摘要:

IN his presidential address to the Royal Society on Nov. 30, Sir Ernest Rutherford referred to certain defec(ii $epublicati1onand in the meetings of Society. It jaJ that the scientific communicatioI)(4 tol the Society are important enough to mand publication, and so numerous that the Pro?%1ings have considerably increased in volume, at any rate in the Physical or A series. The sales, however, though they too have increased, still remain insufficient to cover the cost of printing. Thus the defect of the publications is formulated by the president as a lack of funds, and he appeals for further endowment. It should be remembered that very many of the Societys publications are sent out partly as gifts, partly in exchange for other publications, and the value of the latter at least should be set against the pecuniary deficit. But, making all allowances, we conclude that the Royal Society has no more success with its publications than have many other scientific societies. From numerous quarters the complaint arises that papers cannot be published, that societies cannot find the money, or that editors and authors have to pay from their own. pockets. On the other hand, we see some of our societies in an apparently flourishing condition and many scientific journals produced here in a manner that does not suggest lack of public support, while the number of new scientific periodicals that has sprung up in Germany since the War can scarcely be due to an excess of altruism on the part of German publishers. We can see only two possible reasons for this curious contrast: the failures must be due either to a lack of business management or to the simple fact that the goods are not wanted. In these days the appreciation of even the most abstract science is so widespread, and the number scientific workers and institutions so enormously increased, that there certainly ought to be a demand for the publications of the premier scientific society, long as they are reasonably up to standard. If this be conceded, an inquiry into business methods becomes the natural suggestion.If, however, the papers presented to the Royal Society do not appeal strongly enough to the out. side world when published, still less do they appeal the fellows when they come up for reading and discussion. The presidents remarks on this subject are almost pathetic. He says: "While special lectures and discussions, and some of the ordinary meetings, are in general well attended, there are occasions when important and interesting papers are read before a very small audience. Quite apart from the painf ii impression left en the presiding officers, the sparse attendance has inevitably a discouraging effect on the reader of the paper, particularly, as is often the case, if he has come from a distance and spent much time and trouble in order to present the subject matter of his paper in an interesting way. Sir Ernest merely repeats a very old complaint when he speaks of the "sparse attendance" and "discouraging" lack of interest. To some extent this is a natural consequence of the constitution of the Royal Society. It differs from the other learned societies of the metropolis in two points: its members represent all branches of science, and each member is a distinguished specialist in his own branch. Now it is generally, if not universally, true that the more a man knows of one subject, the less does he know of other subjects. The number of fellows capable of appreciating an advanced paper on any special theme is necessarily a small minority. The reader of a paper to the Zoological or Geological Society may be sure of an audience of fifty or sixty (as a rule the numbers are far more), and the discussions are only checked by want of time. At the Royal Society the same reader would get about one-tenth, simply because he has far less than one-tenth the number of fellow-workers to draw upon. If it be suggested that outside visitors would be welcome, one reply is that few besides those who have retired from active work can attend a meeting so early as 4.30 P.M.In view of the necessary composition of any probable audience, there are two improvements still feasible. First of all, the author should remember that if in any society his audience must ex hypothei know less about his subject than he does himself, in the Royal Society the general level of knowledge will be far lower,. The less kndwledge he assumes in his audience the more successful will his exposition be. "I know that I know, but all the saile tell me as if I didnt know." Lack of knowledge does not, of course, imply lack of intelligence. It is generally the youngest authors that are most difficult to follow, and a little friendly advice from the officers might induce them to condescend to the level of an F.R.S. In a society like the Royal, even more than in other societies, the audience is less interested in detail than in the general conclusion, and above all the reader should bring out the relation of his bit of work to the broad concepts of the science. If any readers find that they have too little to say in these aspects, they may perhaps withdraw their claims for time and printers ink. This leads to the subject matter, It is perhaps inevitable that the meetings, and still more the Pro- ceedings, should have become a convenient platform for the pupils of fellows of the Society who happen to be distinguished professors. The