,transcriber's ,notes3 ,text enclosed by underscores is in italics 7italics71 and text enclosed by equal signs is in bold 7bold74 ,additional ,transcriber's ,notes are at the end4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,from ,,an ,,easy ,,chair 99 99 99 99 99 ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author ,,extinct ,,animals ,by ,,sir ,e4 ,,ray ,,lankester1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,with a ,portrait of the ,author1 and #bah other ,illustrations4 ,demy #hvo4 ,second ,edition1 ,price #gs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,nature4--8,we give the book a hearty welcome1 feeling sure that its perusal will draw many young recruits to the army of naturalists1 and many readers to its pages40 ,,the ,,kingdom ,,of ,,man ,by ,,sir ,e4 ,,ray ,,lankester1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,with about #fj ,illustrations4 ,demy #hvo4 ,second ,edition4 ,price #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,daily ,,news4--8,forms one of the most stimulating and suggestive books of recent times4 ,we feel that we cannot praise it too highly40 ,,outlook4--8,this fascinating and inexpensive book 444 in which much knowledge is imparted in a manner that attracts40 99 99 99 99 99 ,,from ,,an ,,easy ,,chair ,,by ,,sir ,,ray ,,lankester1 ,k4,c4,b41 ,f4,r4,s4 8,the world is so full of a number of things1 ,i am sure we should all be as happy as kings40 ,r4 ,l4 ,,stevenson ,illustration ,,london ,,archibald ,,constable ,,co41 ,,ltd4 #aiji 99 99 99 99 99 ,,richard ,,clay ,,and ,,sons1 ,,limited ,,bread ,,street ,,hill1 ,e4,c41 ,,and ,,bungay1 ,,suffolk4 ,published ,october1 #aijh4 ,reprinted ,january1 #aiji4 ,,preface ,this little book is a reproduction1 with some emendations1 of articles which appeared in the ,daily ,telegraph in the six months between the beginning of last ,october and the end of ,april4 ,if it should meet with success1 further collections of the same kind will be published from time to time4 ,e4 ,r4 ,l4 ,august1 #aijh4 ,,contents ,,page #a4 ,science and the ,study of ,nature #a #b4 ,the ,desire to ,know the ,world of ,nature #c #c4 ,scares and ,wonders #e #d4 ,work at the ,pasteur ,institute #i #e4 ,the ,sea ,serpent #aj #f4 ,giraffes and the ,okapi #aa #g4 ,the ,great ,geologists of ,last ,century #ad #h4 ,experiments with ,precious ,stones #ai #i4 ,diamonds #bc #aj4 ,science and ,fisheries #bg #aa4 ,discoveries as to ,malaria #bi #ab4 ,malta ,fever #cd #ac4 ,a ,cure for ,sleeping ,sickness #cf #ad4 ,tsetse-,flies and ,disease #ch #ae4 ,monkeys and ,fleas #da #af4 ,the ,jigger ,flea #db #ag4 ,public ,estimate of the ,value of ,science #dc #ah4 ,the ,common ,house-fly and ,others #de #ai4 ,cerebral ,inhibition #dh #bj4 ,colour-photography and ,photographs of ,mars #di #ba4 ,origin of ,names by ,errors in ,copying #ej #bb4 ,false ,news as to ,extinct ,monsters #ea #bc4 ,mistletoe and ,holly #eb #bd4 ,the ,cattle ,show #ee #be4 ,the ,experimental ,method #ei #bf4 ,hypnotism and an ,experiment on the ,influence of the ,magnet #fj #bg4 ,luminous ,owls and ,other ,luminous ,animals and ,plants #fe #bh4 ,reminiscences of ,lord ,kelvin #fh #bi4 ,the ,so-called ,jargon of ,science #gj #cj4 ,rats and the ,plague #gc #ca4 ,ancient ,temples and ,astronomy #gh #cb4 ,alchemists of ,to-day and ,yesterday #hd #cc4 ,a ,story of ,sham ,diamonds and ,pearls #hh #cd4 ,the ,nature of ,pearls #hi #ce4 ,a ,king ,who was a ,zoologist #ic #cf4 ,the ,transmission to ,offspring of ,acquired ,qualities #ig #cg4 ,variation and ,selection ,among ,living ,things #ajc #ch4 ,the ,movement1 ,growth1 and ,dwindling of ,glaciers #ajh #ci4 ,votes for ,women #aag #dj4 ,tobacco and the ,history of ,smoking #abd #da4 ,cruelty1 ,pain1 and ,knowledge #aca 99 99 99 99 99 ,,from ,,an ,,easy ,,chair #a4 ,science and the ,study of ,nature ,this volume consists of brief notes in plain language on a variety of scientific matters4 ,i speak of new discoveries1 real or so-called by mistake2 of old well-established facts and explanations of strange occurrences which are more familiar to men of science than to people who have not had the time and opportunity to ascertain what is1 and what is not proved and known about ,nature and her ways4 ,i do not address my reader from the professor's chair1 but from an easy chair4 ,just as in the club or my friend's smoking-room1 ,i might talk of these things1 so do ,i propose to talk here4 ,my hope is that what ,i have to say will interest those who are not experts in science1 and yet have a desire for trustworthy information and opinion on the vast variety of topics which come up day by day for consideration and discussion1 and can only be explained or rightly understood by the aid of that systematised knowledge which is called science4 99 99 99 99 99 ,science and the scientific point of view have a very wide1 indeed1 an unlimited range4 ,though the making of discoveries of real importance and the full understanding of the steps by which they are made involves1 as a rule1 long study and special training1 yet there is a vast deal of healthy excitement and pleasure connected with the progress of science1 in which all can share by receiving1 as it were1 messages from the front4 ,by contributing true records and observations of fact which serve1 in however small a way1 as ammunition and material of war for the use of the fighting line1 we can all help and take part in the advance of science4 ,a great feature of what is called science is that it is true4 ,the actual result achieved by science is the record of 8that which is0--it can be examined1 tested1 and proved4 ,but science does not merely collect accurate records of fact4 ,in order to discover new things1 new relations1 and hidden causes she has to make use of guesses and flights of imagination4 ,the 8hypotheses0 or guesses are not wild ones1 but reasonable suppositions based on careful consideration of existing knowledge4 ,they are never mistaken by trained workers in science for 8facts10 nor put forward as such4 ,on the contrary1 they are tested and so confirmed or rejected by experiment or trial4 ,hence the necessity of accuracy in observation for the purposes of science2 hence the proverbial 8scientific accuracy40 ,it is of no use to form a guess based upon erroneous statements4 ,it is mere waste of time to accept and build theories upon loose wonder-mongers' gossip4 ,and1 further1 the evidence which you obtain in order to confirm or dismiss your 8guess0 must be equally beyond suspicion as to its accuracy4 ,it must be an observation of fact free from prejudice and illusion4 ,your guess1 if proved to be true1 adds to the solid record of science new facts and new proofs of relationships1 which again lead on the imagination of men of science to new guesses1 and so to new confirmation or rejection1 and to the growth of the vast record of accurate knowledge4 ,to seek out in the endless whirling complexity of things which surround us in earth1 sky1 and sea1 the truth1 the knowledge of 8that which is10 of the relation of these things to one another as cause and effect and their action and influence on ourselves--this is the aim of science4 ,to substitute real understanding and the power of control of the surrounding world for the misleading and cruelly harmful conceptions existing in the minds of simple unskilled mankind--this is the daily achievement of science4 #b4 ,the ,desire to ,know the ,world of ,nature ,the practical value of science in securing the happiness of human communities is not1 however1 the reason which operates most strongly in exciting men and women to give themselves to the cultivation and improvement of this or that branch of it4 ,a rich banker one day was looking round the ,natural ,history ,museum with me4 ,it was his first visit4 ,after a time he said1 8,it's very fine6 wonderful6 ,but what's it all for8 ,where does the money come in8 ,that's what ,i can't understand4 ,why does the ,government spend money on this if it don't lead to making money80 ,i tried to convince him that there exists in us all a divine 8curiosity10 a desire to know regardless of profit or loss1 a thirst which we may cultivate and satisfy1 in the full assurance that whilst its satisfaction is a delight in itself1 we are all the while fulfilling the destiny of man1 helping in the conquest of ,nature4 ,my friend had apparently lost that instinctive thirst which is the primary impulse to the pursuit of science1 that capacity for pleasure which ,robert ,louis ,stevenson truly notes in the words of the child of his 8,garland of ,verse03 8,the world is so full of a number of things1 ,i am sure we should all be as happy as kings60 ,the existence of that little child and of numberless 8grown-ups0 who have become or have never ceased to be1 in this matter1 even as he1 is the reason why science has its helpers and workers of all ranks1 and it is of them that ,i chiefly think in writing these notes4 ,at a dinner of the ,savage ,club a year or so ago my friend ,dr4 ,nansen1 the ,norwegian ,minister1 quoted some lines from a ,scandinavian poet1 which he translated somewhat as follows3 8,as you journey through life do not go too fast1 do not press on blindly2 there are so many beautiful things by the way4 ,turn your head1 stay a few minutes4 ,leave the dusty road4 ,take in and enjoy the wonders and delights which are at your feet40 ,motorists1 please take note6 ,for those who can enter more thoroughly into the pursuit of science there are even greater joys4 ,to the very few there is the privilege not merely of realising well-established truths1 and of perhaps assisting in securing their foundations or extending their application1 but of discovering vast unexplored regions1 new possibilities1 new revelations of the unfathomed depths of ,nature's workings4 ,though few can hope to be leaders in these enthralling adventures1 yet we can be close to those who are1 and1 holding their hands1 sympathise with their soul's vision4 8,then felt ,i like some watcher from the skies1 ,or the stout ,cortes1 when1 with eagle eyes1 ,he stared at the ,pacific4444 ,silent1 upon a peak in ,darien40 ,such a one need have none of the conventional setting of romantic enterprise4 ,he may be standing before a much-stained table1 covered with bottles1 in an atmosphere of acrid fumes1 with a test-tube in his hand1 or he may be just raising his head with a far-off gaze1 as he sits1 bent o'er a microscope1 in ,london4 #c4 ,scares and ,wonders ,there are certain subjects which come within my ken upon which paragraphs are published in the papers nearly every other day of a wildly romantic and misleading character4 ,these subjects may be classified as3 7#a7 ,living and extinct monsters4 7#b7 ,cures for cancer and tubercle4 7#c7 ,unsuspected dangers of infection by disease-germs4 ,it would hardly be pleasant for me to quote these paragraphs in order to deny their statements4 ,they are often headed1 8,for the ,little ,ones10 or 8,from a ,foreign ,correspondent40 ,the old-established and better title for such announcements is 8,for the ,marines40 ,i shall endeavour to mention as they occur to me1 among other things1 new and duly-certified facts relating to monsters1 and to the investigation of disease4 ,with reference to reports which have been seriously put forward during the past year1 ,i may say that the alleged discovery of a mammoth in ,north ,america #ga;ft4 long and #dj;ft4 tall is nonsense4 ,in the announcement to which ,i allude1 the measurements have been altered from some original and more correct statement and made to appear astonishing by error or design4 ,no new facts of importance bearing upon the treatment of either cancer or tubercle have been lately discovered which can be explained to the general public4 ,work is proceeding nevertheless4 ,no new source of danger from disease-germs has been detected since this time last year4 ,it is true that the dust in railway carriages1 and especially in sleeping-cars1 which are not properly cleaned every day after occupation by travellers1 is full of microbes1 and1 like the dust of rooms which have been crowded by human beings1 may be a source of disease infection4 ,the remedy for this is careful cleansing after each journey1 and a special construction of the cars like a tiled bath-room1 so as to avoid the accumulation of dirt4 ,at present this is1 and long has been1 neglected4 ,another serious and more recent danger is that arising from the crowding of passengers in underground railway tubes4 ,both in ,paris and ,london this has been recognised as a real and pressing danger4 ,trouble has been given by the dust raised in the ,paris ,tube1 but the danger caused by dust has been avoided in ,london4 ,it is a definitely-ascertained fact that many bacteria1 including disease-producing kinds1 are rapidly killed by exposure to strong sunlight4 ,hence underground tubes and the chinks and recesses of railway carriages are more liable to harbour disease-germs than the open-air roadways and the carriages which ply on them4 ,great cleanliness and the use of germicide washing fluids are the obvious precautions to be taken in the absence of sunlight4 ,as to mammoths and elephants--the former is a misspelling of the word 8mammont10 the name given by the natives of ,northern ,siberia to the extinct elephant1 hairy1 but otherwise closely similar to the ,indian elephant1 which within the period of prehistoric man 7#ej1jjj to #aej1jjj years7 was abundant over the whole of the northern part of the ,northern ,hemisphere4 ,mammoths' tusks 7ivory7 are still largely imported from ,siberia4 ,the biggest ,african elephant may1 perhaps1 stand #ac;ft4 at the shoulder4 ,no mammoth or other extinct elephant seems to have exceeded this4 ,the stuffed ,african elephant in ,cromwell road measures #aa;ft4 #b;in4 at the shoulder4 ,mr4 ,carnegie's great extinct reptile ,diplodocus is only #ab;ft4 #i;in4 from the ground at the highest part of its back4 ,the biggest tusk of a recent elephant ever seen was bought by me for the ,natural ,history ,museum seven years ago4 ,it weighs #bbhlb41 and measures #aj;ft4 #b;in4 along the curve4 ,it was recognised three years ago by ,mr4 ,jephson 7one of ,stanley's companions7 as one of a pair which he had weighed in ,central ,africa4 ,it was in the possession of ,emin ,pasha when that unfortunate gentleman was 8rescued0 by ,stanley and ,jephson4 ,after the subsequent assassination of ,emin1 his ivory treasure found its way to ,zanzibar1 and this tusk being part of it1 was sold and brought to ,london4 ,a real new monster of great size is the carnivorous reptile described by ,professor ,osborne1 of ,new ,york1 as ,tyrannosaurus4 ,there is no mistake or exaggeration about this report4 ,the specimen is in the ,new ,york ,museum1 and has been described in detail and drawn to scale by ,professor ,osborne4 ,the skeleton stands up like that of a huge bird or a kangaroo on the two hind legs--as does that of the vegetarian reptile ,iguanodon4 ,the ,iguanodon and the ,tyrannosaurus are of about the same height1 namely #ag;ft4 ,but the new monster has enormous tiger-like teeth1 twelve on each side of the jaw1 above and below1 and the jaws are three feet long1 whilst the whole head is broad and short4 ,iguanodon1 on the other hand1 has been long known from ,english and ,belgian rocks1 and can be seen in ,cromwell ,road4 ,it has a beak like a tortoise1 and the small teeth of a vegetable-feeder4 ,both animals had very short front limbs or arms1 but in ,tyrannosaurus these are really ridiculously out of proportion1 according to more familiar standards1 for the whole arm is not bigger than one of the toes of the hind foot4 ,this new giant carnivorous reptile is found in rocks of the same age as our greensand and chalk in ,wyoming1 ,u4,s4,a4 ,it preyed upon huge vegetable-eating reptiles1 the remains of which are found in the same strata1 and have been reconstructed4 ,the mere size of these extinct reptiles is a very natural cause of wonder and admiration4 ,at the same time1 it is well to remember that the body of the largest ,african elephant is as big1 or very nearly as big1 as the body of the biggest of these extinct reptiles4 ,some of these giant extinct reptiles had very long tails and necks1 which the elephant cannot boast4 ,no extinct animal is known which approaches in bulk the great whales of various kinds at present inhabiting the sea4 ,the striking thing about many huge extinct animals is that they are represented to-day by similarly constructed animals of much smaller size4 ,thus we know giant extinct sloths1 which contrast strangely with the small living sloths of to-day1 giant extinct rat-like animals and giant extinct kangaroos far exceeding the bulk of living rats and kangaroos4 ,but it is distinctly not true that all recent animals are degenerate and small as compared with extinct related kinds4 ,the modern horse is far larger than its extinct ancestors1 which we can trace back in a gradual diminishing series to a little beast no bigger than a spaniel4 ,so1 too1 the earliest elephants known are quite small creatures4 ,the interesting point about extinct animals is really not so much that they were often large of their kind1 but that they are often of kinds quite unknown at the present day among living animals4 ,on the other hand sometimes 7but by no means always7 they can be shown to be connected as ancestors to living animals by a series of intermediate forms4 ,the remains of the connecting forms are found embedded in successive rock-strata1 intermediate in age between the present day and the remote period when the earliest members of the series were alive and flourishing--and we can follow out in many instances 7for example1 in the pedigree of the horse1 and again of the elephant7 the gradual but very extensive changes by which the descendants of a long extinct kind of animal have been 8transformed0 into modern recent animals1 familiar to us4 #d4 ,work at the ,pasteur ,institute ,professor ,elias ,metschnikoff was busy1 when ,i saw him at the ,institut ,pasteur in ,paris last ,september1 with an experimental investigation of 8appendicitis40 ,he finds that chimpanzees can exhibit this disease1 and he is led by experiments on those animals to believe that a gas-producing micro-organism--the bacillus arogenicus--already known as occurring in the human intestine--is especially active in exciting the disease4 ,parasitic worms or other foreign bodies must first wound the delicate lining of the appendix before the virulent gas-forming bacillus can penetrate and start inflammation and abscess4 ,metschnikoff was also investigating a disease of tropical regions1 known as 8the ,yaws40 ,most people would imagine that this name refers to a disease like the gapes1 but it is quite different1 being an ulceration of the skin caused by a spirillum4 ,spirilla--corkscrew-like threads of excessive minuteness--are parasitic organisms1 like bacteria1 bacilli1 and micrococci4 ,they are of different kinds--some harmless1 some deadly4 ,one is common in the mouth of the healthiest of us--another causes one of our most terrible diseases4 ,they can be distinguished by the microscope1 though much alike4 ,what microscopists call 8dark-ground illumination0--that is1 illumination by horizontal rays of light1 obtained by a prism attached below the glass slip on which the object is placed for examination with the microscope1 has been found at the ,institut ,pasteur to be a very ready way of showing the spirilla in fresh blood or sputum4 ,the spirilla are alive1 and are seen when highly magnified1 shooting rapidly across the field of view with a corkscrew action1 like brilliant silver threads4 ,the detection of the microbe which causes an infective disease1 is often the first step to the control of the disease1 or to knowledge which enables man to avoid the disease altogether4 ,some striking examples of this have occurred of late years4 #e4 ,the ,sea ,serpent ,the sea-serpent rarely puts in an appearance now1 though a ,cornish 8manifestation0 was reported last year4 ,a recent account of a strange marine monster1 declared by some to be1 of course1 the sea-serpent1 seen but to disappear1 was that given by ,lord ,crawford's companions two years ago4 ,in that case1 and in others in which a huge fin-like structure1 supported by fin-rays1 has been seen projecting from the mysterious animal1 it is not improbable that what was seen was a large seal of the 8eared0 kind1 raising one of its long1 webbed hind-feet from the water1 a trick which some of them are known to have4 ,other reputed sea-serpents have been1 in reality1 a school of porpoises1 or a line-like flight of sea-birds1 or a mass of seaweed1 or a whale in association with one or other of these--or1 again1 a real marine snake #e;ft4 long 7such are well known and very poisonous71 or a ribbon-fish #ab;ft4 long4 ,there is 8no reason why there should not be0 a huge and seldom-seen kind of animal living in the sea--like a serpent in appearance4 ,no one can say1 as the result of observation1 that there is not1 since no one has thoroughly explored the dark1 unfathomed depths of ocean4 ,yet we gain very little when we have admitted our ignorance1 and agreed that there is no reason why something should not be4 ,the real question is1 8,does the thing in question exist80 not 8,could it possibly exist80 ,does the great sea-serpent exist8 ,the answer to that is1 ,there is not much evidence to show that it does4 ,most persons who have looked into the matter would be willing to bet #ajj1jjj to #a against its being captured1 dead or alive1 and brought before the ,royal ,society within ten years' time4 ,unless it be so captured and 8tabled0 it matters very little whether it exists or not4 ,it must be 8discovered0 in order to become really interesting4 #f4 ,giraffes and the ,okapi ,the baby giraffe at the gardens in the ,regent's ,park is a most interesting and beautiful creature4 ,in that respect she only resembles on a small scale her grown-up relatives4 ,next to elephants1 giraffes take precedence for strangeness1 beauty1 and imposing size4 ,certainly they have done so with me ever since ,i turned one ,sunday afternoon long ago from the great novelty of the day1 the first hippopotamus sent from ,egypt1 round whom the world of fashion was crowding1 and gazed into the beautiful eyes that hung over me1 supported by a gracefully-curving neck4 ,my tender regard for the beautiful creature was not shaken even when ,i felt a sudden jerk to the elastic band passing under my chin and saw my new ,leghorn straw hat1 with its ornamental bunch of ,egyptian wheat and broad pink ribbon1 disappear between the lips of the beauty4 ,a slow right and left movement of the jaw followed1 accompanied by a tranquil kindly look suggestive of a desire for more4 ,that was one of the old stock of ,regent's ,park giraffes1 who bred freely at the gardens and made money for the society4 ,they died out thirty years ago or more4 ,from time to time since then there have been one or two mis-shapen giraffes in ,london1 but they did not eat children's hats nor produce young of their own4 ,a new dynasty of ,kordofan giraffes has now arrived1 and a better spirit prevails4 ,the most interesting thing about the giraffe is the okapi4 ,the remark sounds absurd1 but it is true4 ,the okapi is the new animal from the ,congo forest of ,central ,africa1 discovered in #aija by ,sir ,harry ,johnston4 ,it is as big as a very large stag1 has a neck like a deer1 and is striped on the haunches and legs1 not spotted as is the giraffe4 ,yet its teeth and its horns prove it to be a close ally1 not of deer1 but of the giraffe4 ,any points of agreement between giraffes and the okapi are1 therefore1 important4 ,i have examined the baby giraffe at the ,zoo1 and find that she has stripe-like bands of hair on the face and on other parts of the head4 ,both her father and mother are from ,kordofan1 and have some six or seven strongly-marked bands of dark hair over the eyes and on the muzzle4 ,it is important to note any colour-striping in the giraffe's skin1 since the giraffe's colour-markings are mostly in the form of great spots1 whilst the okapi is only marked by stripes or bands something like those of a zebra1 but confined to the haunches and the legs1 the rest of the body being dark brown4 ,the tendency to develop colour stripes in the giraffe is important1 since it shows us that the stripes do not separate the okapi absolutely from the camelopard2 they are a common possession or possibility of the two animals4 ,it was my examination of a half-brother of the little giraffe now alive at the ,gardens which led to the discovery of striping on the head and face of giraffes4 ,the mother in that case had died before the birth of her young one1 and the dead calf was given to me by the secretary of the ,zoological ,society4 ,sixty-eight years ago ,sir ,richard 7then ,professor7 ,owen received a new-born giraffe from the ,gardens1 and reported on it to the ,zoological ,society4 ,no one had examined one since that date2 none were obtainable from the ,zoo1 and ,i could get none from ,african travellers and sportsmen1 in spite of urgent requests4 ,i was accordingly greatly pleased to secure one from the ,london ,gardens4 ,a great peculiarity of the young giraffe is that it is born with a pair of well-grown horns1 nearly an inch long1 and covered with coarse black hair4 ,no other horn-bearing mammal--no antelope1 buffalo1 ox1 sheep1 goat1 stag1 or other deer--is born with horns1 so far as we know1 and we know a good many of these animals well4 ,before birth the young giraffe's horns are flat from back to front1 and quite soft and flexible4 ,they can be pressed backwards1 so as to be made to lie flat on the head4 ,directly after birth a hard1 bony deposit commences inside the horn1 and after some years' growth it becomes firmly fused to the skull4 ,but the hard bony core never breaks through the hairy skin which covers it4 ,the bony core of the okapi's pair of horns1 on the contrary1 does 8cut0 or break through the skin1 exposing a sharp1 hard point1 a quarter of an inch in length4 ,in the deer tribe1 as everyone knows1 the point of the bony horn-core spreads out as a large1 branching growth from which all covering is shed1 and forms the 8antler40 ,the deer tribe shed the antlers every year from the top of the horn-core1 and grow a new and larger pair to take the place of the old ones4 ,moreover1 in them the horn-core itself is a stem-like upgrowth of the bone of the skull 7of the frontal bone74 ,in the okapi and the giraffe the horn-core is a separate bone1 free at first and fusing with the skull only when the adult condition is reached4 ,the little antlers or bare-points of the okapi's horn-cones or cores seem to be shed in segments as growth goes on1 and are only minute things compared with the antlers of stags4 ,the giraffe's horns1 on the other hand1 always remain covered by skin and hair and have a broad1 rounded top1 not a sharp point4 ,the real clinching feature in the okapi and giraffe which decides at once their close affinity to one another is found in the outer tooth on each side of the group of eight teeth placed in the front of the lower jaw4 ,in both this particular tooth has a broad1 chisel-like crown1 divided into two portions by a deep vertical slit4 ,none of the other ungulate or hoofed animals have this very curious shape of tooth4 ,it is a sort of family 8mark0 or 8feature0 in okapis and giraffes1 as may be seen in specimens shown in the gallery of the ,natural ,history ,museum1 where we have now no less than three fine1 well-stuffed okapis and several varieties of giraffe4 #g4 ,the ,great ,geologists of ,last ,century ,the centenary of the foundation of the ,geological ,society of ,london1 celebrated last year1 was a genuine festival in the scientific world4 ,though geology had its teachers and searchers before #ahjg 7,hutton and ,werner1 and the ,neptunian and ,plutonic schools1 with their theories as to the origin of rocks on the one hand by marine deposit1 or on the other by igneous agency1 flourished before that date71 yet it is true that the adequate conception of the problems of geology and the proper use of accurate observations and of judicious theory based on those observations1 in relation to the problems of geology1 coincided with the foundation of the society4 ,it was not the first 8special0 scientific society founded in ,london2 there was already the ,linnean ,society 7founded in #aghh7 for the cultivation of zoology and botany4 ,yet it incurred the displeasure of the worthy president of the ,royal ,society1 ,sir ,joseph ,banks1 who at first joined it1 and then withdrew from it1 when1 in #ahji1 it ceased to be a dining-club1 meeting at a ,london tavern1 and acquired rooms of its own at ,no4 #d1 ,garden-court1 ,temple4 ,apparently there was a notion in those days that the 8,royal ,society for the promotion of ,natural ,knowledge10 founded in #affb1 should exercise a sort of paternal control over any society formed for the special promotion of one branch of science4 ,independence has1 however1 been found to be the healthiest condition1 and we now have not only the ,linnean and the ,geological1 but the ,zoological1 the ,chemical1 and the ,physical ,societies1 vigorous and important corporations1 publishing their 8,transactions10 and meeting for discussion4 ,there is1 it is true1 a danger that the ,royal ,society may be left eventually1 owing to these independent establishments1 in the sole possession and control of the doctors and the engineers4 ,it is a curious fact that the word 8physiology10 which in ,cicero's time 7he says 8,physiologia natur ratio07 and in the ,middle ,ages meant what we now call 8natural history10 has been abandoned by other sciences1 and appropriated by the medical men4 ,in ,england1 but not abroad1 the doctors have even usurped the words 8physician0 and 8physic40 ,in ,france1 on the contrary1 and more correctly1 ,lord ,rayleigh and ,sir ,william ,crooks are called distinguished 8physicians10 and the theory of the luminiferous ether is 8physic40 ,the ,geological ,society issued its first volume of ,transactions in #ahaa4 ,the origin of the society is there stated to be due to 8the desire of its founders to communicate to each other the results of their observations1 and to examine how far the opinions maintained by the writers on geology are in conformity with the facts presented by nature40 ,a more exact and intelligible statement of the attitude of scientific men1 then and now1 could not be formulated4 ,there are few1 if any1 among us now who knew many of the original members of the ,geological ,society1 but ,i remember meeting1 when ,i was a youth1 ,leonard ,horner1 the first secretary of the society1 and father-in-law of ,sir ,charles ,lyell4 ,i also knew ,dr4 ,peter ,mark ,roget1 an original member1 who was the oldest fellow of the ,royal ,society when he died in #ahfi4 ,sir ,henry ,holland1 the father of the present ,lord ,knutsford1 became a member in #ahji1 and published a paper on the rock-salt district in the first volume4 ,he was an eminent medical man1 and a great traveller4 ,he wrote1 amongst other things1 upon the turquoise mines of ,persia and upon longevity4 ,he was a friend of my father's1 and ,i had the advantage of talking the latter subject over with him before ,i wrote a little book on 8,comparative ,longevity0 in #ahfi4 ,it was not until #ahbe that the ,geological ,society obtained a charter1 and was incorporated4 ,two great names appear in the first council of the newly-incorporated society--,murchison and ,lyell4 ,murchison became the ,director of the ,geological ,survey1 and as 8,sir ,roderick0 was a familiar and picturesque figure in the scientific world of the second and third quarters of last century4 ,he wore an ,inverness cape and a tall hat with a large and much-curled brim1 an old-fashioned stock1 and a tail-coat4 ,in his hand he always grasped a large1 handsome cane1 with which he expressed his applause during the discussions at the society1 or emphasised his own remarks4 ,he was fond of alluding to himself as 8an old soldier of the hammer10 and almost always entered into a discussion with these words1 8,it is now1 sir1 a quarter of a century since1 in company with my illustrious friend1 ,sir ,somebody ,something1 ,i had the privilege and pleasure of showing that0--whatever it might be4 ,discussions at the ,geological in the sixties and seventies were real1 animated1 almost violent discussions4 ,i need hardly say that they were perfectly delightful4 ,godwin ,austen was a fine1 incisive speaker1 who seemed ready to back his statements and views with his fists1 if need be4 ,lyell1 the greatest of all1 was most modest1 and almost timid in pressing an opinion1 but full of personal experience and minute knowledge of facts4 ,john ,phillips1 the nephew of the father of ,english geology1 ,william ,smith1 was mellifluous and persuasive2 ,jukes1 robust and defiant2 ,huxley 7secretary and then president71 clear1 trenchant1 and uncompromising4 ,i remember an occasion when ,sir ,roderick1 with tears in his voice1 if not in his eyes1 declared he would not stay in the room to hear that fossil fishes were discovered in his own special domain--the ,silurian rocks1 where he had long since shown that they did not occur--and he left the meeting4 ,many ,silurian fishes have now been found1 but we all loved ,sir ,roderick for the heart and feeling which he threw into his work and his public utterances4 ,the aim of geology is to describe accurately the long succession of changes in the crust of 8this cooling cinder10 the earth1 and to assign them in an orderly way to their causes4 ,hence1 it calls upon nearly all other branches of science for help--astronomy1 physics1 chemistry1 mineralogy1 botany1 and zoology4 ,at the same time1 it is essentially a recreative pursuit1 for1 as ,mr4 ,horace ,woodward says in his ,history of the ,geological ,society of ,london--published by the society--8the fulness of the science can never be attained without the vivifying influence of mountain and moor1 of valley and sea coast40 ,it is owing to this that the soldiers of the hammer1 from ,murchison1 ,sedgwick1 ,lyell1 ,ramsay1 ,etheridge1 ,salter1 onwards to the present generation of 8stone-crackers10 are amongst the happiest1 most genial1 and mentally alert of our men of science4 ,that word 8stone-cracker0 ,i take from a letter addressed to me when ,i was a boy of twelve by the ,rev4 ,j4 ,s4 ,henslow1 ,professor of ,mineralogy and later of ,botany at ,cambridge1 founder1 with ,adam ,sedgwick1 the great ,woodwardian ,professor of ,geology1 of the now flourishing ,cambridge ,philosophical ,society1 and the teacher1 guide1 and fateful friend of ,charles ,darwin4 ,it was he who sent ,darwin on the voyage of the ,beagle4 ,i had met this wonderful old naturalist at ,felixstowe when exploring the marshes for rare plants and insects with my father4 ,my father was a first-rate man at a country walk1 and could tell you all the time about the flowers1 flies1 stones1 and bones you might encounter4 ,but ,henslow surpassed him4 ,i remember to this day nearly every word ,henslow said1 and everything he did on that memorable afternoon nearly fifty years ago4 ,amongst other things he explained how the rough flint implements recently discovered in river gravels--proving man's great antiquity--could be shown to owe their shape to blows1 each blow causing a 8conchoidal0 fracture4 ,and he struck with his hammer some very large flints which were lying in a heap in the meadow1 and produced the most perfect dome-like broken surface or bulb of percussion4 ,he promised to give me a real palolithic flint implement and also a geological hammer4 ,the letter which reached me later in ,london ran as follows3 8,dear incipient ,stonecracker--,enclosed you will find a draft for #ajs4 with which1 at the shop in ,newgate-street1 you can obtain a geological hammer identical in all respects with my own4444 ,in a separate parcel ,i send you a flint implement which ,i obtained myself in the gravel pit at ,st4 ,acheuil44440 ,the hammer1 the flint-axe1 and the letter are to this day treasured with deep affection and reverence for the giver1 by the boy who was thus so kindly initiated in the 8art and mystery0 of ,stone-crackers4 ,henslow died in #ahfa at the age of #fe4 ,his daughter was the first wife of ,sir ,joseph ,hooker1 the great botanist and traveller1 who celebrated his ninetieth birthday in ,july1 #aijg1 and is still in full mental and bodily health and vigour4 #h4 ,experiments with ,precious ,stones ,a man of science cannot say a word about experiments with precious stones nowadays1 but he is liable to be misunderstood and represented as having discovered how to make valuable gems out of dirt1 or of enormous size1 and in vast quantity4 ,last year the production of a few small crystals by the electrical decomposition of bisulphide of carbon was announced as something to affect the stock market instead of as a matter of interest to a few learned chemists4 ,the crystals were supposed--erroneously as it turned out--to be diamond4 ,we were also gravely told that a competent ,french chemist had discovered1 and that the distinguished geologist1 ,professor ,lapparent1 had communicated the fact to the ,academy of ,sciences1 that the radiation of radium acting on 8corindon10 or1 as we should prefer to write it in ,england1 8corundum0--a base1 dull1 colourless crystal--converts that dull substance into sapphires1 rubies1 emeralds1 and topazes--and that the dealers attest the value of the precious stones so produced4 ,this is really great nonsense1 and arises from a little confusion in the use of the names of precious stones1 and ignorance of what the substances indicated by those names are--defects which we cannot attribute to the ,french chemist1 but must suppose to have 8crept in0 to the reports which crossed the ,channel4 ,corundum is a colourless crystal1 opaque or translucent4 ,in chemical composition it is the oxide of aluminium--standing in the same relation to that light1 white metal as rust or hematite ore does to the metal iron4 ,it would not be at all astounding if by simple treatment we could convert corundum into sapphire or into ruby1 since sapphire and ruby have precisely the same chemical constitution as corundum--are1 in fact1 only coloured varieties of corundum4 ,sapphire is blue1 transparent corundum2 green and yellow 8sapphires0 are also common4 ,the ,oriental ruby is similarly only red1 transparent corundum--like it only oxide of aluminium or alumina4 ,diamonds are pure crystalline transparent carbon4 ,commonly they are colourless and transparent1 but are sometimes black or white and opaque4 ,transparent diamonds are often found of a straw colour1 rarely of a deep blue 7the ,hope ,diamond71 more rarely green 7the ,dresden ,diamond71 and rarest of all red4 ,if radium were really able 7as some people have wrongly inferred from the ,french experiments7 to change the chemical nature of corundum and convert it into topaz and emerald1 the case would be very different from that of merely changing the colour of the corundum4 ,what is to-day called 8topaz0 is a sherry-yellow crystal consisting of silicate of alumina and of fluoride of alumina4 ,it turns pink when heated1 and is also known of a blue colour and colourless4 ,the topaz of the ancients from the coasts of the ,red ,sea is of a different chemical nature1 and is now called peridot4 ,yellow corundum is sometimes wrongly called ,oriental topaz1 and the yellow-brown quartz crystals properly known as cairngorms are sometimes wrongly called ,scotch topaz4 ,so that the word 8topaz0 is used loosely as well as strictly1 and confusion results4 ,emerald is widely distinct from corundum1 sapphire1 and ruby4 ,it is a silicate of alumina and beryllium1 and in its coarse and pale-coloured variety is known as beryl4 ,from all this it appears that some names of precious stones indicate substances quite distinct from one another chemically1 built of differing elements1 and also per contra that what is actually one and the same kind of precious stone in chemical composition and native crystalline form may present examples possessing various colours and degrees of transparency1 each variety being called by a distinct name1 and regarded popularly as a distinct kind of stone4 ,radium rays can convert colourless alumina or corundum into blue alumina 7sapphire7 or red alumina 7ruby71 but they cannot change alumina into beryllia 7that is into emerald71 nor into fluoride 7that is into topaz74 ,one naturally asks1 8,to what is the colour of these precious stones due80 ,the answer is difficult1 because very minute traces of chemical impurity1 such as iron1 cobalt1 manganese1 or chromium may suffice to tint an otherwise transparent1 colourless crystal with the brightest red1 yellow1 blue1 violet1 or green4 ,moreover1 it is certain from what we know of traces of metallic impurity in artificial glass that it may exist in such a state of chemical combination as to give no tint whatever to the glass1 but after prolonged exposure to light or other agencies1 the minute impurity may combine chemically with oxygen present in the glass and develop colour4 ,thus1 for instance1 old window-glass often assumes a violet or amethystine tint after long exposure4 ,this varying colour of the combinations of metals according to whether they are oxidised or not1 and the degree of oxidation1 or the special salt which they may form1 is in itself an unexpected thing to those who are not chemists4 ,the metal chromium1 for instance1 gives rise to colourless1 to yellow1 red1 green1 and blue combinations4 ,manganese1 a metal commonly associated with iron1 gives rise to brilliant green1 to violet1 and to wine-red combinations1 and if scattered as microscopic particles of black oxide in glass would produce no colour effect at all4 ,from what we know of glass and the ease with which it is coloured to every shade of the rainbow by the admixture of traces of metallic impurities--so that 8paste0 or glass gems of all colours can be manufactured--it is not surprising to find that natural crystals1 transparent and often devoid of colour 7such as corundum1 diamond1 quartz1 and topaz71 are yet also found more or less frequently coloured in various tints4 ,nevertheless1 it is the fact that in very few cases have chemists been able to prove by analysis what precisely is the cause of the colour in any given crystal or precious stone1 although they may strongly suspect this or that as the colour-giving impurity4 ,the actual quantity of a metallic impurity sufficient to give a tint is so excessively minute that the chemist finds it impossible to determine what it is by examining one small precious stone4 ,he has not a sufficient bulk of material to operate on4 ,having reached this point1 we can see that such potent disturbing agents as the rays of radium--penetrating a colourless1 or faintly-coloured1 crystal--may determine oxidation or other chemical combination within the crystal of traces of metal 7iron1 cobalt1 manganese1 chromium7 already present there1 and so give it an increased colour or an altogether new tint4 ,in #aije 7therefore long before the recent ,french experiments had shown that the radium rays will act in this way on corundum1 the 8base variety0 of sapphire and ruby71 ,sir ,william ,crookes published an account of his experiments as to the action of the radium rays on the diamond4 8,some fine colourless crystals of diamond10 writes ,sir ,william ,crookes in #aije1 8were embedded in radium bromide1 and kept undisturbed for more than twelve months4 ,at the end of that time they were examined4 ,the radium had caused them to assume a beautiful bluish-green colour1 and their value as #8fancy stones' had been materially increased40 ,on another occasion ,sir ,william found that a yellowish 8off colour0 diamond had its tint changed to a pale blue-green when embedded for six weeks in a tube with radium bromide4 7,i have seen this stone47 ,he also has succeeded in improving the clearness of diamonds by exposing them to radium rays4 ,everyone who has experimented with radium knows that it causes the glass which may be used to keep it covered to develop a brown or purple tint4 ,this1 then1 is the explanation of the results obtained by the ,french observer with corundum1 as reported a few months ago4 ,there was no 8transformation0 of one substance into another1 nor did he himself suggest that there was4 ,the radium rays merely acted chemically on minute impurities present in colourless or pale-coloured crystals1 and so produced colour as they do in diamonds or in glass4 #i4 ,diamonds ,his ,majesty ,king ,edward was presented with the great ,cullinan diamond from the ,transvaal in ,november #aijg4 ,this diamond weighs one pound and one-third 7avoirdupois7--more than #ba oz4 ,i have placed a good glass model of it in the ,central ,hall of the ,natural ,history ,museum2 in the case with it is a glass model of another big diamond1 the 8,excelsior10 as now cut1 and also models of the 8,pitt0 diamond1 in the rough and in the cut condition4 ,diamonds lose enormously in the process of cutting4 ,the ,excelsior1 like the ,cullinan1 is a ,cape diamond of fine quality1 and free from colour4 ,it was the biggest diamond known until the giant ,cullinan was found3 in the rough it weighed #g oz41 or less than a third of the ,cullinan4 ,as now cut1 it only weighs #a-c_/d oz4 ,it is reduced to a quarter of its original size4 ,in the same way1 the ,pitt diamond1 an ,indian one1 named after ,general ,pitt1 of ,madras1 weighed originally #c oz41 and is now 7it is in ,paris1 in the ,louvre1 and is called 8,the ,regent07 less than an ounce in weight4 ,the biggest ,indian diamond known--the ,nizam--is not quite twice this size1 whilst the ,kohinoor1 which is probably a fragment 7a third7 of the 8,great ,mogul0--a diamond which has disappeared1 leaving only tradition and surmises as to its history--weighs no more than three-quarters of an ounce4 ,this seems a small affair by the side of the twenty-one ounces of the ,cullinan4 ,no one can guess what will happen to the ,cullinan in cutting it4 ,at the best1 it may be reduced to something between four and five ounces in weight1 and it may 8fly0 into fragments4 ,it would be necessary deliberately to cut it up into smaller stones in order to obtain the full result of flashing of light and colour which twenty-one ounces of diamond can produce4 ,and the operation of cutting and polishing is enormously expensive4 ,one would have hoped that ,sir ,william ,crookes and other men of science would have been asked to examine this wonderful mass of transparent carbon by means of polarised light1 ,rntgen rays1 and radium1 and to determine exactly its specific gravity before it was broken up4 ,indeed1 it would probably have retained its greatest interest and value if never cut at all4 ,glass or 8paste10 as it is called1 is made which cannot when new be distinguished from diamond by anyone but an expert1 armed with the necessary tests4 ,and the same is true as to paste imitations of all precious stones excepting the emerald 7whose beautiful green tint cannot be exactly obtained71 the cat's-eye1 which has a peculiar fibrous structure1 and the opal4 ,the real value and quality of precious stones1 as compared with glass1 depends on their durability1 their hardness1 their resistance to scratching1 and 8dulling0 of face and edge4 ,even our ,anglo-,saxon ancestors1 as may be seen in the fine collection recently dug up at ,ipswich by ,miss ,layard1 and placed in the old house serving as the municipal museum there1 made gems of glass and paste4 ,in modern times the art of making artificial 8precious stones0 has reached a degree of perfection which1 so far as decorative purposes are concerned1 leaves the natural stones no claim to superiority4 ,gigantic as the ,cullinan diamond is1 it represents only about half the daily output of the ,de ,beers mines4 ,by the end of #aijd ten tons of diamonds1 valued at #fj1jjj1jjj sterling1 had been removed from the ,kimberley mines4 ,it is difficult to imagine what has become of them all1 and since they are1 unlike paste1 durable and permanent1 how the demand for additions to those in use1 keeps up4 ,twelve years ago about four million pounds was spent annually by the public on the purchase of diamonds4 ,it is stated that the annual demand and expenditure are now even larger4 ,diamond is a peculiar form or variety of the chemical element carbon--a very peculiar form most people will say who remember that charcoal and lamp-black are the common form of carbon4 ,that one and the same unchangeable chemical element can exist as an amorphous black lump or powder1 and also without addition or loss of chemical constituents1 as the clearest1 hardest1 and most brilliant of crystals1 is a paradox4 ,the same strange capacity for existing in two totally different forms is exhibited by other fairly familiar elements4 ,sulphur is found in tertiary water-deposited clays in ,sicily 7it has nothing to do with ,etna or ,vesuvius7 in the form of clear1 lemon-coloured crystals half an inch or more in length4 ,if you take some commercial stick-sulphur and melt it in a porcelain spoon1 and pour half the melted stuff like treacle into a jar of water1 you will find that it cools as translucent threads which are pliable and soft4 ,the other half which you leave in the spoon to cool shoots out into the form of long brittle crystals of a needle-like shape4 ,these two varieties of sulphur are nearly as different as lamp-black and diamond4 ,diamonds are found at the ,cape in a 8blue ground0 which is of volcanic origin1 formed by the action of steam under enormous pressure4 ,the blue volcanic mud has been thrust up from great depths in the earth's surface in the form of 8pipes0 #ajj yards to half a mile in diameter4 ,it has long been known that at very high temperatures 7#d1jjj deg4 ,centigrade7 the metal iron dissolves carbon4 ,the late ,professor ,moissan1 of ,paris1 obtained artificial diamonds by suddenly cooling the iron in which carbon was dissolved by plunging the crucible into water4 ,the outer shell of iron cools and forms a tightly closed shell enclosing the still liquid core4 ,as this core cools it tends to expand1 and thus produces an enormous pressure4 ,the melted carbon cooling under this pressure assumes the crystalline colourless form known as diamond4 ,there is good reason to believe that diamonds are formed1 or have been formed1 in association with metallic iron in a similar way1 on a large scale1 in great depths of the earth's crust1 and are shot up to the surface with other dbris in the volcanic steam mud which is the 8blue ground40 ,a few diamonds of small size have been found in the ,ural ,mountains1 otherwise they are not natural products of the northern hemisphere4 ,it is in ,india1 ,australia1 ,south ,america1 and ,south ,africa that they are picked up1 either in beds of streams1 or in peculiar volcanic mud1 or embedded in even harder rock4 ,many are in a condition of severe strain when found1 and contain minute cavities filled with liquid carbonic acid4 ,they are liable1 in consequence1 to break or even fly into powder when warmed by the hand or struck4 ,though usually colourless1 diamonds may be yellow1 green1 blue1 or red1 and the rays of radium cause colourless diamonds to become coloured4 ,some diamonds1 but not all1 are phosphorescent--that is to say1 like the well-known luminous paint--after exposure to strong light they acquire the power of shining themselves for a certain time when removed to a dark chamber4 ,and the curious thing is that1 though themselves colourless1 some give out blue1 some green1 some yellow1 and some red light4 ,the most wonderful1 however1 in this respect are the rare diamonds which become luminous merely by rubbing1 and leave phosphorescent streaks on the cloth with which they are rubbed4 ,this property is similar to the phosphorescence shown by other kinds of crystals when heated or when simply fractured4 ,diamonds are readily distinguished from paste by the ,rntgen rays1 since they are transparent to those rays1 whilst paste 7or glass7 is opaque to them4 ,radium also causes diamonds1 but not paste1 to phosphoresce4 ,all diamonds are not equally hard1 though they are the hardest of stones1 and harder than steel1 but not harder than the metal tantalum4 ,some ,australian diamonds are known 7from ,inverel1 ,new ,south ,wales7 which are so hard that at one time they could not be cut and polished2 but only four years ago the rapidity of the wheels used in these processes was greatly increased1 and these terribly hard diamonds were brought into subjection4 ,thus it is clear that there are many extraordinary features of interest about the diamond1 and that its brilliance and high price constitute only a small part of its fascination4 #aj4 ,science and ,fisheries ,science1 the knowledge of the vast system of orderly1 inexorable activities under which we exist1 and of which we1 and all that we can apprehend1 are but more or less significant parts1 is not only to be regarded as a gratification of our curiosity1 as food for our imagination1 and the basis of our philosophical theories4 ,it is1 in addition to these1 a thing of unparalleled importance to the immediate daily welfare of every man1 woman1 and child1 and upon its due cultivation and use depend the future welfare1 even the existence1 of whole races of mankind4 ,it is a startling fact that so few of those who undertake to lead and to legislate for the people of this country have any real conviction1 or even a dim understanding of this truth4 ,in ,november #aijf a ,committee appointed by the ,government took evidence as to the desirability of continuing the international investigation of the ,north ,sea1 upon which ,great ,britain entered five years ago in conjunction with other ,northern ,states4 ,only a few weeks before1 a number of scientific experts engaged in this study of the ,north ,sea1 with a view to gaining such knowledge of that great 8waste of waters0 as may help the nations of adjacent lands to draw from it stores of food without destroying the source or recklessly injuring the supply1 were entertained at dinner1 at the ,guildhall1 by the ,city ,fathers1 and treated to speeches by hereditary legislators4 ,the view expressed by these speakers was that the interests of the great fishing industry and of the fish trade were best understood by the practical fisherman4 ,science was a 8handmaid10 useful in her place1 but not to be permitted to undermine established interests and the hoary wisdom of the practical man1 her employer4 ,a ,german expert of high official position1 one of the guests1 took a different line4 ,he was astonished1 even shocked1 that ,great ,britain1 the ,state most largely concerned in the ,north ,sea fisheries1 should be hesitating about continuing to take part in the international investigation4 ,in ,germany1 he said1 they took a different course in such matters4 ,men of business and practical legislators1 when called upon to deal with an important problem1 sought first of all for scientific knowledge of the conditions in question1 as complete and thorough as possible1 and then proceeded to act upon the sure foundation gained4 ,more knowledge1 much more knowledge as to the causes and conditions at work in regard to the life and movements of fishes in the ,north ,sea was needed4 ,the work of the ,international ,committee must be continued1 and his 7the ,german7 ,government would certainly continue to do its share of the work4 ,the contrast in the ,british and the ,german attitude towards science is what is interesting in this episode4 ,it is true that men of science in this country have to be content to take a very modest part in public affairs1 and to allow politicians and self-styled 8practical0 men to treat science as 8a handmaiden0--thankful when science is not regarded as an enemy4 ,but they know well enough1 and those who are really 8practical men0 know1 that science is no handmaiden1 but in reality the master--the master who must be obeyed2 who alone can give true guidance2 who alone can save the ,state4 ,the sooner and the more thoroughly the people of this country have recognised this fact1 and insist upon its unqualified acceptance in practice by their representatives and governors1 the better for them and their posterity4 #aa4 ,discoveries as to ,malaria ,recent scientific work1 discovery1 and application to practical affairs of the results of discovery1 in regard to three great obstacles to human life and prosperity illustrate the vital importance to the state of scientific research4 ,the obstacles in question are the diseases known as malaria1 yellow fever1 and ,mediterranean1 or ,malta fever4 ,it is now twenty-five years since ,dr4 ,laveran1 of ,paris1 discovered that malaria1 or ague1 is caused by a very minute parasite which exists in the red blood corpuscles of those stricken with the fever1 and suggested that it is probably carried from victim to victim by blood-sucking mosquitoes 7gnats74 ,major ,ross1 of the ,indian ,army1 who has been rewarded for his discovery by the ,nobel prize1 determined to find out what gnat it is which carries the malaria-germ from man to man1 and by most persevering experiment and microscopic examination showed that it is not the commoner gnat or mosquito 7,culex71 but the spot-winged kind 7,anopheles71 which alone can spread the malarial infection4 ,but ,major ,ross is1 before everything else1 a medical man1 and his great purpose has been to apply his discovery to the prevention of disease4 ,whole regions of the earth's surface are rendered dangerous1 or even uninhabitable1 for civilised men by malaria2 in other words1 by the ,anopheles mosquito4 ,accordingly1 ,ross set to work to find the best means of destroying these agents of disease4 ,he found that the ,anopheles gnat breeds in natural collections of water lying upon the surface of the ground in open country1 and not as many common varieties of gnats do1 in vessels and cisterns in houses4 ,the pools frequented by the malaria-carrying gnat are small and easily drained4 ,the obvious direction of science1 therefore1 was to remove or to cover up these pools wherever they were found in the neighbourhood of human habitations4 ,although ,major ,ross made his discoveries in ,india1 and although he opened a campaign against malaria by removal of surface pools in the ,colonies of ,west ,africa--8the white man's grave0--twice visiting the chief ,british settlements--only half-hearted1 incomplete measures have been taken1 insufficient funds have been expended1 and a supine executive and half-incredulous officials have failed to do more than partially reduce the prevalence of malaria in those regions4 ,on the other hand1 where intelligent officials have understood and accepted the clear results of science in regard to malaria1 the most striking and satisfactory consequences have followed4 ,at ,ismailia1 on the ,suez ,canal1 malaria was almost universal2 in #ahff there were in a population of eight thousand1 #b1cjj cases4 ,in #ahig there were over #b1jjj1 and in #aijb1 when ,ross was asked by the ,prince d',arenberg to visit the place and advise as to measures to be taken1 there were #a1eea cases4 ,ross directed the filling up of the breeding pools4 ,the marshes were filled up with sand1 the irrigation channels were deepened or treated with kerosene oil 7which spreads as a fine film1 and chokes the gnat larv71 and the cess-pits were rendered uninhabitable by chemical treatment4 ,in one year the cases of malaria fell to #bad1 in #aije they were only thirty-seven1 and now the ,suez ,canal ,company officially reports1 8all trace of malaria has disappeared from ,ismailia40 ,the same satisfactory results have been obtained in ,port ,said1 in ,khartoum1 in ,port ,swettenham of the ,federated ,malay ,states1 in ,havannah ,city1 in ,panama1 and1 in fact1 wherever intelligent conviction has led to the active and complete employment of the methods necessary for the destruction of the gnats4 ,under the ,british ,government of ,india and the ,african and ,west ,india ,colonies1 little has been done4 ,why8 ,because of the handmaiden theory and the ostrich-like refusal of our officials to face and accept the master4 ,an even more wonderful and beneficent result has been obtained in the case of that terrible disease 8,yellow ,jack10 or 8,black ,vomit0--the yellow fever4 ,owing to the discoveries and definite proof by ,ross as to the part played by gnats in malaria1 the able medical men in the public service of the ,united ,states of ,america have thoroughly examined experimentally the mode of infection of human beings with the germ of yellow fever1 and have conclusively proved that infection is solely and entirely due to the bite of one species of gnat--the ,stegomyia fasciata4 ,they have proved to absolute certainty that yellow fever is not carried through the air1 nor by food or drink1 nor by contact with infected persons or their cloths or emanations1 but only by the fasciate gnat1 a house-frequenting species1 which sucks the blood of a yellow fever patient1 and after twelve days1 and not till then1 becomes capable of imparting the infection to those whom it may stab or 8bite40 ,the firm demonstration of this fact was not made without great devotion1 courage1 and self-sacrifice4 ,in the ardour of their pursuit not a few of the experimenters risked and lost their lives4 ,among these the name of ,dr4 ,lazear1 of the ,united ,states ,army1 is prominent4 ,he deliberately permitted himself to be bitten by a stray mosquito in a yellow fever hospital1 in order to show that the insect could convey the infection4 ,he was bitten on ,sept4 #ac1 #aijj1 and died on ,sept4 #be1 having proved his point4 ,the actual germ1 microbe1 or minute parasitic organism which causes yellow fever1 and is carried by the fasciate gnat1 has not yet been detected4 ,nevertheless1 without seeing and isolating the microbe1 the medical men of ,america 7,sternberg1 ,finlay1 ,carroll1 and others7 have1 by destroying the gnat and preventing its access to men--especially to patients already infected1 and1 therefore1 certain to infect the gnats and cause them to spread the disease--practically made an end of yellow fever in many great cities of the ,new ,world1 where it was only six years ago an ever-present horror1 striking men down with a suddenness and with a deadliness which paralysed human activity4 ,here1 as in other cases1 intelligent appreciation of the results of science by a governor or a municipality has saved thousands of lives4 ,on the other hand1 in ,rio de ,janeiro1 8the opposition encountered by the sanitary authorities of the city from political factions and the ridicule to which they were subjected by the local ,press0 were insuperable 7,i quote from an official report71 and so a few more thousand lives were sacrificed before the master was recognised and the proffered safety accepted4 ,in ,vera ,cruz1 in ,new ,orleans1 and in ,panama yellow fever has been reduced to a vanishing quantity by removing the pools and tanks in which the fasciate gnat can breed1 and by making use of wire-gauze to prevent the access of mosquitoes to houses1 bed-chambers1 drains1 and baths1 and especially to prevent not only their access to1 but their egress from1 the rooms and beds of patients already infected with disease4 ,in the city of ,havannah1 during the ,american occupation of ,cuba 7#aijj-aijc71 ,colonel ,gorgas reduced the death-rate due to yellow fever from an annual average of #gea to so small a figure as six4 ,the same energetic and faithful administrator has been at work1 with even more remarkable results1 in the canal zone of the ,isthmus of ,panama since #aijd4 ,the attempt of the ,french to cut the canal was foiled chiefly by yellow fever and malaria4 ,it is estimated that their effort cost quite #ej1jjj lives4 ,assisted by an able and enthusiastic staff1 and charged with the task by a ,government which comprehends the fact that the really 8practical men0 are the men who recognise science as the master 7not as the negligible eccentric handmaid71 ,colonel ,gorgas has banished the mosquito from his zone of occupation4 ,as a consequence there is neither malaria nor yellow fever on the ,panama works4 ,in #aijf the total death-rate amongst #e1jjj white employs on the ,panama ,canal works was only seven in the thousand4 ,further1 in last ,april the daily sick-rate of the total force of about #dj1jjj people was only seventeen in the thousand4 ,colonel ,gorgas declares that there is but little sickness of any kind among the ,americans in the employ of the ,panama ,commission1 and that they and their wives and children are fully as vigorous and robust in appearance and in fact1 as the same number of people in the ,united ,states4 ,there is no reason why the centres of wealth1 civilisation1 and population should not again be in the tropics1 as they were in the dawn of man's history4 #ab4 ,malta ,fever ,mediterranean or ,malta fever was for long confused with typhoid and other fevers4 ,our soldiers and sailors at ,malta1 ,gibraltar1 and ,cyprus1 as well as many frequenters of the ,african and ,asiatic shore1 were subject to this disease1 and often incapacitated by it4 ,in #ahhg ,colonel ,david ,bruce discovered in the blood of patients the minute ,micrococcus melitensis1 which is its cause1 and established the fact that it is a definite independent disease4 ,the hospital at ,malta has received as many as #fbd patients in a year suffering from ,malta fever from among the #h1jjj soldiers on the island and the #ab1jjj sailors on the ,mediterranean ,station4 ,and as they stay in hospital on an average for four months1 this means #gd1hhj days of illness4 ,this means a considerable loss to the ,state1 as well as a large amount of personal suffering terminated1 in some cases after two years' sickness1 by death4 ,the ,war ,office1 ,admiralty1 and ,colonial ,office applied in #aijd to the ,royal ,society of ,london to undertake a further investigation of this disease4 ,the society sent out a small commission1 which has been at work for three years1 and has published seven volumes of reports4 ,the problem before the commission was to discover the mode of infection by the ,malta-fever germ 7the ,micrococcus melitensis71 and thus1 if possible1 to arrive at a means of arresting the infection4 ,various hypotheses1 guesses as to probable and possible methods of dissemination1 were entertained and examined4 ,as the germ occurs in the blood1 it was naturally considered possible that gnats or other insects were the carrying agent4 ,but negative results followed all experiments in this direction4 ,then it was found that the 8germ0 passes out of the body in large quantities by the renal secretion1 and it was thought that it might be conveyed in a dried form with dust in the air4 ,this also proved to be an incorrect supposition4 ,next a very important discovery was made4 ,the germ was found in the blood and the excretions of #aj per cent4 of the goats which are kept in ,malta as the sole source of milk1 and are driven through the streets to supply customers1 whilst #ej per cent4 of the goats were found to have been infected at some time4 ,then the germ was found in the milk itself1 and it only remained to prove by experiment that it was from the goats' milk that human beings acquire the infection4 ,a monkey fed with the milk of an infected goat acquired the fever4 ,the next step was to stop the consumption of goats' milk by the soldiers and sailors in the hospital and barrack4 ,actually we were carefully feeding our invalid soldiers and sailors in the great hospital at ,valetta with a highly poisonous infected fluid--the milk of the ,maltese goat6 ,the preventive measure--the stoppage of goats' milk--only came into operation in ,july1 #aijf4 ,in the first six months of that year there were thirty-one cases of ,malta fever in every thousand of the garrison 7numbering about #h1jjj men74 ,in the preceding six months there had been forty-seven cases per thousand4 ,now when the goats' milk was stopped after ,july1 #aijf1 what was the result8 ,from ,july to ,december1 #aijf1 there were only ten cases per thousand of the garrison4 ,in actual numbers there were in ,july1 ,august1 and ,september in #aije as many as #beh cases1 whilst in the same months in #aijf1 after removal of goats' milk from the dietary of the troops1 there were only twenty-six cases1 and these were probably due to the independent purchase of goats' milk by soldiers outside the barracks4 ,in the naval hospital until #aijf almost every patient who remained in the hospital a few weeks took the disease4 ,since the exclusion of goats' milk not a single case has occurred4 ,the ,director-,general of the ,medical ,department of the ,navy reports that there has been no case of ,malta fever during the year among the sailors1 and only seven cases among the soldiers up to the end of ,september1 #aijg4 ,gibraltar had a fever of its own1 identical with ,malta fever4 ,it has now been shown that it was probably introduced by the importation of goats from ,malta for the supply of milk4 ,this is likely1 because the importation of ,maltese goats ceased in #ahhc1 and the fever began to disappear from ,gibraltar in #ahhe1 and finally vanished altogether in #aije4 ,in ,south ,africa ,malta-fever is common amongst the white population4 ,it is probable1 according to ,colonel ,birt1 that it was introduced by means of infected goats imported from the ,mediterranean4 ,the soldiers1 however1 in ,south ,africa are free from this disease1 excepting those who have already contracted it in the ,mediterranean1 since in ,south ,africa goats' milk does not enter into the dietary of the soldier4 ,it is the civilian population which suffers4 #ac4 ,a ,cure for ,sleeping ,sickness ,diamonds and sleeping sickness are both special ,african problems4 ,it was owing to the proposal to employ natives from ,uganda in the ,south ,african diamond mines that the ,colonial ,secretary 7,mr4 ,chamberlain at that date7 asked the ,royal ,society to say whether the sleeping sickness which had broken out with terrible violence in ,central ,africa constituted an obstacle to that employment1 on account of the danger of introducing the disease into ,south ,africa4 ,the ,royal ,society advised the ,government not to allow the transport of natives from the infected districts of ,uganda1 and sent out a commission to ,central ,africa to study the disease4 ,the result was the discovery by ,colonel ,bruce of the parasite of sleeping sickness called ,trypanosoma--a kind previously known in some other diseases--and of the fact that it is a tsetse-fly which carries it4 ,a quarter of a million natives have died in ,central ,africa within the last six years from sleeping sickness4 ,the ,tropical ,diseases ,committee of the ,royal ,society has started an inquiry into the action of drugs on the parasites 7known as trypanosomes7 which cause sleeping sickness and the horse and cattle disease of the 8fly-belts0 of ,south ,africa4 ,the minute parasites which cause ,malta1 yellow1 and malarial fever1 and other infections1 are no doubt best dealt with by excluding them from access to the human body when that is possible4 ,but once they have effected a lodgment and commenced to multiply in the blood or tissues1 it is still possible to get at them by means of drugs1 which poison them without injuring their human victim4 ,thus quinine has been of enormous service in checking the ravages of the malaria parasite1 and really in ,great ,britain has exterminated 8ague10 which is the ,english name for malaria4 ,many experiments have been made during the last two years1 with the view of finding some drug which will1 in like manner1 destroy the trypanosomes which have established themselves in the blood and lymph-passages of the human body1 and are slowly killing their victim with sleeping sickness4 ,an arsenic compound1 8atoxyl10 has been found effective when injected into the patient's body1 and according to ,dr4 ,koch1 who returned last year from ,uganda1 he has found nothing better than this treatment1 discovered by ,dr4 ,thomas and ,dr4 ,breinl1 of the ,liverpool ,school of ,tropical ,medicine1 three years ago4 ,dr4 ,plimmer and ,dr4 ,thomson1 who have been experimenting in ,london for the ,royal ,society1 have found a drug which is more effective than atoxyl in destroying certain trypanosomes which attack rats1 and is now being tried in the treatment of sleeping sickness4 ,this is the tartrate of sodium and antimony--a salt corresponding to the well-known tartar emetic1 with this difference1 that it contains sodium instead of potassium4 ,it seems that this sodium variety of tartar emetic is very destructive to trypanosomes in the blood and lymph1 and has no injurious effect of a lowering nature1 such as occurs when the potassium salt is used4 ,as the antimony drug is far cheaper than atoxyl1 it will be possible to apply it freely to horses and cattle suffering from 8nagana0 and 8surra10 which are diseases due to trypanosomes of a special kind4 ,two white men who had become infected by the trypanosome of sleeping sickness in ,west ,africa have been treated with the new drug in ,london1 and the parasites have completely disappeared from their blood in consequence1 though it remains to be seen whether a permanent cure has been effected4 ,one cannot imagine a situation of more thrilling interest than that existing in the nursing home where those two victims were given a strong hope of escape from what seemed to be certain death1 whilst the fate of thousands of ,african natives1 similarly infected1 was hanging in the balance6 ,after six months from the date of treatment the report is satisfactory4 ,the parasites have not yet re-appeared 7,july1 #aijh7 in the two patients treated in ,november4 #ad4 ,tsetse-,flies and ,disease ,dr4 ,koch appears to have been questioned on his return to ,europe by some journalists as to the results of his study of sleeping sickness during the past year and a half in ,uganda4 ,it was already known 7three years ago71 from the observations of ,professor ,minchin1 ,dr4 ,gray1 and ,dr4 ,tulloch 7the ,royal ,society's observers in ,uganda71 that the tsetse-fly in ,uganda sucks the blood of crocodiles1 also of fishes and of hippopotami4 ,dr4 ,koch confirms this observation4 ,minchin also observed a trypanosome in the blood of the crocodile differing from that of sleeping sickness4 ,whether crocodiles help1 in an important degree1 to keep tsetse-flies alive in the regions where they occur1 by offering them a ready meal of blood1 is uncertain4 ,so far as the facts are known1 they do not lead to the belief that the crocodile is a 8reservoir host0 for the trypanosome of sleeping sickness4 8,reservoir-host0 is a very useful and expressive name for animals which can tolerate or support a parasite in their blood which is deadly to other animals4 ,the parasite flourishes in abundance in the reservoir-host with entire satisfaction to both host and guest4 ,but a blood-sucking fly or gnat1 of promiscuous tastes in the matter of blood1 comes along1 sucks the reservoir-host a bit1 and then goes off for another meal to a susceptible animal1 into which it introduces the parasite now adhering to its already blood-smeared proboscis or beak4 ,such a history was first established by ,bruce in regard to the trypanosome parasite which causes the deadly nagana disease in the 8fly-belts0 of ,south ,africa4 ,the big game animals are reservoir-hosts to this parasite1 from which they are carried by the tsetse-fly to horses1 mules1 and dogs1 which1 being of foreign origin1 are not tolerant of it1 but are killed by the poison to which its multiplication in their blood gives rise4 ,thus1 too1 native children1 both in ,africa and the ,east ,indies1 appear to be tolerant of the malaria parasite1 and act as reservoir-hosts from which the spot-winged gnats suck and distribute the parasite to the non-tolerant1 susceptible adult natives and white men4 ,the tsetse-flies are little bigger than the common house-fly1 and bite1 or rather stab1 very rapidly after alighting on the skin4 ,the study of flies and gnats1 and other blood-sucking insects1 has become extremely important1 and has been carried on with great energy by many specialists since it became known that these insects play such a terribly important part in the causation of disease4 ,at the ,natural ,history ,museum ,i received 7in response to a circular issued at my request by ,h4,m4 ,government7 thousands of specimens of gnats 7mosquitoes7 from all parts of the world1 and some hundreds of new species have been described in a series of volumes by ,professor ,f4 ,v4 ,theobald1 published by the trustees4 ,other volumes are in preparation illustrating the blood-sucking flies of various regions of the world1 and one concerning those of the ,british ,islands has already appeared4 ,the common gnat1 the spot-winged gnat1 and the tsetse-fly--as well as the microscopic parasites causing malaria and sleeping sickness--are illustrated by greatly enlarged models--very carefully executed under my direction1 which are exhibited in the central hall of the museum4 ,it is a curious fact that the coloured races of men--especially those of ,africa--have little or no objection to being bitten by flies4 ,they seem to accept the attention of flies and ticks with indifference4 ,the men sleep in the day under trees1 and are willing food-supply to the insects4 ,the eyelids of children are literally inhabited by flies in some countries1 and the folds of the skin of fat adults hide whole rows of fast-holding ticks4 ,but the white man does not willingly permit either fly1 flea1 or gnat to settle on him4 ,he is 7or has been71 nevertheless1 unwisely tolerant of house-flies in his habitations1 and the poorer and less cleanly population are in large proportion infested with wingless insects4 ,the newly established knowledge that certain flies 7glossina or tsetse-fly7 are the carriers of sleeping sickness1 that gnats are the carriers of malaria and of yellow fever1 that fleas are the carriers of the plague1 and that certain kinds of ticks are the carriers of cattle-fevers and dog-fevers1 and probably of some obscure fevers of man1 must make us all more anxious than we were about contact with insect life4 ,for ages popular tradition has ascribed diseases of one kind and another in various parts of the world to the bites of flies4 ,but actually it is little more than fifty years ago since it was really shown that deadly germs or parasites existed which could be1 and actually are1 carried by flies from one animal to another1 and introduced into the blood by the flies' stab4 ,this was first shown in regard to the bacterium of splenic fever 7or anthrax1 or wool-sorters' disease71 a blood-disease of cattle which is transferred by the big1 fiercely-biting 8horse-flies0 7tabanus71 from animals to man1 and is invariably fatal4 ,another bacterial disease1 8pernicious dema10 is inflicted on man in the same way4 ,these cases were exceptional1 and it is only quite recently that the agency of flies and fleas in great epidemics1 and in diseases causing thousands of deaths every year in well-known regions1 has been discovered4 #ae4 ,monkeys and ,fleas ,the wingless parasites known as pediculi are not known as active agents in spreading disease germs1 probably because they do not readily transfer themselves from one animal to another4 ,it is in this connection a really remarkable fact that monkeys are not infested by fleas1 and that only in few cases and not in many kinds have pediculi or acari been observed4 ,in this respect the lower races of men 7and even the higher7 seem to have fallen away from a grade of excellence attained by their despised quadrumanous cousins4 ,when this fact as to the freedom of monkeys from insect parasites is mentioned1 those who have watched monkeys in captivity will immediately say1 8,surely ,i have seen monkeys carefully picking insects from one another's fur40 ,the fact is that it is this very habit of 8picking0 which prevents monkeys from harbouring fleas4 ,whereas a dog or a cat can only scratch1 the monkey has an opposible thumb and delicately sensitive fingers4 ,that which has become the hand of man1 with all its marvellous skill and efficiency1 has been elaborated in its early stages as a means for keeping the hair clean4 ,when monkeys are seen carefully removing something with finger and thumb from their own or their companion's hair1 it is not an insect but a little piece of fatty secretion and scurf which is thus removed4 ,the habit1 which seems to be general in all kinds of monkeys1 even with the anthropoids1 such as the chimpanzee and the orang1 has of course been efficient in removing any parasitic insects which may at one time have infested monkeys--all other furry animals are liberally supplied with them1 as also are birds--but is now preventive of any re-establishment of such visitors4 ,the popular judgment of the monkey's habit is similar to that of the ,japanese ,aino1 who remarked to a traveller who arranged to have a bath in his room every day that he must be a very dirty man to require it4 #af4 ,the ,jigger ,flea ,one flea is recorded as having been once taken on an anthropoid ape 7a gorilla71 and is the 8jigger10 ,pulex penetrans4 ,this is a very serious pest1 the history of which shows how man himself opens up the path by which dangerous diseases spread4 ,the jigger-flea was originally known only in the ,south ,american tropics4 ,it spread from there to the ,west ,indies in the last century4 ,it burrows into the skin1 usually between the toes1 but elsewhere also1 and causes an abscess and sore as big and deep as a hazel-nut4 ,several such cavities at a time are dangerous1 and often lead to blood-poisoning and death4 ,europeans avoid the burrowing of the jigger by having their toes carefully examined every morning1 but black men are less careful4 ,from the ,west ,indies1 about thirty years ago1 the jigger was carried in ships to ,west ,africa4 ,there it flourished and spread from village to village across ,central ,africa1 decimating the population4 ,it appears to have been carried to a large extent by dogs1 in whose skin it flourishes4 ,it has now passed through ,africa to ,india1 and we shall no doubt soon hear of its having completed the circuit of the globe4 ,a great many kinds of fleas are known1 many furry animals having their own special species1 which does not leave them to take up its dwelling on other kinds of animal4 ,the common rat has a large flea of its own1 which apparently is not the flea which carries the plague from rats to men4 ,it is a 8wandering0 flea which does this1 namely1 the ,cheops flea4 ,this flea1 common in the ,east but unknown in colder regions1 does not stay as one could wish it to do--on the rat2 but travels about visiting human beings and dogs1 and so carries the plague bacillus from rats to men4 ,in the absence of these fleas plague would be a rat-disease unknown in men4 ,it is probable that we do not nowadays live so thoroughly cheek-by-jowl with rats in ,western ,europe as formerly1 so that even if rats infected with plague and harbouring the ,eastern ,cheops flea arrive in our docks1 the wandering flea is too far off to reach us in our modern houses4 #ag4 ,public ,estimate of the ,value of ,science ,the ,royal ,society1 the full title of which is ,the ,royal ,society of ,london for the ,promotion of ,natural ,knowledge1 has its anniversary meeting and dinner on ,st4 ,andrew's ,day4 ,the health of the medallists of the year #aijg was given from the chair by ,lord ,rayleigh1 and they replied one by one to the toast4 ,professor ,michelsen1 of ,chicago1 received what is considered the greatest honour the society has to bestow--the ,copley ,medal 7founded more than two hundred years ago7 for his researches on light4 ,he related in his speech how he had tried to interest a wealthy business man in the experiments going on in his laboratory1 in the hope that his friend might be moved to give pecuniary aid for the provision of new apparatus4 ,one by one1 he showed his delicate instruments and explained their uses2 no impression was produced4 ,at last he explained how the bright lines of the spectrum of flame1 coloured by incandescent elements 7such as theatre-goers know as red fire1 green fire1 blue fire1 c471 can be recognised by means of the spectroscope in the light of the sun--proving the presence of the metals and other elements of this earth in that remote body4 ,he especially explained and showed his friend the experiments by which sodium1 the metal of which caustic soda is the 8rust10 is thus proved to be present in the sun4 ,at last his friend spoke4 ,he said3 8,who the ---- cares if there is sodium in the sun80 ,professor ,michelsen did not tell the fellows of the ,royal ,society how he replied to that abrupt inquiry4 ,a more encouraging speech was that of ,lord ,fitzmaurice1 the ,under-,secretary of ,state for ,foreign ,affairs1 who replied to the toast of the guests4 ,he declared1 in so many words1 8,it is every day becoming more and more certain that science is the master40 ,he said that in his own business as a diplomatist he found that the chief matters which he had to discuss and decide depended on scientific knowledge and the information and guidance given to him and his colleagues by scientific men4 ,in the beginning of the eighteenth century the ,british ,government had sent a bishop and a poet to negotiate the ,treaty of ,utrecht4 ,but neither would be of any use in modern diplomacy4 ,what they always had to seek at the present day was the aid of the scientific departments of the ,navy or the ,army1 or of the ,royal ,society4 ,such matters as the relative merits of a ,channel tunnel or a ,channel ferry1 the limitations of territory by land1 by sea1 or above the land in the air1 the international agreements as to measures for checking the spread of disease or of insect pests1 and1 indeed1 most matters which had come before him since he had been in office1 had to be decided by the scientific experts4 ,he did not propose that diplomatists should at once vacate their posts and endeavour to secure the occupation of them by men of science1 but he thought that at no distant date such a course would be considered not only reasonable1 but necessary6 #ah4 ,the ,common ,house-fly and ,others ,the common house-fly is not so innocent as he looks1 but really a dirty little thing4 ,he has not a sharp beak-like proboscis1 and cannot stab1 but he has a soft1 dabbing proboscis1 which he pushes on to every kind of filth as well as walking with his six legs on such matter4 ,then he comes and wipes off minute particles and germs on to our food1 our lips1 our fingers1 and faces4 ,it is quite certain that he1 and others allied to him1 are thus the means of spreading typhoid fever in camps where there are open latrines and open larders and mess tables4 ,the house-fly breeds from a maggot1 just as the blue-bottle or blow-fly does1 but very few people have ever seen or recognised the maggot of the house-fly4 ,the reason is that it lays its eggs in horse dung1 and the grubs are hatched in the muck-heaps of stables4 ,that is also the reason why it is much less numerous in ,london than it used to be1 since stables and mews are now fewer and cleaner than they were4 ,it is also the reason why the house-fly abounds in ill-kept country inns and farmhouses4 ,its breeding ground is just outside the window4 ,there is not only one common house-fly in this country3 there are three kinds1 in addition to the blue-bottle or blow-fly1 which is distinguished at once by its great size and blue colour1 and lays its eggs in carrion4 ,late in the year you may often see what would pass for young or starveling house-flies going about among the others4 ,this is a distinct species1 the ,homalomyia canicularis of entomologists4 ,the third kind only to be distinguished by careful examination with the aid of a magnifying glass1 is ,anthomyia radicum4 ,both these are much less abundant than the common house-fly 7,musca domestica71 with which they almost always occur4 ,their breeding habits are similar to those of the common house-fly4 ,a fourth kind of fly is invariably mistaken for the common house-fly when it is noticed1 as it sometimes is1 in consequence of the sharp stab which it inflicts4 ,as recently as the beginning of ,november last year ,i was 8bitten0 or pricked by one of this fourth kind in a ,london club4 ,they are common enough on the sea shore in autumn1 and may be a severe nuisance4 ,people generally take them for common house-flies which have lost their temper in the hot weather and give way to the bad habit of 8biting0 out of sheer exasperation4 ,really1 of course1 a house-fly could not stab or prick with its broad-ended proboscis4 ,the fly in question1 which looks almost exactly like a well-grown house-fly1 but possesses a sharp and business-like beak or proboscis1 is known to scientific men as ,stomoxys calcitrans4 ,there are many kinds of ,stomoxys scattered all over the world1 and it is probable1 though not actually proved1 that they carry parasites such as the trypanosomes of horse and cattle diseases from one animal to another1 as do the species of ,glossina or tsetse-fly4 ,but we have yet to learn more about these flies and the parasites they transfer4 ,in the case of the gnat1 it has been discovered that the malaria parasite is swallowed by the gnat1 and multiplies in it1 producing thousands of spores in its blood1 and it is these spores which the gnat hands or rather 8mouths0 on to man4 ,no such multiplication of the trypanosome in the tsetse-fly 7,glossina7 is known4 ,the tsetse-fly passes on the trypanosome as it received it1 and yet it seems as though it is not any and every biting fly which can pass on the trypanosome of nagana1 or of sleeping sickness1 but only the particular species of tsetse-fly4 ,perhaps it is a case of greater abundance1 the tsetse-flies being the obvious and dangerous carriers of trypanosome disease where they occur1 on account of their abundance and the fierceness and celerity of their attack4 ,it is almost certain that in ,india1 ,burma1 and ,south ,america some other flies must transfer the trypanosomes from animal to animal1 causing the diseases known as surra and mal de caderas1 because no tsetse-flies--that is to say1 no flies of the genus ,glossina--occur in those countries1 and no other mode of transference1 except by some blood-sucking insect1 seems probable4 ,ants in ,africa are carriers of infection1 and possibly also in ,london kitchens1 where a little red ant sometimes abounds4 ,the black beetle or cockroach is a creature to be got rid of1 as it is very probable that it spreads certain kinds of infection over food and dishes during the hours of 8revelry by night0 which kind-hearted people allow it to enjoy in their kitchens4 #ai4 ,cerebral ,inhibition ,the best golf-player does not think1 as he plays his stroke1 of the hundred-and-one muscular contractions which1 accurately co-ordinated1 result in his making a fine drive or a perfect approach2 nor does the pianist examine the order of movement of his fingers4 ,his 8sub-liminal self10 his 8unconscious cerebration10 attends to these details without his conscious intervention1 and all the better for the absence of what the nerve-physiologists call 8cerebral inhibition0--that is to say1 the delay or arrest due to the sending round of the message or order to the muscles by way of the higher brain-centres1 instead of letting it go directly from a lower centre without the intervention of the seats of attention and consciousness4 ,the sneezing caused in most people by a pinch of ordinary snuff can be rendered impossible by 8cerebral inhibition10 set up by a wager with the snuff-taking victim that he will fail to sneeze in three minutes1 however much snuff he may take4 ,his attention to the mechanism of the anticipated sneeze1 and his desire for it1 inhibit the whole apparatus4 ,so long as you can make him anxious to sneeze and fix his attention on the effort to do so1 by a judicious exhortation at intervals1 he will not succeed in sneezing4 ,when the three minutes are up1 and you both have ceased to be interested in the matter1 he will probably sneeze unexpectedly and sharply4 ,i was set on to this train of thought by a recent visit to an exhibition of photographs4 ,there were many very interesting illustrations of the application of photography to scientific investigation4 ,among others ,i saw a fine enlarged photograph of the common millipede 7,julus terrestris71 and my desire was renewed to have a bioscopic film-series of the movements of this creature's legs4 ,some years ago ,i attempted to analyse1 and published an account of1 the regular rhythmic movement of the legs of millipedes4 ,i found that the 8phases0 of forward and backward swing are presented in groups of twelve pairs of legs1 each pair of legs being in the same phase of movement as the twelfth pair beyond it4 ,but instantaneous photography would give complete certainty about the movement in this case1 and in the case of the even more beautiful 8rippling0 movement of the legs of some of the marine worms4 ,some kindly photographer might take up the investigation and prepare a series of films4 ,the problem is raised and the effects of 8cerebral inhibition0 described in a little poem which ,i am told we owe to the author of 8,lorna ,doone40 ,as it is not widely known1 ,i give it here as a record of 8cerebral inhibition03 8,a centipede was happy 'til ,one day a toad in fun ,said1 #8,pray which leg moves after which8' ,this raised her doubts to such a pitch ,she fell exhausted in the ditch1 ,not knowing how to run40 ,the point1 of course1 is that she could execute the complex movement of her legs well enough until her brain was set to work and her conscious attention given to the matter4 ,then 8cerebral inhibition0 took place and she broke down4 #bj4 ,colour-photography and ,photographs of ,mars ,there were admirable photographs of wild birds and their nests1 and of insects and plants in this exhibition4 ,i saw the new ,lumire coloured transparent photographs thrown by a lantern on the screen1 and could distinguish the dots of red1 green1 and violet colour on what1 at a little distance1 appeared to be a brilliantly white part of the picture 7the shirt collar of a 8sitter071 just as one sees a mosaic of coloured dots in the blazing sunlight of the pictures painted by the ,french school of so-called 8vibristes0 7,monod and others74 ,perhaps the most remarkable of these photographs was a set of prints from untouched photographs of the planet ,mars1 executed in ,july #aijg by ,professor ,perceval ,lowell at his observatory in ,arizona4 ,the ,mars photographs are each about as big as a dried pea 7that is the biggest size possible with the feeble light reflected by ,mars71 but 8several of the canals10 says ,mr4 ,lowell1 8are distinctly visible on the photographs1 and one has been photographed double40 ,i should have liked to examine these photographs in a good light with a lens4 ,the statement quoted means that the canals in ,mars can no longer be regarded as due to errors of eyesight and imagination1 and that the annual doubling or formation of a second canal parallel to what was earlier in the year a single canal1 is actually recorded by a disinterested1 impartial photographic plate4 ,are these canals the work of intelligent inhabitants of ,mars8 ,i will not venture to say in reply more than this1 that ,i have never heard any other explanation of their occurrence4 ,but that1 of course1 still leaves the matter open4 #ba4 ,origin of ,names by ,errors in ,copying ,a curious illustration of a mistake perpetuated by a clerical error is the title of ,viscount ,glerawly4 ,the title was intended to have been ,glenawly1 but the bad writing of a clerk converted the 8n0 into an 8r10 and the name having been so entered in the patent of nobility1 or some such document1 could not be altered4 ,the same thing has happened to the mammoth4 ,his proper native name is 8mammont10 but 8mont0 became 8mout10 and then 8moth40 ,a similar clerical error is responsible for the name ,gavial1 which is applied to the long1 narrow-nosed crocodile of ,india1 both as a scientific name 7,gavialis7 and colloquially4 ,really the 8v0 is due to a misreading of an 8r10 the creature's native name being ,garial4 ,it was so written down and sent home by an early explorer1 but his handwriting being wanting in clearness1 the word was copied as ,gavial and the scientific patent issued in that name4 #bb4 ,false ,news as to ,extinct ,monsters ,the tendency of ,english newspapers to bedeck themselves every now and again with rank absurdities copied from ,american rubbish-sheets is a disease4 ,on no subject outside the field of natural history and medicine would any editor dream of printing the stuff which does duty as 8news0 in regard to these departments--stuff which has not even the semblance of being carefully concocted1 but yet is found 8good enough0 to circulate as serious information4 ,another antediluvian monster1 much larger than the mammoth1 was reported in a ,london evening paper at the end of ,november #aijg4 ,the article devoted to it is a mass of absurdity1 a burlesque of a genuine note on the subject4 ,it appears that the most ordinary thing happened at ,los ,angeles1 ,california1 namely1 that some workmen1 in driving a tunnel1 unearthed some fossil bones4 ,we are not surprised to learn 7though it is announced as a marvel7 that the bones were those of a mastodon 7of which you may see a whole skeleton in ,cromwell-road71 and those of the extinct ,american elephant called ,elephas columbi4 ,this very commonplace occurrence was certainly not worth recording in a ,london daily paper4 ,so it is elaborately dressed up with details intended to 8fetch0 the innocent reader4 ,the writer says ,elephas columbi is as much larger than the ,siberian mammoth as that is larger than the horse of to-day4 ,the truth is that ,elephas columbi and the mammoth are as nearly as possible of the same size4 ,to writer goes on to tell of a 8fossil horse10 found at the same place1 8a wonderful two-toed animal marked by his cloven hoof40 ,that is cool impudence2 it is precisely 8the double hoof0 which none of the horse tribe possess1 but all the deer1 cattle1 and sheep do4 ,he next tells us that elephants and mastodons were never found together before1 but supposed to have shunned each other's company4 ,this is an invention2 their remains are found side by side all over ,europe4 ,then suddenly the surprising statement is made1 like a bolt from the blue1 8,england ceases to be the ,mother ,country and ,germany the ,fatherland to us10 and the pre-eminence of ,america in providing the biggest thing on earth is declared to have been already manifest 8when the world rose out of chaos40 ,it is satisfactory to be told that ,england is not the ,mother ,country of this silliness2 but whether the world which solemnly prints and reads it can be said to have yet 8risen out of chaos0 must be regarded as doubtful4 #bc4 ,mistletoe and ,holly ,christmas things and customs comprise much that has great interest from a scientific point of view4 ,our modern celebration of ,christmas in ,england is a combination of the ,christian festival of the ,nativity with that of the ,epiphany1 and that of ,st4 ,nicholas1 who long ago was substituted for the sea god ,neptune1 of classical mythology1 by sea-faring folk4 ,santa ,claus--or ,saint ,nicholas--has his festival at the beginning of ,december1 but he has been carried over to ,christmas ,day1 and appears as 8,father ,christmas0 in modern celebrations4 ,there is no great antiquity about this part of the tradition which we try to keep alive at ,christmas4 ,the making of ,christmas ,day and ,christmastide into a special children's festival is1 on the other hand1 a moving back of the festival of the ,epiphany1 when gifts were brought to the child ,christ by wise men of the ,east4 ,in ,rome ,i have assisted in celebrating our ,twelfth ,night under the name 8,befani10 at a great illuminated public fair1 near the ,pantheon1 where children are taken to buy toys4 ,there has been in ,england also a similar moving back of the very ancient--even prehistoric--celebrations of the ,new ,year to ,christmas1 and hence it is that the mysterious and sacred 8mistletoe0 of the ,druids is mingled in our houses with the less significant but beautiful holly as a decoration4 ,the ,christian ,church1 however1 did not1 and does not1 sanction the introduction of mistletoe into the sacred edifice1 and not many years ago those who loved and truly understood tradition would not permit mistletoe to be mixed with holly even in the private house at ,christmastide4 ,mistletoe1 it was held1 could not be rightly introduced until the new year4 ,the new year1 however1 of the ,druids differed in date from that of the later calendar1 and fell in what is to us the second week of ,march4 ,the holly tree1 with its splendid red berries and shining1 prickly leaves1 is a beautiful decorative plant1 very hardy and abundant3 it was used by the old ,romans in their 8,saturnalia10 a feast which nearly coincided with the ,christmas of the new religion4 ,there is a species of holly in ,south ,america the leaves of which are made into tea by the ,indians1 the ,paraguay tea or matt4 ,this tea is an unpleasant1 bitter decoction1 devoid of aroma1 if ,i may judge from samples which ,i have tasted in ,london4 8,ilex0 is the botanical name of the genus to which both our holly-tree and the ,paraguay tea belong1 but it must not be confused with the evergreen oak to which the name ,quercus ilex is given on account of the resemblance of its leaves to those of a holly4 ,the mistletoe 7or mistil-tan1 the pale branch1 in ,anglo-,saxon7 is a pale-coloured1 small-flowered member of a great family of parasitic plants1 the ,loranthace4 ,they all live upon trees1 and draw a part of their nourishment from the juices of the tree into which their rootlets penetrate4 ,the tropical allies of the mistletoe are very beautiful plants1 with fine bunches of brilliantly-coloured flowers and broad handsome green leaves4 ,our mistletoe is most commonly found parasitic on apple trees and poplar trees4 ,it occurs on nearly all our trees1 but is very rare on the oak4 ,a careful inquiry some time ago resulted in the discovery of only seven oaks in all ,england on which mistletoe was growing4 ,the ,druids took their sacred mistletoe from the sacred oak tree on account of its rarity4 ,to them it was a charm against infertility and sterility1 and1 according to ,pliny1 was cut and distributed at the new year with great ceremony and the sacrifice of heifers4 ,its paired white berries contain a viscid fluid which gives it its botanical name ,viscum album--and causes the seeds to adhere to the beaks of birds--and thus to be transported to a distance and introduced by the birds' attempts to wipe their beaks into the cracks of the bark of trees1 in which the seeds germinate4 ,the white-berried mistletoe is the only ,english kind1 and red mistletoe seems altogether