Abstract
THERE was a full programme in Section G at the recent meeting of the British Association at Leeds. It is questionable, however, whether quantity was not obtained somewhat at the expense of quality. We are aware of the great difficulty there is in regulating the supply of papers in the Mechanical Section, and so long as the present mode of procedure remains in force the difficulty will also remain. There should be a limit to the number of papers to be read, and there should be a fixed day on which contributions might be sent in. The day being fixed, it should be adhered to with absolute severity—not the names of all the professors and all the science-knights should suffice to break the law. The papers that were deemed most worthy would be accepted, whilst those with less merit would be returned with thanks. This would create a competition amongst contributors, and would-be contributors, which would, we are sure, have a most healthy influence on the proceedings of the Section. We do not make these remarks simply by the way; the fact is, the proceedings in Section G are becoming of a scrambling and hap-hazard character. It is not long since that one gentleman in this Section read a paper he had previously read before the Institution of Naval Architects. He did not take the matter and re-dress it, but calmly read from the proceedings of the latter society, word for word. This year we have had a great deal of matter that has already appeared in some of the technical journals. The discussions on the papers were, as a natural consequence, generally of a poor description. There was so much to get through that the president was obliged to be constantly hurrying, and any one who was not of the elect was treated with somewhat scant ceremony. As no one knew what the papers were to be about, the most that could be said as a rule was of a superficial and commonplace character, some of the most noted exponents of this school of discussion being especially to the fore. It is very certain that, unless Section G sets its house in order, the mechanical science of the British Association will become a byeword amongst engineers. When one contrasts the scant and listless audience at Leeds last week with that at a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, or of the Institution of Naval Architects—the meetings of the latter are more akin to those of the British Association—one cannot but feel that there is need for very radical reform. The two chief reforms we would suggest would be that a limit should be put to the number of contributions, and that abstracts should be printed in good time and copies be previously sent to members and associates on application. The former would raise the quality of the papers—because that which every one can get no one values—whilst the latter would raise the quality of the discussions.
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Mechanics at the British Association. Nature 42, 533–534 (1890). https://doi.org/10.1038/042533a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/042533a0