work produced is doubtless valuable, but is it of such prime importance as to attract a number of busy men of mature age to Burlington House on a winter afternoon? However this may be, there is no doubt that the Society has turned into a publishing body for a limited number of the physical sciences. Indeed, Sir Ernest Rutherford seems almost to glory in the fact, much as Sir Charles Sherrington might take pride in the thought that series B consists so disproportionately of physiological papers. The Royal Society may be performing a charitable act in publishing work that has no other outlet, and yet this does not seem to be quite the proper function of a leading, co-ordinating, organising body. Let it publish these contributions if nobody objects, but there is no necessity for them to be read; even at present a considerable proportion of the papers is taken as read.Sir Ernest Rutherford thinks that the meetings would be better if only more fellows would attend. He seems to us to over-estimate the number of those having special knowledge of selected subject matter, and it may be inquired whether this specialisation of the meetings is really on the right lines. The Royal Society is the one place where students in all the sciences can meet, and its gatherings should make the most of this. The physicist can help the biologist; the chemist can help the geologist. The subjects of discussion should be such as call for this many-sided help and criticism, or they should be of such broad and general nature so as to transcend the limits of specialisation. After all, the average fellow of the Royal Society does wish to learn something of the researches of the other fellows; he only asks that they should present their results in a form intelligible to him. There is far more promise in the presidents invitation to fellows to give demonstrations before the meeting. Informal talks on exhibits have successfully brightened the meetings of other societies, and are more likely to loosen the tongues of authorities with a reputation to lose, especially when combined with tea and coffee. Our only fear is that the fellows will succumb to the enhanced attractions of the tea-room and never reach the meeting-room at all.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120865a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

PROF. WESTERMARCK, by the publication of his first masterpiece in 1891, gained a worldwide reputation as a historian of human marriage and a leading sociologist, a reputation later on increased by his analysis of "Moral Ideas," in which he established himself as a psychologist and a philosopher of the first magnitude. His merits as a master of inductive method and as a ruthless critic of insidious fallacies, are rivalled only by his power of building sound theories on the bedrock of biology and of our knowledge of human nature. The fame gained by his theoretical work has ever since eclipsed Westermareks other equally astonishing achievement as a first-hand student of the savage or barbarous tribes of the Maghrib-the extreme west of the Oriental World. Westermarcks great learning somehow suggests the library, and his philosophic detachment and literary charm, a comfortable study in some ancient university cloister; and it is difficult to imagine him in the saddle, climbing inaccessible mule tracks in the Great Atlas; or as a daring ethnographic explorer of the Rif, braving dangers so real that at times he had to be declared outside consular responsibility and the protection of civilised government. No better field-work exists, however, than that of Westermarck iii Morocco. It was done with a greater expenditure of care and time than any other specialised anthropological research; it has brought to fruition Westermareks comprehensive learning and special grasp of sociology; it revealed his exceptional linguistic talents and his ability to mix with people of other race and culture.Westermarck in the course of more than two decades, between 1898 and 1926, spent altogether the equivalent of seven years among the various Berber and Arab tribes of Morocco. He has investigated native life and culture through the medium of their own language, living among them, frequently forming ties of personal friendship with the hospitable Shereefs and lordly Sheikhs. The present two volumes embody perhaps the most important and attractive results of Westermareks research. For although his "Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco" (1914) is as learned and as valuable as the present book, and his numerous monographs are indispensable for the specialist, the strange beliefs and rites of the Berber hilimen and the nomads of the desert will be more interesting to the general reader. These two volumes, though primarily a model of method and scholarship, read like a novel of Marmaduke Pickthall or the "Arabian Nights." In fact it is perhaps the best companion and commentary to any oriental classic. Take, for example, the jinn, the special race of spiritual beings who constantly play pranks on men and women. Any of us who still retain our childish delight in Oriental literature are well acquainted with them, but we have never known their real nature. In the present book Westermarck for the first time gives us their genealogy, their natural history, and many wise hints as to how to deal with them. Their origin, their Asiatic and local