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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16590, 12 November 1919, Page 2

The cable man has grown quite excited about a discovery reported to tho Royal Society by tho British Astrono-mer-Royal to the effect that light is affected by tho force of gravitation. Sir Joseph Thomson, the great Cambridge physicist, stated that the discovery was ono of tho greatest achievements in the history of human thought. It is unfortunate that to most people the discovery means nothing, and that they cannot share in tho enthusiasm displayed by the trained men of science. For the scientific man the pursuit of now truths provides an excitement quite as keen as that experienced by the hunter or fisherman and far more satisfying than that of the socalled sportsmen who endeavour to predict the winners at our numerous race meetings. But the man in the street will remark, what is tho good of making discoveries which ninety-nine people out of a hundred cannot understand ? The gain is that difficulties have been conquered and that the field of knowledge has been extended. The immediate practical result of tho recent discovery may be nil, but as its full meaning becomes known it may quite possibly load to a whole crop of useful inventions which will add something to the conveniences of everyday life. Our telephones, electric light, and a thousand other modern inventions are all the result of the work of scientific men in the last SO years who made discoveries little more intelligible to the public than that recently announced. This work at tho time seemed to do nothing more than extend the field of knowledge, hut it has home quite unexpected fruit. In this country knowledge

of the sort is little valued because it seems to bring no immediate money return, hut it is gratifying to find that even here we are, owing to the generosity of a Nelson resident, to have an institute whore research' will be carried on and New Zealanders may possibly be able to add something to tho sum of human knowledge and thus earn the gratitude of future generations.