& CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 235 
sure that no scientific man who really works will ever be repaid from a 
monetary point of view. 
The war has done more than give a greater appreciation of science : it has 
given a chance to men who would not otherwise have made themselves felt in 
the work of shaping our destiny, and it will have removed some of those 
prejudices which I mentioned. There is a chance that our ruling classes, ag 
I call them, will not be quite the same in the future. 
The Government set up a department of scientific and industrial research 
in 1915. Two of its publications are in front of me. One deals with 
Industrial Research in the United States of America. This bears out Mr. 
Whitaker’s contention that we always go to other people to see what they 
are doing, and to hold up their methods as a model. Occasionally it is 
justified. The second publication is a report on the resources and production 
of iron-ores, and so on, used in the iron and steel industry in the United 
Kingdom, so that we are beginning to get along. 
I have also before me the report of a conference held last year in the Linnean 
Society’s Rooms at the instance of the Committee on the Neglect of Science, 
which is well worth reading; and, again, I have the Presidential address of 
Dr. W. Martin to the South-Eastern Union, given in the same rooms last month, 
on ‘Science and the Industries.’ 
There is a conjoint board of scientific societies at work. The British Science 
Guild is extending its sphere of influence, and yet I think that the local societies 
could play a very important part in the directions mentioned by our President 
yesterday, and in others. The bodies mentioned above reflect the opinion of 
scientific men who are already convinced of the importance of science; the 
principal work is to make others see it. The local scientific societies should 
consist of all scientific men in the neighbourhood to which they belong. They 
would belong to all political sections if political parties still remain. The 
Sections should be constituted to deal with general questions which will occur 
in every neighbourhood, and special questions which apply to their own. 
As a biologist, I naturally think of the same illustrations as Mr. Hopkinson, 
such as useful birds. If our crops are to be increased one-hundredfold, so 
should the insect-eating birds, and care should be taken that the species which 
live at our expense should not increase. There should be a body of scientific 
opinion, backed by evidence, which should be able to prevent the cherry orchards 
of a district from being rendered worthless by the number of starlings, provided 
that other and more important crops should not instead be ravaged by caterpillars 
because the starlings have been eliminated. 
It should be the part of the local society to point out the places where trees 
should be planted, and further than this they could deal with manufactures 
in urban districts, individually they could bring pressure to bear on municipal 
bodies and members of Parliament, while by concerted action they might 
influence the Government on questions of importance which affected the country 
as a whole. It will fall on a few people in each place, in the beginning, to 
carry out the work, but if such a scheme could be put into practice the results 
of their labours would be very far-reaching. : , 
Mr. Wuitaxker said : Mr. Webb falls a little foul of certain economic notions. 
England has been able in the most wonderful manner to help the Allies in various 
ways, largely in matters of money; nearly all our Allies, except America, which 
has just come in. Why? “Because England has followed economic laws far more 
than any other countries have, and has bought in the cheapest market for many 
years. The result is that she has had a great reserve, and thereby has helped 
her Allies. How could that be effected if we had not followed economic laws? 
We should not have been the wealthy country we are. We may have been worse 
off in some ways. Mr. Webb finds fault with our ruling classes for not under- 
standing science, but I do not know how he can make them. You cannot force 
them. Education should be so arranged that those children who prefer scientific 
studies should not be handicapped. I do not ask for favouritism for science ; 
give us equality, give us justice. If English people cannot make things as well 
as the people of some other nations, whose fault is it? If, on the other hand, 
they cannot make them so cheaply, whose fault is it? Let these faults be 
remedied. There is no nation in the world, be it ever so humble, that cannot 