antecedents, their true sociological nature-contradicting Robertson- Smiths totemic explanation--are given in a special chapter, for Westermarck is always careful to keep theory apart from statement of fact. And then we learn all there is to be known about them from Moroccan folk-lore, the opinions of the Koran, the comments of the learned and the scribe, and above all the stories current among the people. This popular belief impresses us with its freshness and imaginative power, with the flavour of the wonderful and miraculous, which prove that the Thousand and One Nights are not yet at an end, unless they be extinguished by the cold light of civilisation recently poured into Westermarcks Morocco by machine gun and aeroplane. Happily, though these beliefs will undoubtedly soon die, tlwir ghosts will remain in the stories preserved for us in this book. These stories show us jiiin consorting with pedlars in the market-place, leading young scribes astray and entering into love intrigues with man or woman-for there are female as well as male jinn. The spirits become so ubiquitous that we are glad to find in a special chapter exact prophylactic measures against them and remedies for the troubles which they cause.The long chapter on the evil eye appeals no less to the antiquarians imagination than to the interest of the sociologist. OrLe of the oldest superstitions of the Mediterranean basin which still survives in the behaviour of civilised man, whether of Latin, Berber or Semitic race, is here described again with a fullness of detail and theoretical insight which defies comparison. A wealth of descriptive data, collected at first hand, is given, and then a comparative treatment of the problem, an analysis of the belief, and a number of interesting sidelights on its cultural influences. A description of the imprint of the evil eye upon decorative art, given with many interesting illustrations, will remain among one of the most illuminating contributions to comparative folk-lore. The anatomy of swearing and cursing will be of great value to all those interested in the subject. There is no doubt that a European will feel stricken by the poverty of his own language, more especially, perhaps, the Anglo-Saxon, whose repertoire, since the good days of Shakespeare and the buccaneers, has been gradually depleted by puritanie superstition and mid-Victorian prudery. The dilntf ante will therefore find impressive data in the long lists and full comments given with scientific calm and candour. He might be shocked by finding at the outset such a simple expression as "God damn you," somewhat more elaborated in the explicit "Goddamn your grandfather and the grandfather of your grandfather, and the grandfather of him who will not curse your grandfather," but by the time he arrives at the end of the chapter he will find these expressions pale and lacking in vigour.Witchcraft and the practices of transference of evil give us a good insight into native belief, with its raw flavour of savagery mingled with certain dramatic reminiscences of medieval Europe. The beliefs and customs referring to animals are narrated, with the repressed but powerful sense of humour so characteristic of Westermarcks style and mind, and make this chapter as amusing as "Esops Fables; while for the psychology of the relationship between man and beast, important for anthropologists in connexion with totemism, this chapter is of the greatest value. The long and excellent descriptions of the ritual of the dead, the beliefs and practices connected with agriculture, the account of the yearly round, following the solemn festive days of. the Mohammedan calendar, can only be mentioned here. Two subjects have yet to be eommen1ed upon as of especial interest to the student of man; one of them is the Ar or "transference of conditional curses," a remarkable universal phenomenon first discovered and named by Westermarck. Th data given and the interpretation of them illuminate the problem of taboo-the cornerstone of primitive law and primitive religion. Westemarcks comments on the covenant among primitive Semites and his criticism of Robertson Smith will be of value to those interested in the Bible, the Jews, and the learned Scottish historian.The second subject of outstanding importance is the Moorish doctrine of "holiness" or "blessed virtue," the baraka, which corresponds to the famous mana of the Melanesians, the Iroquian orenda, the Siouan wakan, the Algonquian manitu, and the Malagasy hasina, This type of religious conception has been made a pivotal point in mdern comparative study of religion, especially through the contributions of Dr. Marett of Oxford. Westermaroks account of the baraka far surpasses, in accuracy, thoroughness, and sociological depth, the data we possess from any other area, and it is bound to influence future theories of primitive religion. What Westermarck has to say on magic and religion in his introductory chapter ought to be read and considered by all the students of the subject for it is the result not only of much impartial thought but also of direct experience with a people who, while remaining in barbarism as regards some aspects of culture, were able to produce among themselves individuals singularly well able to analyse their own belief and that of their fellow tribesmen.To the student of Semitic language and culture, to the scholar interested in the traces of the Carthaginian, Roman, and Hellenistie influence in NorthWest Africa, to the general anthropologist and the sociologist interested in culture at the level of higher barbarism, these two volumes will be an inexhaustible source of information and delight.