The Dominion. TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1914. PARLIAMENT OF SCIENCE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2134, 28 April 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1914. PARLIAMENT OF SCIENCE

The meeting of the British Associalion £or tho Advancement of Science, which will bo held in Sydney and Melbourne next August, will certainly be the most distinguished scientific .gathering which lias over assembled in Australasia,. Arrangements have boon made for.a very considerable number of tho visiting British, American, and foreign scientists to come- over to . New Zealand ia order to tell us something about their own work, and to gain firsthand information regarding our country, its resources. - and its people. Pis6fessob Labv, of Victoria College., who has just returned from a> trip to England, has brought with him som.o interesting information about tho Now Zealand tour, and the list of those who have been invited to join the official party includes many well-known authorities in various departments of science, _ It is a pity that agricultural science is not more fully represeated, for this, branch of knowlodge is of-vital imoo.rta.nco in a country like this, whose prosperity depends to such a large extent on tho products of the soil. .It is probable, however, that before tho arrangements have been completed this' section will be greatly strengthened by the addition of a number of leading agricultural experts from tho United States. The Government will, of course assist in the entertainment of the visitors, who will he given special facilities for seeing tho country in its various aspects, and they will also hold meetings and give lectures in the principal centres. The official meetings of the British Association as a whole will take place in Sydney and Melbourne, but the prograrnmo which is being drawn up for tho New Zealand tour will n& doubt provide valuable opportunities for the discussion on the spot ot many subjects of special importance to this part of tho world, while the evening lectures will give the general a chance- of hearing the latest ideas in many brancHes of knowledge explained by some of the greatest living authorities. It is not necessary in theso days to ■. dwell at length upon the splendid services which science has rendered ; to human life. Everyone admits, that science and civilisation are advancing hand in hand; but the fact remains that the world is apt to lag behind in the matter of making the fullest practical use of the knowledge that is being placed so liberally at its disposal. People are inclined to bs a Htt-Jo impatient at what is known as seieotifjc research, because, the immediate results cannot he weighed and measured, and their value estimated in shillings or sovereigns. Speaking at Bristol a few weeks ago Pbiscipal E - . H, Griffiths stated that in this ago of competition and struggle men want to see tangible results, and insist oa the repetition of that hateful question: "What is the use of it?" They refuse to be satisfied with famous roply to a _ kd.y who put that question to kirn: "Madam, what is the use of a newborn child 1" So-called practical-people may, for instance, ask what is tho use of all the. curious lEforniation which the anthropologists are collecting about tho life and thought of primitive man, and the customs and ideas of present-day savages. This branch of research may not fill empty stomachs or produce material that can be sold by the pound; but its value to an Imperial race which | wishes to understand _ the mind of I the subject peoples which it governs is becoming more- adequately realised every day. There aro, of course, j many departments of science, which have proved of enormous and direct advantage to industry and commerce-. It is .stated that a "celebrated politician expressed surprise that » man <jf intelligence like Paiuimy should waste his luno foaling with a magnet: but, as l-'UOt'KSSOK SH.VANJ73 Thohl'sojj recently remarked, "out of Faßa&ay's fooling e;ui» the -dynamo, the traasfovnicr, the electric transmission of power, the electric light, the manufacture of fertilisers out of the nitrogen of the atmosphere—the hope for the agriculture of the future—and tho electrical industry., which to-da,y employs in England more men than the whole British" Army, and hundreds of thousands of inert' all -over ih© world, and certainly engages i , 10!5,000,ODO capital." f bo President of fcks British Ano

<:i».(.ioii for Die present year is Pltof'i:finoii_l|A'iHHrw, (mo of llif! foremost iiiithyriUim mi nil questions relating in ViiruHion And heredity. Ik is ;: Mudniihfeiily an outstanding figure in U»i; world, of science, and his pre- • HKlmitml address, pari, of which will i"s chili in Melbourne and part ■ mi .aVf/iicy, is sur-c to Ijo an able and striking pronouncement on some , nspiwts ftf Mm problems of which ho lw.s made a life study, The address may not ho of such, "burning" interest to the general public as the Ht.U;ra.(MX!fl of his two prcdeeossors— mit Isdwako Schakfeu and Sin Omvkh Lanaa—both of whom touched upon some extremely oHitrovttsial questions; but if he deals with theJipphpatitm of modern theories of { 0 mtDc . 0 f tlic great pro-"l-'ins of human life, as lie may be '.'spooled to do, his remarks will certainly attract a great.deal of attention, and. provide food for reflection by scknliata. social reformers;, and .statesmen. The Confident dogmatic tons which erMtf-aoterised the proJioimooments of Many of the leaders of science some twenty or thirty ycai's ago has to a very hrie extent'passed away, and a nolo of doubt and «n* certainty at present prevails. Wfcat wore formerly regaxcied as finally established generalisations arc now called in question by both philosophers and scientists, and them is a widespread feeling that the very foundations of knowledge are shaking. There is a sense of disillusion' merit abroad, and PftOFß.ssou B;ffESon's latest book, entitled Problems of Genetics, provides ft striking illustration of. the prevailing attitude of the scientific mind, With aomcthiug like a sigh of despair he admits that hs is quite unable to explain the origin of species, though Darwin was supposed to havo explained it half q, century ago,

"The ffiany cartvergin-fj lines qf eri. doscc," he says, "jtoifii so ctearfy to the central fact; of the origin of the foMns of life by an evo'iititvn.ary process that we are ewnpeltaKia ttoeeut this deduction; but fts to almost all the osnetttinl features, whether oi' canse of mode, by which specific diversity has. become whftt vo perceive it to bg, we hate to--con-fess in* ignorance nearly total. The transformation of masses of population by impertfrptiß'i steps, guided by sctetio», js, as wp*t of us now tee, so- jd.applicable to tUs facts, wiiethe!' of Varia* Hon or specificity, tltafc wo can oiil.y marvel both "ftt the want <sf -penetration displayed by the advocates of such.a proposition, and at the forensic skill l»y which it was Made to- appear acceptable even for a'time*" Though this, confession} is Certainly a "ruthless shattering of the idols of the postgeneration," as one rcvie-wcf remarks, yet it docs not ittearj. that Daiuvi??, HVxley, arid Waelacs laboured in vain. Though some of their conclusions tnaj; fcavo broken dov/ti wider criticism aad many of their theories may have been overthrown by ascertained, facts, yet their contributions to iftodern seLeatifk thought have proved of in* calculable value, and their magnificent work for the 'advancement of human knowledge will novel' be- fargottca.