SERVANTS OF SCIENCE

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1932, Page 9

SERVANTS OF SCIENCE

diversity of types.

FIGURES AT SYDNEY‘CONGRESS.

The o-reat temple of science, like the fabled palace of Sogd, fe open to all yho Beek its benefits; its doors know no distinctions. It was this, says a writer m the Sydney Morning Herald that impressed One at Hie general ateembly,. of those who IMvP cbtiie fteffi all parts o£ Australia and- New Zealand to attend the Science Cohgrfes of the Australian and New Zealand AiseOcialion for the Advancement of Science. Behind their singleness of purpose, their Unity of effort, in a great calißb, biie saw, in the search for the great truths that are sciehce, ail interestingdiversity of typhs ainong the hundreds of earnest men'and woinen assembled. Nor was an outsider in ail alien, fol - bidding atmosphere. It was the atmos’hlibr© ratiißr of lifippy bands of eiivnUfei-. fete drawn together, regardlefes of class

or breed, by the common aims of science,fend by the single purpose of trying to make the World a better place by their efforts. Not all, hy any means, are-pro-fessors or doctors of this of that fcciehce- th® great majority, indeed, are. present in the role of studious observers, anxious to learn what they , can, sitting proudly at the feet of .“bnghteyed Science.” , - , - The veteran of the big assemblage, niid one whose name is not usually associated with science—he is better kuowfl, in fact, on Sydney Harbour and fet the annual regatta—is the. honorary general tr&cTsufei? of the association, Mi. David Garment, who will be 89 years of age on August 30, and who, if old chronologically, appears to be still comparatively young in spirits. . For 20 years Mr. Garment has filled 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 yicecommodore 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 Club, and still sails his yacht. Athlene. Not far away in. the crowded hall stood-unobtrusively one. of the worlds most distinguished scientists—Sir Edgeworth David. Obviously a . sick man, he is fet tlie congress at no little physical discomfort. M® is the cheerful, uhcpm-, plainiiig- those wild, dften with, poor reward, seek ’tlie deepM in the quest of mew discoveries. He. admitted with a emile at the Civic reception that it afforded ,hini pleasure to be “On dock” at all just now, even in the adverse circupistaiiceS Of a recent illness. ‘‘Hut,” he added, “I thank. God that I ain etill alive, and hot doing too badly.” It is, perhaps, a good thing for some of these Scientists, if they are hot to be completely submerged by their retiring dispositions, that they have thfeir 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 f-rdih him. Close by, unknown to the pressman,. Was the scientist’s wife. His modesty Was too much for her. “He ihakes hie tost a little fenhoyed, you know,” she remarked, with fe smile. “I dislike the glare of the limelight just as milch as he dogs, but' h® overdoes it.’* And she proceeded to volunteer a few facts concerning hbr husband’s work which he had declined to speak of.