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120867a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THE time for writing,bistory of wireless has scarcely come yet, but it is well that somebody should collect data and sift material for this arduous enterprise. Mr. Blake has done this diligently and conscientiously, and the result is a compilation, or more properly speaking a thesaurus, from which future historians may glean with confidence. The development of wireless has shown a steady evolution enlivened by spurts of discovery. The main dates of these spurts-a biologist might call them sports -are approximately the following:1864. Clerk Maxwell predicts ether waves. 1888. Hertz demonstrates ether waves experimentally.1889. Lodge discovers the coherer and the principle of tuning. 1897. Marconis long-distance radio-telegraphy.1907. Lee de Forest invents the triode valve. 1915. First trans-Atlantic radiotelephony.1920. Broadcasting. These dates form a useful scaffolding for the historian, but it is surprising how much detail has been almost forgotten. Mr. Blake recalls the fact that it was Mahion Loomis, an American dentist, who signalled from one mountain top to anotherby means of kites and atmospheric electricity. Another significant anticipation was the transmission of spark signals over a distance of 100 feet by Prof. Elihu Thomson in 1875, twelve years before Hertz. Nor is it generally realised that it was von Bezold who discovered that electrical impulses are reflected from the insulated end of a conductor and are capable of producing nodes and antinodes at different points on the wire. This was in 1870, eighteen years before Hertz, and twenty years before Lecher. The chapter on detectors recalls many forgotten incidents of wireless development. We find a description of positive point electrolytic detectors of Ferrie, Fessenden, Vreeland, Schloemilch, Shoemaker, and Reich, all of which have been superseded by the various crystal detectors of which Dunwoodys carborundum detector was the first. An interesting chapter is devoted to the photo- phone and allied methOds of signalling by short waves of the order of light waves. Here the author gives full credit to that brilliant German experimenter, Ernst Ruhmer, whose name, by the way, he spells Ruhmer, a very prevalent mistake probably due to over-correction.1Dealing with spark generators of high-frequency currents, the author gives an interesting account of the airbiast spark gaps of Lowenstein, Massie, Fleming, Richardson, and Shaw, and the rotary disc dischargers of Lodge and Chambers. The most valuable chapter of all is the one on the thermionic valve. Here the authors prodigious industry comes into full play. The subject is one which he evidently has much at heart, and he seems to have followed the development of the valve through all its stages, both practically and theoretically, for we owe to him several beautiful models showing the action of the valve.The feature which will appeal most strongly to those who wish to find their way through the maze of wireless inventions and discoveries is the list of references, which occupies fifty pages. The references are to books, periodicals, and patent specifications, and cover about fifty years. We are accustomed nowadays to a flood of wireless literature liberally sprinkled with illustrations, which are, in effect, advertisements of certain brands of wireless instruments. Mr. Blakes book is refreshingly different. Most of the two hundred or so illustrations have been drawn by himself, and drawn in a manner which will command the respect of the most advanced electrical draughtsmen. Many of these drawings have been prepared to illustrate half-forgotten principles. Any of these might suddenly become of importance. So rapid, and even precipitate, has been wireless progress that many valuable ideas are in danger of being swallowed up and engulfed in the thronging crowd of new things. Mr. Blakes book has rescued many a pearl from being thrown on the scrap heap.1 The linguistic principle of over-correction may be stated as follows: The consciousness of a prevalent fault or omission in using a language leads to correction or replacement in places where it is not justified. The most familiar illustration is the unjustifiable reappearance of hs in southern England, but we may also quote the insertion of non-existent accents in French words; and some writers make the mistake of aspirating consonants (for example, bhoy) or modifying vowels (same for seem) in places where no Irishman would do so. The Germans make similar mistakes. Having been tOld that the final d of hand is soft instead of hard as in German, they also show a tendency to soften the final consonant in such words as boot - and book.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120868a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

