NATURAL SCIENCE: 



A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress. 



No 38. Vol. VI. APRIL, 1895. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Discussions at the Royal Society. 



THE experiment, now in progress at the Royal Society, of having 

 occasional meetings for the discussion of questions of great 

 interest naturally is receiving a considerable amount of attention from 

 all scientific men. Whatever be the value of the new method, it is 

 certain that the invitations addressed to those who are not fellows, but 

 are interested in the subjects of the meetings, have been fully 

 appreciated. No doubt it has always been possible for a stranger to 

 obtain admission to a meeting by the invitation of a fellow, but it is not 

 always possible to come across a fellow at the convenient moment, 

 and the more general invitation brings more together. But, so far as 

 the utility of the method of discussion goes, many who were present at 

 the discussion on variation must have agreed with what Professor 

 Ray Lankester said. Unless some very definite point is submitted, 

 unless, so to say, some definite resolution is put to the meeting, little 

 practical advantage seems to be gained. A discussion in a periodical 

 allows clear issues to be raised ; those who join in it have opportunity 

 to think over what their predecessors have said, and to express their 

 deliberate opinions. Moreover, there is the great advantage that 

 when the discussion is at an end one may read it over from the 

 beginning, and form a definite and coherent judgment on the whole 

 question. In the spoken discussion there is always a complete want 

 of continuity, each speaker raising practically new issues. 



Variation and Probability. 

 Professor Weldon's report, given on behalf of the Royal 

 Society's Committee "for conducting statistical inquiries into the 



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