TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION A. 543 



Under these circumstances such an Address as Professor Schuster's is very 

 welcome : it recognises at least a scientific brotherhood and points to the responsi- 

 bility for a scientific standard ; it even displays some of the characteristics of the 

 Good Samaritan, for it offers his own beast on which to ride, though it recommends 

 the unfortunate traveller to dispose of what little clothing the stripping has left to 

 provide the two pence for the host. 



It is quite possible that the uuformulated opinion of the vast majority of people 

 in this country who are only too familiar with the meteorological vagaries of the 

 British Isles is that the weather does just as it pleases ; that any day of the year 

 may give you an August storm or a January summer's day ; that there are no laws 

 to be discovered, and that the further prosecution of so unsatisfactory a study is 

 not worth the time and money already spent upon it. They forget that there are 

 countries where, to judge by their languages, the weather has so nearly the regu- 

 larity of 'old time ' that one word is sufficient to do duty for both ideas. They forget 

 that our interests extend to many climates, and that the characteristics of the 

 eastern shores of the North Atlantic are not appropriate to, say, western Tropi- 

 cal Africa. That may be a sutiicient explanation of the attitude of the man in the 

 street, but as regards the British universities dare I offer the difficulty of the 

 subject as a reason for any want of encouragement ? Or shall I say that the general 

 ignorance on the part of the public of the scientific aspirations and aims of meteoro- 

 logists and of the results already obtained is a reason for the universities to keep 

 silence on the subject ? With all respect I may say that the aspect which the 

 matter presents to official meteorologists is that the universities are somewhat 

 oblivious of their responsibilities and their opportunities. 



I have no doubt that it will at once be said that Meteorology is supported by 

 Government funds, and that alma mater must keep her maternal affection and 

 her exiguous income for subjects that do not enjoy State support. I do not wish 

 just now to discuss the complexities of alma mater's housekeeping. I know she 

 does not adopt the same attitude with regard to astronomy, physics, geology, 

 mineralogy, zoology, oi botany, but let that pass. From the point of view of the 

 advancement of science I should like to protest against the idea that the care of 

 certain branches of science by the State and by the universities can be regarded as 

 alternative. The advancement of science demands the co-operation of both in their 

 appropriate ways. As regards Meteorology, in my experience, which I acknowledge 

 is limited, the general attitude towards the department seems to be dictated by the 

 consideration that it must be left severely alone in order to avoid the vicious 

 precedent of doing what is, or perhaps what is thought to be. Government work 

 without getting Government pay, and the result is an almost monastic isolation. 



There is too much isolation of scientific agencies in this country. You have 

 recently established a National Physical Laboratory, the breath of whose life is its 

 association with the working world of physics and engineering, and you have put 

 it — where P At Cambridge, or anywhere else where young physicists and engineers 

 are being trained ? No ; but in the peaceful seclusicm of a palace in the country, 

 almost equidistant, academically speaking, from Cambridge, Oxford, London, and 

 everywhere else. You have-established a Meteorological Office, and you have put 

 it in the academic seclusion of Victoria Street. jMonastic isolation may have its 

 advantages, but I am perfectly certain it is not good for the scientific progress of 

 Meteorology. How can one hope for effective scientific development without 

 some intimate association with the institutions of the country, which stand for 

 intellectual development and the progress of science ? 



I could imagine an organisation which by association of the imiversities with a 

 central office would enable this country, with its colonies and dependencies, to 

 build up a system of meteorological investigation worthy of its unexampled 

 opportunities. But the co-operation must be real and not one-sided. Meteoro- 

 logy, which depends upon the combination of observations of various kinds from 

 all parts of the world, must be international, and a Government department in 

 some form or other is indispensable. No university could do the work. But 

 whatever form Government service takes it will always have some of those 

 pharacteristics which, from the point of view of re.search, may be called bondage. 