IN his exacting task of elucidating the nature of living processes, the physiologist wisely draws on his colleagues in other branches of science" for all the help they can give him. With the aid of the organic chemist, for example, he has already learnt how to isolate, analyse, and synthesise such fundamentally important substances as adrenaline and thyroxine: every day he likewise applies the technique and theories of the organic chemist to further his knowledge of that marvellous sequence of co-ordinated chemical reactions which constjtutes metabolism. The relations between the physiologist and physical chemist have been, perhaps, of an even more intimate nature. Physiology, seeing that it consists so largely of interchanges of matter and energy between semi-fluid cells and their fluid environments, offers signal opportunities for the application of theories of solution, mass action, surface chemistry, and so forth. So pressing, indeed, have been the needs of the physiologist, that in some cases he has not had the patience to await the necessary developments in pure physical chemistry, but has taken the law, or rather the laws, into his own hands, and laid the foundation stones of such developments himself. One need only recall that the first precise measurements of osmotic pressure were made, not for chemical but for physiological purposes, by a botanist, Pfeffer: and that in more recent times Sir William Hardy, stimulated alike by the needs of biology and chemistry, has proved himself a pioneer not only in the field of colloidal chemistry, but also in the understanding of a subject which bulks largely iii the mind of the physical chemist of to-day, namely, that of molecular orientation at interfaces. At the present time, the harvest reaped by this fruitful liaison appears to he not only maintained but also to be increasing, as is indeed shown by the work of A. V. Hill, Hober, Michaelis, and others. For that reason we cannot but extend a very cordial welcome to the latest edition of the most comprehensive treatise on the subject in existence-Hobers Physikalische Chemie der Zelle und der Gewebe.Hobers book consists of two main divisions. Of these, Part 1 deals with such portions of "the physical chemistry of homogeneous and heterogeneous systems" as are considered applicable to physiology, and hence includes chapters on osmotic pressure and diffusion, the ionic theory of solutions, measurement of hydrogen ion concentrations, surface phenomena, colloid chemistry and enzymes. Unlike some writers, Hober shows himself equally at home both in the theoretical and practical application of these subjects. The theoretical treatment is almost invariably sound, if not always quite up-to-date, and is so continuously and ingeniously interwoven with physiological applications that even the heart of the most biologically inclined reader must at times be softened. A physiologist should not fail to be more interested, for example, in the nature of osmotic membranes, when he learns so vividly from Chap. i. that it was from the structure of the single plant cell that Heifer drew a leading hint as how to construct a really semi-permeable membrane. No less stimulating are the detailed discussions of the ionic theory of salt solubility (especially in connexion with uric acid and the solubility of its salts in the body fluids), and the comparison of suspensoid and hydrophile colloids, together with the application of this knowledge to the colloidal behaviour of living cells. Chap. vi., on enzymes, is perhaps the weakest in the book, but this can be readily excused by the German reader, who has access to the massive text-books of Euler and Oppenheimer. It is to be hoped, however, that in future editions more attention will be given to the theory of ionic activity and its physiological successes, and that the fundamental work of Langmuir and Adam on to on molecular orientation in thin films will receive more than the passing notice accorded in Chap. iv. of the present edition. A statement and appraise- ment of the divergent views on protein ionisation held by the respective schools of Pauli, Sirensen, and Loeb would also be welcome.Part 2 deals directly with the physical chemistry of cells and tissues and contains chapters on the body fluids, the osmotic properties and permeability of cells and tissues, narcotics, the physiological action of single electrolytes and ion combinations, electrical processes at physiological interfaces, absorption and secretion, and physical chemistry of matter and energy exchanges. Here the author reaches his zenith, both as regards his powers of exposition and his usefulness to the reader. Each topic is summarised in a manner which is at once comprehensive, lucid, and well arranged, and though the discussions may be inferior in stimulating power to those of Bayliss in his "Principles of General Physiology," yet they contain much of great value in the way of criticism and suggestive ness. It is difficult to select for special commendation from much that is good: but we venture to think that the treatment of cell permeability, Hofmeister ion series, antagonistic and co-operative action of different cations, and the recent work on kidney function will be found to be of the greatest value to the student, both on account of the intrinsic merits of these summaries and of their inaccessibility elsewhere. In each case the reader is left with the impression that he has now got a really first-hand grip of the topic in question---possibly a dangerous delusion, but one of great help to him if he has to lecture on the subject.The last chapter, on the physical chemistry of matter and energy