out of character4 ,but a red-berried species 7,viscum cruciatum7 is parasitic on the olive tree in ,spain1 ,north ,africa1 and ,syria4 ,curiously enough1 though the white-berried mistletoe is excommunicated by the ,western ,christian ,church on account of its use in pagan worship1 the red-berried mistletoe was gathered from olive trees in the ,garden of ,gethsemane and in the enclosure of the ,holy ,sepulchre at ,jerusalem by ,sir ,joseph ,hooker1 the great botanist4 ,the red-berried mistletoe was successfully raised from seed on young olive trees six years ago in this country by the ,hon4 ,charles ,ellis1 of ,frensham1 near ,haslemere1 and was figured at that time by ,hooker4 ,the mistletoe has an evil name in ,scandinavian mythology4 ,baldur1 the beautiful1 the ,sun-god1 was made1 like ,achilles1 invulnerable to spears and arrows cut from whatever tree grows on earth4 ,all things had taken an oath not to hurt him1 and the gods of ,walhalla amused themselves by throwing all sorts of darts and clubs at him--none could hurt him4 ,at last the blind god ,hder1 who loved the beautiful ,baldur none the less because he himself was weakly and sightless1 also ventured to throw a dart at his invulnerable friend4 ,it sped home1 pierced ,baldur's heart1 and killed him4 ,the dart was made of mistletoe1 a tree that does not grow on earth1 but lives as a parasite high up on other trees1 and had taken no oath to spare ,baldur4 ,it had been put into the blind god's hand in a friendly helpful sort of way by a designing female1 who was really the evil spirit ,loki in disguise4 ,what is the allegory8 ,does the mistletoe dart stand for calumny8 ,is the mistletoe associated with calumny because it is a parasite in high places8 ,if one must choose between the mistletoe myth of ,norsemen and ,briton--the latter1 which survives in the power accorded to the mistletoe to license1 even to command1 by its mere overhead existence1 the giving and taking of unexpected kisses and of expected ones1 too1 is certainly the more cheerful and suitable to the hopeful enterprise of ,new ,year4 #bd4 ,the ,cattle ,show ,i always look upon the ,christmas ,cattle ,show of the ,smithfield ,club as a scientific delight4 ,breeding is a most serious branch of scientific knowledge1 held by many people 7of whom ,i am one7 to be of more importance to statesmen1 politicians1 and philanthropists than any other kind of knowledge1 and yet almost absolutely neglected and completely ignored except by our farmers and horticulturists4 ,when examining in turn the splendid animals at ,islington ,i have felt indignant that it should be not improbable that1 owing to ignorance and neglect in official quarters1 the long matured traditions and built-up skill of our cattle-breeders will be destroyed1 crushed out of existence by huge1 devastating capitalist 8combines40 ,soon we shall not get the beef we wish for1 but we shall have to take whatever inferior stuff the giant monopolist chooses to force on us--or go without6 ,our wonderful stock1 so patiently and happily bred1 the envy of the world1 will disappear1 and our breeders forget their art4 ,we shall none of us in ,britain know more about prime beef1 roasts1 grills1 and marrow-bones than do the people of ,europe or the eaters of terrapin and soft-shelled crabs4 ,it is wonderful that man1 by deliberate choice in selecting the sires and dams1 has been able to produce such widely-different races as the short-horn1 the ,highland and the ,sussex breed1 and not only to produce them1 but to keep them there generation after generation4 ,in ,nature1 no such deviations are allowed--her motto is 8,one species1 one shape10 which is only relaxed so as to allow a few geographical varieties4 ,it is man who makes all these strange breeds1 just as he has made such a queer1 irregular1 varied lot of creatures from the human stock4 ,withdraw once and for all man's guiding 8intelligence10 or perversity1 if you choose so to call it1 and all these cattle would in a few hundred years revert to one form1 nearly 7but not quite7 the same as that they came from4 ,so1 too1 the ,sheep2 so1 too1 the ,pigs4 ,and man himself1 if one could poison him universally with a mind-destroying microbe1 would become a beautiful1 healthy1 silly creature1 dying at first by millions annually1 and at last represented by a hundred thousand unvarying specimens1 inhabiting the warm but healthy corners of the earth1 aimlessly happy1 free from disease1 neither increasing nor decreasing in number4 ,it is legitimate1 and is a means of examining the whole problem of man's history1 to inquire whether we have reason or not to suppose that1 were intelligent man thus removed arbitrarily and completely from the scene1 a new 8lord of the world0 would arise1 by normal evolutionary process4 ,a bird1 an elephant1 a rat1 might give rise to the new line of progressive development1 and1 unchecked by man1 once jealous and repressive1 but now down-fallen1 this new stock might acquire such brains and wits as we men now boast of1 and people the earth4 ,you never can tell6 ,but it is not the business of science to expatiate on such possibilities4 ,the domesticated cattle of ,europe are of very ancient prehistoric origin4 ,they are for convenience called 8,bos taurus10 and seem to be derived from the huge ,bos primigenius or ,aurochs1 the ,urus of ,csar1 which was wild in ,central ,europe in his time1 and from the ,indian ,bos indicus--which is represented by the ,indian and ,african native breeds of 8humped0 cattle4 ,it is1 however1 very difficult to trace most of man's domesticated animals or his cultivated plants to their original wild forms and original habitation4 ,at the ,cattle ,show we only see ,british and ,irish breeds1 and only those cattle bred as meat-makers--the ,highland1 the ,welsh1 the ,shorthorns1 the polled ,angus1 the ,south ,devons1 the ,hereford1 the ,sussex1 the ,galloway1 the ,dexter4 ,but there are other ,british breeds famous for their milk-producing quality1 such as the ,guernseys and ,jerseys1 whilst in ,hungary1 ,italy1 and ,spain they have magnificent breeds of great size1 and often with truly splendid spirally-turned horns 7e4g4 the ,spanish71 which are used for ploughing and carting1 and are fattened1 killed1 and eaten after doing ten years' good work4 ,these fine creatures are not seen in ,england4 ,they come nearest to the extinct ,aurochs1 which was1 however1 bigger than any of them4 ,it1 too1 existed in prehistoric times in ,england1 and we find its bones in the gravel of the ,thames ,valley4 ,the last aurochs1 or wild bull of ,europe1 was killed in ,poland near the end of the seventeenth century4 ,the wild ,chillingham cattle are ,roman cattle run wild4 ,many of these breeds and the bones of the aurochs to compare as to size may be seen in the north hall of the ,natural ,history ,museum1 where ,i commenced a collection of domesticated breeds of cattle1 sheep1 horses1 dogs1 c41 eight years ago4 ,chillingham cattle are to be seen in the ,zoological ,gardens4 ,an interesting fact in this connection is that the splendid bull which is kept in half-wild herds in ,spain for the purpose of 8bull-fights10 is of a totally different race from that of the big1 long-horned agricultural cattle4 ,it may be seen at ,cromwell-road1 a specimen killed in the ring having been procured at my request and presented to the museum through the kindness of the ,british ,consul at ,seville4 ,the ,spanish fighting bull is1 curiously enough1 more like our ,channel ,island milk-producing cattle than any other4 ,it probably came to ,spain from ,north ,africa--but there seems to be no record or history concerning it--and if there were it would probably be a fantastic invention4 ,it seems that only the bulls of this special breed can be played with and dazzled by the matador's red cloak4 ,a ,scotch bull was once brought by sea to ,seville and introduced to the arena4 ,he paid no attention to cloaks1 red or otherwise1 but always went straight for his man4 ,it is stated that he was soon left quite alone in the ring6 ,the native ,african cattle 7of ,indian origin7 at ,ujiji and in ,damaraland have the biggest horns of any true ,bos--as much as #ac-a_/b ft4 along the curve from point to point4 ,we have to distinguish from our own cattle1 for which there is no name except 8,bos taurus10 for neither ox1 bull1 cow1 heifer1 nor steer will do--the other bovines--the buffaloes1 the yak1 and the bison--besides those great beasts the gayal and the gaur of ,india and the banting of ,malay4 ,all these may be seen and studied either in the ,museum or the ,zoological ,gardens4 #be4 ,the ,experimental ,method ,the observations lately made by a ,chancellor of the ,exchequer about an attempt to put salt on a bird's tail remind me of my first attempt to deal experimentally with a popular superstition4 ,i was a very trustful little boy1 and ,i had been assured by various grown-up friends that if you place salt on a bird's tail the bird becomes as it were transfixed and dazed1 and that you can then pick it up and carry it off4 ,on several occasions ,i carried a packet of salt into the ,london park where my sister and ,i were daily taken by our nurse4 ,in vain ,i threw the salt at the sparrows4 ,they always flew away1 and ,i came to the conclusion that ,i had not succeeded in getting any salt or1 at any rate1 not enough on to the tail of any one of them4 ,then ,i devised a great experiment4 ,there was a sort of creek eight feet long and three feet broad at the west end of the ornamental water in ,st4 ,james's ,park4 ,my sister attracted several ducks with offerings of bread into this creek1 and ,i1 standing near its entrance1 with a huge paper bag of salt1 trembled with excitement at the approaching success of my scheme4 ,i poured quantities--whole ounces of salt--on to the tails of the doomed birds as they passed me on their way back from the creek to the open water4 ,their tails were covered with salt4 ,but1 to my surprise and horror1 they did not stop6 ,they gaily swam forward1 shaking their feathers and uttering derisive 8quacks40 ,i was profoundly troubled and distressed4 ,i had clearly proved one thing1 namely1 that my nursemaid1 uncle1 and several other trusted friends--but not1 ,i am still glad to remember1 my father--were either deliberate deceivers or themselves the victims of illusion4 ,i was confirmed in my youthful wish to try whether things are as people say they are or not4 ,somewhat early perhaps1 ,i adopted the motto of the ,royal ,society1 8,nullius in verba40 ,and a very good motto it is1 too1 in spite of the worthy ,todhunter and other toiling pedagogues1 who have declared that it is outrageous to encourage a youth to seek demonstration rather than accept the statement of his teacher1 especially if the latter be a clergyman4 ,my experiment was on closely similar lines to that made by the ,royal ,society on ,july #bd1 #affj--;in regard to the alleged property of powdered rhinoceros horn--which was reputed to paralyse poisonous creatures such as snakes1 scorpions1 and spiders4 ,we read in the journal-book1 still preserved by the society1 under this date3 8,a circle was made with powder of unicorne's horn1 and a spider set in the middle of it1 but it immediately ran out several times repeated4 ,the spider once made some stay upon the powder40 #bf4 ,hypnotism and an ,experiment on the ,influence of the ,magnet ,a more interesting result followed from an experiment made in the same spirit twenty-five years later4 ,i was in ,paris1 and went with a medical friend to visit the celebrated physician ,charcot1 to whom at that time ,i was a stranger1 at the ,salptrire ,hospital4 ,he and his assistants were making very interesting experiments on hypnotism4 ,charcot allowed great latitude to the young doctors who worked with him4 ,they initiated and carried through very wild 8exploratory0 experiments on this difficult subject4 ,charcot did not discourage them1 but did not accept their results unless established by unassailable evidence1 although his views were absurdly misrepresented by the newspapers and wondermongers of the day4 ,at this time there had been a revival of the ancient and fanciful doctrine of 8metallic sympathies10 which flourished a hundred years ago1 and was even then but a revival of the strange fancies as to 8sympathetic powders10 which were brought before the ,royal ,society by ,sir ,kenelm ,digby at one of its first meetings1 in #affj4 ,in the journal-book of the ,royal ,society of ,june #e of that year1 we read1 8,magnetical cures were then discoursed of4 ,sir ,gilbert ,talbot promised to bring in what he knew of sympatheticall cures4 ,those that had any powder of sympathy were desired to bring some of it at the next meeting4 ,sir ,kenelm ,digby related that the calcined powder of toades reverberated1 applyed in bagges upon the stomach of a pestiferate body1 cures it by several applications40 ,the belief in sympathetic powders and metals was a last survival of the medival doctrine of 8signatures10 itself a form of the fetish still practised by ,african witch-doctors1 and directly connected with the universal system of magic and witchcraft of ,european as well as of more remote populations4 ,to this day1 such beliefs lie close beneath the thin crust of modern knowledge and civilisation1 even in ,england1 treasured in obscure tradition and ready to burst forth in grotesque revivals in all classes of society4 ,the ,royal ,society put many of these reputed mechanisms of witchcraft and magic to the test1 and by showing their failure to produce the effects attributed to them1 helped greatly to cause witches1 wizards1 and their followers to draw in their horns and disappear4 ,the germ1 however1 remained1 and reappears in various forms to-day4 ,thirty years ago some of the doctors in ,paris believed that a small disc of gold1 or copper1 or of silver1 laid flat on the arm could produce an absence of sensation in the arm1 and that whilst one person could be thus affected by one metal another person would respond only to another metal1 according to a supposed 8sympathy0 or special affinity of the nervous system for this or that metal4 ,this astonishing doctrine was thought to be proved by certain experiments made with the curiously 8nervous0 7hysterical7 women who frequent the ,salptrire ,hospital as out-patients4 ,that the loss of sensation1 which was real enough1 was due to what is called 8suggestion0--that is to say1 a belief on the part of the patient that such would be the case1 because the doctor said it would--and had nothing to do with one metal or another1 was subsequently proved by making use of wooden discs in place of metallic ones1 the patient being led to suppose that a disc of metal of the kind with which she believed herself 8sympathetic0 was being applied4 ,sensation disappeared just as readily as when a special metallic disc was used4 ,the old hypothesis of the influence of a magnet on the human body was at this time revived1 and ,charcot's pupils found that when a susceptible female patient held in the hand a bar of iron surrounded by a coil of copper wire leading to a chemical electric cell or battery nothing happened so long as the connection was broken4 ,but as soon as the wire was connected so as to set up an electric current and to make the bar of iron into a magnet1 the hand and arm 7up to the shoulder7 of the young woman holding the bar1 lost all sensation4 ,she was not allowed to see her hand and arm1 and was apparently quite unconscious of the thrusting of large carpet-needles into1 and even through1 them1 though as long as the bar of iron was not magnetised she shrunk from a pin-prick applied to the same part4 ,i saw this experiment with ,charcot and some others present1 and ,i noticed that the order to an assistant to 8make contact10 that is to say1 to convert the bar of iron into a magnet1 was given very emphatically by ,charcot1 and that there was an attitude of expectation on the part of all present--which was followed by the demonstration by means of needle-pricking that the young woman's arm had lost sensation1 or1 as they say1 8was in a state of ansthesia40 ,charcot went away saying he should repeat the experiment before some medical friends in an hour or two4 ,in the meantime1 being left alone in the laboratory with my companion as witness1 ,i emptied the chemical fluid 7potassium bichromate7 from the electric battery and substituted pure water4 ,it was now incapable of setting up an electric current and converting the bar into a magnet4 ,when ,charcot returned with his visitors1 the patient was brought in1 and the whole ritual repeated4 ,there was no effect on sensation when the bar was held in the hand so long as the order to set the current going1 and so magnetise the bar1 had not been given4 ,at last the word was given1 8,make60 and at once the patient's arm became ansthetised1 as earlier in the day4 ,we ran large carpet-needles into the hand without the smallest evidence of the patient's knowledge4 ,the order was given to break the current 7that is1 to cease magnetising the bar71 and at once the young woman exhibited signs of discomfort1 and remonstrated with ,charcot for allowing such big needles to be thrust into her hand when she was devoid of sensation6 ,my experiment had succeeded perfectly4 ,it would not have done to let ,charcot1 or anyone else 7except my witness7 know that when the order 8,make0 was given1 there was no 8making10 but that the bar remained as before un-magnetised4 ,the conviction of everyone1 including ,charcot himself1 that the bar became a magnet1 and that loss of sensation would follow1 was a necessary condition of the 8suggestion0 or control of the patient4 ,it was thus demonstrated that the state of the iron bar as magnet or not magnet had nothing to do with the result1 but that the important thing was that the patient should believe that the bar became a magnet1 and that she should be influenced by her expectation1 and that of all those around her1 that the bar1 being now a magnet1 sensation would disappear from her arm4 ,with appropriate apologies ,i explained to ,charcot that the electric battery had been emptied by me1 and that no current had been produced4 ,the assistants rushed to verify the fact1 and ,i was expecting that ,i should be frigidly requested to take my leave1 when my hand was grasped1 and my shoulder held by the great physician1 who said1 8,mais que vous avez bien fait1 mon cher ,monsieur60 ,i had many delightful hours with him in after years1 both at the ,salptrire and in his beautiful old house and garden in the ,boulevard ,st4 ,germain4 ,there are few 8subjects0 in this country for the student of hypnotism to equal the patients of the ,salptrire and other hospitals in ,france--and very few amongst those who read1 and even write1 about 8occultism0 and 8super-normal phenomena0 know the leading facts which have been established in regard to this important branch of psychology4 ,the study of the natural history of the mind1 its modes of activity1 and its defects and diseases is of fundamental importance--but its results are often either unknown or greatly misunderstood by those who have most need of such knowledge1 namely those who1 mistaking the attitude of an ignorant child for that of 8a candid inquirer10 try to form a judgment as to the truth or untruth of stories of ghosts1 thought-transference1 spirit-controls1 crystal-gazing1 divining-rods1 amulets1 and the evil eye4 #bg4 ,luminous ,owls and ,other ,luminous ,animals and ,plants ,a correspondent lately described in a letter to a ,london newspaper what he believed to have been 8a luminous owl10 which was seen flying about at night in ,norfolk4 ,he mentioned the well-known fact that the dense greasy patch of feathers on the breast of the heron is said to be luminous by many trustworthy observers4 ,it is very probable that it was some carnivorous or fish-eating bird1 which was thus seen in a luminous condition at night4 ,the occurrence is much more in accordance with known facts than most people would suppose to be the case4 ,light1 even strong light1 is produced by many natural objects without the accompaniment of heat4 ,we usually expect not merely fire where there is smoke1 but heat--in fact1 great heat1 where there is light or flame4 ,yet there are many instances to the contrary1 and the word 8phosphorescence0 is used to indicate a production of light without heat in reference to the fact that phosphorus is luminous1 even when covered with water1 although no appreciable heat accompanies the light such as we are accustomed to observe in ordinary 8combustion0 or burning4 ,there is more than one kind of phosphorescence4 ,we separate the phosphorescence which is due to the oxidation of peculiar fatty matters in the bodies of plants and of animals 7such as glow-worms7 from that which is caused by the breaking or heating of crystals 7white arsenic and apatite71 or by longer or shorter exposure to the sun's rays 7luminous paint71 or by radio-activity1 or by electrical discharges in vacuum tubes4 ,the 8luminous owl0 of the above-mentioned correspondent and the luminous breast of the heron probably owe their strange appearance to the birds having smeared themselves with phosphorescent carrion or dead fish1 the luminosity of which is due to bacteria4 ,the simplest case of phosphorescence in living things is that of the almost ubiquitous phosphorescent bacteria1 minute microbes like those which cause putrefaction4 ,they can be obtained and cultivated from almost any sample of sea water4 ,a thin slice of meat placed in a shallow dish of salt water1 so as to be barely covered by the liquid1 will in cool1 damp weather1 almost certainly become covered with the growth of this phosphorescent germ and appear brilliantly luminous4 ,the populations of seaside towns have often been terrified by all the meat in the butchers' shops suddenly becoming thus phosphorescent4 ,the growth may be cultivated in flasks of salt broth4 ,i have prepared such flasks1 which1 when shaken so as to introduce oxygen1 give out a heatless blaze of light of a greenish colour1 brilliant enough to light up a room4 ,i once found a bone in a dog's kennel which was brilliantly phosphorescent owing to this bacterium4 ,i kept it for several days and showed it to ,huxley as well as to other friends4 ,a certain kind of phosphorescent bacteria are parasitic in the blood of sandhoppers1 causing a disease which kills them4 ,the diseased sandhoppers shine like glow-worms4 ,i have found them abundantly on the sea shore near ,boulogne and near ,trouville1 but not yet on the ,english coast4 ,the bacteria can be seen with the microscope and inoculated from diseased luminous sandhoppers into healthy ones by using a needle to prick first the diseased and then the healthy creature4 ,the animals of the sea are often provided with secreting organs1 producing a fatty body which can be oxidised and made luminous at the pleasure of the animal4 ,thus many marine worms and minute sea-shrimps give out brilliant flashes of light4 ,jelly-fish of many kinds1 and the minute noctiluca1 no bigger than a pin's head1 and the three-horned animalcule ,ceratium tripos are the usual cause of the phosphorescence of the sea on our own coast4 ,deep-sea fishes are provided with large phosphorescent discs or plates on the surface of the body1 which are sometimes furnished with lenses like a bull's-eye lantern4 ,glow-worms and fire-flies and some tropical beetles are examples of insects which have fatty phosphorescent organs which they can illuminate 7oxidise7 at pleasure1 under the control of the nervous system4 ,some of the ,west ,indian phosphorescent beetles are remarkable for having 8lights0 of two different colours4 ,in the marshes around ,mantua the fire-flies are so abundant at the end of ,june that the air for miles is full of them1 and the sight so extraordinary and beautiful as to be worth a long journey to see4 ,i have seen fire-flies as far north as ,bonn on the ,rhine4 ,once ,i was nearly upset by a horse shying at a glow-worm on a bank in ,worcestershire4 ,some moulds and well-grown toadstools are phosphorescent1 and a phosphorescent earthworm1 a peculiar species1 now well known1 was first of all discovered in the ,south of ,ireland by the late ,professor ,allman4 ,in the autumn ,i have often picked up the phosphorescent centipede1 which is remarkable for the fact that the phosphorescent material is a kind of slime which exudes from the body--the creature leaving thus a luminous trail behind it as it crawls4 ,the piddock1 or pholas--a boring sort of mussel--has brilliant phosphorescent glands1 and the boys at ,naples love to munch these shell-fish at night1 and then to alarm the passer-by by opening their mouths1 and showing a brilliant green light within4 ,cases are recorded1 but not recently1 of persons suffering from tuberculosis becoming phosphorescent2 a possible1 but certainly a rare1 occurrence4 ,animal and vegetable phosphorescence is varied in colour4 ,the light emitted is blue-green1 green1 yellow1 orange1 and even red in different cases4 ,it is always due to the oxidation of a separate fatty chemical body1 which can in many instances be extracted1 then dried1 and subsequently made luminous by moistening with ether1 in consequence of which oxidation by the oxygen of the atmosphere is facilitated4 #bh4 ,reminiscences of ,lord ,kelvin ,the late ,lord ,kelvin was one of the most fascinating personalities in the learned world4 ,he uttered with a delightful simplicity the thoughts1 however romantic and fanciful1 which bubbled up in his wonderful brain4 ,it was because he was so much of a poet that he was so great a man of science4 ,atoms and molecules and vortices1 and the vibrations and gyrations of ether1 and 8sorting demons0 were all pictured in his mind's eye1 and used as counters of thought to give shape and the equivalent of tangible reality to his conceptions4 ,by such conceptions he was able to present to himself and his listeners the complex mechanisms of crystals1 of liquids1 of gases1 of electrical and magnetic currents1 and the endless astounding proceedings of rays of light unsuspected by the ordinary man4 ,i think the last occasion on which he spoke in public was after ,sir ,david ,gill's brilliant address to the ,british ,association at ,leicester last ,august4 ,lord ,kelvin was sitting close to me on that occasion1 and ,i noticed that he never moved his gaze from the speaker4 ,he followed ,sir ,david's account of stars1 whose distance is stated by the number of years it takes for their light to travel to this earth1 like an enraptured schoolboy1 and cheered when the evidence for the existence of two great streams of movement of the heavenly bodies1 in opposite directions1 going no one knows whither1 coming no one knows whence1 was sketched to us by the lecturer4 ,in proposing a vote of thanks to ,sir ,david ,gill1 ,lord ,kelvin burst into a sort of rhapsody1 in which1 with unaffected enthusiasm1 he declared that we had been taken on a journey far more wonderful than that of ,aladdin on the enchanted carpet2 we had been carried to the remotest stars and well-nigh round the universe1 and brought back safely to ,leicester on the wings of science1 and the most marvellous thing about it all was that it is true6 ,a few weeks before this ,lord ,kelvin was at the dinner in celebration of the jubilee of the foundation of the ,chemical ,society4 ,in the speech which he then made he referred to the painful accident of a year or so ago which we had all so much regretted1 when he had burnt his hand accidentally in some experiments with phosphorus1 and had had to carry his arm in a sling for some weeks4 8,lord ,rayleigh1 the president of the ,royal ,society10 he said1 8has just told us how1 as a boy1 he gave proof of his devotion to chemical science by burning his fingers with phosphorus--but ,i think my devotion must be considered greater than his1 for ,i burnt my fingers very badly with phosphorus only last year1 when ,i was #hc years old4 ,it was at the end of ,april4 ,my friends said ,i was old enough to know better1 and it should have happened1 not at the end of ,april1 but on the first day1 of that month40 ,lord ,kelvin was associated in work in the sixties and seventies with another splendid man1 ,tait1 of ,edinburgh1 who1 besides being a great professor of 8,natural ,philosophy10 and joint author of the celebrated treatise known as ,thomson and ,tait1 was a great athlete--a golfer of the first class1 a first-rate billiard player1 and a wise lover of good ale1 which he drank and gave to his friends to drink1 whilst he discoursed as few1 if any1 to my knowledge1 can now do1 of things philosophical1 mathematical1 and humane4 #bi4 ,the ,so-called ,jargon of ,science ,it is often discussed as to whether science fails to obtain the attention of the public and to excite intelligent interest1 owing to the obscure language which lecturers and writers use when attempting to expound scientific views and discoveries to 8the ordinary man10 or whether the fault lies with the 8ordinary man0 himself1 who is too frivolous to bother about following carefully the words addressed to him1 and1 moreover1 has never learnt even the ,a ,b ,c of science at school4 ,it is certainly the case1 as ,professor ,turner1 the ,oxford professor of astronomy1 has pointed out1 that a popular lecturer could tell his auditors a good deal more in an hour if they already had the elements of his subject at their fingers' ends than he can under the existing state of neglect of school education in the natural sciences4 ,that1 however1 seems to be obvious enough1 and does not touch the real question4 ,i have had a long experience1 both in lecturing myself and in assisting in the training of others to lecture and also to inform the uninstructed public by means of museum-labels and popular notes4 ,it seems to me that there are a large number of men who1 even though capable of expressing themselves clearly under usual circumstances1 yet fail to do so when trying to expound or to teach1 in consequence of three distinct faults1 any one of which is enough to render their discourse or writing hopelessly obscure to 8the man in the street40 ,these are1 first1 a kind of pride in using special terms and modes of expression which infatuates the lecturer or writer1 and leads him1 without reflection1 to an attitude of mind expressed by saying1 8,that is the correct statement about this matter1 short and true4 ,if you don't understand it1 there are others who can4 ,you can leave it alone2 it is not worth my while to spend time and trouble to explain further2 it is for you to give yourselves the trouble to find out what ,i mean40 ,the second fault is a real incapacity 7which occurs in many learned men7 to realise the state of mind of the uninstructed man1 woman or child who eagerly desires to be instructed3 this is want of imagination and want of sympathy4 ,there is no cure for those who fail as teachers for either of these two reasons4 ,the third fault is much more widely at work1 and the most kindly sympathetic lecturers and writers--but more especially lecturers--often suffer from it and could easily amend their practice4 ,it consists in the attempt to tell the audience or reader too much--vastly too much--in the limit of one hour1 or within the space of a few lines or pages4 ,this failure is well-nigh universal4 ,i have heard a distinguished discoverer1 an eloquent and able man1 try to tell a completely ignorant audience in one hour the results of years of experiment and work by many men on the electrical currents observed in nerves4 ,the audience did not know what is meant by an electrical current1 nor anything about nerves1 nor a single one of the technical terms necessarily used by the lecturer4 ,the task was an impossible one4 ,in six lectures it might have been accomplished1 and great delight and increase of understanding afforded to the listeners instead of perplexity and a sense of their own incapacity and the hopeless obscurity of science4 ,that1 ,i am convinced1 is the real trouble1 viz41 the attempt to tell too much in a short time1 the failure by the lecturer to arrange his exposition in a series of well-considered1 definite steps1 each exciting the desire to know more1 and each given sufficient time and experimental illustration or pictorial demonstration to lodge its meaning and value safely and soundly in the tender brain of the ignorant but willing listener4 ,i am convinced that there is in very many lecturers a tendency to try to crowd and compress into one lecture what should occupy ten--if the willing and intelligent but ignorant listener is to feel happy and is really to understand what is said and done for his instruction4 ,a special difficulty also arises from the fact that the lecturer often feels himself called upon to address and to say something to those among the audience who already know a good deal about his subject1 as well as to make things clear to those who are absolute novices4 ,some people have made this discussion the opportunity for attacking on the one hand the ,english language1 and on the other the use of special names applied by men of science to special things and special processes4 ,we cannot at once change the ,english language1 even did we wish to do so4 ,but the creation of special names to distinguish things not distinguished from one another in common speech is a necessity4 ,it cannot be avoided4 ,it is mere impatience and temper to call the names and terms which are necessary as counters of thought 8jargon40 ,no doubt there may be in some lecturers and writers a tendency to excessive use of special terms and names1 but the real trouble in the matter arises from the too rapid thrusting of a large number of such unfamiliar words upon an untrained audience4 ,if new words are introduced in moderation they can be assimilated4 ,they cannot be dispensed with altogether4 ,a correspondent lately complained to me that ,i wrote of the minute creature which causes the sleeping sickness as a ,trypanosome1 whereas1 had ,i called it 8a blood-parasite0 he would have known what ,i meant1 and been able to follow my statement more easily4 ,i am sorry to say that ,i cannot agree with him4 ,there are many kinds of blood-parasites2 there are the worms known as ,filari1 there are the vegetable microbes known as bacteria and bacilli and spirilla1 and there are minute creatures