The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1916. THE FIGHTING VALUE OF SCIENCE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2836, 29 July 1916, Page 8

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1916. THE FIGHTING VALUE OF SCIENCE

Sir .William. Ramsay, the distinguished chemist, whose death. was> announced in last Tuesday's Do-' minion, - deserves' the gratitude of the Empire for his .conspicuously, useful services in connection . with the war. He was. one .of those \yho early recognised -something : of the .real magnitude of the task which -Britain undertook when she cast her lot' on the .side of Belgium and the Allies. He realised', that,, it was the duty of every man to place all his powers' of mind and body ' at the disposal 9f the Stqte for the purpose of defeating . the ' enemy. He insisted;.upon 'the" necessity .of thoroughly organising, the .scientific resources of the nation, and was only too willi,ng to lay aside . his - ordinary researches in order to give the Government the benefit of his unrivalled chemical knowledge. But at the beginning of tho war the authorities were strangely slow. ,to make the best, use of the men who had devoted ■ their xwhole lives to the' study of the .'various branches, of seiance. Scientists with worldwide reputations like.Siß William Ramsay, did not receive much.'encouragement at first, but later on employment was found for their abilities by the Admiralty' Board of Inventions, and a certain amount' of research-,work was allotted' to Committees of the Royal Society and .the Chemical - Society. Sir William Ramsay did useful work in criticising reports regarding new gas and metals for Zeppelins, in giving advice regarding the manufacture of dye-stuffs, and in .explaining the effects of shell fumes; but the Empire has-reason to bo. specially; thankful to him for the strong lead he gave to public opinion in refer.-' ence to .the blockade. Professor Poulton recently stated that the final success of .the movement against the Declaration of London was due to the patriotism of a scicntific man, Sin William Ramsay, who, after exhausting, every other course, began the campaiern in the Press by which alone the Government could be moved. Sir \Villtam Ramsay was one of those who implored the authorities at the besinning. of the war to declare cotton contraband, and lie gave .'them no rest until they did so. He pointed out that nitro-cotton is an insn-edient of all modern powders; failing it, the old . form of black powder, consisting of nitre, charcoal, and sulphur, would have to be u«ed— and that is absolutely rnsuitcd. for modern weapons. He declared it was an absolute necessity to nlace. cotton on the list of contraband' of war, unless the whole theory of contraband was to be triven up. On a question of this kind Hie Government could not possibly ignore the advice of the man who was probably the highest authority in the world. Sir. Willtam Ramsay advocated the organisation of British science in the most thorough manner for the purpose of circumventing our enemies. All his suggestions have not been acted on, but the-views which he, and otW eminent .scientists, so emphatically expressed eventually led those responsible for the conduct - of - tho. war to fornT-'a, more adequate' conception" of the' imnortaii.ee ' of the part that could and should, be play-'

Ed by science in a struggle Such as that in which we are now engaged, [de felt that, in order to make certain .of victory, it is imperative that the Empire should wage war with every -legitimate ■ weapon. it possesses. -He expressed his opinions with knowledge and-power in the 'Press and on the platform, and proved 'himself a' great citizen as well as a great chemist. "Honour the' burden," said Napoleon to his companion, as he stopped off the footpath in order to make room for a man who was carrying a heavy .load: ' The maiv •who carries his full share of.the burden of public servicc.deserves to bo honoured. ; -. Sir William Ramsay •recognised--.the-close connection be-tween-science and service; He was an enthusiastic seeker- after know-, a, thorough master of his special line of study, and yet he .never forgot that lie had a part to play as citizen of a great nation and Empire. In his case the man was not swallowed up in the student. And yet he was a firm believer in scientific, .research for its own sake,-without,.regard to its ap-plications."--He- rightly -held tjiat file study - of- pure- scicnce .widened the bounds of thought, and for that reason-alone was well worth while; but he was also keenly aware of its vast possibilities from the practical point of view. Short-visioned people may feel that the time and thought expended on the. discovery of radium and similar radio-active substances might have been put to better use, but Sir William Ramsay has reminded us that the,study of these substances "has shown us to whai -enormous advances in the concentration of energy it is permissible to look forward with the. hope 'of applying the - knowledge thereby gained to the betterment of the whole human race." His chemical .researches and. discoveries gained for him, a place of high leadership in the .intellectual , world. Experiments, which, he -made in -collaboration with Lord Rayleigh resulted in the discovery of argon. He subsequently turned his attention to radio-activity, and, working with Mr. Soddy\ he detected the presence of helium in tho gases evolved, from a sample of .radium. As far back-_BS: 1868 a brilliant unknown line-in the-■-•ye Ho-■ • of' the -solar spectrum was -attributed by Sir Norman Lockyer to a new element v to which the name of helium was .given, and Sir William Ramsay's discovery in 1595 showed that this ■clement, first found in the sun, is also present upon;-the-earth. The industrial application of -scicntific discoveries was continually in his thoughts. - -He made' it his constant, endeavour .to impress upon the.British Government and people the xwisdom of viewing the problems affecting the race and the State from the scientific standpoint. In the Presidential address which lie' delivered iit the .'meeting of .the British' Association in 1911.,-ho drew attention to 'the rapidity with'which Britain's coal supply was being usjtfd up, and urged the necessity for the more economical employment of coal and its products and for the consideration of the possibility, of making profit'able use of other-sources of energy. He was of opinion that, although most people have some knowledge of the results of'scientific incjuirv, .few have entered into its spirit. He pleaded for a wider recognition of tho fact that progress in science does not only consist in accumulating information 'which may be put to practical use, but also in developing a spirit of prevision, in. attempting to forecastthe futureHot by vague surmise, but by orderly marshalling of facts, and by deducing from them their logical outcome, and chiefly in endeavouring to control- conditions' which may be utilised for the lasting good of tho nation. Me.n- like Sir William Ramsay, -, who' recognise the duty of-using their "intellectual gifts and their special knowledge for the benefit of their fellow-coun-trymen in , particular, and the human , race in general, are a source of strength to any nation: in time of peace or in time of war. Their lives are examples of public service of the highest kind.