exchange, is in some ways the most fascinating, but is certainly the least complete. in further editions it is to be hoped that the sections on the temperature coefficients of vital processes and the action of light in biology may be expanded so as to include the recent interesting work on these subjects. But the most urgent need, in the opinion of the reviewer, is that some industrious and competent linguist should prepare an English translation of "HOber" and so render him more easy of approach by that growing group of scientific workers who are attracted to the borderland of physical chemistry and biology. In conclusion it should be noted that Hober takes up no philosophical position in regard to the ultimate nature of life: he does not lay down that all living processes are reducible to the same conceptual shorthand as physics and chemistry, nor does he deny it. He is content to indicate the great achievements already to the credit of this powerful shorthand, and to leave his readers in a mood of optimistic agnosticism as to the future. If ever there comes a limit to the extent to which physico-chemical interpretations of life can be pushed, that limit will surely be very much nearer to the ultimate goal of biology than anything that has yet been reached. Such is the impression derived from reading Hobers book; such, indeed, is the policy which directs and stimulates the majority of modern physiological research.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120869a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

IN "Aspects of Rheumatism and Gout," Dr. Llewellyn, who has written much on these spa diseases, has collected the material of a number of his addresses and essays, many of them previously published, dealing with their pathogeny, prevention, and control, into an eminently readable and suggestive whole. In the foreword the plan of the work is outlined, and this is followed by a disquisition on diathesis, a subject which Sir Archibald Garrod has, since this volume appeared, treated in the Huxley lecture at Charing Cross Hospital; the rise, eclipse, and revival of the diathetic conception are sketched, and diathesis is regarded as a synonym for chemical individuality.The diathesis of acute rheumatism or rheumatic fever is characterised by an inborn tendency to a want of the normal endocrine-autonomic balance which is manifested by instability of the functions of the skin and is essentially an inherent deficiency in the power of organic regulation. Similarly, in rheumatoid or atrophic arthri1is, in osteo-arthritis and gout, the author finds evidence of this endocrineautonomic imbalance, and further concludes that infections, if and when responsible for arthritis, act not directly but indirectly-the intermediary mechanism being instability or defect of the neuroendocrine system. As bearing on this view, the geographical correspondence in the incidence of goitre and of acute rheumatism and cardiac disease, which is so prominent in Bristol, is brought out. Later on, the resemblance of acute rheumatism to serum sickness, or the symptoms following injection of horse serum, is pointed out, and the view that infection causes the instability of th neuroendocrine system, which is the exciting cause of the joint symptoms, is again suggested. In consider- ing the prevention of acute rheumatism and heart disease, the importance of supervision in the prerheumatic phase is emphasised. The relation of oral sepsis and arthritis, which has been so much in the limelight, is dealt with in considerable detail, and gout, on which the author wrote a book some seven years ago (1920), is described as a hereditary condition of hypersensitiveness to proteins arid analogous to asthma, the remarkable food idiosyncrasies of the gouty being brought forward to enforce the argument. It would thus appear that the gout-producing factor in alcoholic liquors is not the alcohol, but some protein such as hordein in beer and yeast cells in wine. A chapter is devoted to the common ailment lumbago, or pain in the back, and the difficulties in diagnosis are dealt with in chapters on the pitfalls in connexion with sciatica and arthritis. In conclusion, it should be said that the authors method of presenting his subject matter and sty]e of writing add an attraction to the interest of these common diseases.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120871a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

PROF. SHANDS interesting and original book is, as he says in the preface, the outcome of three insistent wishes: first, to clean up the "jungle of rock names; second, to make the results and conclusions of petrology intelligible to "matter-of-fact people like physicists and chemists " (we did not know before that petrologists were less matter-of- fact than physicists and chemists); and third, to "bring theory and practice together to save petrology from the reproach of being an academic study of little use in life." Prof. Shand has produced an admirably stimulating work, but we are not sure he has achieved the above aims. The classification of igneous rocks he has devised is based upon a sound plan, just as Esperanto is, but it may fail for the same reason that artificial languages fail, because it is too clean-cut and logical, and has not grown up with the science. He does not clean up the jungle of rock names; on the contrary, he adds to