of an animal nature called pyroplasma and trypanosoma 7beside some others74 ,these must be distinguished from one another if we are to understand anything about the causation of disease by microbes4 ,it would be mere muddling and confusion to simply call them all by the same name1 simply 8blood parasite40 ,that would cause the same sort of confusion as would occur if the ,smiths or ,browns of our acquaintance had no ,christian names by which we can separate each member of the class from the others and assign to him his own special qualities1 opinions1 and property4 ,what some people call 8scientific jargon0 is assuredly not a thing to be proud of or to mouth with a sense of superiority4 ,nevertheless1 it is absolutely necessary1 and must be introduced gently and considerately to the stranger who can and will1 if reasonably handled1 appreciate the immeasurable advantage of having distinct words to signify distinct things4 ,that1 after all1 is an elementary feature in all language4 ,and just as the 8jargon0 of a game1 a sport1 or a profession has a fascination for those who use it1 and forms a bond of union or special understanding between them1 so inevitably does the jargon of a branch of science flourish in the thought and on the lips of those who devote themselves to that branch1 and bind them in a sort of freemasonry4 ,we do not expect cricketers or golfers to talk in plain ,english2 why should we expect chemists or naturalists to do so8 ,after all1 it is a question of moderation and of gradually increasing the dose4 ,the beginner must not be terrified by an array of outlandish words4 #cj4 ,rats and the ,plague ,rats6 ,who said rats8 ,that is an important question1 because the word means different things to different people4 ,to some persons 8rats0 means simply 8nonsense06 ,to ,sir ,james ,crichton ,browne it means the devastator of stores and the dread carrier of bubonic plague4 ,to the naturalist it means a group or natural cohort of small mammals similar to our common rat and mouse1 representatives of which are found in every quarter of the globe and in almost every island of the sea4 ,the distinct 8kinds0 or 8species0 are numbered by the hundred4 ,they are extraordinarily alike1 and can only be distinguished and classified into proper 8species0 by careful examination and measurement4 ,mr4 ,oldfield ,thomas1 of the ,natural ,history ,museum1 has made a special study of them4 ,to give an idea of his work1 it may be mentioned that ninety different names had been given by previous writers to as many apparently distinct kinds of rat occurring in ,india4 ,but by careful measurement and study of the relations to one another of these rats1 ,mr4 ,thomas has reduced the number of really distinct ,indian species of rats and mice 7for a mouse is only a smaller rat7 to nineteen4 ,what we call in ,english water-rats1 or water-voles1 field-voles1 and such little foreign beasts as the lemming and the hamster1 are very close to rats in appearance1 but are separated on account of clear differences of structure from true rats and mice4 ,at a meeting in ,london the total destruction of 8rats0 was advocated4 ,whether it was affirmed at the meeting1 or was merely an error of those who wrote and commented on the matter afterwards1 ,i do not know1 but it was very generally stated in this connection that the old ,black rat 7known to naturalists as ,mus rattus7 is quite extinct in ,england1 and that its place has been taken by the ,norwegian1 or ,grey rat 7,mus decumanus71 also called the ,hanoverian rat1 because it became noticeable by its abundance in this country at the time of the accession of the ,hanoverian kings4 ,the ,black rat is not extinct in ,england1 not even very rare4 ,mr4 ,stendall lately sent me specimens caught in his warehouse in the ,city of ,london1 where they are abundant4 ,in many localities1 e4g4 ,great ,yarmouth1 and in isolated dwelling-places they occur1 and even outnumber the ,norwegian rat4 ,a most important and remarkable fact is that the rats which infest ships are often all ,black rats4 ,the ,black rat1 or ,alexandrine rat 7as ,mr4 ,thomas calls it71 lives in our houses1 in the roof1 in recesses of woodwork4 ,it is a house rat1 whereas the ,grey1 or ,norwegian rat1 lives in the sewers and the banks of ditches1 and only comes up into the basement of houses through defective building4 ,the ,grey rat has driven out the water-voles from many river banks near towns1 just as he has to a great extent taken the place of the ,black rat in houses where the kitchen and food stores are close to and in communication with the sewer6 ,the ,black rat cannot be really distinguished by his blackness4 ,that is why some naturalists call him the ,alexandrine rat1 so as to avoid a misleading implication4 ,he is often of a bright yellowish-brown colour along the back--with longer dark-brown hairs and a good deal of grey elsewhere--quite like the ,norwegian or ,grey rat in colour4 ,at the same time he is often blackish1 and frequently very black4 ,the colour of all these kinds of rats and mice can vary1 according to the conditions and colour surroundings in which they live4 ,black1 white1 sandy-brown1 or a mixture of spots of all three colours1 or a uniform 8mouse-brown0 tint1 are 7as most boys know7 the possibilities revealed by allowing them to breed in captivity4 ,nature selects accordingly the particular tint which affords protection from observation by enemies in a given locality4 ,the real distinction between the ,black 7,alexandrine7 rat and the ,grey 7,norwegian7 rat is that the ,black rat is smaller1 has a tail longer than its body 7#abe per cent471 and long and wide ears1 which stand out from the head4 ,the ,grey 7,norwegian7 rat is a larger1 heavy-bodied rat1 with a tail shorter than its body 7#ij per cent471 and short ears4 ,both these rats are common in ,india1 but there is a third kind1 which is the commonest of the three in ,calcutta1 and is probably the one most concerned in the dissemination of plague4 ,it differs in some definite features from both the ,black rat and the ,grey rat1 although it is very much like the latter in general appearance4 ,it is called ,nesokia ,bengalensis1 or ,mole-rat4 ,it is a big rat--its tail is only #gj per cent4 the length of its body2 the pads on the soles of its feet differ from those of the two other rats2 its fur is thin and bristly1 and when it is put into a cage it erects its bristles and spits6 ,it is1 like the ,black rat1 a stable and granary rat1 and makes burrows in which it stores grain4 ,the rats of ,calcutta have been carefully studied lately by ,dr4 ,hossack1 in consequence of their connection with the bubonic plague4 ,in the older native parts of ,calcutta1 the ,mole rat is twice as common as the ,norwegian ,grey rat1 and the ,black rat not so abundant as the latter4 ,in the central ,european part of the town the ,grey rat is commoner than the ,mole rat--because1 apparently1 the better-built houses do not afford such facilities for burrowing4 ,the ,black rat is here also by a good deal the most uncommon of the three4 ,all these rats suffer from the plague1 die from it1 and the fleas which lived in their fur leave them as they get cold1 and make their way on to human beings1 whom they consequently infect with the plague bacillus4 ,this has now been quite conclusively proved by the ,indian doctors charged by ,government with the study of the causes of the plague4 ,the plague bacillus--a minute1 rod-like organism1 which grows in the blood and lymph1 once it has effected a lodgment1 and there produces deadly poison--was discovered some fourteen years ago1 but it is only recently that the plague bacillus has been shown to live in the intestine of the flea1 which sucks it up with the blood or other fluids of the rat on which it lives4 ,the flea1 which readily goes to man1 does not suffer from the plague bacilli which it has gorged1 but conveys them to man either by its bite or by its excrement4 ,this being so1 it becomes important to know all about the fleas of rats4 ,quite unexpected facts have been discovered in regard to them4 ,in ,europe a very large flea is found on the grey and the black rat4 ,this kind has not1 ,i believe1 ever been found on human beings or been known to bite them4 ,but in ,india1 in the ,philippines1 and in the ports of the ,mediterranean1 this northern rat-flea is rare1 and its place is taken by a smaller and more actively vagrant flea1 which ,mr4 ,charles ,rothschild 7who is the great authority on fleas7 found upon several different kinds of small animals in ,egypt4 ,he named it 8,pulex cheopis40 ,this is the flea 7and not our big northern rat-flea7 which acts as the carrier of plague-germs from rats to man in ,india4 ,it appears from experiments that the common flea of man 7,pulex irritans7 and the cat-and-dog flea 7,pulex felis71 as well as the big northern rat-flea 7,ceratophyllus fasciatus71 can harbour the plague-bacillus if fed on plague-stricken animals1 but there are no observations to show 7as there are about the 8,cheops flea07 that they pass habitually from man to rats and rats to men4 ,it is happily so long 7#bjj years7 since we had a real outbreak of plague in ,europe that we are still in doubt as to whether the ,grey rat or the ,black rat is the more susceptible to the disease--and what flea1 if any1 acts1 or has acted1 as the carrier from rat to man in this part of the world4 ,the suggestion has been made that the ,grey ,norwegian rat takes plague less easily than the ,black rat1 or than the ,indian ,mole-rat 7,nesokia71 and that the multiplication of the ,grey rat in ,england and ,france and consequent decrease in ,black rats1 is1 therefore1 an advantage1 so far as plague is concerned4 ,possibly with the ,grey rat has come the big rat-flea1 which does not attack man as does the ,cheops flea4 ,the disappearance of plague in ,western ,europe seems to correspond in date with the arrival of the ,grey rat4 ,but1 on the other hand1 an alteration in the character of our houses and their greater 8accommodation0 for the new rat rather than the old black species may account both for the increase of the latter and for the absence of dirt and vermin in the dwelling-rooms and bed-chambers which formerly enabled the plague-bacillus to flourish amongst us1 and to reach the human population--as it does now in ,india and ,china4 ,all this shows how necessary it is to have accurate true knowledge of such despised creatures as rats and fleas1 if we are to live in great crowded cities closely packed together4 ,and it should also make us try to gain further knowledge as to these creatures1 so that we may form a reasonable anticipation of the consequences we are bringing down on our heads when we set about exterminating this or that race of animals4 ,we are not yet sure that the ,norwegian ,grey rat is not a blessing in disguise4 #ca4 ,ancient ,temples and ,astronomy ,janssen1 the ,french astronomer1 who died about the same time as ,lord ,kelvin1 acquired celebrity by his discovery of a method for seeing and studying the great flames or prominences which surround the sun4 ,the glare of the great fiery ball is such that the eye is blinded in ordinary circumstances to the light of these prominences4 ,they were only known from their coming into view during the total eclipse of the sun's disc by the moon4 ,then they were seen as a great fringe of pointed1 tongue-like flames around the darkened disc4 ,but at other times no use of smoked glass or telescope could bring them into view4 ,janssen went to ,india in #ahfh to study these prominences of the sun during the total eclipse of that year4 ,his purpose was to examine with a spectroscope the light given out by the prominences4 ,the day after the eclipse ,janssen found that he could still examine the prominences and make out their shape and the chemical elements present in them by looking at them through the spectroscope1 although the sun's disc was now uncovered1 and it was impossible to see the prominences with the unaided eye or with the telescope4 ,a young ,english astronomer1 hundreds of miles apart from ,janssen1 on the same day1 ,aug4 #ah1 #ahfh1 made the same discovery in the same way1 independently4 ,the ,english astronomer was ,norman ,lockyer1 and the ,french ,academy of ,sciences caused a medal to be struck in commemoration of this discovery4 ,the medal is before me as ,i write4 ,it shows the heads of ,janssen and of ,lockyer side by side1 as they were forty years ago4 ,each has carried on his researches and discoveries with unabated vigour since that happy conjunction4 ,sir ,norman ,lockyer has for many years added to his constant study of the sun1 fixed stars1 and nebul by means of the spectroscope and photographic record of spectra1 an inquiry into the evidence afforded by astronomical facts first as to the age of ,greek and ,egyptian temples1 and latterly as to that of the mysterious avenues and circles of stones 7such as ,stonehenge7 scattered about the ,british ,islands1 of the history and use of which we have only vague traditions and no actual records4 ,these stone circles and avenues are very numerous in ,great ,britain4 ,the chief are ,stonehenge1 ,avebury1 and ,stanton ,drew in the middle ,south of ,england2 the ,hurlers1 ,boscawen-,un1 ,tregaseal1 the ,merry ,maidens1 and the ,nine ,maidens in ,cornwall2 ,merrivale ,avenue and ,fernworthy ,avenue in ,devon2 many circles in ,aberdeenshire1 in ,cumberland1 ,derbyshire1 and ,oxfordshire1 as well as monuments of the same kind in ,wales4 ,sir ,norman ,lockyer has obtained measurements of most of these and plans showing the relations of the principal lines of their ground plan to the points of the compass1 and so to the position occupied by the sun and by certain stars on given days of the year at the rising or setting of those heavenly bodies4 ,it may well be asked what is ,sir ,norman's object in doing this8 ,the explanation is as follows3 ,the builders of ,christian churches in ,europe have1 as a rule1 set out the ground plan of the church shaped like a ,latin cross1 so that the arms of the cross run north and south--the head points to the east1 or ,orient1 and the base to the west4 ,in consequence of this custom the word 8orientation0 has come into use1 to signify the direction purposely given to the main length of a temple or church4 ,now it appears that many1 if not all1 ancient temples 7including the ancient stone circles and avenues of ,britain7 were purposely so 8oriented0 by their builders that a particular star1 or the sun itself1 should at a fixed day and hour in the year be seen during its movement across the heavens through an opening in the building especially designed for this purpose1 so as to allow the light of the star to fall into the most sacred part of the temple1 the 8,naon10 or ,holy of ,holies4 ,at the moment of its appearance special ceremonies were performed by the priests and worshippers in the temple4 ,the temple was dedicated to and carefully 8oriented to0 that particular star4 ,thus1 in ancient ,greece1 the ,pleiades1 ,sirius 7the dog star71 ,spica1 and other stars were thus used2 in ,egypt1 ,capella1 ,canopus1 and ,alpha ,centauri2 in ,britain1 ,arcturus1 as well as those used by the ,greeks4 ,these temples were really astronomical observatories1 and were meant always to remain 8oriented0 to their special star1 which must1 if the earth were steady in its position1 although spinning like a top1 and also circling round the sun1 duly appear each year at the expected day and minute in the special 8window0 or aperture designed so as to allow the star--then1 and then only--to shine into the temple4 ,but the astronomers have discovered that the earth is not steady6 ,it 8wobbles0 very slowly and regularly as a top wobbles4 ,the position of the axis of rotation--corresponding in position to the stem of a top--does not remain one and the same1 but is pulled aside by the attraction of the sun and moon1 and moves round as one may often see in the spinning of a top4 ,the earth takes about #bf1jjj years for its poles to complete the cycle of its wobble4 ,moreover1 in addition to this1 there is the fact that the earth's axis 7stem of the top7 is not nearly upright1 but inclined at a considerable angle 7#bc deg47 to the horizontal or plane of its orbit round the sun1 and that this inclination very slowly changes1 in addition to the wobbling movement4 ,the amount and rate of these changes in the inclination of the axis of the earth have been definitely ascertained by astronomers4 ,i mention the nature of these movements because they clearly enough must upset altogether the desired result of the orientation of temples4 ,the last-mentioned slow increase of obliquity affects solar temples chiefly1 and the more rapid wobbling affects the star temples--both to such a degree that temples oriented two or three thousand years ago are now quite out of line1 and no longer 8catch10 so to speak1 their particular star or the sun on the appointed day4 ,they no longer point truly1 because the 8pitch0 of the earth has altered since they were set4 ,the next point is that astronomers are able to calculate with surprising accuracy from other observations how much exactly at this moment the 8pointing10 or 8alignment10 must be 8out0 as compared with a thousand1 fifteen hundred1 two1 three1 four1 or more thousand years ago4 ,accordingly1 if you know the star to which an ancient temple was set or aligned1 the day of the solar year which was the festival or critical moment of the appearance of the star in the sacred aperture--and how much the temple is to-day out in its pointing1 that is to say1 the exact amount of swinging which would bring the temple back into its original relation to the star--you have a means of measuring the age of the temple2 you have a measure of the time which has elapsed since it acquired this amount of departure from correct orientation4 ,astronomy tells you how much it must get out of line in every hundred years4 ,mr4 ,f4 ,c4 ,penrose1 ,f4,r4,s41 investigated this matter in regard to several ,greek temples2 others besides ,sir ,norman ,lockyer have written on the aberration and calculable age of ,egyptian temples4 ,it has1 for instance1 actually been found that the temple of ,ptah was aligned to the sun in the year #ebjj ,b4,c4 ,the alignment is no longer correct1 and it appears that the ,egyptians themselves discovered that some of their most ancient temples had lost correct alignment1 and erected new and corrected buildings in connection with them1 and re-dedicated them4 ,now ,sir ,norman is making a vigorous effort to procure all the possible measurements and indications concerning the prehistoric circles and avenues of ,britain before it is too late4 ,they are being more and more rapidly destroyed4 ,stonehenge has been carefully measured and its present alignment determined by various surveyors4 ,its age is discussed by ,sir ,norman ,lockyer in an interesting book1 but we may soon expect a further discussion of the whole subject of these prehistoric ,british monuments from his pen4 ,in some cases1 as in that of ,stonehenge1 the relation of the temple to the sun is obvious and confirmed by tradition and existing custom4 ,but in many cases investigation is rendered very difficult by the absence of any immediate indication of what precisely is the heavenly body to which the temple was at its foundation oriented4 ,in the case of ,stonehenge1 the conclusion at which ,sir ,norman ,lockyer arrives is that there was an earlier circle of small stones 7still represented71 but that the temple was rededicated1 and the larger trilithons 7each consisting of two uprights and a cross-piece7 erected1 and the main opening of the circle aligned to the midsummer rising sun about #agjj ,b4,c41 with a possible error of #bjj years1 more or less4 ,this is arrived at by measurements showing the exact amount by which the alignment is 8out0 at the present day4 ,this date is confirmed by the recent discovery of numerous stone hammers when one of the big stones was dug under and restored to the upright position from which it had slipped4 ,the stone age is believed to have given place in ,britain to the use of metal before #agjj ,b4,c41 and no metal tools were found at ,stonehenge4 ,stonehenge--the most wonderful1 mysterious1 and complete of the great astronomical temples of ,western ,europe--has come down to us from the absolute darkness of prehistoric ages4 ,its secrets are still buried in the ground around and under its huge monoliths4 ,this prodigious relic of the past is actually the private possession of one happy man1 ,sir ,edmund ,antrobus4 ,only two years ago he earned the gratitude of all men by employing workmen and machinery1 at considerable expense1 to restore one of the great stones to its upright position4 ,the extraordinary thing is that whatever money is needed for the purpose is not at once offered to enable him to examine and replace with scrupulous care every stone1 big and small1 every scrap of soil1 within an area of many hundred yards1 embracing ,stonehenge and all around it4 ,i understand that he is willing to sell this great possession to the nation4 ,it surely ought to be acquired as national property1 and reverently excavated and preserved1 whilst every fragment of significance found in the excavations should be placed in a special museum at ,amesbury or ,salisbury1 under unassailable guardianship4 ,year by year it has crumbled away4 ,we owe the sincerest thanks to ,sir ,edmund ,antrobus for having placed a light wire fence around the venerated relics1 and for putting a guardian in charge so as to arrest1 even at this latest moment1 the final desecration and destruction of this splendid thing by heedless ruffians4 ,the protection afforded is1 nevertheless1 insufficient4 ,the delay in examining everything on the spot and in making all that remains absolutely secure is a national disgrace4 #cb4 ,alchemists of ,to-day and ,yesterday ,the claim to have devised a secret process in virtue of which sugar or charcoal placed in an iron crucible and heated to a tremendous temperature is found on subsequent cooling to contain large marketable diamonds has a close similarity to the pretensions of the alchemists4 ,it differs in the fact that very minute diamonds have actually been formed by a scientific chemist 7,m4 ,moissan7 in such a way1 whilst the alchemists' search was for a substance--the 8philosopher's stone10 as it was called1 which was never discovered1 but was supposed to have the property1 if mixed and heated in a crucible with a base metal1 of converting the latter into gold4 ,from time to time those engaged in this search honestly thought that they had succeeded2 others were impostors1 and others laboured year after year1 led on by elusive results and dazzling possibilities4 ,in ,england1 after the true scientific spirit had been brought to bear on such inquiries by ,robert ,boyle and the founders of the ,royal ,society in the later years of the seventeenth century1 little was heard of 8alchemy10 and the word 8chemistry0 took its place1 signifying a new method of study in which the actual properties of bodies1 their combinations and decompositions1 were carefully ascertained and recorded without any prepossessions as to either the mythical philosopher's stone or the elixir of life4 ,but as late as #aghc--only a hundred and twenty-five years ago--we come across a strange and tragic history in the records of the ,royal ,society associated with the name of ,james ,price1 who was a gentleman commoner of ,magdalen ,hall1 ,oxford4 ,after graduating as ,m4,a41 in #aggg he was1 at the age of twenty-nine1 elected a ,fellow of the ,royal ,society of ,london4 ,in the following year the ,university of ,oxford conferred on him the degree of ,m4,d4 in recognition of his discoveries in natural science1 and especially for his chemical labours4 ,price was born in ,london in #ageb1 and his name was originally ,higginbotham1 but he changed it on receiving a fortune from a relative4 ,this fortunate young man1 whose abilities and character impressed and interested the learned men of the day1 provided himself with a laboratory at his country house at ,stoke1 near ,guildford4 ,here he carried on his researches1 and the year after that in which honours were conferred on him by his university and the great scientific society in ,london1 he invited a number of noblemen and gentlemen to his laboratory to witness the performance of seven experiments1 similar to those of the alchemists--namely1 the transmutation of baser metals into silver and into gold4 ,the ,lords ,onslow1 ,palmerston1 and ,king of that date were amongst the company4 ,price produced a white powder1 which he declared to be capable of converting fifty times its own weight of mercury into silver1 and a red powder1 which1 he said1 was capable of converting sixty times its own weight of mercury into gold4 ,the preparation of these powders was a secret1 and it was the discovery of them for which ,price claimed attention4 ,the experiments were made4 ,in seven successive trials the powders were mixed in a crucible with mercury1 first four crucibles1 with weighed quantities of the white powder1 and then three other crucibles with weighed quantities of the red powder4 ,silver and gold appeared in the crucibles after heating in a furnace1 as predicted by ,price4 ,the precious metal produced was examined by assayers and pronounced genuine4 ,specimens of the gold were exhibited to his ,majesty ,king ,george ,,iii41 and ,price published a pamphlet entitled 8,an ,account of ,some ,experiments1 c410 in which he repudiated the doctrine of the philosopher's stone1 but claimed that he had1 by laborious experiment1 discovered how to prepare these composite powders1 which were the practical realisation of that long-sought marvel4 ,he did not1 however1 reveal the secret of their preparation4 ,the greatest excitement was caused by this publication appearing under the name of ,james ,price1 ,m4,d4 7,oxon471 ,f4,r4,s4 ,it was translated into foreign languages1 and caused a tremendous commotion in the scientific world4 ,some of the older ,fellows of the ,royal ,society1 friends of ,price1 now urged him privately to make known his mode of preparing the powders1 and pointed out the propriety of his bringing his discovery before the society4 ,but this ,price refused to do4 ,to one of his friends he wrote that he feared he might have been deceived by the dealers who had sold mercury to him1 and that apparently it already contained gold4 ,he was urged by two leading ,fellows of the society to repeat his experiments in their presence1 and he thereupon wrote that the powders were exhausted1 and that the expense of making more was too great for him to bear1 whilst the labour involved had already affected his health1 and he feared to submit it to a further strain4 ,the ,royal ,society now interfered1 and the president 7,sir ,joseph ,banks7 and officers insisted that1 8for the honour of the society10 he must repeat the experiments before delegates of the society1 and show that his statements were truthful and his experiments without fraud4 ,under this pressure the unhappy ,dr4 ,price consented to repeat the experiments4 ,he undertook to prepare in six weeks ten powders similar to those which he had used in his public demonstration4 ,he appears to have been in a desperate state of mind1 knowing that he could not expect to deceive the experts of the society4 ,he hastily studied the works of some of the ,german alchemists as a forlorn hope1 trusting that he might chance upon a successful method in their writings4 ,he also prepared a bottle of laurel water1 a deadly poison4 ,three ,fellows of the ,royal ,society came on the appointed day1 in ,august1 #aghc1 to the laboratory1 near ,guildford4 ,it is related 7,i hope it is not true7 that one of them visited the laboratory the day before the trial1 and1 having obtained entrance by bribing the housekeeper in ,price's absence1 discovered that his crucibles had false bottoms and recesses in which gold or silver could be hidden before the quicksilver and powder were introduced4 ,dr4 ,price appears to have received his visitors1 but whether he commenced the test experiments in their presence or not does not appear4 ,when they were solemnly assembled in the laboratory he quietly drank a tumblerful of the laurel water 7hydrocyanic acid71 which he had prepared1 and fell dead before them4 ,he left a fortune of #ab1jjj in the ,funds4 ,it has been discussed whether ,dr4 ,price was a madman or an impostor4 ,probably vanity led him on to the course of deception which ended in this tragic way4 ,he could not bring himself to confess failure or deception1 nor to abscond4 ,he ended his trouble by suicide4 ,he was only thirty-one years of age6 ,not inappropriately he has been called the 8,last of the ,alchemists10 though a long interval of time separates him from the last but one and the days when the old traditions of the ,arabians' al-chemy were really treasured and the mystic art still practised4 #cc4 ,a ,story of ,sham ,diamonds and ,pearls ,it has been recently declared by a dealer in precious stones that though diamonds and other stones can be very well imitated1 yet pearls cannot be4 ,this is hardly correct1 as artificial pearls so well made as to defy detection by the casual glance of any but a professional expert are common enough4 ,who does not know the pathetic story by the greatest of ,french writers1 ,guy de ,maupassant1 of the wife of a poor ,government clerk1 who borrowed a necklace from another lady to wear at a reception at the 8,ministry08 ,she lost the necklace 7,i forget whether it was of pearls or of diamonds1 or both72 but she and her husband were too proud to confess the fact1 and purchased another necklace exactly like the lost one1 for a sum the outlay of which reduced them for the rest of their lives to a state of penury and social exile4 ,they returned the new necklace in place of the lost one without a word1 and accepted their fate4 ,by chance1 the poor ruined lady1 fifteen years afterwards1 met her old friend1 who had long since passed from her acquaintance1 together with other prosperous people4 ,moved by her former friend's kind reception1 she related the true history of the pearl necklace of long ago4 8,great heavens60 exclaimed the prosperous lady4 8,the necklace ,i lent you was made with imitation gems6 ,it was not worth five pounds60 ,too late6 ,nothing now could give back to the high-minded1 self-respecting little couple the lost years of youth passed in privation and bitterness4 #cd4 ,the ,nature of ,pearls ,pearls have been lately studied by zoologists1 and their true history made known4 ,they are a disease1 caused1 like so many other diseases1 by an infecting parasite4 ,it is common knowledge that they are found much as we see them in jewellery1 as little lustrous spheres embedded in the soft bodies of various shellfish1 such as mussels1 oysters1 and even some kinds of whelks4 ,they are not found in the shellfish like crabs and lobsters1 called ,crustacea1 but only in those like snails1 clams and oysters1 called ,mollusca4 ,pink pearls are found in some kinds of pink-shelled whelks4 ,a pearl-mussel or pearl-oyster has a pearly lining to its shell1 which is always being laid down layer by layer by the surface of the mussel's or oyster's body1 where it rests in contact with the shell1 which consequently increases in thickness4 ,if a grain of sand or a little fish gets in between the shell and the soft body of its maker1 it rapidly is coated over with a layer of pearl1 and so a pearly boss or lump is produced1 projecting on the inner face of the shell1 and forming part of it4 ,these are called 8blister-pearls10 and are very beautiful1 though of little value1 since they are not complete all round1 but merely knobs of the general 8mother-of-pearl0 surface4 ,these blister-pearls can be produced artificially by introducing a hard body between the shell and the living oyster or mussel4 ,it used to be thought that the true spherical pearls were caused by a hard granule of some kind pressing its way into the soft substance of the shell-fish1 pushing a layer of the pearl-producing surface like a pocket in front of it4 ,but it is now known that this 8pushing in0 is the work1 not of an inanimate granule1 but of a minute parasitic worm1 which becomes thus enclosed by a pocket of the outer skin4 ,the pocket closes up at its neck1 and lays down layer after layer of pearl substance around the intrusive parasite1 the dead remains of which can be detected with the microscope in sections of the pearl forming there a central kernel or nucleus4 ,these parasitic worms were first detected in the small pearls formed by the common edible sea-mussel4 ,though they are very small1 sea-mussel pearls are collected for the market at ,conway1 in ,north ,wales1 and also on the coast of ,france4 ,the parasitic worm is the young of a worm which1 when adult1 lives in the intestine of carnivorous fishes4 ,it appears that it has to pass from and with the mussel into shellfish-eating sea fishes1 where1 although the mussel is digested1 the parasite is not1 but grows in size and alters its shape considerably4 ,then after a time the worm is swallowed1 with the fish in which it has fixed itself1 by sharks1 dogfish1 and such fish-eating fishes4 ,in these at last it becomes adult and of some size1 an inch or so long1 varying according to the particular kind1 and produces many thousands of eggs1 which hatch out as minute creatures swimming in the sea-water1 and fortunate if they fall upon a bed of mussels4 ,they enter the mussel's shell and make their way into its soft substance4 ,a certain number 7very few7 get encased in the skin and covered up by pearl-layers1 which is the mussel's way of killing them and putting them out of mischief4 ,the others which have entered other regions of the mussel's body thrive1 and have a chance of being swallowed by a mussel-eating fish1 and then a further chance of that fish being eaten by a shark4 ,if this happens the lucky worm--like the ,italian who gets a winning number in three successive drawings of a lottery--gains the big prize4 ,he becomes adult and produces innumerable young1 who in their turn enter upon the chanceful career of a mussel parasite4 ,thus we see that a pearl is not only a disease or abnormal growth caused by a parasite1 but is actually an elaborately formed tomb