NATURE 



797 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1922. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Science and the Empire 797 



Wegener's Drifting Continents. By Prof. Grenville 



A. J. Cole, F.R.S 798 



A New Treatise on Chemistry Soi 



Physiology of Respiration. By Joseph Barcroft, 



F.R.S 803 



Our Bookshelf S04 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Echinodern Larva: and their Bearing on Classifica- 

 tion. — Dr. Th. Mortensen .... S06 

 Rotary Polarisation of Li^ht. {With diagrams.') 

 —Prof. F. Cheshire; Dr. A. E. H. Tutton, 



F.R.S S07 



Space - Time Geodesies. — Dr. Alfred A. Robb, 



F.R.S 809 



A New Type of Electrical Condenser. {Illustrated.) 



—Dr. T. F. Wall 810 



Sex of Irish Yew Trees— Dr. C. J. Bond, C.M.G. 810 

 The Physiography of the Coal-Swamps. By Prof. 



Percy Fry Kendall, M.Sc, FG.S. . . .811 

 The Royal College of Science for Ireland. (Illus- 

 trated) 814 



Obituary : — 



Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, K.B.E., F.R.S. . 816 



Sir Norman Moore, Bt., M.D 817 



Current Topics and Events . . 818 



Our Astronomical Column . . ... 821 



Research Items 822 



Physiological Aspects of Physical" Measurement. 



By Sir John Herbert Parsons, C.B.E., F.R.S. . 824 



The Design of Railway Bridges .... 825 

 The Alps of Chinese Tibet and their Geographical 

 Relations. By Prof. J. W. Gregory. F.R S., and 



J. C. Gregory S26 



The Present Position of the Whaling Industry . S27 



Biometric Studies S27 



University and Educational Intelligence . . 828 



Calendar of Industrial Pioneers 829 



Societies and Academies .... 829 



Official Publications Received 832 



Diary of Societies 832 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



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Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



Science and the Empire. 



DURING the past few weeks the minds of many 

 electors in Great Britain must have been dis- 

 turbed by the storms of rhetoric, appeals to occupa- 

 tional interests, and promises of a Golden Age in the 

 near future, which are common characteristics of a 

 general election. We have seen dozens of election 

 addresses, and almost all of them profess the desire 

 to promote industrial development, and thus reduce 

 the burden of unemployment. The solution of this 

 problem is not, however, so simple as it seems on 

 paper, and is not, moreover, solely a matter of adjust- 

 ing the conflicting claims of capital and labour. The 

 third pillar of the tripod upon which the structure of 

 modern civilisation has been erected is creative science, 

 yet scarcely a candidate referred to it as an essential 

 factor of national stability as well as of progress. 



This is perhaps not surprising, as the number of 

 voters engaged in scientific research or familiar with 

 its productive value is negligible in comparison with 

 the electorate in general upon whose suffrages in bulk 

 depends the position of a candidate at the poll. It is 

 also a consequence of the fact that scientific investi- 

 gators as a body do not in the public Press or on the 

 public platform assert their claims, or pronounce 

 their principles, so vociferously as do advocates of 

 many social changes and reforms of relatively trivial 

 importance. It is true that there is a National Union 

 of Scientific Workers, but it is a Trade Union affiliated, 

 we believe, to the Labour Party, and it exists to secure 

 suitable conditions of work and payment for its mem- 

 bers rather than for the extension of natural know- 

 ledge. It is therefore concerned with occupational 

 interests alone, and has almost nothing in common 

 with our scientific societies which month by month 

 add more to the store of human knowledge than was 

 gained in a century in some earlier epochs of modern 

 history. Whatever may be thought of the strength 

 of our position in any other respect, it cannot be 

 questioned that as regards output of originality and 

 inventiveness British men of science are in the front 

 rank of the scientific army and often bear the banner 

 in the van of progress. 



We have every reason to be proud of our pioneers 

 who to-day, as in the past, are cutting a way through 

 virgin forests into new lands of promise from which 

 others will gather the fruits ; yet their names are mostly 

 unknown even to our political leaders, and their works 

 arouse no interest in the market place. Scientific men 

 are usually indifferent whether the public gives atten- 

 tion to their work or no ; theirs is the joy of the 

 chase, and others may dispute over the spoils. This 

 unworldly attitude may excite respectful admiration, 



NO. 2772, VOL. I io] 



