NEW ZEALAND HAS SEEN GIANTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 69, 18 October 1940, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND HAS SEEN GIANTS

NEW ZEALANDERS AND SCIENCE: By S. H. Jenkinson, Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand Centennial Surveys No. 12. Edited by E. H. McCormick. 164 p.p., 5/-.

(Reviewed by

R. A.

Falla

M.A., D.Sc.) HE reading public should by this time have become familiar with the high standard set, and the variety presented by the New Zealand Centennial Surveys already published. Both have been well maintained by the volume on New Zealanders and Science written by S. H. Jenkinson. The subject must have presented a problem to those responsible for planning the series and finding competent authors. Science in the twentieth century has become so specialised and departmentalised that only a committee of representatives of a dozen special sciences could have compiled a summary of progress and results in all the more important branches. Such a work would have had some reference value, but have been outside the scope of a survey which aims at presenting its matter in some 160 readable pages. It may be said at once that Mr. Jenkinson’s pages are eminently readable. He has taken a courageous plunge into a formidable mass of raw material and come out with a selection to please most tastes. Those who may be disappointed by omissions, or sceptical about an occasional assertion, will at least agree that the faults are those of enthusiasm; they lend a certain non-scientific flavour that will commend the book to many. In a short preface the author makes it clear that he does not intend to chronicle the results of the application of science to our national life nor the details of discoveries actually made in the laboratories and Institutes of present day New Zealand. His aim

is rather to present an account of "theoretic" science in New Zealand and of men who have added to its achievements. The introductory chapter defines this central theme more precisely. Wide but discriminating reading has enabled Mr. Jenkinson to find a definition to suit his purpose. "Science is the knowledge gathered by minds not only determined to see things as they are and to see them whole, but also filled with a burning desire to be able to give a rationat-ex-planation of everything." On this high plane he considers that, "in proportion to their numbers, New Zealanders have done more for the progress of modern science than any other people," and gives cumulative evidence ffor this assertion in the rest of the book. A chapter on the visiting scientists of pre-settlement days deals with most of the naturalists attached to English, French, and American expeditions before 1840, some, like Dieffenbach, important for the work they did here, others, like Darwin, for their later eminence. They, the forerunners, who came and went, were followed by the pioneers of the period 18501880 whom Mr. Jenkinson calls the explorer scientists. As a stand- ard for judging their achievements he discusses the position of science

in the early years of Victoria’s reign, when observational science had not yet been vitalised by the profound hypotheses of mid-Vic-torian days. The energetic contribution of Hooker, von Hochstetter, Colenso, and other botanists and geologists is discussed with some _ interesting detail. Three important chapters are then reserved for the work of three men who graduated from the ranks of explorer-scientists to become leaders of New Zealand science until the end of the century. They were Haast, Hector, and Hutton, and the assessment of their place in our history is well done. Thus far in the story New Zealand is but the field of work of men born and trained elsewhere. But with the founding of Universities in the country a new era commenced. The fight for the recognition of science in the endowment of chairs makes interesting reading, especially now that a distinguished succession of professors in Science faculties is taken for granted, no less than the success of many of the earliest students. A few good stories are told of early professors, but the book works to its real climax in a series of chapters devoted to the eminence gained by Rutherford in atomic physics, Mellor in inorganic chemistry, Cockayne in ecological botany, Gifford in stellar physics, and Cotton in geomorphology. None of the accounts is stereotyped, and the fact that Mr. Jenkinson seems to be closely acquainted personally with the work of one or two of the five who are less known to the public gives freshness to the book. While anthropologists may regret that their representatives are all dismissed in one line, and zoologists that such names as Parker, Dendy, or Myers do not even appear in the index, all will agree that Mr. Jenkinson has given us a stimulating survey, and with him that the foundations of science in New Zealand have been so well laid. , Typography and _ illustrations are excellent. We seem to be getting better and better value for our five shillings. : NOTE: ag + sane dihacedagr gauge laed of Canterbury useum, one e@ monuments in New Zealand to Von Haast.