or sarcophagus1 in which the parasite is enclosed layer upon layer4 ,this mode of disposing of parasites and other intrusive bodies is not unusual in animals4 ,the terrible little flesh-worm--the ,trichina--which causes the death of rats1 pigs1 and men who eat raw meat1 is sometimes conquered in this way4 ,it is found in the muscles 7flesh7 of man and animals enclosed in little pearl-like sacs1 half the size of a hempseed1 and it dies there1 unless the invaded animal should die1 and its flesh be eaten 7as raw ham for instance7 by another animal4 ,the burying of inconvenient corpses in plaster of paris1 corresponding to pearls as we now know them1 has been a method of concealment occasionally adopted by criminals4 ,on the whole1 pearls have not very pleasant associations4 ,the history of the special parasitic worm which invades the beautiful little pearl-oyster of ,ceylon has recently been followed out by skilful naturalists4 ,there1 too1 a smaller oyster-eating fish of a peculiar kind1 and a larger fish which eats the first fish1 are necessary for the reproduction and multiplication of the pearl-producing parasites4 ,the new ,ceylon ,pearl-,fishing ,company has1 therefore1 to see to it that both these kinds of fish are encouraged to live in the sea near where the pearl oysters are found1 and it is their object to increase the parasitic disease by which pearls are formed1 and ensure an abundance of parasites4 ,an interesting new method has been recently applied to the examination of pearl oysters for pearls4 ,the ,rontgen rays are used to produce a skiagraph 7such as surgeons use in searching for a bullet7 of the pearl oysters when brought into harbour4 ,they are thus rapidly examined one by one1 without injury1 and the shadow-picture shows the pearl or pearls inside those oysters which are infected4 ,the pearlless oysters are returned to the depths of the sea1 whence they came--those with small pearls only are kept in special reserves or sea-lakes1 in order that the pearl may grow in size1 whilst only those with good-sized pearls are opened at once1 in order that the pearl may be extracted and sent to market4 ,there were great findings of pearls in the fresh-water pearl mussels of the ,scotch rivers in former days4 ,in the last forty years of the eighteenth century these pearls were exported from ,scotland to ,france to the value of #ajj1jjj4 ,in the eighteenth century not only did they get their pearls from ,european rivers instead of from the ,east2 but1 instead of being excited about the artificial production of diamonds1 they were driven wild with astonishment by the demonstration of the volatilisation of these stones--the disappearance of diamonds into invisible vapour when sufficiently heated4 ,that the hardest stone in nature could be thus dissipated into thin air seemed incredible4 ,on ,aug4 #aj1 #agga1 a chemist named ,rouelle invited to his laboratory to witness this wonder a company comprising the ,margrave of ,baden and the ,princess his wife1 the ,dukes of ,chaulne and of ,nivernois1 the ,marchionesses of ,nesle and of ,pons1 the ,countess of ,polignac1 and some members of the ,academy of ,sciences1 including the great chemist ,lavoisier4 ,four diamonds--the largest belonging to the ,count ,lauraguais--were submitted before the eyes of all to the heat of a furnace1 and in three hours had completely evaporated4 ,there was1 no doubt1 room here for a mystification and for the abstraction of the diamonds with a view to dishonest appropriation4 ,but no such purpose existed4 ,the experiment was a genuine one1 and ,rouelle and his brother were honest investigators4 ,they established the fact1 now demonstrated as a lecture experiment1 that the diamond is volatilised at very high temperatures4 ,a more celebrated 8evaporation0 of diamonds--that which is known as 8the affair of the ,queen's necklace0--took place a few years later in ,paris1 when no scientific investigation was connected with the embarrassing disappearance of the ,royal trinket4 #ce4 ,a ,king ,who was a ,zoologist ,the ,king of ,portugal1 ,carlos di ,braganza1 who was assassinated in the spring of #aijh1 was one of the most gifted and vigorous men of his age1 fearless and intelligent to a rare degree1 good-hearted1 and devoted to the welfare of his people4 ,if any man were justified in having no fear of outrage because he was conscious that his uprightness was proved and known to all men1 his benevolence experienced by all1 his ability and vast knowledge recognised by all1 ,dom ,carlos was that man4 ,fanaticism1 however1 takes no account of the virtues of its victims4 ,until society has invented a method for keeping instruments of destruction out of the reach of dangerous1 more or less maniacal individuals1 all those who excite the fanatic's brain1 even by the excellence and nobility of their lives1 risk death whenever they trust themselves to the tender mercies of a crowd4 ,psychology may one day enable us to detect1 and improved supervision of children enable us to segregate before it is too late1 the latent assassins in our midst4 ,if they have not a king as their quarry their reason is palsied by a president1 and were there no presidents1 they would become homicidal in the presence of a prefect or a policeman--even of a professor4 ,some four years ago ,i had the honour of conducting ,dom ,carlos round the ,natural ,history ,museum in ,cromwell ,road4 ,he arrived without attendant or escort1 and ,i passed two hours alone with him4 ,i had been told that he was a great shot and fond of natural history1 that he played every athletic game1 rode1 and swam better than the best1 that he was a fine water-colour painter1 a real artist--and a first-rate musician and singer4 ,i was astonished at his knowledge and personal experience in natural history4 ,his burly form and bright1 honest face gave me a most agreeable impression1 and when he said 7as ,i had been told he would7 to each explanation of a specimen upon which ,i ventured for his edification1 8,i know6 ,i know60 felt that it was true1 and that he really did know4 8,i have shot thirty of them in the south of my country10 he said of some rare bird4 8,i know6 ,i know6 ,i have described a new species like that in my book on the birds of ,portugal4 ,i shall send it to you60 was his comment on another4 ,when we came to some wonderful coral-like specimens--sea-pens and sea-feathers1 dredged in the deep sea and preserved in spirits1 for exhibition in the ,museum--he said1 to my astonishment1 8,those are very bad4 ,i get much better than those in my yacht off the ,portuguese coast4 ,i preserve them myself2 it is a real art4 ,i shall send you some40 ,i said they would be a very welcome addition4 8,yes1 ,i know6 ,i know60 he said4 8,would you like some fishes1 too8 ,the ,prince of ,monaco has some fine things1 and he led me to collect also myself4 ,i have now many things better than his4 ,i shall send you some fishes1 too40 ,and he did4 ,a few months after his return to ,portugal he sent to the ,museum a large collection1 preserved in spirit1 which included many very fine and interesting specimens of deep-water ,atlantic fishes2 also his work1 with coloured plates1 on the ,birds of ,portugal1 and a most remarkable publication on the tunny fisheries of the ,south ,coast of ,portugal--giving a careful survey of the waters1 sea bottom1 currents1 fauna1 and flora in correct1 expert form1 such as might issue from a ,government ,fisheries ,board1 but in this case done1 as modestly indicated on the title-page1 by the ,head of the ,state himself1 8,dom ,carlos di ,braganza40 ,he went into the work-rooms of the ,museum1 where some new fishes were being drawn1 and conversed with the naturalist in charge1 and criticised the drawings4 ,he saw everything1 appreciated everything1 and then looking at his watch1 said1 8,i have only five minutes to get to a lunch party4 ,thank you very much for the most delightful time4 ,i should like to stay all the day2 it is a splendid place10 and was off in his brougham4 ,i exhibited the specimens and books sent by his ,majesty for some weeks in the ,central ,hall of the museum1 before they were incorporated in the great collection1 for ,i felt that it was a rare and interesting thing that a king should not merely take a sportsman's pleasure in birds1 beasts1 and fishes1 but actually be1 so to speak1 8one of us0--a zoologist who discovers1 describes1 and names new things4 ,the ,prince of ,monaco is the only other head of a ,state who is a serious scientific naturalist4 ,he has built and endowed a magnificent museum and laboratory at ,monaco1 where his skilled assistants carry on researches and look after the extremely valuable and important collections which he has himself made in a series of cruises in the ,atlantic extending over many years4 ,he has not only employed capable naturalists to help him1 but is himself the chief authority and an original discoverer in 8oceanography10 the science of the great oceans4 ,a year or so ago1 when ,dom ,carlos visited ,paris1 a special fte and reception was organised in his honour at the 8,musum d',histoire ,naturelle10 in the ,jardin des ,plantes4 ,the 8,museum0 of the ,jardin des ,plantes is a very remarkable institution1 including a zoological and botanical garden1 laboratories of chemistry1 physics1 and physiology1 besides the great collections of minerals1 fossils1 skeletons1 and preserved specimens of animals and plants4 ,it is governed by the professors and the director who are in charge of the garden1 the laboratories1 and the collections1 and owes its dignity and its celebrity to the distinguished men of science who for a century and a half have made discoveries and taught there4 ,they are not subject to a board of eminent and wealthy persons1 nor is the administration of the antiquities at the ,louvre and of the ,national ,library muddled up with that of the great scientific workshop of ,natural ,history4 ,when the ,president of the ,republic conceived the plan of entertaining the ,king of ,portugal at the ,museum of ,natural ,history there were those who supposed that the ,minister of ,education would1 as a great ,state official1 be called upon to arrange the proceedings4 ,nothing of the sort was done4 ,it was found that the ,minister had no authority in regard to the ,museum1 which1 as an independent ,state institution1 organised and carried out the reception through its own officers4 ,the director and professors received ,president ,fallires and the ,king1 escorted by the troops of the ,republic4 ,the garden and buildings were ablaze with light and colour1 and a large company assembled to take part in the fte4 ,in the great hall of the museum ,becquerel1 ,moissan1 and others showed their most recent discoveries as to radium1 artificial diamonds1 and such matters to the ,king2 others exhibited new birds and fishes1 the okapi and newly-discovered fossils1 and briefly explained their history and significance4 ,the ,king conferred decorations on the scientific staff1 and gave friendly acknowledgments to all who had thus sought to gratify his special tastes1 and prepared for him a really exceptional gala-demonstration of scientific discovery4 ,the official 8middle-men10 who in other countries contrive to divert the honour and emoluments due to men of science1 to their own profit1 were on this occasion happily kept at a distance4 #cf4 ,the ,transmission to ,offspring of ,acquired ,qualities ,the cruel fate of ,dom ,carlos of ,portugal naturally enough produced philosophic and thoughtful articles in some of the journals of the day4 ,an able writer told his readers that the 8kingly caste0 has characteristics peculiar to itself1 8which illustrate the ,darwinian law40 ,he does not say what ,darwinian law1 and ,i am afraid he would find it difficult to do so4 ,he says that people who for centuries have had their own way 7how many kingly families have done so871 who have always lived on good food and never tasted bad wine1 and have constantly conversed with interesting people 7not usually the chance of princes67 must certainly1 if subject to 8the laws which govern animal and plant life10 produce well-marked characteristics in their offspring--and he goes on to speak of a fine appetite for food 7what he describes is really a morbid condition connected with indigestion7 as indigenous to ,royalty1 and declares that the gift of recognising faces and remembering names is 8a faculty cultivated by generations of practice40 ,one must recognise with satisfaction the desire to explain the facts and varieties of human life and character by reference to 8the laws which govern animal and plant life40 ,it is by faithfully and truly carrying out the inquiries suggested by that desire that the knowledge which is the sole and absolutely essential condition for the safe conduct of human life and the increased happiness of human communities1 can be obtained1 and by such inquiries only2 and1 further1 only upon the condition that the investigation is conducted in the true scientific spirit with accuracy and without prejudice4 ,the remarks upon the kingly caste which ,i have quoted above show with what 8legerity and temerity0 a clever and respected writer will formulate phrases and conclusions which are1 in face of what ,darwin and his successors have demonstrated1 absurdly erroneous1 in fact1 topsy-turvy as compared with the reality4 ,the main doctrine which ,darwin and his followers have established is that neither castes nor families of higher or lower living things1 including man1 acquire any new characteristics by exposure to special circumstances or by consuming finer or coarser food1 which can or do become innate or fixed in the race4 ,the individual may be improved or depraved1 enlarged or enfeebled1 by the conditions of his individual life1 but he cannot transmit the qualities--the improvement1 the depravity1 the enlargement1 or the dwindling--which have been thus attained by him to his offspring4 ,the race cannot be changed in this way4 ,all the parents can transmit is the quality which they themselves have inherited of resisting or of collapsing1 of becoming enfeebled1 or of showing strength and vigour1 under certain given conditions4 ,the characteristics of ,royalty are not characteristics brought about by the ,royal state1 any more than the characteristics of ,english race-horses are brought about by the racing state or by life in a breeder's stable4 ,the characteristics of ,royalty are like those of other living things1 the characteristics of a certain family or blend of families or strains4 ,whatever characteristics distinct ,royal families have in common with one another are not due to the existence of a natural law in virtue of which the occupations and opportunities of the ,royal state produce 8faculties0 or 8characteristics0 in the 8blood0 or 8stock40 ,such similarity of characteristics is due either to the similarity of the demands and conditions of ,court life in all parts of ,europe1 acting as an educating force on the individual1 or to the intermarrying and consequent blending of family characteristics among a large proportion of the ,royal ,houses at present existing4 ,it is very difficult--indeed impossible until much more is written and read on the subjects of breeding and of psychology--to persuade people to abandon the notion that a man who has drunk good wine and conversed with interesting people will1 as a direct result1 transmit something which he has 8taken up0 or absorbed from the good wine and the clever people to his offspring1 and that a faculty for this or that art or accomplishment cultivated by generation after generation is increased thereby1 and transferred as it were into the very vitals of the race--the reproductive germs which each individual has within him4 ,there is no truth whatever in these fancies4 ,they are popular and very natural delusions1 which are not only devoid of direct proof by simple observation and experiment1 such as that made by all breeders of stock and by medical men1 but are also contrary to the great general principles which have been found to explain the varied and most important facts known as to breeding1 inheritance1 and variation4 ,the same erroneous theory of inheritance now applied to royalty has been put forward in regard to the feeble-minded1 the ill-grown1 and the incapable at the other end of the social scale4 ,the only way in which a quality1 good or bad1 desirable or undesirable1 is intensified1 made inherent and dominant in a race or strain or family1 is by selective breeding--selection due to natural rejection of those individuals not possessing the quality1 or to artificial rejection of such individuals by the stock owner and breeder4 ,no human maker of breeds--whether of cattle1 horses1 birds1 or plants--ever yet proceeded by exercising1 feeding1 educating1 or otherwise manipulating his sires and dams2 he simply selects those as parents which by natural variation have the quality1 more or less1 which he desires1 and he destroys or sterilises those which fail to satisfy his requirements4 ,he is perfectly confident that in this way he can ensure the reproduction and exaggeration or dominance of the characteristics which he desires2 he knows that he cannot obtain a 8strain0 or 8breed0 by any treatment1 any feeding1 or education of those which are born without the natural1 innate possession of the desired quality1 in a more or less marked degree4 ,once the characteristic turns up as a congenital variation1 it can be intensified by coupling its possessor with a mate of like quality2 but both sire and dam have to be rigidly selected with this purpose in view4 ,such methods are not adopted in human families1 even royal ones4 ,in considering these questions as to characteristic qualities or want of qualities in groups and classes of human communities1 we see then that we have in the first instance to distinguish very broadly between the body or structure of the individual1 and the 8stirps0 or germ of the race which he carries within him4 ,the former may be vastly changed for the better or worse as compared with average individuals1 without affecting in any way the latter4 ,the germ is carried by the individual member of the race in an almost complete state of isolation or safety from the influences which affect the individual's structure generally 7his body as distinct from his germinal or reproductive substance7 injuriously or beneficially4 ,the germ varies also1 but independently4 ,that is a matter of primary importance4 ,equally important in the case of man is a peculiarity which affects his manifestation of qualities in a way unknown in any other living thing4 ,human society1 in more marked and dominating form1 in proportion as it is what we call 8civilised10 has created for itself an inheritance which is not dependent on the variations of strains and the laws of actual breeding4 ,over and above--very much above--what each man inherits in the form of qualities and characteristics of his special family and stock--is the enormous mass of accumulated experience1 knowledge1 tradition1 custom1 and law--which pervades and envelops1 as it were1 the mere physical generations of this or that pullulating crowd of human individuals4 ,tradition1 at first conveyed by gesture and imitativeness from parents to offspring1 then by word of mouth1 then by writing1 and finally by printed record1 sanctioned and enforced by all kinds of persuasion and compulsion--has culminated in an educative discipline which affects every individual in the community in the most powerful way--and constitutes an inheritance of a significance and activity altogether transcending1 and independent of that due to the physical transmission of bodily and mental qualities4 ,public opinion1 law1 knowledge1 belief1 custom1 and habit exist1 and pursue their own course of change1 as it were1 outside the successive bodily generations of a population4 ,yet they determine in very large measure the characteristics which each class1 and the community as a whole1 exhibit4 ,we have to distinguish those results which are due to physical heredity1 similar in man and in animals--from results due to this all-powerful education peculiar to man--education1 which for civilised man proceeds from almost innumerable sources--from parents1 nurses1 playfellows1 companions1 social1 professional1 and political organisations1 as well as from the professed teacher1 and from the local peculiarities of the simplest conditions of life4 ,hence it is that man inherits very little in the way of ready-made instincts1 tricks of his nervous mechanism--but1 on the contrary1 has an enormously long period of individual growth and education1 and inherits 8educability0 to a degree which varies in every family and race4 ,to estimate correctly1 and so to deal with these various factors in human life1 we require to know in detail the laws of breeding1 heredity1 variation1 and selection in animals1 and1 further1 the laws or formulated results of enquiry as to the 8educability0 of the human being1 the range and the limits of 8education10 the relation of hereditary quality to education1 the causes of mental aberration and defect1 of mental qualities of all kinds1 the value and the dangers of all kinds of educational influences1 whether physical1 social1 or intellectual4 ,these are matters in regard to which there must be in the future more and more of common knowledge and agreement2 at present they are lightly touched by politicians and journalists in a way which is inconsistent with a knowledge of the facts or of their importance4 ,when publicists airily declare that the virtues of kings and the vices of paupers are both due to the hereditary transmission of characters acquired by the peculiarities of diet and exercise of the progenitors of these classes it is time to protest4 ,to cite the name of ,darwin and 8the laws which govern animal and plant life10 in support instead of in condemnation of such baseless fancies1 is1 one must suppose1 an evidence1 not of a desire to mislead1 but of a regrettable indifference to the conclusions of that branch of human knowledge which is of more importance than any other to the statesman and the philanthropist4 8,selection10 whether due to survival in the struggle for existence or exercised by man as a 8breeder0 or 8fancier10 is the only way in which new characteristics1 good or bad1 can be implanted in a race or stock1 and become part of the hereditary quality of that race or stock4 ,this applies equally to man and to animals and plants4 ,and this selection is no temporary or casual thing4 ,it means 8the selection for breeding0 of those individuals which spontaneously by the innate variability which all living things show 7so that no two individuals are exactly alike7 have exhibited from birth onwards1 more or less clearly1 indications of the characteristic which is to be selected4 ,nothing done to them after birth1 and not done to others of their family or race1 causes the desired characteristic2 it appears unexpectedly1 almost unaccountably as an in-born quality4 ,it may be a slight difference only1 not easy to take note of2 but if it enables those who possess it to get the better of their competitors in the struggle for life1 they will survive and mate and so transmit their characteristic to the next generation1 whilst those who do not possess it and are beaten in life and fail to obtain food1 safety1 and mates1 will perish and disappear1 and their defective strain will perish with them4 #cg4 ,variation and ,selection ,among ,living ,things ,selection is not a thing once done and then dropped--natural selection is continuous and never-ending1 except in rare and special circumstances1 such as man may bring about by his interference1 and then it does not really cease but only changes its demand4 ,the characteristics of a race or species are maintained by natural selection1 just as much as they are produced by it4 ,cessation of a previously active selection 7which is sometimes brought about by exceptional conditions7 results in a departure of the individuals of the race1 no longer subject to that selection1 from the standard of form and characteristics previously maintained4 ,to understand this1 we must consider for a moment the great property of living things1 which is called 8variation40 ,no two animals1 or plants even1 when born of the same parents1 are ever exactly alike4 ,not only that1 but if we look at a great number of individuals of a race or stock1 we find that some are very different from the others1 in colour1 in proportion of parts1 in character1 and other qualities4 ,as a rule it is difficult to look at such a number1 because in ,nature only two on the average out of many hundreds1 sometimes thousands1 born from a single pair of parents1 grow up to take their parents' place1 and these two are those 8selected0 by natural survival on account of their close resemblance to the parents4 ,but if we experimentally rear all the offspring of a plant or animal to full growth--not allowing them to perish by competition for food1 or place1 or by inability to escape enemies--then we see more clearly how great is the in-born variation1 how many and wide are the departures from the favoured standard form which are naturally born and owe their peculiarities to this birth-quality--called innate or congenital variation--and not to anything which happens to them afterwards differing from what happens to their brothers and sisters4 ,of course1 we are all familiar with this 8congenital or innate variation10 as shown by brothers and sisters in human families4 ,how and why do innate variations arise8 ,they arise from chemical and mechanical action upon the 8germs0 or reproductive cells contained in the body of the parents1 and also sometimes from the mating in reproduction of two strains or races which are already different from one another4 ,when an animal or plant is given unaccustomed food or brought up in new surroundings 7as1 for instance1 in captivity7 its germs are affected1 and they produce variations in the next generation more abundantly4 ,the best analogy for what occurs is that of a 8shaking up0 or disturbance of the particles of the germ or reproductive material1 somewhat as the beads and bits of glass in a kaleidoscope are shaken and change from one well-balanced arrangement to another4 ,and the same analogy applies to the crossing or fertilising of 8strain0 or 8race0 by another differing from it4 ,a disturbance is the consequence1 and a departure in the form and character of the young from anything arrived at before often takes place4 ,these variations have no necessary fitness or correspondence to the changed conditions which have produced them4 ,they are1 so to speak1 departures in all and every direction--not very great1 but still great enough to be selected by survival if occurring in wild extra-human nature1 and obvious enough when produced in cultivated animals and plants to be seen and selected by man1 the stock-breeder or fancier4 ,indeed the stock-breeder and horticulturist go to work in this way deliberately4 ,though when they have fattened an animal or fed up a plant they cannot make it transmit its fatness or increased size to its offspring1 yet they can1 by special feeding and change of conditions of life--or by cross-breeding--break up the fixed tendency or quality of the germs within the parents so treated4 ,thus they get offspring produced which show strange and unexpected variations of many kinds--new feathers1 new colours1 new shapes of leaf1 increased size of root1 length of limb--all kinds of variations4 ,from the congenital varieties thus produced by 8stirring up10 8breaking down10 or disturbing the germ-matter 7germ-plasm7 of the parents1 the breeder next proceeds to select and mate those which show the character which suits his fancy1 whilst he destroys or rejects the others4 ,thus he establishes1 and by repeated selection in every generation maintains1 and if he desires increases1 the characteristics which he values4 ,birth-variation is then an inherent property of living things 7including man7 as much as heredity1 which is the name for the property expressed in the resemblance of offspring to parent4 ,and birth-variation1 or congenital variation--that is to say1 the being born with a power to grow into something different 7not greatly1 but still obviously1 different7 from their parents or ancestry1 and from their brethren and cousins1 though not subjected after birth to any treatment or conditions differing from those common to all of them--is a quality of living things which must be distinguished altogether from the power of the individual itself1 though not born with qualities differing from those of its brothers and sisters1 to vary or change in some respects as compared with other individuals when it is specially fed or exposed to special treatment4 ,the first is change1 or variation1 of the 8stirps10 or germ plasm2 the second is change1 or variation1 of the transient body of the individual4 ,the first is indefinite and may be of almost any kind or form2 once it has appeared1 it is a permanent possession of the race descended from its owner4 ,the second is definite and a direct reaction to the environment4 ,such an individually induced or stimulated change is often called an 8acquired character40 ,it does not affect the stirps1 the inner reproductive germs1 and cannot be handed on by inheritance to a new generation4 ,what happens1 then1 when there is a cessation of selection8 ,all sorts of birth-variations appear and grow up4 ,the fine adjustment of form--maintained by natural selection carried on unceasingly--no longer obtains4 ,the characteristics of the race become less emphasised4 ,all sorts of birth-variations have an equal chance1 and the tendency must be for those characteristics which have most recently been established and maintained by severe selection to dwindle and then to disappear altogether4 ,the majority of birth-variations will--when selection is prevented--always tend to present a lessened1 rather than an increased1 development of any one characteristic--the excelling minority will no longer be selected1 but all will have an equal chance in mating and reproducing4 ,hence1 bit by bit1 all salient features1 all the characteristics of the race previously maintained by selection1 will1 as a result of survival of all variations and general crossing and interbreeding--dwindle and disappear4 ,it is to this process that the term 8degeneration0 has been applied by biologists4 ,how far it may go1 and what are its limits and various outcomes1 ,i cannot now discuss4 ,it is sometimes spoken of as 8retrogression0--which implies wrongly a return to a previous state4 ,from some points of view it might be called 8simplification40 ,the point to which ,i have been making is this--that civilised mankind appears to be very nearly in regard to most points of structure and quality in a condition of 8cessation of selection40 ,it is the better-provided and well-fed1 well-clothed1 protected classes of the community1 in which this cessation of selection is most complete4 ,racial degeneration is1 therefore1 to be looked for in those classes quite as much as in the half-starved1 ill-clad1 struggling poor1 if1 indeed1 it should not be expected to be more strongly marked in them4 ,there are facts which tend to show that such anticipations are well-founded4 ,this is a matter requiring further discussion4 ,it is probable1 ,i may say in anticipation1 that whilst natural selection in the struggle for existence is only obscurely operative 7except as to alcoholism and some diseases7 in civilised man1 yet what ,mr4 ,darwin called sexual selection--the influence of preference in mating--has an important scope1 and it may be that hereafter it will be of enormous importance in maintaining the quality of the race4 ,meanwhile1 it seems that the unregulated increase of the population1 the indiscriminate1 unquestioning protection of infant life and of adult life also--without selection or limitation--must lead to results which can only be described as general degeneration4 ,how far such a conclusion is justified1 and what are possible modifying or counteracting influences at work which may affect the future of mankind1 are questions of surpassing interest4 ,in any case1 it is interesting to note that the cessation of selection is more complete1 and the consequent degeneration of the race would1 therefore1 seem to be more probable in the higher propertied classes than in the bare-footed toilers1 whose ranks are thinned by starvation and early death4 ,one may well ask1 8,is this really so80 #ch4 ,the ,movement1 ,growth1 and ,dwindling of ,glaciers ,last summer we were watching the gradual change of the brilliant sunlight on the snows of ,mont ,blanc as the shadows crept up the pine-covered sides of the valley of ,chamonix4 ,we noted how the highest peak--the true summit of ,mont ,blanc--remained almost white and brilliant when the somewhat lower and nearer ,dome de ,gouter 7so often1 when clouds are about1 mistaken for the true summit by tourists7 had assumed a marvellous shade of saffron-rose colour4 ,the crevasses of the glaciers were marked by an unearthly pale-green tint and delicate purple hues of weird beauty were spreading over the evanescent forms of the great snow-field1 when one of the hotel guests--a citizen of ,geneva--said1 8,ah1 yes6 ,look at them whilst you may1 and wonder at them1 those glaciers of the ,alps4 ,they are but the remnants1 the roots1 as it were1 of the vast glacier which once filled the whole of this vale of ,chamonix and spread down into the valley of the ,rhone1 and ploughed out with the slow movement of its huge mass the deep rock basin of the ,lake ,leman4 ,every year they dwindle1 as they have dwindled for ages past1 and soon--perhaps not more than another #ajj years hence--they will have disappeared utterly from human sight and knowledge40 ,i continued to gaze at the scene1 and as the night fell and the distant details were lost to view ,i felt as though a venerable1 but decrepit1 friend had passed from my sight1 never to return4 ,i was rejoiced to see the glaciers still there when the morning sun showed forth their strange opaque white and faintly green masses on the mountain sides--stupendous outpourings1 as it were1 of whipped cream tinted with pistachio-nut4 ,but was it true1 that lament of the ,genevese savant8 ,undoubtedly