Scientific Contacts Research Articles

Visit of Prof. A. V. Hill to Denmark and Norway

PROF. A. V. HILL, senior secretary of the Royal Society, is visiting Copenhagen to convey the greetings of the Royal Society, as representing the men of science of Great Britain, to their colleagues in Denmark; and through the Academy of Sciences in that country to discuss with them what aid British science can give to the rehabilitation of science and scientific education in their country. After three days in Copenhagen, Prof. Hill will proceed to Oslo for the same purpose. An extraordinary meeting of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences has been called to meet him. It is hoped that these visits will do much to enable both the Danes and Norwegians to re-establish the firm scientific contacts which, until the occupation of their countries by the Nazis, they have always maintained with men of science throughout the world.

Mycologists in Relation to Others

As you are well aware, we are living in a very uncertain period, one in which many peoples have lost not only their political, but also their scientific freedom, while others have had their privileges curtailed or postponed. It is for us, who still have freedom of action, a solemn duty not only to consider what we are able to do to maintain our liberty as mycologists, but also what we can do to serve our country by helping in building or in aiding our defenses and still continue to add to the knowledge of our subject that has been built up through the efforts of past generations. For the good of our souls, we might as well admit that taxonomic mycology started out in much the same spirit as the boy stamp collector, but the growth of knowledge of the fungi and the resulting broadened view has led to the recognition of the value of the subject for scientific study and contacts have been made with many fields, among which are cytology, genetics, medicine, chemistry, and agriculture. In view of these broad contacts of mycology with other branches of scientific endeavor, the Mycological Society with the diverse interests represented in its membership, should be in a position to aid in national defense and welfare. Today, therefore, it seems desirable to point out a few ways in which we can assist the national cause, and at the same time to suggest to the Society that its members be formulating additional ideas as to how we may be of greater service.

New Japanese Botanical Serials

DURING the last few decades the universities and colleges of Japan have produced a large number of scientific investigators, many of whom have continued postgraduate training for several years in Europe or America. The result is that in Eastern Asia a large number of well-equipped scientific investigators are now actively prosecuting research and there is a danger that, working in a field still far distant as regards practicable modes of communication, their work may not be sufficiently known in Europe, with corresponding loss of efficiency to the workers in both continents. Japanese scientific leaders are evidently alive to the danger, and the reopening of extensive scientific contact following the gradual cessation of war conditions has been followed by the organisation and issue of a number of scientific publications, containing communications in European languages, mainly German and English.