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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 817 



thought and research, both as regards the 

 methods employed and the ultimate objects 

 sought. In regard to the latter point par- 

 ticular stress will be laid on the growing 

 tendency to attach importance to the study 

 of ends as distinct from means. In illus- 

 tration of this point reference will be made 

 to the increasing importance attached to 

 economic security as an end to be con- 

 sciously pursued — a tendency which finds 

 expression in the vast modern develop- 

 ments in the method of insurance. An at- 

 tempt will be made to find criteria for de- 

 termining how far and in what sense and 

 within what limitations this tendency is a 

 healthy one. As a particular example the 

 question will be discussed how far the 

 risks of unemployment can properly be 

 regarded as insurable risks, having regard 

 to the criteria laid down, and how far it is 

 possible and expedient to apply the method 

 of insurance to some or all of these risks. 

 This discussion will lead to the formulation 

 of certain principles which suffice to de- 

 termine, within comparatively narrow Ihn- 

 its, the lines and scope of any economically 

 practicable scheme for insurance against 

 unemployment. 



Professor W. E. Dalby, dean of the City 

 and Guilds Central Technical College, who 

 is this year president of Section G (engi- 

 neering), will devote his address to the 

 consideration of various questions relating 

 to British railways. Of much interest and 

 importance in the general proceedings of 

 the section will probably be the joint dis- 

 cussion with the mathematical and phys- 

 ical science section on aerial flight, and 

 the joint discussion with the chemical sec- 

 tion on combiLstion. The report of the 

 Gaseous Explosions Committee will also 

 come up for consideration. Separate 

 papers have been promised by Professor 

 Ripper on "The Testing of the Lathe Tool 

 Steels" and "A New Method of Testing 



the Cutting Quality of Piles"; Mr. W. A. 

 Scoble, "Experiments on Aeroplanes"; 

 Mr. H. S. Wimperis, " Aceelerometers " ; 

 Professor Coker, "Optical Determination 

 of Stress"; Professor S. P. Thompson, 

 F.R.S., "Laws of Electro-mechanics"; Mr. 

 Philip Dawson, the "Electrification of the 

 Brighton Railway," and Mr. F. Bacon, 

 "Heat Insulation." 



In his presidential address before Sec- 

 tion H (anthropology) Mr. W. Crooke in- 

 tends to discuss the possibility of improv- 

 ing, by a course of anthropological training 

 before they join their appointments, the 

 qualifications of young officers appointed 

 to the Indian and Colonial services. As a 

 development of this the future organiza- 

 tion of ethnographical surveys throughout 

 the empire under the control of experts 

 will receive consideration. Assuming that 

 such a course is applied to India, Mr. 

 Crooke will discuss certain questions which 

 are not likely to be solved by any other 

 method, such as the relation of the present 

 population to the prehistoric culture of the 

 country, and the origin and development 

 of the distribution of caste. 



A large number of descriptive papers 

 will, as usual, be presented to the section; 

 but perhaps the most noteworthy feature 

 of the program is the devotion of the 

 Pi-iday sitting to a joint discussion with 

 Section L (educational science) on "Cer- 

 tain Aspects of Educational Research." 

 On behalf of Section L, Professor J. A. 

 Green, of Sheffield, the secretary of a com- 

 mittee which has been investigating the 

 mental and physical factors involved in 

 education, will present a report on the 

 present position of educational research at 

 home and abroad. Dr. Gray will also pre- 

 sent a report on behalf of a committee of 

 the Anthropological Section on methods of 

 observing and measuring mental charac- 

 ters. It is hoped that Professor Miinster- 



