Decembeb 25, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



917 



progress: such a course, free from techni- 

 calities and unnecessary details, richly- 

 illustrated by lantern slides and experi- 

 ments, and woven together into a clear 

 and homogeneous whole, would serve to 

 give the average student a far broader view 

 of evolution than he now obtains, and leave 

 no doubt in the hearer's mind as to the cul- 

 tural and imagiaative value of science. 



The William Ellery Hale lectures will 

 open with a series on evolution, so designed 

 as to be of interest to members of the acad- 

 emy, and at the same time to be intelligible 

 and attractive to the public. At each 

 meeting two lectures will be given by a 

 distinguished European or American inves- 

 tigator, chosen because of his competence to 

 deal with some branch of the subject. The 

 first course of lectures, to be given by Sir 

 Ernest Rutherford at the annual meeting 

 in April, 1914, will deal with the consti- 

 tution of matter and the evolution of the 

 elements." At the conclusion of this series, 

 which will extend through several years, 

 it is hoped that the lectures may be brought 

 together, in a homogeneous and perhaps 

 somewhat simplified form, into a small 

 volume suitable for use in schools. 



The course above outlined will serve to 

 test the question whether the Academy may 

 advantageously enter more extensively into 

 the lecture field. So far as the members of 

 the Academy are concerned, it seems prob- 

 able that lectures by able American and 

 European investigators would add to the 

 interest of the meetings. But the value of 

 the lectures to the general public can only 

 be determined by experiment. If a suitable 

 building can be obtained, and the success 

 of these lectures is sufficient to warrant it, 

 the foremost investigators, American and 



11 [The second course was given at the autumn 

 meeting by Dr. William Wallace Campbell on 

 "Stellar Evolution and the Formation of the 

 Earth. ' '] 



foreign, might be invited from time to time 

 throughout the year to describe and illus- 

 trate their advances in the lecture-hall of 

 the Academy. This plan is already followed 

 by various American institutions, but the 

 Academy, because of its national character, 

 would be better able to attract the best men 

 and to give their lectures more than local 

 significance. Ample facilities for experi- 

 mental illustration would also go far to- 

 ward enhancing the value of the lectures. 

 In short, the example of the Royal Insti- 

 tution should be followed as closely as 

 possible.^^ 



INDUSTRIAL EESEABCH 



The value of science to the American 

 manufacturer, though no new theme, is 

 capable of wide development at the hands 

 of the National Academy. In a presidential 

 address delivered before the Royal Society 

 in 1902, Sir "William Huggins dwelt on the 

 "Supreme Importance of Science to the 

 Industries of the Country, which can be 

 secured only through making Science an 

 Essential Part of all Education." He saw 

 the fruits of English discoveries passing 

 into the hands of Germany, whose univer- 

 sities have so long fostered and spread 

 abroad the spirit of research, and won- 

 dered at the apathy of the average British 

 manufacturer toward scientific methods. 

 Huggins, speaking in plain language, 

 pointed to the chief source of weakness — 

 "the too close adherence of our older uni- 

 versities, and through them of our public 

 schools, and all other schools in the country 

 downward, to the traditional methods of 

 teaching of medieval times. "^^ 



In this country, where the classics do 



12 [It has been suggested by several members 

 that these lectures might be repeated in two or 

 three large cities, in cooperation with local seien- 

 tifle institutions.] 



13 "The Eoyal Society," p. 29. 