the glaciers in many parts of the ,alps have been shrinking for the last thirty years4 ,it is longer than that since ,i first saw the glaciers of the ,chamonix valley1 and there is no doubt that they have shrunk up since then1 leaving acres of boulders and bare polished rock where was the ice ,i formerly climbed4 ,the glacier of ,argentire1 near the upper end of the valley1 is a mile or more shorter than it was2 the ice caves which we used to visit at the foot of the ,mer de ,glace have melted away1 and the end of the glacier is now high up above a precipitous surface of polished rock far from the site of the little pavilion1 with its gay flag and amiable guardian1 who used to exhibit the marvellous ice cavern4 ,i find on looking into the matter that it is true that there has1 during the latter half of the past century1 been a great dwindling of the lower end or 8snout10 a drawing back1 as it were1 not only of ,swiss glaciers1 but of glaciers in other parts of the world--as1 for instance1 in ,alaska and in the ,himalayas4 ,but ,i cannot avoid a feeling of satisfaction in recording the opinion of geological authorities that1 contrary to the assertion of the ,swiss pessimist1 there is not any ground for believing that the present noticeable shrinking is due to a continuous process by which the enormous glaciers of remote ages have been incessantly reduced until now they are but rootlets or stumps of the former masses1 destined to evaporate completely under the continued remorseless operation of increasing temperature4 ,on the contrary1 it appears that1 though there are not accurate records and measurements as to past centuries as there will be as to present and future years1 yet there is abundant evidence that ,alpine glaciers have grown longer in some centuries and retreated in others4 ,the period of alternate extension and retraction has not been ascertained with accuracy1 but by some geologists it is supposed to be about fifty years4 ,the retraction or shrinking is not due to a continuous increase of the temperature of the earth's atmosphere--or of this hemisphere--but to contending causes which operate alternately towards increase and towards decrease when one or two hundred years are considered4 ,such are the greater or less rainfall and snowfall over a very large area1 and the formation and persistence of clouds1 concerned with which are probably those varying quantities--the spots on the sun4 ,the simple proof that glaciers have extended and again retreated within historic times is furnished by the fact that in some parts of the ,alpine range the retreat of a glacier has uncovered ancient miners' excavations1 which must have been worked when the glacier did not reach the spot excavated4 ,subsequently the glacier advanced1 and now after some hundreds of years it has again retreated and exposed the ice-covered borings and workings4 ,the tradition of a glacier-enclosed village in the ,zermatt mountains1 shut off from the world by the advance of glaciers1 lost and mysterious1 is evidence that such advance has been observed by the native population4 ,the natives who live near glaciers know that they advance and retreat1 but the fact that the whole glacier is really a slowly flowing viscous mass--a sort of frozen but not immobile river--was only established by scientific observation in the last century4 ,the frozen river is fed by the snow which falls on the higher mountain ridges1 and is squeezed into the form of ice instead of snow powder by its own weight as it slips down the inclines1 warmed by the unclouded sunshine4 ,the big glaciers move much more rapidly 7or perhaps one should say less slowly7 in the middle than at the sides4 ,the measurements which have been made differ in different glaciers and in different parts of the same glacier1 and show smaller movement in winter than in summer4 ,the advance of the sides is retarded1 as in the case of an ordinary river of flowing water1 by friction against the rocks1 which enclose the glacier as its banks enclose a river4 ,a good average case shows a flow downwards in summer of half a foot a day at the sides and a foot and a half in the middle4 ,the distance below the snow-line to which the flowing glacier descends down a mountain gorge--before it melts away and becomes a river of liquid water--depends1 as does the rate at which it moves1 in the first place1 on the temperature of the region and on the sharpness of the slope4 ,a glacier will flow downwards 7as will a lump of pitch7 along a scarcely perceptible incline1 but more slowly than down a steeper incline1 and it will1 consequently1 get further down into the warm valley without altogether melting away when the slope is steep4 ,but apart from these considerations1 the bigger and thicker 7or deeper7 the glacier1 that is to say1 the more snow which each year falls at its starting-place and goes to making it1 the further down will it flow before melting away2 and it is the heavy snowfall of many years ago or of a series of years long past which has to-day reached in the form of ice the lower end of the glacier4 ,so1 though the lower end of the glacier may melt more quickly if the valley has become hotter1 yet the heavy snowfalls of fifty years ago may only now have reached the valley1 and may quite counterbalance the melting action of the warmer summers4 ,or reverse conditions1 namely1 less snow and lower or unchanged temperature in the valley1 may prevail4 ,the ,government of ,india has lately established a definite survey and record of the movement of several ,himalayan glaciers and of the variation in the distance to which their 8snouts0 descend into the valleys4 ,twelve glaciers were examined last year1 and will be properly watched in future4 ,the ,yengutsa glacier has gained about two miles in length since ,sir ,martin ,conway visited it in #ahib2 the great ,hispar glacier has slightly retreated4 ,the ,hassanabad glacier three years ago increased its length by a rapid progress of the free 8snout0 of as much as six miles in three months1 and is now no longer increasing or advancing6 ,many years ago it had reached its present position1 and then retreated4 ,the rock masses carried on the ice and left in great heaps at the point where the glacier melted away are known as terminal 8moraines10 and often serve to show the position to which the snout of a glacier once extended--far below its present limit4 ,a curious fact as to the increase and shrinkage of glaciers is that of two neighbouring glaciers1 as in the case of the glacier ,blanc and the glacier ,noir in ,dauphin 7,france71 one may be advancing whilst the other is in retreat4 ,further study and knowledge of the causes of these variations will throw important light on questions of general meteorology4 ,although there is no evidence to lead us to suppose that existing glaciers are now actually in a condition of general retreat1 leading to their ultimate disappearance1 yet it is one of the most certain and interesting results of geological study that some hundred and fifty thousand years ago the northern hemisphere was far colder than it is now1 owing partly to the same change in the inclination of the earth's axis to which ,i alluded on a former page 7p4 #ha7 as affecting the orientation of ancient astronomical temples--a change which diminished1 when at its extreme1 the effective amount of heat received from the sun in these regions of the earth4 ,the peculiar scratching1 polishing1 and erosion of rocks1 the existence of moraines1 and other evidence1 prove that enormous glaciers covered the north of ,europe1 that ,england and ,scotland were in large part covered by a great ice-sheet or glacier1 and that the great valleys of ,switzerland such as the ,rhone ,valley and the basin of the ,lake of ,geneva1 were filled by enormous glaciers1 which helped to mould and deepen the valleys4 ,the present glaciers are truly the remnants or rootlets of those enormous masses of the glacial epoch4 ,on such of the land surface as was not then covered by ice1 existed the hairy elephant or ,siberian mammoth1 the woolly rhinoceros1 wild cattle1 lions1 bears1 hyenas1 and other animals now extinct in this part of the world4 ,man had made his appearance1 hunted these animals1 and lived in caves4 ,his weapons and carvings and their bones tell us the story in no uncertain terms4 ,the biggest ,swiss glaciers of to-day1 compared to the great glacier of the ,rhone ,valley1 of which they are but the highest tributaries1 still surviving unmelted among the mountain-tops1 are in size as a mountain freshet is to the great stream of ,loch ,lomond1 or as the ,serpentine in ,hyde ,park to the neighbouring ,thames4 ,vast as was the great glacier of the ,rhone ,valley1 and immense as has been the work done by water and ice in carving the great highway in the mountain-mass of ,switzerland1 it has all been effected since the date of the formation on the sea-bottom and the subsequent elevation of the strata which we call 8the chalk0--a deposit which comes not very far down in the series of strata of the earth's crust4 ,only #c1jjj;ft4 of deposit exist above it1 whilst below it are more than #fj1jjj;ft4 of water-deposited or 8sedimentary0 rocks4 ,the huge ,alps have risen since the date of the 8chalk10 for we find strata containing marine shells of the ,tertiary period at a height of #aj1jjj;ft4 in those mountains4 ,where those shells now are was the bottom of the sea at a comparatively recent date1 probably not more than fifty million years ago6 ,and not only have the ,alps been raised since then from the sea level to #ae1jjj;ft4 7the height of ,mont ,blanc71 but the huge mountain valleys and the great chasm of the ,rhone ,valley many miles wide1 with its floor thousands of feet below the mountain ridges1 have been scoured out4 ,deeper and wider it has gradually become as it has taken shape1 whilst the mountain sides have been removed first by water and later by ice--by the great glacier consisting of solid ice1 miles wide and a thousand and more feet in thickness4 ,the water no longer fills the valley in solid form1 but once again rushes along as an irresistible torrent1 tearing and wearing the rock without rest or mercy1 carrying it off by thousands of tons day by day1 year by year1 to the plains of ,provence and the deep floor of the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,the blue colour of the glacier ice--like that of pure water--is now known to be due to no impurity or admixture of other substances4 ,it does not1 as was supposed by ,tyndall1 owe its blueness to a dust of finest colourless particles as do blue smoke1 the blue sky1 and as do the blue eyes which have attracted the observation of naturalists 7and others7 in ,ireland and the ,north of ,europe4 ,water1 whether liquid or solid1 is blue1 just as 8blue copperas0 is1 or as 8,prussian blue0 is2 but light must pass through some ten or twenty feet thickness of it to make the colour evident to our eyes4 ,the green tint is due to an admixture of yellow1 the exact cause of which is not quite easy to discover4 ,probably it is due to minute quantities of earthy matter mixed with the surface snow4 ,the pressing of the high-lying snow1 so as to form solid ice or 8glacier10 is concerned with the same property of snow as that which enables us to make snow 8bind0 into a snowball4 ,you cannot make snowballs during very hard frost--the snow must be in air of a thawing temperature at the moment it is squeezed by the hand4 ,the hand itself will not be warm enough to produce that temperature when the thermometer is below freezing-point4 ,the snow commences to melt in the hand when one squeezes it1 and then when the squeezing is stopped the water formed quickly freezes again and cements the snow particles together to form ice1 enclosing innumerable minute bubbles4 ,the heat of the sun and the pressure of the weight of the snow itself take the place in the mountains of the warmth and pressure of the human hand4 ,the minute air bubbles make the newest glacier-ice white and opaque1 especially when seen in a great mass2 but gradually they get squeezed together1 and the glacier ice becomes first 8fibrous0 in appearance1 and then1 after long years of pressure by its own weight1 fairly clear4 ,ice in great masses has the properties of a viscous body1 like pitch or soft sealing-wax1 owing to the fact that wherever the solid mass breaks its particles melt a very little and then freeze again4 ,under increased pressure ice melts at a lower temperature than when it is not subjected to pressure4 ,when the pressure is removed the water freezes again4 ,thus crushed ice or snow can be put into a 8squeeze-mould0 and pressed1 so as to form a solid mass of ice of any shape you may choose4 ,four or five slabs of ice1 placed one over the other1 very soon become1 owing to this property1 one continuous solid mass4 ,white glacier ice is so full of air bubbles as to be comparable in structure to sponge1 or1 more closely1 to cork4 ,a cube of such ice exposes1 owing to its rough air-hole pitted surface1 a much larger surface of contact to the atmosphere than does a cube of perfectly smooth clear ice4 ,consequently in a warm room or chamber the white ice melts much more quickly than does the clear1 and hence you should choose clear ice rather than white ice if you wish for a block which will last4 ,before leaving the glaciers1 let me briefly relate an incident arising from their slow but regular downward flow to the region where they melt away and deposit1 as a terminal moraine1 the burden of rocks they have received years before in regions far above4 ,a young man of five-and-twenty1 on his honeymoon1 visited the ,alps1 and ventured alone on to a glacier4 ,he fell into a deep 8crevasse10 or ice-fissure1 and his body was not recovered4 ,the exact spot where he fell into the ice-chasm was recognised1 and the mountain-folk1 who knew their glacier and its rate of movement well1 told the broken-hearted young widow that it would take thirty years before that region of the glacier would have moved so far downwards as to reach the lowest limit1 and in due course melt away4 ,she haunted the glacier in which her young husband was entombed year after year1 and at last1 when she was now grey-headed and withered by time1 that special tract of ice had descended so far1 and was so near the thawing1 thinned-out margin of the glacier that they were able to break into it with axe and pole4 ,then she1 an old woman1 had a wonderful experience4 ,they led her to the glacier's edge4 ,her young husband1 preserved these thirty years in the ice1 which had melted around him and re-frozen1 lay there unchanged4 ,his features were not marred by the lapse of years1 nor was his clothing rent or injured4 ,he seemed as one asleep1 resting after a long day's climb1 and she1 poor soul1 had1 during a blissful interval1 the conviction that all those weary years of waiting were but a long1 bad dream1 that she1 too1 still was young1 and was waking1 as she had loved to do long years ago1 in time to see him lift his lids and smile4 #ci4 ,votes for ,women ,now that so many people placidly accept the notion that women are to have votes in the election of members of ,parliament1 one is tempted to ask whether science has any facts to put forward which should be considered before so great a change in our national organisation is made4 ,there are various interesting facts as to the relations of males and females in the animal world and as to the relative strength and activity of the sexes--which are sometimes cited as arguments in the matter4 ,speaking generally1 it is clear enough that among animals the female is endowed with qualities which bear exclusively upon her function as the guardian of the eggs or germs of a new generation4 ,she nourishes those germs at the expense of her own substance before birth1 feeds them1 tends them and protects them--after birth4 ,the male in many cases contributes to the feeding and protection of the young1 but is as often as not quite unconcerned with such matters4 ,in the higher animals the male is far more powerful than the female1 and fights with other males both for the possession of a mate or a harem1 and for the undisturbed occupation of feeding grounds for himself and family4 ,among lower animals there are curious cases of the greater strength and size of the female4 ,thus1 among spiders1 the female is nearly twice as bulky as the male4 ,she makes1 in many cases1 a nest ready for her young1 and is visited there by the wandering irresponsible male1 who1 in spite of great danger to himself1 is irresistibly attracted to seek a brief caress from the terrible spideress4 ,she is terrible1 not only on account of her bulk1 but because she makes a rule of killing1 and sucking the blood of1 her infatuated admirer unless he is sufficiently alert and agile to escape from her side more quickly than he came to it4 ,the courtship of spiders is a very interesting bit of natural history4 ,the males execute a sort of dance1 and are strangely excited by the vibrating note of a tuning fork4 ,two ,american naturalists1 ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,peckham1 and also ,dr4 ,mc,cook1 have studied this subject in great detail4 ,a strange-looking1 dark green worm1 as big as a walnut1 with a ribbon-like trunk six or eight inches in length attached to its mouth1 lives in holes in the rocks in the ,mediterranean4 ,a similar worm has been found off the ,norwegian coast4 ,fanciful names are given by zoologists to these two worms--the first is called ,bonellia1 the second ,hamingia4 ,it does no harm to cite their names1 and ,i do so with an apology to those who do not like names4 ,these goodly sized worms are females1 only females4 ,for years the corresponding male was unknown4 ,at last a minute creature one-eighth of an inch in length1 like a tiny fragment of green thread1 was found crawling about on and into these big green ,bonellias4 ,its structure when it was examined with the microscope proved it to be the adult male of the worm on which it was crawling4 ,it was so insignificant and minute as to escape all observation except that of a trained naturalist searching for it with a magnifying glass4 ,some seven or eight of these diminutive males are found on one female1 infesting her as fleas infest a mouse1 and of about the same relative size4 ,the microscopic husband of the ,norwegian ,hamingia it was my good fortune to discover many years ago1 when ,i was dredging marine animals in the deep waters of the ,stavanger ,fjord4 ,so there is nothing in the eternal fitness of things proclaiming the male as the necessary superior of the female throughout ,nature4 ,the fact is that the question of equality and of general superiority and inferiority has no place in regard to male and female from a naturalist's point of view4 ,it is true that women are so very much less endowed with muscular strength than men that practically every woman is inferior to every man in this respect4 ,it is also true that woman's brain is smaller than man's1 and that apart from mere size1 the intellectual activity and capacity of women1 by whatever test you examine it1 is less than that of man4 ,when exceptional cases on both sides are excluded1 the definite intellectual inferiority of the average woman1 as compared with the average man1 is established as a fact4 ,the observations of those concerned in the education of young men and young women side by side confirm this1 and it is further demonstrated by a consideration of the intellectual performances of average men and average women4 ,that1 at any rate1 is my own experience as a ,university teacher4 ,but women1 on the other hand1 fill a place in human life as mothers1 and administrators of detail1 and as companions1 in which man1 by the nature of things1 cannot compete with them at all4 ,at the house of the late ,sir ,james ,knowles1 some twenty-five years ago1 when discussing the relative value of the physical and intellectual capacities of the men as compared with the women of the ,english working class1 ,mr4 ,gladstone 7at that time the head of the ,government7 said to me1 8,i am of opinion that the relative value of a man and a woman is in all classes of society about the same as it was in my grandfather's time in ,jamaica when they purchased slaves4 ,they gave #abj for a man and #hj for a woman1 and that is a fair measure of their relative value all the world over40 ,it is necessary to remember that ,mr4 ,gladstone was not estimating the ultimate value of woman in human life when he said this4 ,he would1 ,i think1 have considered1 as ,i do1 that it is absurd to attempt to estimate that or to raise a discussion as to general superiority and inferiority in reference to the male and the female of the human species4 ,they are creatures as necessary one as the other1 differing from one another profoundly and excelling one another in diverse qualities and capacities4 ,without this complementary division of fitness and quality our life would be a monotone robbed of the infinite variety which characterises humanity4 ,what ,mr4 ,gladstone estimated as being less by one-third in women than in men is power--work-value--whether physical or intellectual4 ,i think ,mr4 ,gladstone's estimate must be admitted as true4 ,but ,i do not for a moment say that when this inferior intellectual and physical capacity of woman is admitted the question is settled as to whether women should vote for the election of representatives to carry on the affairs of the country4 ,the affairs of the country6 ,they are1 in the first place1 the protection of person and property by the law1 which must be upheld by force if necessary2 then defence against foreign aggression1 also a matter of force2 and1 further1 the education and training not only of children but of the ripe youth of the country--a matter of intellect--which also has a weighty influence in the making of wise laws4 ,then there is the devising of weapons and means of defence by land and by sea1 as well as the discovery and application of knowledge in regard to disease1 both of mind and body1 for the benefit of the community4 ,and there will soon be a good deal more6 ,it does not necessarily follow1 because women cannot themselves do some of these things at all1 and for the others are less able than men1 that they should not give a vote in electing the men who are to attend to them4 ,the only question is1 ,would it make life better for both women and men were they allowed to do so8 ,the argument that the paying of taxes on men's property qualifies men to give a vote1 and therefore the paying of taxes on women's property should1 ipso facto1 entitle women to give a vote1 is fallacious1 because the paying of taxes is not the reason or determining cause of men having a vote1 but only a subsidiary test or qualification which might be abolished or modified4 ,the property of minors pays the tax1 but it is not proposed on that account that children should vote4 ,the property qualifications in use at present are merely a method for excluding certain men1 and we might have an intellectual qualification or a muscular qualification for the same purpose4 ,indeed1 we do at present exclude male imbeciles and those who are immature4 ,the reason for extending the ,parliamentary vote to a larger and larger body of the male population has been to secure the assent of the strength and manhood of the country to the laws and public acts of the ,government1 and to ensure its willing participation in that maintenance of the central ,government's decisions by physical force1 which is the ultimate and by no means very remote method by which they are maintained4 ,it does not seem to be likely to be an improvement on our present system that women1 who must always be regarded as specially privileged because of their physical weakness1 should nevertheless be allowed to influence by the mere number of their votes the decision of questions in which the employment of the physical strength of men acting as defenders of our territory1 guardians of the peace1 or ministers of the law1 is the essential condition of an effective result following on such decision4 ,to a naturalist human population does not appear as a number of units of which a few more are female than male--but rather as a series of families1 consisting of men1 women1 and children1 bound together by a variety of reciprocal services1 dependent one on another1 ordered and disciplined to a distribution of functions and duties by the tradition and experience of ages4 ,the notion that the paterfamilias is the rightful chief of his wife and children1 and that through him they are represented1 and should be content to be represented1 in the local and greater ,state ,government--is one of long standing in civilised ,europe4 ,the powers of the paterfamilias have been gradually limited in the course of the development of social life since the young men and the old bachelors1 too1 have been given a share of power in the ,state3 but the recent proposal to break the fabric of his household by giving the ,parliamentary franchise to women is so sudden and strange a notion that he seems not to have realised what it means4 ,the apathy which many men exhibit in regard to this proposal is as remarkable as the amiable courtesy with which others assent to it rather than 8disoblige a lady40 ,looking at the proposal not as a question of justice1 which really has nothing to do with it1 but in reference to the inquiry as to whether it is likely1 if carried1 to increase the happiness and prosperity of the community1 ,i must say that1 so far as the natural history of man gives indications1 it seems to me that if women acquired the ,parliamentary franchise and made active use of it1 they would be led into a new attitude of independence and separation from the men and from the family group to which they are by birth or alliance attached4 ,i fear that the great business of making the nest beautiful1 producing and tending the young1 nursing the sick1 helping the aged1 consoling the afflicted1 rewarding the brave1 of dancing and singing and creating gaiety within the charmed circle where political contests and affairs of ,state are of no account1 would be neglected and without honour4 ,in the end these amenities of life would probably fall into the hands of commercial companies and be sent out at so much a head--imported from ,germany4 ,woman would not be the gainer1 for she can only gain by continuing to astonish man by all she does for his enchantment and delight1 to serve him and to crown his life--she will only suffer by becoming 8independent40 ,the movement which is supposed to lead to a higher development of womanhood1 and consists in women mobbing people on their doorsteps1 waving flags and shouting at other people's meetings1 and struggling in the arms of policemen1 seems to be inconsistent with a development in the direction which has hitherto been popular and successful in the progress of man from savagery to decency4 ,it is difficult to suppose that men will really be so blind to the facts of the real importance and true value of women as to allow this movement to succeed whilst they look on with vague incredulity as to its being anything more than a huge joke4 ,there is1 too1 finally1 one serious warning to be derived from the ascertained facts of human physiology and psychology4 ,the immutable task1 the sacred destiny1 of women is to become the mothers of new generations4 ,nothing which is likely to interfere with or lessen the respect and veneration due to women in view of this tremendous natural determination of their instincts and aspirations should be lightly sanctioned by men so long as they have the power of deciding the matter4 ,there is good and sufficient ground for fearing that the new status of women which would be established by their entry on an equal footing with man into the arena of political struggle and public life1 would injuriously affect in a majority or large minority of cases that mode of life and economy of strength which is necessary for those who must give so much to the great and exacting demands of maternity4 ,the gratification of the whim of a few earnest but injudicious women would be an altogether insufficient justification for the injury of the 8physique0 of women in general by the strain of public competition with men1 and for the widespread development in women of an increased habit of self-assertion and self-sufficiency--habits which must make them unwilling to accept their natural duties as wives and mothers--and must make men equally unwilling to promote them to these honours and privileges4 #dj4 ,tobacco and the ,history of ,smoking ,a proposal is before ,parliament to prevent little boys from 8smoking0 in public places4 ,little girls are1 as the bill at present stands1 not to be interfered with4 ,perhaps this is because they are not to have votes when they grow up1 and so they may do as they like4 ,apart from the question as to whether the smoking of tobacco is injurious to the health or not1 there are many curious questions which arise from time to time as to the history and use of tobacco4 ,i have no doubt that for children the use of tobacco is injurious1 and ,i am inclined to think that it is only free from objection in the case of strong1 healthy men1 and that even they should avoid any excess1 and should only smoke after meals1 and never late at night4 ,the strongest man1 who can tolerate a cigar or a pipe after breakfast1 lunch1 and dinner1 may easily get into a condition of 8nerves0 when even one cigarette acts as a poison and causes a slowing of the heart's action4 ,a curious mistake1 almost universally made1 is that of supposing that the oily juice which forms in a pipe or at the end of a cigar is 8nicotine10 the chief nerve-poison of tobacco4 ,as a matter of fact1 this juice1 though it contains injurious substances1 contains little or no 8nicotine40 ,nicotine is a colourless volatile liquid1 which is vapourised and carried along with the smoke2 it is not deposited in the pipe or cigar-end except in very small quantity4 ,it is the chief agent by which tobacco acts on the nervous system1 and through that on the heart--the agent whose effects are sought and enjoyed by the lover of tobacco4 ,a single drop of pure nicotine will kill a dog4 ,nicotine has no aroma1 and has nothing to do with the flavour of tobacco1 which is due to very minute quantities of special volatile bodies similar to those which give a scent to hay4 ,most people are acquainted with the three ways of 8taking tobacco0--that of taking its smoke into the mouth1 and more or less into the lungs1 that of chewing the prepared leaf1 and that of snuffing up the powdered leaf into the nose1 whence it ultimately passes to the stomach4 ,a fourth modification of the snuffing and chewing methods exists in what is called the 8snuff stick40 ,according to the novelist1 ,mrs4 ,hodgson ,burnett1 the country women in ,kentucky use a short stick1 like a brush1 which they dip into a paperfull of snuff2 they then rub the powder on to the gums4 ,snuff-taking has almost disappeared in 8polite society0 in this country within the past twenty years1 but snuffing and chewing are still largely practised by those whose occupation renders it impossible or dangerous for them to carry a lighted pipe or cigar--such as sailors and fishermen and workers in many kinds of factories and engine-rooms4 ,one of the most curious questions in regard to the history of tobacco is that as to whether its use originated independently in ,asia or was introduced there by ,europeans4 ,it is largely cultivated and used for smoking throughout the ,east from ,turkey to ,china--including ,persia and ,india on the way--and special varieties of tobacco1 the ,turkish1 the ,persian1 and the ,manilla are well known1 and only produced in the ,east1 whilst special forms of pipe1 such as the 8hukah0 or 8hooka10 the 8hubble-bubble10 and the small ,chinese pipe are distinctively ,oriental4 ,not only that1 but the islanders of the ,far ,east are inveterate smokers of tobacco1 and some of them have peculiar methods of obtaining the smoke1 as1 for instance1 certain ,north ,australians who employ 8a smoke-box0 made of a joint of bamboo4 ,smoke is blown into this receptacle by a faithful spouse1 who closes its opening with her hand and presents the boxful of smoke to her husband4 ,he inhales the smoke and hands the bamboo joint back to his wife for refilling4 ,the ,asiatic peoples are great lovers of tobacco1 and it is certain that in ,java they had tobacco as early as #afja1 and in ,india in #afje4 ,the hookah 7a pipe1 with water-jar attached1 through which the smoke is drawn in bubbles7 was seen and described by a ,european traveller in #afad4 ,should we not1 therefore1 suppose that in ,asia they had tobacco and practised smoking before it was introduced from ,america into the ,west of ,europe8 ,it seems unlikely that ,western nations should have given this luxury to the ,east when practically everything else of the kind has come from the ,east to ,europe--the grape and wine made from it1 the orange1 lemon1 peach1 fig1 spices of all kinds1 pepper and incense4 ,yet it is certain that the ,orientals got the habit of smoking tobacco from us1 and not we from them4 ,incredible as it seems1 the investigations of the ,swiss botanist1 ,de ,candolle 7see his delightful ,history of ,cultivated ,plants--a wonderful volume1 published for #es41 in the ,international ,scientific ,series7 and of ,colonel ,prain1 formerly in ,india1 now ,director of ,kew1 have rendered it quite certain that the ,orientals owe tobacco and the habit of smoking entirely to the ,europeans1 who brought it from ,america1 as early as #aeeh4 ,in the year #aefj ,jean ,nicot1 the ,french ,ambassador1 saw the plant in ,portugal1 and sent seeds to ,france to ,catherine de' ,medici4 ,it was named ,nicotiana in his honour4 ,but the introduction into ,europe of the practice of smoking is chiefly due to the ,english4 ,in #aehf ,ralph ,lane1 the first ,governor of ,virginia1 and ,sir ,francis ,drake brought over the pipes of the ,north ,american ,indians and the tobacco prepared by them4 ,the ,english enthusiasm for tobacco smoking1 8drinking a pipe of tobacco10 as it was at first called1 was extraordinary both for its sudden development1 its somewhat excessive character1 and the violent antagonism which it aroused1 and1 as we learn from ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 still arouses4 ,it was at once called 8divine tobacco0 by the poet ,spenser1 and 8our holy herb nicotian0 by ,william ,lilly1 and not long afterwards denounced as a devilish poison by ,king ,james4 ,the reason why the ,english had most to do with the introduction of smoking is that the inhabitants of ,south ,america did not smoke pipes1 but chewed the tobacco1 or took it as snuff1 and less frequently smoked it as a cigar4 ,from the ,isthmus of ,panama as far as ,canada and ,california1 on the other hand1 the custom of smoking pipes was universal1 and wonderful carved pipes of great variety were found in use by the natives of these regions1 and also dug up in very ancient burial grounds4 ,hence the ,english colonists of ,virginia were the first to introduce pipe-smoking to ,europe4 ,the ,portuguese had discovered the coasts of ,brazil as early as #aejj1 and it is they who carried tobacco to their possessions and trading ports in the ,far ,east--to ,india1 ,java1 ,china1 and ,japan1 so that in less than a hundred years it was well established in those countries4 ,probably it went about the same time from ,spain and ,england to ,turkey1 and from there to ,persia1 and rapidly developed not only special new forms of pipe 7the hookah7 for its consumption1 but also within a few years special varieties of the plant itself4 ,these were raised by cultivation1 and have formerly been erroneously regarded as native ,asiatic species of tobacco plant4 ,the definite proof of the fact that tobacco was in this way introduced from ,western ,europe to the ,oriental nations is1 first1 that ,asiatics have no word for it excepting a corruption of the original ,american name tabaco1 tobacco1 or tambuco3 it is certain that it is not mentioned in ,chinese writings nor represented in their pottery before the year #afhj4 ,in the next place1 it appears that careful examination of old herbariums and of the records of early travellers who knew plants well and recorded all they saw1 proves that no species of tobacco is a native of ,asia4 ,there are fifty species of tobacco1 but all are ,american excepting the ,nicotiana suaveolens1 which is a native of the ,australian continent1 and the ,nicotiana fragrans1 which is a native of the ,isle of ,pines1 near ,new ,caledonia4 ,forty-eight different species of tobacco 7that is to say1 of the genus ,nicotiana7 are found in ,america4 ,of these ,nicotiana tabacum is the only one which has been extensively cultivated4 ,it has been found wild in the ,state of ,ecuador1 but was cultivated by the natives both of ,north and ,south ,america before the advent of ,europeans4 ,it seems probable that all the tobaccos grown in the ,old ,world for smoking or snuffing are only cultivated varieties--often with very special qualities--of the ,n4 tabacum1 with the exception of the ,shiraz tobacco plant1 which1 though called ,n4 persica1 is of ,brazilian origin1 and the ,n4 rustica1 of ,linnus1 a native of ,mexico1 which has a yellow flower1 and yields a coarse kind of tobacco4 ,this has been cultivated in ,south ,america and also in ,asia ,minor4 ,but tobaccos so different as the ,havannah1 the ,maryland and ,virginian1 the incomparable ,latakia1 the ,manilla1 and the ,roumelian or ,turkish--all come from culture-varieties of the one great species1 ,nicotiana tabacum4 ,the treatment of tobacco-leaf to prepare it for use in smoking1 snuffing1 and chewing requires great skill and care1 and is directed by the tradition and experience of centuries4 ,as is the case with 8hay10 the dried tobacco-leaf undergoes a kind of fermentation1 and1 in fact1 more than one such change4 ,the cause of the fermentation is a micro-organism which multiplies in the dead leaf and causes chemical changes1 just as the yeast organism grows in 8wort0 and changes it to 8beer40 ,it is said that the flavour and aroma of special tobaccos is due to special kinds of ferment1 and that by introducing the ,havannah ferment or micro-organism to tobacco-leaves grown away from ,cuba1 you can give them much of the character of ,havannah tobacco6 ,a very valuable kind of tobacco is the ,roumelian1 from which the best ,turkish cigarettes are made4 ,it has a very delicate flavour1 and very small quantities of an aromatic kind prepared from a distinct variety of tobacco plant grown near ,ephesus and on the ,black ,sea 7probably a cultivated variety of ,nicotiana rustica7 are judiciously blended with it4 ,this blending1 and the use of the very finest qualities of tobacco-leaf1 are essential points in the production of the best ,turkish cigarettes4 ,the so-called 8,egyptian0 cigarettes are made from less valuable ,turkish tobacco1 with the addition of an excess of the aromatic kind4 ,it is a mistake to suppose that opium or other matters are used to adulterate tobacco4 ,the only proceeding of the kind which occurs is the mixing of inferior1 cheap1 and coarse-flavoured tobaccos with better kinds4 ,water and also starch are used fraudulently to increase the weight of leaf-tobacco4 ,but skilful 8blending0 is a legitimate and most important feature in the manufacture of cigars1 cigarettes1 and smoking mixtures4 ,the first 8smoking0 of tobacco seen by ,europeans was that of the ,caribs or ,indians of ,san ,domingo4 ,they used a very curious sort of tubular pipe1 shaped like the letter ,y4 ,the diverging arms were placed one up each nostril1 and the end of the stem held in the smoke of burning tobacco-leaves1 which was thus 8sniffed up0 into the nose4 ,the ,north ,american ,indians1 on the other hand1 had pipes very similar to those still in use4 ,the natives of ,south ,america smoked the rolled leaf 7cigars71 chewed it1 and took it as snuff4 ,it has been suggested that in ,asia smoking of some kind of dried herbs may have been a habit before tobacco was introduced--since even ,herodotus states that the ,scythians were accustomed to inhale the smoke of burning weeds1 and showed their enjoyment of it by howling like dogs6 ,but investigation does not support the view that anything corresponding to individual or personal 8smoking0 existed4 8,bang0 or 8hashish0 7the ,indian hemp7 was not 8smoked10 but swallowed as a kind of paste before the introduction of tobacco-smoking in the ,east--as we may gather from the stories of the 8,arabian ,nights0--although the practice of smoking hemp 7which is the chief constituent of 8bang07 and also of smoking the narcotic herb 8henbane10 has now been established4 ,opium was1 and is1 eaten in ,india1 not 8smoked40 ,the 8smoking0 of opium is a ,chinese invention of the eighteenth century4 ,the ,oriental hookah suggests a history anterior to the use of tobacco1 but nothing is known of it4 ,the word signifies a cocoanut-shell1 and is applied to the jar 7sometimes actually a cocoanut7 containing perfumed water1 through which smoke from a pipe1 fixed so as to dip into the water1 is drawn by a long tube with mouthpiece4 ,it seems possible that this apparatus was in use for inhaling perfume by means of bubbles of air drawn through rose-water or such liquids1 before tobacco-smoking was introduced1 and that the tobacco-pipe and the perfume-jar were then combined4 ,but travellers before the year #afjj do not mention the existence of the hookah in ,persia or in ,india1 though as soon as tobacco came into use this apparatus is described by ,floris1 in #afad1 and by ,olearius1 in #afcc1 and by all subsequent travellers4 ,the conclusion to which careful inquiry has led is that though various ,asiatic races have appreciated the smoke of various herbs and enjoyed inhaling it from time immemorial1 yet there was no definite 8smoking0 in earlier times4 ,no pipes or rolled-up packets of dried leaves--to be placed in the mouth and sucked whilst slowly burning--were in use before the introduction of tobacco by ,europeans1 who brought the tobacco-plant from ,america and the mode of enjoying its smoke1 and passed on its seeds to the people of ,turkey1 ,persia1 ,india1 ,china1 and ,japan4 #da4 ,cruelty1 ,pain and ,knowledge ,it is difficult to write or to read or even to think about 8cruelty0 and preserve one's sober judgment and reason4 ,most people are upset by emotion when torture and the details of the infliction of pain are discussed4 ,all the more must we remember that emotion is a powerful driving force1 but a bad guide4 ,only true knowledge and sound reasoning can guide us aright4 ,an awful fact about the emotional state produced by witnessing or hearing about the agonies of human beings or of sentient animals is that to some people 7actually very few and diminishing in number among civilised races7 it is distinctly a source of pleasure1 though to most of us it is intolerably painful4 ,this fact forms one of the most difficult problems of psychology4 ,it seems that just as there are people who enjoy seeing dangerous acrobatic performances or climbing themselves among ice and rocks at the risk of their lives1 or reading of hairbreadth escapes1 of bloody murders1 of ghosts1 and other horrors--all of which are repulsive to the majority--so there are some people who experience delicious shudderings--8des frissons exquis0--when they see a man or an animal in torture or read a description of such things4 ,in the eighteenth century it was not unusual for a country cousin on a visit to ,london to be taken as a treat to see half a dozen men and boys hanged at ,newgate1 and then to complete the happy day by a visit to ,bedlam to see the madmen flogged6 ,fortunately1 public opinion and education seem to have been able actually to alter the operation of the emotions excited by these brutalities--so that to-day practically everyone in the ,western ,states of ,europe regards the unnecessary infliction of pain with horror and indignation1 and is anxious to avoid witnessing pain1 even in cases where it is a necessary evil4 ,it is a mistake to suppose that there is any tendency on the part of scientific men or medical men to be callous or indifferent to the infliction of pain4 ,the surgeon sometimes has to inflict pain in order to prevent greater future pain or death--but he is not indifferent to the pain he causes4 ,he is not even 8cruel only to be kind0--but appears cruel to the unthinking because he has to give pain which he knows will save his patient from far greater pain1 and he has to maintain a calm and determined attitude in order to help those around him to exercise self-control4 ,the medical art is1 above all things1 an art of removing and abolishing pain1 and its practitioners are all the more sensitive concerning pain because they know more and see more of it than other people1 and make it their chief business to alleviate suffering4 ,charles ,darwin took a prominent part twenty-five years ago in urging the ,government of the day not to make a law which would prevent physiologists and medical men from obtaining knowledge as to animal life and disease by experiment4 ,the great naturalist was a great lover of animals and a most gentle and tender-hearted man4 ,he wrote to me in #ahgj3 8,experiment must1 of course1 be allowed for the progress of physiology and medicine1 but not for damnable and detestable curiosity4 ,i will write no more about it1 or ,i shall not sleep to-night40 ,mr4 ,darwin was alluding to horrible so-called 8experiments0 which in former days--especially in the latter part of the eighteenth century--were made by utterly irresponsible and ignorant amateurs1 witnessed by fashionable ladies1 and reported in the newspapers and letters of the day4 ,it is these reckless and useless 8experiments0 which rightly excited horror and opposition a century ago1 and were described by the name 8vivisection40 ,we have to thank these blundering philosophers of the salons of a past age for the mistaken feeling with which some people regard the really valuable and careful investigations which are made by medical men at the present day1 with the use of every precaution to prevent pain to the animals used4 ,the testing of drugs1 the inoculation of parasitic disease1 and the trial of different modes of removing or controlling the disease so inoculated1 carried on by highly trained and learned men1 who thoroughly know what they are about1 and who communicate with one another from all parts of the world as to the progress they are making in curing or even abolishing diseases1 such as diphtheria1 cholera1 sleeping sickness1 and phthisis are very different from the impudent unscientific 8experiments0 of the days of ,horace ,walpole4 ,the inquiries carried on in the modern laboratories of our great universities should not for a moment be confused with the horrors performed to glorify and show the superior cold-bloodedness of drawing-room pretenders to science1 in those strange times4 ,i believe that most sensible people feel as ,mr4 ,darwin felt1 and ,i myself would certainly subscribe to what he wrote to me in the letter which ,i have quoted above4 ,amongst those who feel thus strongly on the subject there are some who can control their emotion and calmly consider whether the pain inflicted under any given circumstances is justifiable as leading to a great ultimate diminution of pain by the knowledge obtained4 ,there are others who are constitutionally incapable of controlling their emotion in this matter4 ,they hear dreadful stories of cruelty1 and are so upset that they are incapable of ascertaining whether the stories are true or not4 ,they are quite unfit to weigh the question as to whether the pain given in the case they hear of may or may not be a necessary step towards avoiding far greater pain in the future for thousands of human beings and sentient animals4 ,far be it from me to think harshly of these tender-hearted people1 though their mistaken outcry may tend to stop the discovery of pain-saving and life-saving knowledge4 ,i feel more sympathy with them than with those 7happily rare7 individuals who are really indifferent to seeing or giving bodily pain to men or to animals4 ,there is reason to hope that careful and well-considered statement of the facts will eventually enable many of those who are mentally unhinged by descriptions of pain and bloodshed to recognise that they have been deceived1 partly by their own fancies and partly by the false statements of professional agitators4 ,unfortunately1 there are always present in human society individuals who find it to their advantage to excite the minds of their more emotional fellow-citizens by tales of horror4 ,the lust of such power--the power to lead or urge a large body of men driven by emotional excitement into violent action--has led from time to time to exaggeration1 misrepresentation1 and elaborate plot and perjury directed against a group of innocent or worthy people1 whose proceedings were mysterious or misunderstood by the community at large4 ,thus1 from time to time1 the crowd has been infuriated and led to the murder of the ,jews by agitators1 who started the baseless story that the ,jews had slain a ,christian child1 and used its blood at their feast of the ,passover4 ,titus ,oates and ,lord ,george ,gordon made use of the unreasoning emotion of the crowd in the same way4 ,to a less serious extent the emotional unreasonableness of a number of men and women is being played upon at the present day by quite a large variety of agitators1 would-be leaders of crusades and campaigns against the beneficent work of the physiological and medical laboratories of our universities and medical schools4 ,there are one or two other features about 8cruelty0 and the mental conditions leading to and arising from it1 which1 however uncanny and troubling1 should be carefully considered when public opinion is roused in regard to its repression4 ,among these is the fact that the word is freely applied to the mere infliction of pain without consideration of the question as to whether there is a guilty mind determining it4 ,storms and frosts are called 8cruel0 by poetic license2 but it is probably quite wrong to call a cat or a tiger cruel4 ,these animals take pleasure in playing with their prey1 as they would with an inanimate ball or mechanical toy4 ,there is no reason to suppose that they are conscious of the infliction of pain or take pleasure in pain as pain4 ,and so it must happen sometimes with thoughtless human beings who disregard the pain which they cause1 when eagerly engaged in 8sport0 or in the pursuit of some all-absorbing and consuming purpose4 ,the whole subject of cruelty is a distressing one1 but should not on that account be misapprehended or dealt with wildly and blindly4 ,twenty-five years ago a ,royal ,commission sat which was appointed to inquire as to what restrictions1 if any1 it was desirable to place upon the practice of making experiments on animals for physiological and medical purposes4 ,as a result of its labours an ,act of ,parliament was passed which made definite regulations for the purpose of preventing unqualified persons from indulging in reckless experiments on animals4 ,there were stories circulated by the agitators then--as there are now--to the effect that medical students perform horrible and painful operations 7vivisections1 as the agitators term them17 on live animals in secret or with the connivance of their teachers4 ,it was proved twenty-five years ago that these stories were false4 ,at the same time an elaborate law was passed to satisfy the emotional persons misled by the agitators1 which made it necessary for an experimenter 7#a7 to have a licence 7dependent on a certificate as to his competency72 7#b7 that he should use ansthetics2 and 7#c7 that experiments should only be carried out in licensed laboratories4 ,the agitators of the present day have by heart-rending stories1 similar to those told twenty-five years ago1 produced a similar excitement and a similar result1 namely1 a ,royal ,commission on ,vivisection1 which has been occupied for a year and a half in listening to the statements and delusions of those who declare that the law made twenty-five years ago is insufficient1 and that all sorts of cruelties are committed by the physiologists and doctors4 ,the ,commission has also questioned the leading physiologists and medical men in the country1 and listened to their voluntary statements4 ,i have seen the very voluminous report of the evidence thus given on both sides4 ,the various accusations made against the medical men in the conduct of their laboratories have been carefully gone into4 ,it is contended1 on their side1 that these charges are based on misunderstanding--the misunderstanding which one would expect from an ignorant person with a strong feeling or prejudice in the direction of the misunderstanding4 ,for instance1 the fact that chloroform is administered and the animal rendered insensible when operated on1 has been overlooked in some of the accounts which excited the so-called 8antivivisectors0--notably in the misleading account of 8the brown dog40 ,the whole of the evidence should be read by those who are really in doubt on the matter4 ,probably it will not be long before the ,commission reports1 and its conclusions will command the very greatest respect1 not only because its members include eminent lawyers1 medical men and independent representatives who were ready to give an impartial mind to the inquiry1 but also because it is obvious that the very greatest care has been taken to obtain the fullest evidence from both sides4 ,sir ,james ,fletcher ,moulton1 one of the ,lords ,justices of the ,court of ,appeal1 has made a statement to the ,commission in defence of scientific experiment which is a masterpiece of persuasive reasoning and lucid exposition4 ,it is somewhat remarkable that there have been and are persons in high judicial office who have shown active hostility to the cause of science and knowledge in this matter owing to their want of acquaintance with the facts and their readiness to be carried away by blind emotion4 ,lord ,justice ,moulton1 on the other hand1 is a scientific man by education and early training1 and has come forward to state in a plain and reasonable way what is the view of the matter which commends itself to him4 ,there is reason to hope that his view will be approved by those who read what he says calmly and without bias4 ,his chief point is that many people are willing to admit that it is right to destroy animals 7even by methods which inflict great pain on them7 when an immediate result of a good and useful kind is to be obtained--as when we kill animals to serve as food or in order to prevent them from injuring us or destroying our crops and stores4 ,yet these same persons1 he points out1 by some defect of imagination are unable to see that the gaining of pain-saving or disease-preventing knowledge as the result of inflicting pain and death on a small number of animals justifies us in permitting that pain and death4 ,they are unable to admit the justification because the knowledge and its practical application does not directly and at once follow upon the first commencement of the search for it1 and they have not sufficient acquaintance with the matter to enable them to realise and confidently believe that the beneficent result will ensue4 ,the knowledge has to be built up step by step1 and the infliction of pain on the animals is separated by an appreciable lapse of time from the beneficent result--which is none the less the result which was aimed at1 and the true consequence of the pain inflicted4 ,putting aside for the moment the fact that in these inquiries the pain is reduced to a minimum by the use of ansthetics1 it would seem that we ought to be able to recognise that the causing of a certain amount of pain to many hundreds of rabbits1 and even dogs1 is justified by the consequent removal of a far greater amount of pain from thousands of men and animals who are saved from suffering at a later date by the knowledge so gained4 ,lord ,justice ,moulton suggests two cases of the infliction of pain on animals for comparison4 ,suppose1 he says1 a ship to arrive in port which 7as might easily happen to-day7 is infested by plague-stricken rats2 there are1 perhaps1 ten or twenty thousand rats on board4 ,if the rats escaped and landed they might 7not certainly1 but probably7 infect a whole city1 even a much larger area1 with plague1 and cause death and disaster to thousands of human beings4 ,everyone will agree that the owner of the ship would be justified in destroying all the rats on the ship by sulphur fumes1 or whatever other painful method might be necessary to prevent even one from escaping4 ,a vast amount of suffering would be inflicted on the rats in order to prevent a far greater contingent amount of suffering4 ,now suppose that a man1 by infecting some hundreds of rats and other animals with plague1 and by trying various experiments on these animals with curative drugs1 and by other operations upon them1 can in all probability arrive at such a knowledge of plague and how to check it as to enable us to arrest its propagation1 and so to save thousands1 or even millions1 of human beings from this painful and deadly disease1 are we to say that this investigator must not carry on his studies1 must not find out how to stop plague in future because to do so he will have to give some amount of pain to a hundred or more animals8 ,clearly1 if we justify the shipowner we must justify the inquiries and experiments of the medical discoverer4 ,in both cases we must hold--every sane man really does hold--that it is right to inflict pain with the expectation 7not a certainty in either case1 but only a reasonable probability7 of preventing a far larger and more serious amount of pain in the future4 ,it is the choice of the lesser of two evils4 ,and thus we are led to admit that it is right that experiments and studies attended with some pain to animals should be carried on1 on condition that competent and serious persons make them1 for the purpose of gaining increased knowledge of the processes of life and disease4 ,such studies have already yielded great results--the pain in the wards of hospitals and in sick rooms is not a tenth of what it was a hundred years ago4 ,the death-rate of great cities is a third less than it was fifty years ago4 ,modern medicine and modern surgery are really and demonstrably immense agencies for preventing pain and the anguish and misery which is caused by untimely death4 ,a ,society for the ,defence of ,research has been established this year 7#aijh7 with the ,earl of ,cromer as its president4 ,the ,society has issued some valuable pamphlets showing what improvements in medical knowledge have been recently effected by means of inoculations and other experiments in which animals have been used though subjected to as little pain and discomfort as consistent with the enquiries made4 ,ignorant opponents of medical research assert that the scientific study of the processes of life and disease in laboratories has not helped in the great progress in medical practice which marks the last fifty years4 ,but the medical men who are the leaders of their profession unanimously assert1 and prove by detailed accounts of the discoveries made1 that such study has been essential to the progress established1 and is essential for further progress4 ,lord ,lister1 who by his antiseptic method of treating surgical wounds has saved more pain to present and future generations of men than all the torturers of the ,inquisition ever inflicted or dreamed of inflicting1 has been the leader in declaring the inestimable value to humanity--in fact1 the absolute necessity--of physiological experiments on animals4 ,whose judgment on this question can be considered of greater value than his8 ,the anti-vivisection agitators1 for the purpose of exciting the emotions of those who listen to them1 use the word 8torture0 as describing the action of such men as ,pasteur and ,lord ,lister4 ,to torture is to inflict an ever-increasing amount of pain1 with the view of 8extorting0 a submission1 a confession1 or treasure from a victim4 ,to suggest that scientific and medical men apply pain in this way1 and to spread the word 8torture0 among the ignorant1 emotional public1 in connection with their inquiries1 is dishonest as well as ungrateful4 ,one valuable result of the work of the present ,royal ,commission on what is called 8,vivisection10 but should be called 8the use of animals in the discovery of means of controlling disease and alleviating pain10 is that it is made quite clear that there is very little pain at all inflicted in this beneficent work1 owing to the fact that ansthetics and narcotics are administered to the animals when anything which might cause pain is done4 ,i do not hesitate to say that there is in this country less pain caused in a whole year in all the laboratories where this great work for the public good is carried on than in a single day's rabbit-shooting4 ,it is important to correct1 if possible1 the misunderstanding which very naturally exists as to what physiologists and doctors mean by 8experiment40 ,in ordinary language an 8experiment0 suggests a haphazard venture1 the doing of something blindly and in ignorance1 just 8to see what will happen40 ,it is true that long ago in the eighteenth century there were men callous enough and ignorant enough to make such 8fool's experiments0 on living animals4 ,but when scientific men speak of 8the experimental method0 and the acquisition of knowledge by experiment1 they do not allude to haphazard attempts to see what will happen when something extraordinary is done4 ,the experiment of the experimental method is arranged so as to provide a definite answer to a definite question1 and the question has been thought out by a man who knows the whole record of previous experiment and knowledge in regard to the subject which is under investigation4 ,thus in the inquiry as to the possible prevention of the deadly effect of snake poison introduced into the human body by the bite of snakes1 the first question asked was1 8,is it true1 as sometimes stated1 that a poisonous snake is not poisoned by having its own poison injected into its flesh80 ,the experiment was tried4 ,the answer was1 8,it is true40 ,next it was asked1 8,is this due to the action of very small doses of the poison which pass constantly from the poison gland into the snake's blood1 and so render the snake #8immune1' as happens in the case of other poisons80 ,the experiment was tried4 ,snakes without poison glands were found to be killed by the introduction of snake's poison in a full dose into their blood4 ,then it was found that a horse could be injected with a dose of snake poison1 or half the quantity necessary to cause death1 and that it recovered in a few days4 ,the question was now put1 8,is the horse so treated rendered immune to snake poison1 as the snake is which receives small doses of poison into its blood from its own poison gland80 ,accordingly the experiment was made4 ,the horse was given a full dose of snake poison1 and did not suffer any inconvenience4 ,at intervals of two days it was given increasing injections of snake poison without suffering in any way1 until at last an injection in one dose of thirty times the deadly quantity of snake poison--that is1 enough to kill thirty unprepared horses--was made into the same horse1 and it did not show the smallest inconvenience4 ,the question was thus answered3 ,immunity to snake-bite can be conferred by the absorption of small quantities 7non-lethal doses7 of snake poison4 ,the next question was this3 8,if something has been formed in the horse's blood by this process1 which is an antidote to snake poison1 should it not be possible1 by removing some of the horse's blood and injecting a small quantity of it into a smaller animal1 to protect that animal from snake bite80 ,the experiment was accordingly made4 ,rabbits and dogs received injections of the blood of the immune horse4 ,an hour after they received full doses of snake poison4 ,they suffered no inconvenience at all2 they were 8protected10 or 8rendered immune40 ,the next question was1 8,will the antidote act on an animal after it has already been bitten by a snake80 ,the experiment was made4 ,rabbits were injected with snake poison4 ,after a quarter of an hour they were on the point of death4 ,a dose of the immune horse's blood was now injected into each--in ten minutes they had completely recovered and were feeding4 ,the means was thus found of preventing death from snake-bite4 ,the protective horse-blood was properly prepared1 and sent out at once to ,cochin ,china and to ,india4 ,it was there tried upon human beings who had been accidentally bitten by deadly snakes1 and it proved absolutely effective2 it saved the men's lives4 ,it is now used 7wherever it can be obtained in time7 as the sure antidote to snake-bite1 though it is not at present possible to supply it whenever and wherever it is needed4 ,that is an example1 briefly told1 of the experimental questioning of ,nature--such as is pursued in the laboratories of medical men and physiologists4 ,they do not perform haphazard experiments2 but each experiment is so arranged as to give a definite answer to a definite question1 leading to a large result4 ,by no other process can knowledge of many things1 which it is urgent for us to have1 be obtained4 ,we should have to wait centuries if we merely watched ,nature1 and hoped for some accidental circumstance to reveal the facts4 ,what1 after all1 do we understand and mean by 8pain08 ,it is not merely the sharp sting1 and consequent shrinking caused by wounds and violence4 ,that1 we know well enough1 is a beneficent arrangement by which men as well as animals are prevented from knocking themselves to pieces1 and are driven into avoiding danger to life and limb4 ,but 8pain0 includes1 besides this1 the anguish arising from the weary1 fruitless struggle against disease and starvation1 from the disaster to the household caused by the untimely death of its mainstay1 from the slaughter of children by poisonous foods1 and from the neglect of the laws of health of body and mind4 ,ignorance1 the 8curse of ,hell10 is the cause of all suffering4 ,knowledge is the wing which takes us heavenward1 and frees us from misery4 ,i cannot put it better than in ,shakespeare's words4 ,it is man's destiny to diminish pain on this earth1 and that not by timidly shrinking from and emotionally raving about the horrors of pain1 but by facing them and deliberately accepting the responsibility of producing a small and brief suffering to a few animals as the price of the salvation of his fellow-creatures from the far greater pain which is the assured and fatal companion of ignorance--accursed ignorance6 ,a recent writer has told us that he cannot believe that good will follow from the wilful destruction by man of ,nature's greatest and most beautiful production--a living thing4 ,he poses as a sentimentalist and seems to regard it as the indication of a superior and gentle mind to refuse to sanction the removal or even the temporary discomfort of what ,nature has called into life4 ,i1 too1 claim to be a sentimentalist1 but the sentiment which thrills me is one of revolt against the needless and remediable suffering of all humanity--suffering which man has brought on himself by his stumbling1 half-hearted resistance to ,nature's drastic method of purifying and strengthening the race1 her remorseless slaughter of the unfit4 ,it is this suffering which some would allow their fellow-men still to endure1 now and for generations to come1 rather than have their own tranquillity disturbed by the record of that modicum of immediate pain and sacrifice of animal life which is the price of freedom for mankind from far greater pain hereafter4 ,we have to learn to mitigate and to minimise pain1 not to run away from it4 ,it is childish to weep over the distortion and destruction of ,nature's products by man's violence and ignorance4 ,what we can and should do is to see that our dealings with this fair earth and its living freight are guided not by vain regret1 but by knowledge and foresight4 ,,the ,,end ,r4 ,,clay ,,and ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,,bread ,,st4 ,,hill1 ,e4,c41 ,,and ,,bungay1 ,,suffolk4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,punctuation has been made consistent4 ,variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication1 except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected4