SERVANTS OF SCIENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21278, 3 September 1932, Page 6

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE

SITTING AT THE TEMPLE DIVERSITY OF TYPES FIGURES AT SYDNEY CONGRESS The great temple of science, like the fabled palace of Sogd, is open to all who seek its benefits; its doors know no distinctions. It w?.s this, says a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald, that im pressed one at the general assembly, of those who have come from all parts of Australia and New Zealand to attend the Science Congress of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement. of Science. Behind their singleness of purpose, their unity of effort, in a great cause, one saw, in the search for the great truths that are science, an interesting diversity of tvpes among the hundreds of earnest men and women assembled.

Nor was an outsider in an alien, for bidding atmosphere. It was the atmosphere rather of happy bands of enthusiasts drawn together, regardless of class or creed, by the common aims of science, and by the single purpose of trying to make the world a better place by their efforts. Not all, by any means, are pro lessors or doctors of this or that science; the great majority, indeed, are present in the role of studious observers, anxious to learn what they can, sitting proudly at the feet of "bright-eyed Science." ' Veteran of the Congresses The veteran of the big assemblage, and one whose name is not usually associated with science—he is better known, in fact, cn Sydney Harbour and at the annual regatta—is the honoiary general treasurer of the association, Mr. David Carment, who will be 89 years of age on August 30, and who, if old chronologically, appears to be still comparatively young m spirits. For 20 years Mr. Carment has fillea the post of honorary general treasurer of the association, and he has attended more Science Congresses in Australia and New Zealand than he can recall. He is better known as a former vice-commodore of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. He is still a member of it, and of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, and still Bails his yacht. Athene.

Not far away in the crowded hall stood Unobtrusively one of the world's most distinguished scientists —Sir Edgeworth David. Obviously a sick man, he is at the congress at no little physical discomfort. His is the cheerful, uncomplaining philosophy of those who, often with poor reward, seek the deeps in the quest of new discoveries. He admitted with a smile at' the civic reception that it afforded him pleasure to be "on deck at all just now, even in the adverse circumstances of a recent illness. "But, he added, "I thank God that I am still alive, and am not doing too badly. Scientist and His Wild It is, perhaps, a good thing for some Of these scientists, if they are not to be completely submerged by their retiring dispositions, that they have their wives with them. The writer was asking one of them—a man prominent for his scientific research—for something about his activities. He merely smiled. It was impossible to get a word from him. Close by, unknown to the pressman, •was the scientist's wife. His modesty was too much for her. "He makes me just a little annoyed, you know," she remarked, with a smile. "I dislike the glare of the limelight just as much as he does, but he overdoes it." And she proceeded to volunteer a few facts concerning her husband's work which he had declined to apeak, of.