308 Notes and Comments. 
misconception [ most emphatically state that I do not con- 
sider one source as in any sense nobler than the other, or 
intrinsically more interesting. I cannot see why it is nobler 
to strive to understand than to busy oneself with the right 
ordering of one’s actions. Both have their bad sides; there 
are evil ends directing actions, and there are ignoble curiosities 
of the understanding. The importance, even in practice, of 
the theoretical side of science arises from the fact that action 
must be immediate, and takes place under the circumstances 
which are excessively complicated. If we wait for the necessi- 
ties of action before we commence to arrange our ideas, in 
peace we shall have lost our trade, and in war we shall have 
lost the battle.’ 
CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 
Prof. G. G, Henderson reviewed the recent advance made 
in Chemical Science. ‘The period which has elapsed since 
the last meeting of the Section in Newcastle has witnessed 
truly remarkable progress in every branch of pure and applied 
chemistry. For fully fifty years previous to that meeting 
the attention of the great majority of chemists had been dev oted 
to organic chemistry, but since 1885 or thereabouts, whilst the 
study of the compounds of carbon has been pursued with 
unflagging energy and success, it has no longer so largely 
monopolised the activities of investigators. Interest in the 
other elements, which has been to some extent neglected on 
account of the fascinations of carbon, has been revived with 
the happiest results, for not only has cur knowledge of these 
elements been greatly extended, but their number also has 
been notably increased by the discovery of two groups of 
simple substances possessed of new and remarkable properties 
— the inert gases of the argon family and the radio-active 
elements. ; 
MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS. 
In addicion, the bonds between mathematics and physics 
on the one hand and chemistry on the other have been drawn 
closer, with the effect that the department of our science 
known as physical chemistry has now assumed a_ position 
of first-rate importance. With the additional light provided 
by the development and application of physico-chemical 
theory and methods, we are beginning to gain some insight into 
such intricate problems as the relation between phy sical | proper- 
ties and chemical constitution, the structure of molecules and 
even of atoms, and the mechanics of chemical change; our 
outlook is being widened, and our conceptions rendered more 
precise. Striking advances have also been made in other 
directions. The extremely difficult problems which confront 
the bio-chemist are being gradually overcome, thanks to the 
Naturalist, 