the undergrowth a number of new terms with the aid of the overworked prefixes and suffixes, per-, sub-, meta-, -oid, and the like. The most successful part of the book, indeed, is not the classification, but the exposition of physico-chemical principles as applied to the crystallisation of natural magmas. This occupies the first five chapters, entitled "Eruptive or Igneous Rocks,"The Fixed Constituents of Igneous Rocks,"The Fugitive Constituents of Magmas,"The Magma and its Walls," and "The Freezing of the Magma." Chaps. vi. to xiv. discuss classification in general, Prof. Shands own system and nomenclature, and descriptions of igneous rocks in relation to this system. The book concludes with chapters on meteorites and eruptive ore deposits.In describing the rocks assigned to various divisions of his classification, Prof. Shand has made a valuable survey of recent igneous petrography. The description of each main group is appropriately prefaced with a section on its geology, a feature often neglected in petrographical treatises. This book forms a very notable addition to petrological literature.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120872a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THE plateaux of the Central Jura are believed to be dislocated fragments of a Tertiary peneplain which have been caught up between the folded ranges. The author correlates this peneplain with that of the Swabian and Franconian Jura, and concludes that the plateaux are "relics of the tabular Jura within the folded Jura." His demonstration would have been more easily followed if it had been accompanied by more adequate maps and sections. Some interesting chapters deal with the karst phenomena of the plateaux which are compared with the classic region of Illyria. The differences due to local climatic conditions, composition of the rocks, and geological history are clearly and convincingly discussed. The rainfall of the Jura is such as to encourage vegetable growth and continuous chemical action, with the consequent greater accumulation of residual soil. The folded limestones are thin and alternate with impermeable beds: hence there is considerable run-off as well as constant infiltration. Changing climatic conditions in northern Europe have in the past sometimes promoted, sometimes retarded the characteristic processes of erosion. All these things impart to the karst of the Jura a somewhat hybrid character which is reflected in the peculiarities of the dry valleys, lapios, dolines, and closed basins of the plateaux. This section of the book is worthy of the closest study.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120873b0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

SINCE the discovery of the fragments of the Piltdown skull in 1912, there has been considerable difference of opinion with regard to the manner in which the skull should be reconstructed, and as a necessary consequence of this, with regard to the extent of its cranial capacity.Estimates of this have radged from Smith Wood- wards original figure of 1070 c.c. (see NATURE, vol. 92, p. 197; 1913) to his latest estimate of about 1300 c.c., a figure which is approved of by Elliot Smith (see NATURE, vol. 109, p. 726; 1922). Keith, on the other hand, at one time estimated its capacity at just above 1500 c.c., by measuring the amount of water displaced by the endocranial cast taken from one of his reconstructions (NATURE, vol. 92, p. 197; 1913), but hi most recent view, derived from an application of Lees formula to one of his reconstructioris, appears to be that the cranial capacity is about 1400 c.c. ("The Antiquity of Man," by Sir Arthur Keith, vol. 2, 1925). All these estimations were determined from different types of reconstruction, the accuracy of which is disputed, and so far there has not seemed to be any other way of arriving at an estimate of the cranial capacity, and in this way helping to decide whether the higher or the lower estimates are more likely to be correct. FIG. 1.-The stippled areas in the above drawings represent the arrangement and proportions of the venous sinus grooves (transverse sulci) on the internal aspect of the occipital bones of the skulls of: A. A baboon with a cranial capacity of 168 cc.; 13. A gorilla with a cranial capacity of 527 cc.; C. A Kaffir with a cranial capacity of 1380 cc, and B Putdown man with a cranial capacity of 1415 cc., estimated from the width of the transverse sulci (T.).On examining the endocranial aspect of 1VIr. Barlows casts of the Piltdown bones, one is struck by the large size and clearness of outline of the grooves for the middle meningeal vessels on the parietal fragments, and of the transverse sulci, that is to say, the grooves for the transverse venous blood sinuses on the occipital fragment. Now the large size of these grooves and of their corresponding blood-vessels does not appear to have been sufficiently emphasised as an indication of the size of the brain-case, for they seem in themeelves to suggest a moderately large brain cavity. That the size of the transverse sulci is correlated with the capacity of the cranium in a definite manner is clear from Fig. 1, inasmuch as these sulci are much narrower in a baboon than in a gorilla, and narrower in a gorilla than in man. This is what one would expect, seeing that these sulci lodge the veins, which convey practically all the venous blood