August 1, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



115 



meters during about one third of the time. 

 The percentage of favorable days increases 

 materially at greater altitudes, especially along 

 the northern route. The percentage of favor- 

 able days for the westward trip " is so small 

 as to make trans-Atlantic flight in this di- 

 rection impracticable until the cruising radius 

 of aircraft is increased to such an extent that 

 they are relatively independent of weather con- 

 ditions." 



As to the season, there is little choice. The 

 prevailing westerly winds are stronger in win- 

 ter than in summer, but there are more storms 

 in the colder months. The greater prevalence 

 of fog in summer is a disadvantage at that 

 season which about oiisets the greater amount 

 of cloudiness in winter. The fogs of !New- 

 foundland are generally of but slight vertical 

 extent, and as they do not extend far inland 

 they ought not to interfere with a landing if 

 such is attempted some distance from the 

 coast. The most important thing of all is the 

 need of a comprehensive campaign to secure 

 meteorological and aerological observations 

 over the Iforth Atlantic. 



E. DeO. Ward 



QUOTATIONS 



BRITISH SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY 



The speakers at the opening of the British 

 Scientific Products Exhibition emphasized 

 different aspects of the same truths. When 

 the war came, England was deprived of many 

 scientific products which she had been con- 

 tent to receive from Germany. English sci- 

 entific men and inventors had long been in 

 the forefront of discovery, but English manu- 

 facturers had taken little advantage of their 

 achievements. We had not the industrial 

 processes for making high explosives from 

 coal-tar nor the methods of making optical 

 glass for gun-sights. In a thousand ways, 

 great and small, we were unready for the 

 ordeal. The unlimited valor of our fighting 

 men and the unswerving resolution of the 

 people alone carried us over the dead point. 

 The exhibition of British scientific products, 

 made in Britain, for the first time during the 



war, shows the splendid progeny of the liaison 

 de convenance hurriedly arranged between 

 science and industry. It is to be hoped that 

 it will lead to a more permanent union. 



The war is over, and there is more than a 

 fear that the soporific effect of the cry " Busi- 

 ness as usual " may again be felt. Business 

 win not be as usual. The old British way of 

 being content with large-scale manufacture of 

 the " good enough," of seeking the easy 

 market and the repeat order, is gone for ever. 

 Even the best is not good enough, for there 

 is always a better. As Lord Moulton said. 

 Divine discontent must have its place in our 

 industries. The manufacturer must keep in 

 touch with the inventor and the scientific 

 student. The men of the laboratory must 

 keep aware of the industrial processes to 

 which they can so largely contribute. The 

 seller of British goods must have a better 

 weapon than blandishment; he must be able 

 to explain why his goods are the best, and to 

 stimulate the imagination of his customers by 

 the assurance of better. Lord Crewe rightly 

 laid stress on the part of education in the 

 new orientation of our scientific and indus- 

 trial effort. He referred with legitimate pride 

 to the associations of manufacturers and in- 

 vestigators that are being organized by the 

 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 

 But there is still a long way to go. In one 

 sense, the lean years that lie ahead of us are 

 less favorable to continued effort, although 

 they require it even more urgently. During 

 the war an imperative stimulus quickened our 

 common purpose. Money flowed like water 

 for the experiments of the laboratory and the 

 workshop, and the operations of war supplied 

 the swiftest and surest test of efficiency. We 

 must lose none of the organizing and self- 

 sacrificing spirit that we gained when our 

 need seemed greatest. — The London Times. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Turtles of New England. By Harold 

 L. Babcock, M.D. Mem. Boston Soc. Nat- 

 ural History, Villi., No. 3, 4to, pp. 325 to 

 431, plates 17 to 32, April, 1919. 



