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NA TURE 



[December 2, 1922 



The Society of German Men of Science and Physicians. 



Centenary Celebrations at Leipzig. 



T T is a hundred years since the Society of German 

 * Men of Science and Physicians held the first 

 meeting, also in Leipzig, on September 18, 1822. 

 Onlv eighty-seven meetings have taken place in thi 

 period, as in the years of great national calamities, 

 such as war or epidemics, no meetings were held. 

 ["hough the first meeting after the World-War, at 

 Munich in 1920, was well attended, the society resolved 

 to meet only every two years, so long as the present 

 e< onomic distress in Germany prevails. 



Among the scientific workers who attended tins 

 year's meeting there were represented not only the 

 great seats of learning of Germany and the German- 

 speaking countries, but also most of the countries 

 who had in former times sent their representatives 

 to this meeting. The president was the distinguished 

 Berlin physicist, Prof. Max Planck, Nobel prizeman in 

 1918 for physics. The committee included, among 

 others, Prof. Palthauf, the great Vienna pathologist ; 

 von Dyck, the Munich mathematician; Profs. Gottlieb 

 (Heidelberg), Willstatter (Munich), His and Bonhoffer 

 (Berlin), Rinne (Leipzig) ; Privy Councillor Duisberg 

 (Leverkusen). The arrangements for the meeting 

 were carried out under the supervision of Prof, von 

 Struetnpell and Prof. Wiener, both of Leipzig. 



After the opening address by Prof, von Struempell, 

 on September 18, in which he expressed his satisfaction 

 at the great new tribute paid to German science, 

 addresses were given by representatives of educational 

 authorities, teaching institutions, and learned societies. 

 Among the foreign representatives were : Prof Becki 

 (Vienna), Prof. Schlosser (Prague), Prof. Hagenbach 

 (Basel), Prof. Sigrist (Bonn), Dr. Sven Hedin and 

 Prof. Svante Arrlienius (Sweden), I'ruf Golds, linn. ll 

 (Christiania), and Prof. Bokay (Budapest). Con- 

 gratulatory messages were also sent from Holland, 

 Spain, U.S.A., and other countries. 



After expressing his thanks for the addresses and 

 messages Prof. Max Planck gave a survey of the 

 development of German science during the past 

 hundred years. Referring to the World- War, he said 

 that one possession has not been lost by the German 

 nation, namely, its national unity. The reconstruction 

 of Germany's prosperity and the rebirth of German 

 culture are not possible without German science. 

 Many of the most important inventions which are 

 used in modern industrial life, such as wireless 

 telegraphy, the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, the 

 Rontgen rays, had been discovered in purely scientific 

 laboratories. It is necessary to spread among all the 

 nations of the world the conviction that the preserva- 

 tion and extension of purely scientific research in 

 Germany is as necessary for the welfare and happiness 

 of that country and the whole world as the develop- 

 ment of industry and the production of raw materials. 

 Scientific work is international in its nature, and 

 therefore well fitted for creating and furthering mutual 

 understanding and peaceful co-operation among the 

 peoples of the world. The German men of science 

 and physicians were ready to respond to frank and 

 honest approaches made by foreign fellow-workers, 

 but they would naturally not think of begging for 

 admission where they were not wanted. 



The subject of the first general address was the 

 theory of relativity. Prof. Einstein himself had 

 originally intended to be present, but he was pre- 

 vented from appearing by his journey to the East. 

 It may be mentioned that a protest against this 

 subject, as not yet ripe for scientific discussion, had 

 been lodged l'\ .1 numbei of well-known men of 



NO. 277O, VOL. I IO] 



science of Germany and other countries. The 

 lecturer was Prof, von Laue (Berlin), and he stated 

 that the questions with which the theory of relativity 

 is concerned are as old as science and scientific 

 research. The modern problem is whether it is possible 

 to ascertain an absolute velocity of any moving body. 

 The transmission of light and electricity through 

 space, even in a vacuum, has led to the assumption 

 of an aether. All experiments, however, which have 

 been made in order to discover how great is the 

 velocity of the earth with respect to the aether have 

 failed. The special or restricted theory of relativity, 

 which maintains that it is impossible to ascertain 

 any absolute velocity, has therefore been generally 

 accepted by physicists. 



It is a different question with the much more 

 complicated and difficult general theory of relativity 

 of Einstein. This is concerned with the old problem 

 of the force of gravitation. Here mathematical 

 processes have to be introduced which no physicist 

 had thought of applying before Einstein. Though 

 this part of the relativity theory has not yet been 

 established so as to exclude every possibility of 

 doubt, it can be regarded as an extremely valuable 

 stimulus to further research. 



This lecture was followed by an address by Prof. 

 Schlick (Kiel) on the philosophical importance of 

 the theory of relativity. He stated that the theory, 

 though originally devised only to explain physical 

 phenomena, has a great philosophical importance. 

 The philosophical tendencies of Einstein's thinking 

 pointed to a kind of positivistic philosophy, a phil- 

 osophy of pure experience which takes no account 

 of so-called elements or substances, and regards as 

 the ultimate facts of all happening the observed 

 events themselves. We may say that the period of 

 the- separation of philosophy and science is ended 

 and that they are beginning to approach each other 

 again. 



On September 19 the first subject treated was that 

 of heredity, and Prof. Johannsen of Copenhagen 

 gave a survey of the work done during the past 

 century in this field. The conclusion he comes to 

 is that no positive result has been obtained in regard 

 to the great questions of the origin of species and 

 their evolution. A destructive criticism, however, of 

 the chief ideas of both Darwin and Laman k has 

 been achieved, and the belief in natural selection 

 as well as in a gradual fixation by heredity of qualities 

 obtained by adaptation has been thoroughly shaken. 

 Prof. Meisenheimer of Leipzig showed the results of 

 experiments in crossing flowers, insects, and guinea- 

 pigs. He explained the various connecting links, the 

 mixed types, and described cases of reversion. His 

 conclusion is that the experiments are subject to 

 many chance influences and not very certain. It 

 has been impossible, so far, to carry out all the 

 calculable experiments ; in many cases it will be neces- 

 sary to resort to statistics. 



Great interest was aroused by the lecture of Dr. 

 Lenz of the University of Munich, on heredity in the 

 human race. In this field, he stated, no experiments 

 are possible. The only materials available are com- 

 parative observation of animals and plants and 

 vital and genealogical statistics. The validity of 

 Mendel's law has also been proved in the case ol man ; 

 further, it is certain that no acquired qualities are 

 inherited. In regard to the determination of the 

 sex of unborn children, Dr. Lenz said that we can 

 to-day already predict with a great degree of accuracy 



