. P. Hollis, and published, at 

 IS. 6d., by Messrs. Taylor and Francis, this annual is the 

 most generally useful, to the practical, general astronomer, 

 of all the British annual publications. The issue for 19 10 

 differs but little in form from its immediate predecessors, 

 the usual contributions having been obtained from Mr. 

 Denning, Dr. Maw, Mr. Crommelin, and M. Baillaud. 



THE RELATION OF SCIENCE TO HUMAN 

 LIFE.' 



IN casting about for a suitable introduction for my 

 address this afternoon, I came across some words 

 written by a great Englishman, which with your per- 

 mission I will read to you. 



" Remember the wise ; for they have laboured, and you 

 are entering into their labours. Every lesson which you 

 learnt in school, all knowledge which raises you above 

 the savage and the profligate — who is but a savage dressed 

 in civilised garments — has been made possible to you by 

 the wise. Every doctrine of theolog\-, every maxim of 



1 A.ldre';'* d-liv-'eH at the Imnenjl r-, 11^,5 of Science and Techno1o»i' on 

 December 16 by Prof. A. '^edjwick. F R.S. 



NO. 2095, VOL. 82] 



morals, every rule of grammar, every process of mathe- 

 matics, every law of physical science, every fact of history 

 or of geography, whicli you are taught, is a voice from 

 beyond the tomb. Either the knowledge itself, or other 

 knowledge which led to it, is an heirloom to you from 

 men whose bodies are now mouldering in the dust, but 

 whose spirits live for ever and whose works follow them, 

 going on, generation after generation, upon the path which 

 they trod while they were upon earth, the path of useful- 

 ness, as lights to the steps of youth and ignorance. 



" They are the salt of the earth, which keeps the world 

 of man from decaying back into barbarism. They are the 

 children of light. They are the aristocracy of God, into 

 which not many noble, not many rich, not many mighty, 

 are called. Most of them were poor ; many all but un- 

 known in their own time ; many died and saw no fruit of 

 their labours ; some were persecuted, some were slain, as 

 heretics, innovators and corruptors of youth. Of some 

 the very names are forgotten. But though their names 

 be dead, their works live, and grow and spread over ever 

 fresh generations of youth, showing them fresh steps 

 towards that temple of wisdom which is the knowledge 

 of things as they are ; the knowledge of those eternal laws 

 by which God governs the heavens and the earth, things 

 temporal and eternal, physical and spiritual, seen and 

 imseen, from the rise and fall of mighty nations to the 

 growth and death of moss on yonder moors." 



So spake Charles Kingsley, and his words I make use 

 of as an introduction which strikes the key-note of what 

 I have to say to you to-day. 



The subject which I have chosen for my address — the 

 relation of pure science, and especially of biological science, 

 t3 human life, and inferentially the relation which ought 

 to exist between pure and applied science in a college of 

 .science — is naturally of great interest to us in the Imperial 

 College, which is a college of science and technology, and 

 the purposes of which are, in the words of the charter, 



to give the highest specialised instruction and to provide 

 the fullest equipment for the most advanced training and 

 research in various branches of science, especially in rela- 

 tion to industry." Particularly do I desire to set forth 

 as clearly as I can the justification for including in a 

 college which deals, not only with science, but with science 

 in relation to industry, those branches of science which 

 deal with organisms. 



.'Ks industry forms the principal occupation of human 

 life, and as the phenomena of organisms constitute the 

 science of life, it may seem absurd to set out solemnly to 

 justify the inclusion of the biological sciences in. a college 

 which deals with science especially in its relation to human 

 life. Nevertheless, having regard to the fact that I have 

 heard soine doubt expressed as to whether the cult of the 

 biological sciences properly falls within the scope of the 

 Imperial College, it may not be out of place to bear the 

 matter in mind on this, the second, occasion of the prize- 

 giving of our new college. 



What is the meaning of the word science? As in the 

 case of so many words, its meaning has become confused 

 by its partial application, i.e. by its application to a part 

 only of its contents, and this has often led to a mis- 

 apprehension of the relation of science and of the scientific 

 man to life. Science simply means knowledge, and to 

 speak of scientific knowledge, as opposed to ordinary 

 knowledge, is to use a redundant phrase, always supposing 

 that we are using the word knowledge in its strict sense. 

 Huxley defined science as organised common sense, by 

 which, I take it, he meant knowledge of things as they 

 aie — knowledge the reality of which can at any time be 

 checked by observation and experiment ; for common sense, 

 if it is anything, is the faculty by which we are made 

 aware of reality. Science is sometimes spoken of as exact 

 knowledge, but I am bound to say that I do not like the 

 phrase exact knowledge ; it seems to imply an insult to 

 the word knowledge. Its use reminds me of a friend of 

 mine who, when he was offered one morning at breakfast 

 a fresh egg, mildly asked, " In preference to what other 

 kind of egg? " It recalls those regrettable phrases one 

 so often hears, I honestly believe, or I honestly think ; one 

 wonders how the people who make use of them usually 

 believe and think. 



It must, I think, be admitted that science simply means 



