Notes

Abstract

ONE of the most useful functions that can be performed in these days of minute specialisation of scientific research is the promotion of meetings at which workers in various fields can discuss subjects of common interest. Since Sir Robert Hadfield became president of the Faraday Society in 1914, fifteen such discussions have been held, the last, of which an account is given elsewhere in this issue, being in the meeting-room of the Royal Society on January 14, in association with the Royal Microscopical Society, the Optical Society, and the Photo-micrographic Society. Sir Robert Hadfield and the secretary of the Faraday Society, Mr. F. S. Spiers, are to be heartily congratulated upon the great interest taken in this discussion, the subject of which was “The Microscope: Its Design, Construction, and Applications,” and the exhibition of instruments connected with it. There were meetings in the afternoon and evening, and on both occasions it is scarcely too much to say that as many people were unable to find places in the meeting-room as those who filled it to the doors. With characteristic generosity Sir Robert Hadfield entertained a large company to dinner at the Ritz Hotel between the two meetings. The whole session was most successful and encouraging to all who are interested in the advance of British optical science, both theoretical and applied. By organising such joint meetings the Faraday Society is indeed promoting the best interests of both science and industry, and doing what might be undertaken even more appropriately by the Royal Society itself.