returning from the brain. Larger channels are therefore needed for the larger amount of blood returning from larger brains. A number of observations have therefore been taken on a small group of human skulls to test the degree of correlation between the width of the sulci and the cranial caacity, with the view of arriving at a means of determining the cranial capacity from the width of the sulci.Average width of right and left sulci.Cranial capacity.Average width of right and left sold,Cranial capacity.1230mm. 1300c.c.1680mm. 1370c.c.1418 14361726 13601470 13201733 12701495 11301780 14061524 16151810 14451538 14101820 13801540 12501830 14501545 12801835 13851560 12901845 13151560 12701940 14201592 14501948 12851623 11701950 15501629 13801952 13151630 13501975 14751642 13202070 15801650 12662100 1665The coefficient of correlation between these two variables, in the thirty-two skulls measured, is 0475, which is definitely significant. The regression formula for the calculation of the cranial capacity in terms of the width has been found to be as follows: Cranial capacity 2798 x width + 8942.In connexion with this equation there is a probable error of + 690. The average width of the two transverse sulci of the Piltdowu occipital bone added together is 186 mm. The cranial capacity is therefore estimated from the above formula to be 1415 c.c., or to lie somewhere between a lower limit of 1346 c.c. and an upper limit of 1484. This makes the Piltdown skull mesocephalic, and supports those who have arrived at this conclusion by other methods.Mr. S. Cohen and Mr. P. R. v. d. R. Copeman kindly assisted me in taking the measurements and in making the calculations.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120874a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

MUCH confusion has beset this subject, because two entirely different things are unfortunately covered by the phrase ‘green flash.’ If separate names had from the first been given to the two things, each would have been treated apart from the other and a great amount of controversy avoided. A greenish light appears as a physiological effect on ceasing to look at the red disc of the setting sun, as Sir Oliver Lodge points out in NATURE of Dec. 3. But there is also a purely physical phenomenon of sunset which is seen at the instant when the last portion of the sun's disc disappears on a sharp horizon. During the years when I was much at sea I used to watch every clear sunset, and rarely failed to observe this phenomenon though it was sometimes incomplete. It appeared at its best on half-a-dozen occasions when the thinnest segment of the sun's disc was still above the horizon, but with its light so much reduced that it could be looked at easily through a field-glass. However red the sun may have been when fully visible, the tiny shaving of a flat arc had become distinctly yellow, and as it was disappearing, the ends turned greenish and seemed to shrink towards the centre, at which the last light visible seemed to be intensified to a clear green point, which changed into blue and vanished in violet in a fraction of a second too short to estimate.During the visit of the British Association to South Africa in 1905, I had many arguments on the subject with sceptical fellow-members, some of whom denied the existence of a green ray, and others explained it as an optical illusion or an effect of fatigue of the retina. The sturdiest doubter was Dr. A. A. Rambaut, the Radcliffe Observer at Oxford, but at last he saw the light from the deck of the Durham Castle as the sun was setting behind Cape Guardafui. A few days later, he, along with Sir Henry Miers and others, caught the first rays of the rising sun and found the colours change in the reverse order from blue or green to yellow. Dr. Rambaut went into the matter fully in a paper, "The Green Flash on the Horizon," published in Symons Meteorological Magazine for March and April 1906 (vol. 41, pp. 21-23, 41-45). His explanation was that the images of the sun formed by light of different wave-length are not cxactly superimposed, and that as the last of the disc passes below the horizon the red image disappears before the yellow, the yellow before the green, and the green and blue images respectively go before the violet image fades. The duration of this change was worked out for various dates and different latitudes, and the conclusions arrived at in this paper have not been controverted so far as I k

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120876b0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THIS summer, six of us were watching the sun set behind the hills of Jura in a sky absolutely free from cloud and haze. We stood on a moderately high hill, and the sea, four miles broad, lay between us and Jura. Four had not even heard of ‘the green ray.’ I, who had seen the ray on other occasions, suggested that five of us should turn our backs to the sun and close our eyes until the sixth should signal that the upper edge of the sun was disappearing. On his signal we turned, and each saw for an appreciable time a thread of bright green light lining the silhouette of the island at the point where the sun was last seen. In the case of the five, at any rate, this could not have been a subjective after-im

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120877a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature