摘要:

SINCE the comparative tables of statistics before e us ' have been compiled by the University Grants Committee, it is but natural that we should turn first to those which shed light upon the financial position. Nor need we make any apology; for unless that position be sound there can be little expectation that the function of the universities can satisfactorily be discharged. Happily the accounts show a decided and general improvement, particularly when it is noted that only in the case of thirteen institutions has expenditure exceeded income; and even in these cases the deficits were small and were due to the fact that the institutions concerned met out of income an unusual amount of capital or other non-recurrent expenditure. The improved position is due largely to increased Treasury grants made upon the recommendation of the Grants Committee, and indicates very clearly that that recommendation has been justified. At first glance the increase in " Government Grant," 35-9 to 39-5 per cent., does not appear to be great, but it has nevertheless been an excellent incentive. Not only have the institutions suffering from a deficit been reduced from twenty-four to thirteen, but also, as the Committee points out, there is another gratifying fact which does not appear in the tables: during 1925-26 reductions of debt to the amount of more than £50,000 were effected. This possesses a special significance when it is observed that increases of salaries of teaching staff cost more than £88,000; increases in departmental and laboratory maintenance more than £23,000; in general libraries and museums, £24,000; in repairs and maintenance of buildings, £38,000; in capital expenditure met from income, £57,000; and in grants to students' societies, £10,000. The increase of government grants was not, of course, wholly responsible. Income from local education authorities, from endowments, donations, subscriptions, and students' fees, was, in each case, greater than in the preceding year.With regard to the number of full-time students it may be said that the year has shown a return to what may be normally expected. Actually there is a slight decrease from 41,794 in 1924-25 to 41,443 in 1925-26, but this is largely accounted for by the fall in the number of ex-service students from 263 to 17. Any small aggregate decrease in the number of full-time students is not, as the Committee points out, very surprising in view of the prolonged industrial depression; and against that small decrease must be set an encouraging increase in the number entering for the first time upon degree or diploma courses. Whatever may be the numbers of students, the main intdrest must be concentrated upon what they are doing; and here there emerge facts which at present we shall not attempt to explain, since they depend upon conditions which are more or less familiar to us all. In the medical, technological, and agricultural groups there is a fall, the decreases being 1000, 152, and 70 respectively. In the pure science group there is a slight increase, while in the arts group there is the substantial increase of 869. As to what specific subjects are proving more or less popular, however, the Committee finds it difficult, for obvious reasons, to carry its analysis far enough. It realises, nevertheless, that it is possible for certain subjects to become rather more popular than is desirable in the national interest. Is philosophy, for example, " not tending to be unduly neglected by our arts students " ? Or is chemistry " not tending to attract an unduly large proportion of our science students " ?For our part we do not lack evidence to show that chemistry is, at present, attracting a number of students which may be unduly large. But on the question as to whether this is a matter for alarm or congratulation we do not propose to speak at the moment. We do, however, regret the tendency -and we cannot fail to note that in this age of specialisation it must inevitably increase-for students to neglect philosophy. Nor would we confine that regret solely to the fact that it is neglected by arts students. Philosophy is not the monopoly of any particular group: it is an essential to every student. Let there be no mistake. We are not thinking of it as a form of metaphysics down the tangled by-paths of which we would have science students lose themselves. But if science means, ultimately, an enlargement of experience, we regard philosophy as a critique of that experience. If we appear to over-emphasise this point in connexion with the courses-in arts or scienceof university students, let our excuse be that we claim a lofty view of the function of a university -a view which made us sympathetic, some three or four years ago, with the writer of an article in a prominent university magazine. " Let us learn from others and make our own peculiar gift to the common stock of undergraduate life. If, however, we are not prepared to do this, then let us at least be honest and call ourselves first-rate teeth-extractors, assiduous engine-wipers, and the like, but not 'varsity men."This matter of the actual subjects followed by university students leads us directly to another important aspect which the present Committee's returns place before us. The whole document seems to us to fall into three main parts: that dealing with accounts, the congratulatory nature of which we have already indicated; that dealing with the subjects and groups of subjects which are being followed in the universities; and that dealing with a matter upon which there is, as yet, little reason to regard as satisfactory. We refer to university libraries. In this connexion a new table of figures has been introduced into the Returns before us. In its general reports in 1921 and 1925, the Committee reminds us, not only was great stress laid upon the importance of well-equipped libraries, but their maintenance and development was insisted upon as one of a university's primary duties, " since defects in this central organ must inevitably have a harmful effect upon the work both of teachers and of students in all departments alike." But the state of affairs revealed by the Library Table, in spite of the fact that a larger sum was spent in 1925-26 than in the preceding year, still presents " an essentially gloomy picture." In the universities of Great Britain (excluding Oxford and Cambridge) the total expenditure on libraries was £120,616. This sum was made up of £46,280 (salaries), £58,237 (books), £8946 (binding), £7153 (ordinary upkeep). The amount spent upon books by more than fifty institutions of university rank is astonishingly small, and while the Committee is not unaware of the difficulties which beset comparisons between our university conditions and those of other countries, it does not hesitate to justify its phrase " an essentially gloomy picture " by comparison with the United States. We cannot improve the wording of the Committee: ". . . we could not escape some rather melancholy reflections at finding that for the item of expenditure on books during the academic year 1925-26 the total figure for all our grant-aided universities and colleges put together appeared to be little larger than the combined figure for the universities of Harvard and Yale. . .."We said above that our reflections concerning the neglect of philosophy led us directly to the important aspect which the returns show us of university library conditions. We do not imagine that, for those who share our views as to the function of a university, any further explanation is needed. l University Grants committee. Returns from Universities and University Colleges in receipt of Treasury Grant, 1925-1926. Pp. 24. (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 192

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119733a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THE volume under review constitutes the first ITof a series of five volumes of critical tables of numerical data relating to physics, chemistry, and technology. They have been prepared under the auspices of the International Research Council and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences by the National Research Council of the U.S.A., with Dr. Washburn as editor-in-chief. Dr. Washburn has worked through the agency of ten corresponding editors and advisory committees in the leading countries of the world, except Germany. The bulk of the contributors to the first volume are American; of the fifty names mentioned, thirtyfour are American, seven British, three French, two Austrian, two Danish, one Dutch, and one Japanese. The nomination of contributors from Britain was left in the hands of a committee composed of Dr. Kaye (editor), Sir Robert Robertson, Dr. Rosenhain, Prof. Porter, Dr. Stanton, Mr. Sears, Mr. Egerton, with Mr. Higgins as secretary.Some idea of the magnitude of the venture may be gained from the fact that the editorial, contribution, and manufacturing costs have been appraised at 570,000 dollars. The price per set is 60 dollars, but a special pre publication offer at 35 dollars per set was made, which brought in orders for nearly 6500 sets. It is interesting to note that only twenty per cent. of these orders came from countries outside the United States, although 150,000 announcements of the offer were mailed to all parts of the world. If any conclusion can be drawn from this return, it is that in the United States there is a large public which can appreciate the value of such an undertaking and has also the purchasing power to acquire copies. The publication of these Tables at a price that would make possible a world-wide distribution, required that the project should be financed by those realising its importance and in a position to make the necessary investment. Some 244 American firms and individuals, and two of the larger foundations, have provided the sum of 170,000 dollars required for the compilation. If we may judge the entire work by the standard of the volume under review, then we may say that this work is likely to be of incalculable value to scientific and technical workers, and the organisers and 300 experts have rendered a signal service to mankind by their co-operative effort to render readily accessible the enormous accumulation of data.It is only when one reflects that until the middle of the last century no attention had been given to the accurate determination of physical and chemical data that one appreciates the tremendous advance that has taken place. In science the accumulated facts make for progress, but the rate at which data are piling up at the present time is such that, unless a systematic effort is made to cope with it, there is a likelihood of a vast amount of human labour being frittered away in unnecessary duplication. Scanning over the four hundred or so pages of this volume, packed with carefully analysed data, one cannot but marvel at the immense industry of the scientific workers both past and present who have toiled with but one goal in view-the measurement with the highest precision of a physical or a chemical constant.The dawn of this era of exact measurement was heralded in by a galaxy of mighty experimentalists, amongst whom Stas, Dumas, and Regnault stand out pre-eminently. One recalls the resourcefulness of Stas, who, in order to prepare silver of the highest purity, boldly undertook the task of distilling this metal; the painstaking care of Dumas, who, when making his experiments on the gravimetric composition of water, frequently started an experiment at daybreak and did not see its completion until the dawn of the following day; the meticulous accuracy of Regnault, who, in order to preserve his data, engraved directly on a sheet of polished copper his experimental points and the mean curve through them. These old pioneers have had worthy successors endowed with added knowledge and the development of fresh instruments. The primary object of these critical tables is to harvest fruit of their toil, sorting the wheat from the chaff, for the benefit of civilisation.It would be presumptuous to criticise a work such as the volume under review. All one can attempt to do is to offer a few friendly suggestions that might help to make the volume of still greater utility when a further edition is called for. One feature of the book which immediately impresses the reader is the mechanical perfection of the ' set up.' The arrangement of the tables and the selection of the various sized type leave nothing to be desired. One must, however, point out that the only full-page graph in the volume (page 33) is one which it is impossible to use with comfort. It would have been advantageous to have the data in the form of a nomogram. The volume opens with a section on national and local systems of weights and measures. The reader can derive much amusement from a study of these; for example, on page 10 the Persian unit of 1 guerze is given as 0-63 m. to 0-97 m.; such elasticity in a unit probably fits in with Eastern notions of buying and selling ! It is also of interest to learn that the sacred cubit differs quite considerably from the common cubit. The compilation of this table, occupying fifteen pages, must have involved an immense amount of searching on the part of the compilators.This is followed by a section on conversion factors and dimensional formulae. These factors are well arranged and complete, but one does not find a conversion factor familiar to all concerned with thermal conductivity work, namely, for converting thermal conductivities expressed in gram calories per sq. cm. per sec. for 1° C. difference into B.Th.U.'s per sq. ft. per hour for 1 inch thickness and 1° F. difference in temperature. One would like to see B.Th.U. used for British Thermal Unit instead of B.T.U., which is apt to lead to confusion with the Board of Trade electrical unit. Many people prefer to make conversions with the aid of diagrams, so it would have been helpful if reference were made in connexion with this table of conversion factors to the existence of a collection of forty-three graphic tables for the conversion of measurements in different units compiled by R. H. Smith and published in 1895. We feel that the utility of these volumes could be increased if especial attention had been given to indicate the location of special tables the importance of which is not such as to justify their inclusion in these volumes. For example, it may not be generally known that the annual reports of the British Association contain tables of Bessel functions, sines and cosines of angles in radians, logarithmic Gamma functions, etc., and that the Physical Society has published a table of hyperbolic sines and cosines. Then, again, there is the useful collection of physical and chemical data of nitrogen compounds prepared by the Munitions Inventions Department during the War.The definition of selected terms occupies nine pages. We are rather astonished to learn that the Hefner unit is obsolete. Probably the wish is father to the thought ! The Hefner is the only official standard for the whole of Germany and has more statutory significance than the standards of Great Britain. As regards the definition of the candle, the author might possibly have expressed himself a little more clearly. It is a unit that is maintained at certain national laboratories in terms of electrical incandescent lamps.The section on " The Structure of the Isolated Atom " partakes more of the appearance of a scientific paper than the pages of a highly condensed book of reference. Many will question the advisability of quoting Table 2, page 49, from Bohr's book, especially when the subject is in such an unsettled state. It might be noted that Stoner has calculated a table which differs from that given in Table 2. Incidentally, there is a misprint in the middle of this table, 8 being printed instead of 2. The full-page diagram of the normal orbit of the outer electron on page 51 is of more academic interest than practical utility. But the diagram on the precedingage of maximum elongations of electrons of several groups may prove useful in working out optical properties. The section on resistance thermometers under the main heading " Thermometry " is all too brief. One would like to have found there a table of t and pt to facilitate calculations in the same way as one finds under " Thermocouples " standard tables of temperature and thermo-electric force.To British ears the statement that " The Callendar equations were devised to facilitate computations by the method of successive approximations " will sound a little strange, even if it is strictly true. It would have been helpful if the writer of the article had indicated the sources where platinum of the requisite degree of purity was obtainable, as it is rather difficult to secure material which complies with the specification he quotes. In connexion with the article on temperature measurement, it might have been appropriate to point out that certain laboratories supply materials of certified melting points or boiling points which can be used for calibration purposes. A range of pure metals is available for high temperatures and organic compounds for low temperatures.To the section on optical pyrometry the addition of a table of the emissivities of various substances and a reference to the very detailed charts based on computations from Wien's Law issued by theBureau would have been useful. Total radiation pyrometry is not dealt with. The section on laboratory methods for producing and maintaining constant temperatures should prove of considerable service. The addition of one mixture may be suggested, namely, crushed ice and fuming nitric acid, by means of which 30° can be obtained almost instantly. A reference to the article on the production of cold in the Journal of the Optical Society of America and Review qf Scientific Instruments would be helpful to the reader.It is difficult to understand the editor's motives for placing the section " Standard Buffer Solutions and Acid-Base Indicators " in Vol. 1, for they could most appropriately accompany other electrochemical data on ionisation, etc. Wedged at present between a section on " Volume of a Mass of Liquid of known Weight in Air " on one side and " High Vacuum Technique " on the other, it seems out of place. In the section on " High Vacuum Technique," one might suggest that a note be made to the effect that the expression for the rate of flow of gas through a tube is applicable to within five per cent. only up to a pressure when the free path of the gas molecule is 0-4 times the bore of the tube. No mention is made of Knudsen or of his general equation connecting the rate of flow with the dimensions of the tube. The formula for the molecular flow through a circular opening is not quite correct; it should be W= 31; the arithmetical slip occurs in Dushman's original paper.In the table giving data on various types of pumps, it might be noted that the Gaede molecular pump referred to is now obsolete; no mention is made of the Holweck pump. It is probable that a slip has crept into the table giving pumping speeds of various types of pumps and that the figures in the last line refer to the three-stage Gaede steel pump, for the recently introduced twostage steel pump will not function against a back pressure of 20 mm. The value 60,000 quoted for the performance of this pump is not one which can be obtained under the usual conditions of operation. It is also rather surprising that no information is given concerning the gauges employed for measuring the pressures. Experience has shown that the normal upper limit of the ionisation gauge is 1/1000 mm., while the Pirani cannot well be employed for pressures below this. We suggest the addition of a table giving the nature and amounts of various gases to be expected from various typical glasses, metals, and silica when heated in vacuo. The reader would also have been glad to know that, in addition to the substances mentioned, red phosphorus can be used with glass apparatus for removing the residual gas. Other additions which may be suggested are (a) a table of the vapour pressure of the oils used in pumps; (b) a table of the expansion coefficients of glasses and metals suitable for sealing in to glass with tolerance limits.On page 102, in the table entitled " Elementary Substances and Atmospheric Air," there is a misprint in the value quoted for the viscosity of air. It should be 180-8, not 284-2. The most important table in the volume is labelled 3 Table, extending over 55 pages, and gives the important constants of chemical compounds. A point of criticism in regard to this is the order of accuracy to which the molecular weights are given; for example, TiO2 79-9000, MnF2 92-9300, Al(OH)3 77-9831, LiH 7*94670. One wonders what justification there is for the number of significant figures quoted. Yet it is stated on page 98 that the values given are approximate, and it is proposed to give more accurate values in subsequent sections. A second point is whether some of the substances to which formulae are ascribed are true compounds; for example, 66PbO,21As2O5,12H20, 19552*5. Possibly this and countless others are merely ' solid solutions.' No literature references are given in this table.On page 165 there is a table of refractive indices of numerous compounds, but not of the fundamental elements. It would have been advisable to include the table published in Finnish by J. A. Wasastzerna on ionic refractivities. On page 357 one finds a section on " Sweeting Agents and Odoriferous Materials " sandwiched between " Dispersoidology " and " Radioactivity "!Many will feel disposed to question whether the tables on the properties of stars-their distribution and their motion-are physico-chemical data. If astronomical data are to be included, a reference might be given to Brown's tables of the moon, which embodies the results of thirty years of mathematical investigations of a high order. Possibly some day similar tables will become available for the minor planets or asteroids, of which about a thousand are known. Encouragement might thus be given to such monumental pieces of calculation by a reference in a standard book. The table on X-ray diffraction data from crystals and liquids, page 338, is remarkably complete, but some indication of the accuracy of the data in theunit cell column is desirable. This subject is advancing at such a prodigious rate that, even in the short time which has elapsed since its publication, quite a formidable array of substances has received investigation in the intervening period. We may mention the following: TiO2 (anatase), ZrSiO4, SnO2, MnO2, MnF, CaSO4, CaWO4, CaMoO4, BeAl2O4, Be3Al2SiO,.The compilation of the section on aerodynamics, page 404, must have presented unusual difficulties on account of the wealth of material available. It would be advisable in Table 2 on page 404 to indicate that Vi means either feet per second or metres per second, according to whether one is reading to the right or the left. Fig. 9 has a misprint in the letterpress; the word Riabouchinski is incomplete. On page 410 (foot of second column) the statement concerning the effect of adding fins might be a little more explicit. It states that adding fins greatly increases the drag of streamline solids; the effect of the fins on the airship R33, for example, put up the drag by eight per cent. The percentage effect would of course be greater if the hull alone was considered.The reviewer must stress the fact that the various points raised in his review detract little, if anything, from the value of this splendid piece of work. All busy workers are under a profound debt of gratitude to the various experts who have collaborated to produce this unique collection of tables. The best way in which the user can show his appreciation is to indicate to the editors where he considers improvement possible, so that we may look forward to later editions which will embody the best that science has achieved. The task of compiling this monumental work has obviously necessitated much serious study on the part of the corresponding experts, and, by bringing to bear their critica judgment on the literature, they have discovered serious lacunae and contradictions. An excellent illustration of this will be found in an article by Bichowsky in the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chem. for April 1926, entitled " The Data of Thermochemistry." There he points out discrepancies which appear in tables generally accepted as standard. As examples he cites A12S3, the value for which given in the tables should be multiplied by 2, while in the case of Fe(NO3)3 the quoted value should be halved, and numerous other inconsistencies. Again, Washburn, in an address delivered before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, December 1924 (published in Science, Jan. 16, 1925), points out "Some Effects of the Atmosphere upon Physical Measurements " and cites numerous examples of fallacies.The same state of affairs probably exists in regard to some others of the constants scrutinised, and it would serve a very useful purpose if the experts would publish their findings independently and in greater detail.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119735a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THE perennial conflict between the mechanT istic and the vitalistic views of life is illustrated by the two books before us. Prof. Przibram endeavours to persuade us that living beings are governed by the same laws as those which regulate the structure and growth of crystals, whilst Prof. Rignano, the distinguished editor of Scientia, is equally certain that the phenomena which subjectively we recognise in our conscious life as memory, are characteristic of all life and afford the most fundamental explanation of the living process. It is somewhat surprising that Przibram, who has a European reputation as an experimental biologist, should be the champion of the mechanistic view, and that Rignano, who was trained as a physicist, should espouse the cause of vitalism. The comparison of living beings to crystals is one that has often occurred to the minds of biologists, because crystals, like organisms, have a specific form which they preserve, with minor modifications, as they grow; but the difficulties of this comparison are obvious, and until now have appeared insuperable. Crystals grow by accretions to their outer surface; organisms by the interposition of new living molecules amongst those already existing. The additions to the body, like those to crystals, come from the surrounding medium, but the molecules added to a crystal exist as such in the mother liquor and are merely precipitated on the crystal's surface, whereas those that build up the organism are elaborated by the organism itself out of simpler ones which it takes in as food. The crystal is a mass of similar molecules, whereas the organism is composed of different chemical substances arrangedin a definite manner so as to build up a structure which will work.(1) With extraordinary ingenuity and perseverance Przibram sets himself to surmount these difficulties. He begins by pointing out that although living substance always appears in the form of a colloid whereas crystalline substances are solids, yet almost any crystalline salt can be made to appear as a 'colloid ' consisting of a number of minute crystalline particles suspended in the mother liquor. The form in which it will appear depends on its concentration in the solution and the rapidity of evaporation. Further, whilst it is true that in the most familiar crystals growth only occurs at the surface, yet there exist ' fluid crystals ' and crystals like those of hoemoglobin and similar organic substances which can imbibe water and in which therefore new molecules can be interposed between those already existing; in these cases Przibram holds that " growth by intussusception" may be said to occur. The objection that a crystal consists of a repetition of similar molecules is met by what we must regard as a quibble on Przibram's part. He says that molecules do not exist as such in crystals, because all are united in a common lattice-work of atoms, and therefore in going from point to point in a crystal we encounter alternations of different kinds of atoms; and this alternation he compares to the mixture of distinct chemical substances found in all living matter.With regard to the assimilation of food, Przibram makes a brave attempt to find something like it in crystals. He points out that in certain cases where an optically inactive substance is present in a solution, the presence of a crystal of the dextral or sinistral variety will determine the precipitation of this variety of the substance on the surface of the crystal. Further, when two salts crystallising in somewhat similar forms are mixed in a solution, alternate layers of each may be deposited on the crystal. Postponing for the moment the question whether or not these analogies are sound, let us look at what Przibram considers the gains of his point of view. He points out that a broken crystal ' regenerates ' the missing part, just as many (not all) animals can regenerate an amputated limb; that in some substances the molecular lattice-work is capable of building itself up on alternative forms: thus, substances belonging to the first crystalline system can form cubes or octohedra, and these two forms may tend to appear in the same crystal and thus compete with one another, so that cubes with truncated angles are often observed. The form which will ultimately prevail is that which grows most slowly, for this requires less material for its realisation; the quickly developing form appears first, but its growth comes to a stop for scarcity of the necessary 'food.' This Przibram compares to the cases where an antenna of an insect is replaced by a leg, a phenomenon termed by the late Dr. Bateson 'hamceosis.' He maintains that the form of the regenerated part depends on the arrangement of the 'lattice-work' of the surrounding tissue; thus the formation of limbs from transplanted rudiments in Amblystoma, as evidenced by his own repetition of Harrison's experiments, is governed by the structure of the skin surrounding the rudiment and not by the relation of the new organ to the ' whole,' as Driesch has asserted. He shows that two fluid crystals will coalesce into one as do two blastulae of Echinus, and he says that Driesch's conundrum of the impossibility of conceiving a machine which by division will give rise to two similar machines is answered by the lattice-work of a crystal, for this if broken into two will regenerate two similar crystals.We recommend this work of Przibram to the careful attention of all our readers; they will find it a mine of information on the physics of crystals, though it is to be regretted that he only mentions Sir William Bragg's name once, and no one would gather from a perusal of the book that we owe nearly all our modern knowledge of crystal structure to Bragg's discoveries. Przibram has, however, failed to convince us of the validity and worth of the comparison of the structure of living beings with crystals, and if he with all his knowledge of biology has failed, no one else is likely to succeed. To give a detailed destructive criticism of all his arguments would occupy too much space, but some of the principal objections which occur to us may be noted. Thus it is misleading to compare a colloid solution of an inorganic salt such as ferric chloride with the colloids of living bodies. The former is a suspensoid-really a minutely divided precipitate-the latter a diphasic or even triphasic emulsoid of different fluids enclosing one another, and the physics of the two states are, as Hardy has shown, quite different. The citation of fluid crystals is irrelevant. The term 'fluid crystal' is a misleading one to denote an intermediate phase between complete fluidity and definite crystallisation which is exhibited by certain organic substances. In this condition-stable over only a narrow range of temperaturethe molecules of the substance roll over one another,so that it is a fluid, but these molecules are sufficiently close to exert such an influence on one another as to keep their optical axes parallel. It is really a drop of turbid fluid, of which the turbidity is due to crystalline particles. The fundamental objection, however, is that a crystal is a relatively static form of material, whilst every particle of a living being, so long as it is alive, is in a continual state of destruction and reconstitution, and this reconstitution is effected from relatively simple materials. Nothing at all similar to the miracle of assimilation is to be found outside the domain of life. (2) It is with this miracle that Rignano begins his book " Man not a Machine." The building up of new protoplasm from food he regards as one example of that 'purposeful striving' which is the inner nature not only of man but also of all life. In this case it is a striving to maintain a certain dynamic equilibrium. Prof. Leathes in his address to the Physiological Section of the British Association last summer pointed out that, given the known compounds into which food is broken by digestion, the number of ways in which they could be strung together runs into countless millions of millions, and yet they are put together in one particular way and no other. Rignano goes on to show that ontogeny, or the development of the individual, is likewise a striving to reach a typical end. It was indeed the recognition of this fact, and of the tendency of the egg to reach this end even when mutilated, by the adaptation of parts to purposes to which in normal circumstances they never would be put, which converted Driesch from being an adherent of Weismann to a vitalistic position.The whole life of an organism and its movements are, as Rignano asserts, one continued striving to maintain around it the accustomed environment. When living matter is exposed to a new environment " it has no rest until it has either re-established the old environment or becomes adapted to the new one," that is, until it succeeds in establishing a new equilibrium. Adaptation to a new environment is attained by a constant series of trials-but when once it is attained the reappearance of the same conditions call forth the successful response with ever-increasing rapidity. It is this peculiarity of living matter which Rignano calls memory and which accounts for the inheritance of acquired characters. It corresponds to what the reviewer has elsewhere called 'habitudinal memory.' Rignano tries to explain it by his theory of 'specific accumulation,' which is at any rate a plausible one. It is to the effect that every reaction leaves behind it in all the nuclei of the reacting animal a deposit or trace, the effect of which is to accelerate the production of the same reaction when the same circumstances recur. The continual reaction to a stereotyped situation becomes a reflex or instinct, and the reflex is thus not the primary building stone out of which the actions of an animal are built up, as many physiologists have supposed, but merely the result of long-continued repetition. The application of these principles to the life of man occupies the last chapters of the book. For the detailed criticism and analysis of these chapters we have no space, but we can sum up the controversy between vitalism and mechanism somewhat as follows. All scientific reasoning is comparison, starting with what is relatively known and familiar, or with what we imagine to be so, and we strive to compare with it the more complicated and unfamiliar. The mechanistic biologist, taking as familiar the chemical reactions which go on in a test-tube, seeks to reduce the life around him (and incidentally his own) to a combination of these, determined by the juxtaposition of unlike substances, that is, by structure. The vitalist is impressed with the most thrilling of all the facts in biology, namely, the fact that he himself is alive. The life of this one being he knows from the inside, and he thinks it logical to compare with this life the life of other beings, so that a certain measure of qualified anthropomorphism seems to him to be the only rational way of dealing with life.After all, it is doubtful whether in the last resort Przibram seriously regards himself as a magnified crystal, and, as Dr. Broad has recently said, " the man who asserts that his brother-or his cat-is merely a mechanism, is either a fool-or a physiologist." Dr. Bateson once said: " If to be a vitalist is to admit that here and now we cannot explain the actions of living beings by physics and chemistry, who would not be a vitalist ? " It may be held that to accept any form of vitalism is to sterilise biology and that only the mechanistic hypothesis leads to results; but in zoology, at any rate, this is not true. In studying the physics and chemistry of the cell we are studying the tools of life, not life itself, and ' mechanistic ' theories of heredity have only led to the creation of a welter of incomprehensible 'genes,' the nature and origin of which are mysterious: real light on the inner nature and evolution of animal life has only come from following the lead of the concepts of striving, habit and memory.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119738a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

PROF. PATTEN is an enthusiastic supporter of the mnemic theory of life and heredity which is associated with the names of Hering, Samuel Butler, Francis Darwin, and Semon. His little book is very readable and contains much matter within a small compass. The theses put forward are " that Memory is indeed the Mainspring of Organic Evolution, and also that it is the source and potentiality which unifies both consciously and unconsciously the Psychic side of all living organisms; that vital activities, morphological as well as physiological, are in truth Psychic manifestations; that even the simplest vital activities are quite purposive; that Memory is rhythmic in character; that the processes at work in the evolution both of the Individual and of the Race furnish evidence of being an unbroken chain of Memory Processes, and are, in the main, due to Habit Formation; and lastly, that Memory Processes, when analysed mainly in regard to their physical basis, cast a strong beam of light upon the advocacy of Somatic Inheritance " (p. xii). One might conclude from this citation that Prof. Patten is a psychobiologist, and indeed he comes very near to that position. On one cardinal point he is quite emphatic, " that unless one postulates the presence of a Psychic side in all living things any attempt to explain Memory phenomena on rational lines would signally break down " (p. xi). But the philosophical position he adopts is apparently that of monism, of the rather vague Haeckelian kind, which is by no means free from the dualistic taint that Prof. Patten has in horror. So it comes about that in elaborating the memory theory he falls back upon the " physical trace " or engramm " conception of Richard Semon: he tries, in other words, to translate what is essentially a psychical activity into its presumed physical correlate.For our own part we hold with James Ward that a memory theory of heredity will not work unless based frankly upon a psychological theory of life, and freed from the mechanistic preconception of physical traces. But it must be confessed that no one as yet has successfully worked out such a theory.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119741a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THIS monograph, first issued in 1913, was written primarily for advanced students, but is of great interest to all who are engaged in processes involving dyeing. Commencing with a description of the physical and chemical properties of the more important commercial fibres, the book gives a short description of the principal types of dyestuffs and the methods of applying them to the various types of fibres. This is necessary in order to understand the following chapters, which deal with the numerous theories which have been advanced concerning the actual mechanism of the dyeing process. These theories are very lucidly explained with great attention to experimental evidence, starting from the first idea of a purely mechanical process to the modern conception of dyeing as a, dual process, involving first the electrical precipitation of the dye on the fibre and then the chemical combination or physical solution in the cell walls. The references to the published literature are unusually copious.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119742d0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

WE have recently carried out some experiments which indicate that an ion of one kind may, upon collision with a molecule of another gas, ionise that molecule and excite the resulting ion to the degree that the energy required to ionise the one exceeds the energy required to ionise the other. This means that an ion may rob a molecule of an electron, and at the same time give to the resulting ion the excess of energy made available by its recombination with the electron over the amount needed to take that electron out of the molecule. As the energies of excitation are quantised, there is usually still a remnant of the energy of recombination yet to be accounted for, and this probably goes into increased kinetic energy of one or both particles involved in the collision.The experiments have been limited to mixtures of carbon monoxide and of nitrogen with argon, neon, and helium, but the same process may occur in any mixture of gases and vapours, monatomic or multiatomic. We used carbon monoxide in particular because the energy levels of the CO molecule and the CO+ ion have recently been experimentally determined in this laboratory 1 and interpreted on the basis of the quantum theory of band spectra.2 Spectrograms were taken with a Hilger E2 quartz spectrograph of low voltage arcs of 40 milliamperes at 23 volts in a hot cathode discharge tube through mixtures of argon, neon, and helium in turn, each containing ten per cent. of carbon monoxide. The total pressure of the mixture was 2-4 mm. in each case. An auxiliary filament was mounted near the cathode filament so that electrons could be introduced into the discharge from it when desired. The purpose of the auxiliary filament was to enable us to determine whether the carbon monoxide bands were being excited by the rare gas ions or by the electrons from the cathode, and whether the excitation was accomplished simultaneously with the ionisation or was a subsequent event. The spectrograms show that, in the argon mixtures, none of the negative bands of carbon monoxide or of nitrogen is excited; in the carbon monoxide neon mixtures the comet tail bands and the first negative bands of CO, appear, the former strongly and the latter weakly, but the Baldet-Johnson bands are absent; in the helium mixture all three negative systems of carbon monoxide are strongly developed. The negative bands of nitrogen appear fairly strong in the nitrogen-neon mixture and very strong in the mixture with helium.Before it could be concluded that these negative bands were being excited simultaneously with the ionisation of the molecule on collision with an ion of neon or of helium, several alternative possibilities had to be tested: 1. The excitation of the ion might follow as a later event after the molecule had been ionised by the rare gas ion. That this process was not operative was demonstrated by introducing into the discharge, electrons from the auxiliary filament at a voltage sufficiently great to excite the CO+ ions on collision. Although the electron current from this filament was twice as great as from the cathode, no increase in the intensities of the negative bands was produced. Thus, though the current through the discharge was three times as great as before, the negative bands were no more intense. On the other hand, the positive bands of carbon monoxide, which were not present in the original discharge, appeared with moderate strength in the discharge with the auxiliary filament in operation, when the difference of potential between the auxiliary filament and anode was equal to the excitation potentials of these bands. The second positive bands of nitrogen were present even though the auxiliary filament was not used, but their intensities increased enormously when the voltage of the auxiliary filament reached their excitation potential. This suggests a new method for determining the excitation potentials of positive bands and arc lines.2. The simultaneous ionisation and excitation of the carbon monoxide molecule might be due to direct electron impacts, as has been demonstrated to be possible.' That this was not the case was proved by maintaining the voltage of the auxiliary filament higher than the excitation potentials of these bands but below the ionising potential of neon. In this way the possibility of excitation by electron impacts was increased threefold, while the concentration of neon ions was increased very little. A barely perceptible increase in the intensities of the negative bands was observed when the current from the auxiliary filament was twice as great as from the cathode. 3. The ionisation and excitation might be due to an impact of the second kind with an excited neon or helium atom. It was for the purpose of determining whether the ion or an excited atom of the rare gas was responsible for the observed phenomena that nitrogen was substituted for carbon monoxide in the neon mixture. The excitation potential of the negative band system of nitrogen is greater than either of the strong radiating potentials of neon, but is less than the ionising potential of neon. Therefore, an excited neon atom could not ionise the nitrogen molecule and simultaneously excite its negative bands. Hence we must conclude that it is the rare gas ions that were effective.The interpretation of the observed results on the basis of simultaneous ionisation and excitation by the ions of the inert gases is fairly obvious upon consideration of the excitation potentials of the bands involved and the ionisation potentials of argon, neon, and helium as given in the following table: Band System. \ Excit. Pet. (Gas. Ione. Pot. Comet Tail . . 16-8 Argon 15-4 First Negative . 20 0 Neon 21-5 Baldet-Johnson . 22 9 Helium 24-5 i Carbon 14-3 MonoxideThus none of the negative bands of carbon monoxide would be expected to appear in the argon mixture, while the comet tail bands and the first negative bands would be excited by neon ions, and all three systems by helium ions, as was observed. Apparently the neon ions are more efficient in exciting the comet tail bands than they are in exciting the first negative bands. This greater probability that the former would be excited rather than the latter upon a collision between a neon ion and carbon monoxide molecule would seem to indicate that the efficiency of ions in this type of excitation increases, at least for a time, as the excess energy available increases. This view is supported by the fact that all three systems are strongly developed in the helium mixture. Several bands belonging to the comet tail and Baldet-Johnson systems not previously reported were observed in our spectrograms of the carbon monoxide-helium mixture.The failure of the Baldet-Johnson bands to appear in the neon mixture and their strong development in the helium mixture is significant. According to Birge,3 these bands constitute a combination system between the initial states of the first negative and the comet tail systems. If this were true, they would have the same excitation potential as the first negative bands and should be excited by neon ions. Their experimentally determined excitation potential ' is in agreement with their behaviour in the neon and helium mixtures. This confirms the assignment of this system to a higher initial state of the CO+ ion as made by Duffendack and Fox.2 It might be added that Miss Ann Hepburn, at the Chicago meeting of the American Physical Society, corrected her published abstract 4 and reported the excitation potential of this system to be 23 0 volts, in agreement with the value given above.The appearance of the negative band systems of carbon monoxide and of nitrogen in our discharges is in harmony with their appearance in geissler tube discharges through similar mixtures as observed by Merton and Johnson 5 and by Cameron.' Their presence can be accounted for on the basis outlined above, and slight discrepancies can be explained by the less definite limitation of the maximum speeds of the electrons in geissler discharges. Similar discrepancies can be produced in our discharges by increasing the voltage, or the current density, or the percentage of carbon monoxide, or in any way increasing the probability of excitation of the carbon monoxide molecules by direct electron impacts. There is no reason to believe that this method of excitation of radiation from an ionised molecule is limited to the ions of the rare gases or to multi-atomic molecules. The same process may be expected to occur in any mixture of gases or vapours, and should find application in the production of the first spark spectra of atomic ions to the exclusion of higher spark spectra, and in the approximate determination of the excitation potentials of the spark lines. This process may also explain the enhancement of certain lines in discharges through mixtures of gases and the origin of certain radiations of astronomical interest.We wish to express our gratitude to Dr. WV. E. Forsythe of the Nela Research Laboratory (where these experiments were begun during the summer of 1926) for the argon, and to the U.S. Bureau of Mines for the helium used in these experiments.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119743a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

IN order to obtain an interpretation of the anomalous Zeeman effect, the multiplet structure, etc., Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit (Physika, 1925;Naturw., 953, 1925; NATURE, 117, 264; cf. Thomas, NATURE, 117, 514; Slater, NATURE, 117, 587; London,Naturw., 15, 15, 1927; Darwin, NATURE, 119, 282) assume that the magnetic moment corresponding to the spinning movement of the electron is just twice as great as that of the revolving electric point-charge with the same mechanical angular momentum. In the following, an attempt is made to derive this assumption from the relativistic Schrödinger wave equation in connexion with the electrodynamic meaning of the wave function ψ.ip. The relativistic wave equation for forceless movement of the electron is__-m2c2=0. . . (1) (Schrodinger, Ann. d. Ph., 8i, 133, and other authors.) The solution, in the rest-system of the electron, maybe reduced to the following form (r, z, 4 being columnar co-ordinates, which are suitable to the purpose): t’=f(r,z) exp. i.s exp. mocht1(2) = F(r, z,) exp. m0c2t jF satisfies the equation: iF =0, and is therefore harmonic in the rest-system. The equation of the continuity of electricity isgrad. -grad. sb)} (3)(See W. Gordon, Zs.f. Phys., 41, 117, see p. 121, and 0. Klein, ibid. 42, 407, see p. 414.) We multiply the expressions in brackets by the specific charge --- of the electron (the introduction of the factor —s introduced by Klein—cannot be justified in our case) and get for the electric density:(4a) and for the density of currentj=-L(grad. —grad.1). . . (4) From the non-relativistic form of the wave equation only half the density of current follows (of. SchrOdinger, l.c.). From that Fermi (NATURE, 118, 876) and Elein (Zs. f. Phys., 4x, 425) have derived the magnetic moment for the revolving movement of an electric point-charge, namely:e (5)m0 4v whilst the magnetic moment corresponding to the density of current (4) is2e h (5)/L may be regarded as the magnetic moment of the spinning movement, being twice as great as ie’ in agreement with the assumption mentioned in the beginning. The conjectures of Slater and London that the rest-energy m0c2 is of rotatory character and that the ‘internal phenomenon’ of L. de Brogue of the frequency v, = causes it and therefore themagnetism of the electron itself, are supported by this. The necessary half quantum-numbers for s follow readily if one adapts the Schrodinger conditions for the wave function t’ to our problem.Only the doublet (, —) and no higher quantum- states of rotation appear. We hope, in an early communication, to return to the question of fine structure and ana]ogou

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119744a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

IN the columns of NATURE of Mar. 12, p. 392, Mr. N. W. Barritt describes branched hairs in a specimen of Egyptian cotton. Such branched hairs of Gossypium have been known to us for some time and have been the subject of an investigation by us which we hope shortly to publish.We have growing here each year in our experimental area what is probably the most representative FIG. 1.-Branched hair of Thespesia popidnea, 0-9 mm. long. collection of Asiatic types of cotton to be found anywhere in the world. Amongst several of these types, by the exercise of patience, we have found these branched hairs, as also in Upland American and Sea Island types. The branched hair represents a form of hair that occurred in the phylogeny of the Hibisceve. It is very well seen in Thespesia populnea, upon the seed coat of which there are hairs of at least FlG. 2.-Branched hairs of Gossypium Stocksii. two types, one of which is branched and another unbranched. The branched type is shown in the photomicrograph (Fig. 1). The length of this hair is 0 9 mm. In Gossypium Stocksii, a type of cotton in some respects primitive, hairs occur within the capsule not only upon the seed coat but also upon the capsule wall. Many of these hairs, both upon the seed coat and the capsule wall, show branching. These are shown in Fig. 2. Coming off from the mass of capsule wall shown in this photograph is a bifurcate hair with a very short basal part embedded in the wall. To the left of this is another similar one with a longer base than the former. Hairs with shorter side branches can be seen in several places. The hairs on the seed coat of Gossypium Stocksii are usually regarded as of the nature of 'fuzz.' In our material they are some 8 mm. to 10 mm. long.It seems probable that in the modern forms of Gossypium the branched hair has become suppressed, and usually develops only tardily and to a limited extent in the form of 'fuzz.' We have Gossypium Stocksii from the Sind Desert growing and flowering here now. There are several characters in it that have never been correctly described. In our material there are no signs of any stipular glands at the base of the clawed bracteoles as figured in Watt's " Wild and Cultivated CottonPlants of the World." The flowers of our material, too, could not be described as 'large'; in comparison with most other Asiatic cottons, they are small. In colour the flowers are pale sulphur yellow and of a totally different shade from that of Asiatic cottons generally. The pollen grains, in the character of their spines, differ from those of any other Asiatic Gossypium seen by us. An investigation has been made into the cytology of Cossypium Stocksii, and thirteen chromosome bodies have been found in the developing pollen grain.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119745a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THE letter by Messrs. Egerton and Gates in the issue of Mar. 19, p. 427, concerning the mechanism of ‘knock’ suppressors such as lead tetra-ethyl, prompts me to add certain points of view material to the discussion.The idea that lead tetra-ethyl acts as an inhibitor of the oxidation of aldehydes was expressed by me in January 1924 at a meeting of the North-Eastern Section of the American Chemical Society in Boston, reported in the News Edition of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry for February 1924, and in Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, vol. 30, p. 148 (1924). At that meeting I was able to show an experiment in which the rate of oxidation of 5 c.c. of benzaldehyde was decreased from 1 5 c.c. absorbed oxygen per minute to 0 005 c.c. per minute by the addition of one drop of lead tetra-ethyl to 5 c.c. of benzaldehyde. The report of this work has been delayed, but a forthcoming publication by Mr. H. J. L. BAckstrOm will record in detail work of which this is one phase. In the meantime we have obtained other results which demonstrate one other possible mechanism of known suppression by lead tetra-ethyl. Charch, Mack, and Boord have suggested (Ind. Eng. Chem., i8, 336; 1926) that the suppression is to be associated with the liberation of fine particles of the free metal in the gaseous mixture, these atoms functioning as catalysts of oxidation, themselves undergoing rapid oxidation and producing, at a definite stage in the engine cycle, a large number of oxidation centres. A homogeneous combustion throughout the gas mixture ahead of the flame front would thus occur. thereby suppressing the formation of a detonation wave and consequent knock.Our own experiments on the properties of hydrogen atoms (Trans. Faraday Soc., vol. 21, 1926) have led also to a study of the decomposition of metal alkyls of the lead tetra-ethyl type and to an important addition to the above concept. Not only may the lead atoms function as oxidation centres, but also, and to a very much more marked extent, the free radicals, e.g. C,11, liberated by the thermal decomposition, are extremely reactive in the presence of hydrocarbon-oxygen mixtures. Complete disappearance of oxygen is secured at temperatures below 3000 C. Indeed, with hydrogen atoms, in the presence of ethylene and oxygen, reaction is secured at room temperatures, oxygenated organic compounds being produced. Free radicals, therefore, may function as oxidation centres producing homogeneous combustion, an effect supplementary to the inhibitory action of the metal alkyl on oxidation of the aldehydes produced by partial oxidation of hydrocarbons. The action of the free radicals may well account for the inhibitory effects produced by non-metallic knock suppressors of the type of aniline. As yet, there does not seem to be any method whereby the relative importance of these several possibilities may be estima

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119746a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

ON behalf of the Council of the Zoological Society of Scotland I should like to express to you our great appreciation of the excellent notice in NATURE of the Society's appeal for funds for the continued development of the Zoological Park here. The publicity given, through NATURE, to our aspirations and our necessities will aid very greatly the effort we are now making, and I thank you most cordially for it.Perhaps you will permit me to add that if any of your readers would be interested to receive a copy of the illustrated appeal, which contains a fairly full description of the Park, I should be very pleased to send one to any address given me, and if any one should be generous enough to subscribe towards our development fund, I shall be most happy to receive and acknowledge subscriptions.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/119747d0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature