284 
but the reader expects also a presentation in 
vivid style of the imagination and enthusiasm 
that Archimedes exhibited in the saying “ Give 
me a fulcrum on which to rest, and I will 
move the earth; ”the reader likes to be enter- 
tained by the narrative of his behavior when 
the true solution of the problem of the crown 
flashed on his mind—how he jumped out of 
his bath and shouted “I have found it”; the 
reader likes to be able to cite as marks of 
high patriotism his services to his sovereign in 
the construction of war engines and his al- 
leged use of reflecting mirrors to set the 
Roman ships afire; the reader wishes to be 
reminded of the tragic death of Archimedes 
at the hands of a Roman soldier whom he had 
requested not to spoil his circles drawn in 
the sand, of his desire that the figure for his 
theorem on the sphere and circumscribed cyl- 
inder be inscribed upon his tomb, and how, 
over a century later, Cicero found the tomb of 
this the greatest mathematician of antiquity 
almost hidden amongst briars near one of the 
gates of Syracuse and forgotten by the people 
of the city. 
Details of this sort do not strictly belong to 
a history of scientific ideas, but they add color 
to the narrative. Like all men, the mathe- 
matical reader is largely dominated by feeling. 
A modern poet has said of Horace, 
It is a curse 
To understand, not feel thy lyric flow, 
To comprehend, but never love thy verse. 
Where is the science which appeals to the 
intellect alone, never to the heart? Such a 
science, if it exists at all, can not be found 
in the camp of the mathematicians. Cer- 
tainly, then, the history of mathematics should 
appeal to the heart as well as to the head. 
Such a history should create respect and love 
for mathematics; it should excite admiration 
for this science; it should make the mathe- 
matician feel stronger than ever that he is 
contributing his bit toward the true grandeur 
of nations. 
FLortan Casont 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8. Von. XLVITI. No. 1238 
THE BRITISH NATIONAL PHYSICAL 
LABORATORY 
Tur National Physical Laboratory is now 
conducted as a government institution under 
the financial control of the Committee for Sci- 
entific and Industrial Research, though its 
scientific work and researches remain under 
the direction of the Royal Society as before, 
and its annual report, of which the London 
Times gives an abstract, is for the first time 
published by the Stationery Office (2s. 6d. .n.). 
As has been the case since 1914, a large part 
of the laboratory’s work last year was in con- 
nection with the requirements of the war, and 
therefore can not be described in detail, even 
if referred to at all, but there is a considerable 
body of investigations to which this limitation 
does not apply. 
In the electrical department additional mag- 
netograph 24-hour records were taken and co- 
incidences found between the running of 
electric trains on the London and South- 
Western Railway and magnetic disturbances 
at the laboratory. The question as to the mag- 
nitude and cause of certain of the disturbances 
was submitted to the arbitration of Mr. A. J. 
Walter, K.C., in November and December, and 
he adjudged that the use of electrical power by 
the railway has caused an increase in the hori- 
zontal magnetic field at the laboratory to an 
extent exceeding that stipulated in the South- 
Western Railway Act of 1913. 
Among general electrical measurements a 
large number of the small mica condensers 
used in magnetos were tested for capacity and 
power factor; much work was done in connec- 
tion with the composition and treatment of 
steel used for compass needles, and some spe- 
cial search coils proved valuable in testing 
permanent horse-shoe magnets. Some inyesti- 
gation was also made of the properties of non- 
magnetic steels. Sensitive vibration galvan- 
ometers for frequencies of the order of 10 
cycles were constructed, and some preparations 
made for a research on effective resistance at 
radio frequencies. A new 400-volt secondary 
battery is being installed for use with large 
valves to generate the high-frequency current. 
In the division of electrotechnies, in view of 
