THE BROTHERLY WAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 67, 21 March 1938, Page 2

THE BROTHERLY WAY

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE EVERYDAY SCIENCE Dear People,- - At a time when restrictions are being placed in some countries upon the Press and other avenues of thought and speech, the announcement of the American Association for the Advancement of Science comes in the nature of a challenge to all thinking men and women. Those who “regard the suppression of independent thought and of its free expression as a major crime against civilisation itself’ (to quote the actual words used by the American Association) must be stirred by that challenge. The determination to establish a World Association for the Advancement of Science and Society is a conception which was originally inspired by the 1936 meetings of the British Association, at which time Sir Josiah Stamp delivered his unforgettable presidential address on “The Impact of Science upon Society," and of which a precis was republished in this column on February 12 last. A World Association. The lead given at that time by Sir Josiah Stamp, and followed in all sections of the association, in regard to the practical application of scientific methods lo the consideration of social praolems, has now resulted in the momentous action of the American Association. What the visiting American scientists heard at the 1936 meetings of the British Association, in the free and constructive addresses delivered by scientific workers as to the effects oi scienct and scientific thought upon social questions, convinced ;he visitors that mon of science, with unsealed lips, are capable of making a significant contribution to the establishment of worii order. The symposium on “Science and Society” of their recent meetings is the visiting American scientists’ first response to the inspiring they then received. The resolutions of their council, proclaiming a Magna Charta of scientific freedom, reaffirming the democracy of knowledge, and inviting all who can sunscribe to the free principles of science to join in world co-operation, carried the lessons of the British Association into a larger sphere. The Ne / Magna Charta. The language of the resolutions in question is forthright and uncompromising, states the world’s leading scientific journal, “Nature." The new Magna Charta will not tolerate intolerance. It demands a free trade ; n scientific knowledge as well as the recognition that the ultimate objective of science is the advancement of the well-being of all mankind. The World Association will indicate in what manner the scientific attitude of the research worker may be applied to the government of nations, to the breaking down of prejudices, to the avoidance of war, to the prevention and amelioration of disease, and to the solying of problems which at present mar the health and happiness of the peoples of the earth. The ’nutritional enquiries instigated in the principal civilised countries ot the world (New Zealand excepted) are a striking example of the kind of work to be taken more generally in hand by the World Association. In the words of a famous French scientist, the new Magna Charta will defend the city of the future—that city whose form is as yet undefined; whose progress will he ceaselessly maintained; whose spirit or justice and fraternity will rule without conscious effort; where illness will have vanished and death have receded; and where each hun.an Jil.c will unfold in harmony and beauty. Rutherford’s Last Words.

Years ago, Lord Rutherford began to take a prominent part in championing the freedom of the Prose freedom of thought and of scientific work, and freedom of international exchange of knowledge. He formed the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, placing many hundreds of persecuted workers exiled by the dictatorship countries in remunerative and congeni I occupation. This superman among supermen was possessed of an uncanny gift for seeing the ansv.er to the problem without having to go through the process of working out the Rets and figures and this, in more regions than that of physics. Rutherford’s last words, put into Writing just prior to his undergoing his operation, now furnish further evidence of his supernormal gift of foresight; for what he then wrote contains not only a resume and a forecast of the transmutation of energy into matter and vice-versa, but also emphasises the real and urgent need for the strengthening nf the spiritual bonds that link up leaders of scientific thought throughout the world. World Freedom. In this connection, it may be stated that although overseas meetings are an old-established feature of the work of the British Associn.ion, the sending abroad of an independent delegation of almost a hundred scientists during the year of an ordinary association meeting in Britain (as in the case of the delegation to the Indian Science Congress at the end of 1937) was an entirely new departure on the part of the British Association. Lord Rutherford, with his accustomed wisdom, foresaw the importance of such a step; and his view is on record that the association could undertake no more important, work than that, of sending delegations to different parts <f e Empire and of the world. The success of the British Association in days to come, he added, would depend in no small measure upon the future development of its activities in these impoi l - ant directions.

WOrld 'rotherhood. Now I hat a World Association for the Advancement of Science and Society is definitely within the region of practicalities, the race of mankind begins to move nearer to the ideals upon which Lord Rutherford shaped his views. It has been suggested ; u London that no more mutable nemorial to the world’s greatest scientist since Newton might be conceived than the sending abroad of periodical delegations, to be known for all time as the Ri nerford Delegations, and to be charged with the duly of championing freedom of thought and of speech, and of carrying the lamp of