486 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1084 



tion, or the obstacles which arise when the 

 whole economic basis of the community is 

 disturbed by a cataclysm such as that 

 which came upon us thirteen months ago. 

 The sorry catchword "business as usual" 

 must have sounded very ironically in the 

 ears of many business men confronted with 

 unforeseen and unprecedented difficulties 

 on every side. The indomitable spirit with 

 which they were met, the energy and deter- 

 mination with which they were overcome, 

 afford further evidence of that which has 

 been so gloriously demonstrated on land 

 and sea, that the traditional courage and 

 grit of the British race have not been lost. 



To the question how have our oversea 

 food supplies been maintained during the 

 first year of the war, the best answer can 

 be given in figures. 



Imports of the principal kinds of food 

 during the first eleven months of the war 

 were as under, the figures for the corre- 

 sponding period of 1913-14 being shown 

 for comparison : 



dream by the most confirmed optimist two 

 years ago. The debt which the nation owes 

 to our sailor-men is already immeasurable. 

 That before the enemy is crushed the debt 

 will be increased we may be assured. The 

 crisis of our fate has not yet passed, and 

 we may be called upon to meet worse trials 

 than have yet befallen us. But in the navy 

 is our sure and certain hope. 

 That which they have done is but earnest of the 



things that they shall do. 



Under the protection of that silent shield 

 the land may yield its increase untrodden 

 by the invading foot, the trader may pur- 

 sue his business undismayed by the threats 

 of a thwarted foe, and the nation may rely 

 that, while common prudence enjoins strict 

 economy in husbanding our resources, suffi- 

 cient supplies of food will be forthcoming 

 for all the reasonable needs of the people. 

 E. H. Rew 



In total weight of these food-stuffs, the 

 quantity brought to our shores was rather 

 larger in time of war than in time of peace. 

 Yet one still occasionally meets a purblind 

 pessimist who plaintively asks what the 

 navy is doing. This is a part of the answer. 

 It is also a measure of the success of the 

 much-advertised German "blockade" for 

 the starvation of England. So absolute a 

 triumph of sea-power in the first year of 

 war would have been treated as a wild 



THE MANCHESTES MEETING OF THE 

 BEITISH ASSOCIATION 



In an account of the meeting Nature states 

 that the number of members and associates 

 (1,438), although satisfactory in the circum- 

 stances, was small as compared with previous 

 meetings. But it is said that the section rooms 

 were well filled both in the morning and after- 

 noon sittings, and the proceedings • were of 

 exceptional interest. 



The reception by the Lord Mayor in the 

 School of Technology on Wednesday evening 

 was the only general social function of the 

 week, but being fixed on the second day of the 

 meeting it gave a welcome opportunity to 

 meroibers to meet their friends as well as to 

 inspect the machinery, appliances and lecture- 

 rooms with which this great institution is 

 equipped. The arrangements made by the 

 committee for the visits of members to fac- 

 tories, warehouses, municipal undertakings 

 and various places of special interest in Man- 

 chester and district worked well, and the short 

 excursions were well attended. The citizen's 

 lectures given in Manchester and other towns 



