302 



NATURE 



[December 28, 191 1 



finiural •election will prevent It from going furth«»r by 

 iliniinnlin(i tlu- unfavournble variationw, i.t. tho»c which 

 exhibit further incren«c. It may be admillecl that the 

 ur(!nn in quf«i!on will probably exhibit variation in »izc 

 nfi. ■ optimum due to difTeroncr* in nutrition 



jifH iti.-s of thr individual environmint ; but 



I (.,,. ... ;.,..., in th«' absence of the jjland which pro- 



duc*-* the specific controlling secretion, and which we have 

 ;i'.>iiiii'<l to have bt-en aSieady eliminated, there are likely 

 v.irintionii of a minus character suitable for 

 lion to work upon. In other words, it appears 

 to III' i>ri>i..ii)l«' that natural selection, having once let go 

 her control of growth, would be unable to regain it. In 

 order that sh«.- might do so, it would be necessary <iili'> 

 that the gla dular organ which originally product' 

 inhibiting hormone should b«.' again di'Vrlop«-d or that 

 other organ should take its place. It is, however, gener- 

 ally admitted that an organ, once lost, is never redeveloped, 

 and it dcH's not seem likely that any other glandular 

 organ, which we may suppose to be already wcupied in 

 producing a specific secretion for some other purpose, 

 would be able to take on new duties and provide the 

 necessary control before it was too late to save the organism 

 from destruction. 



If there is a possibility ol an\ i umulativf effr-tt from 

 generation to generation th^re sfrins no reason why, in 

 these circumstances, increase of size should not continue 

 indefinitely until it becomes incompatible with existence. 

 Have we any right to assume any such cumulative effect? 

 I think we have, for we know very well that the whole 

 ontogen) nf ;uiy oti' of the higher animals is nothing but 

 the accumulaiiiin of a number of successive stages which 

 Iiav I"' 11 added ono after the other in the individual life- 

 tiii)' s C.I pa-t generations. This, at any rate, is the teach- 

 inj4 ol tilt ncapitulation hypothesis, in the truth of which 

 I, for one, am a convinced believer. We also know from 

 the facts of embryology that as each successive stage is 

 added there is a tendency both towards an increase in the 

 length of time occupied in development and also towards 

 compression and abbreviation of the earlier stages, so as 

 to make room for new chapters of the record. 



It seems, therefore, not unreasonable to assume that any 

 increment in size which is gained by an individual animal 

 or one of its organs before the period of reproduction, or 

 before the germ cells which will give rise to the next 

 generation are matured, and which is the result of the 

 removal of some controlling factor, will tend to be in- 

 herited in the offspring in a cumulative fashion. If not, 

 why have other features in the ancestral history been 

 accumulated by heredity? It may be said that after the 

 maximum rate of growth has once been attained there will 

 hf no furllitr increase in the size of the organ ; but I think 

 tliff will, if only because there will be a slightly increased 

 liiii. a\ail.il«lf. owing to the lengthening of tht- ptrlotl of 

 (1 'v. loi>int nt ill which growth may take place. 1 In n. ■ mh 

 if liit'if is no further acceleration of the actual rate of 

 growth after the controlling influence has once been com- 

 pletely removed, the lengthening life-history will still afford 

 opportunitii ■; for increase of size. It seems not impossible, 

 however, that acceleration might also continue in connec- 

 tion with the shortening up of the stages of development 

 in the ontogeny. 



I should like to meet in advance another objection which 

 m.iy be raised to the views herein advocated. It mav be 

 urged that many of the bizarre and almost monstrous 

 characters under discussion, such, for example, as some 

 of the excrescences of the dermal armature in extinct 

 rt-ptiles. can never have had any value as adaptations, and 

 that therefore natural selection could never have encouraged 

 tht»m to increase so much in size as to get beyond her 

 control. Here, however, the principle of correlation comes 

 in. Just as many different parts of the body are .nffected 

 bv disease of the pituitary gland, so the removal of the 

 glaid which controlled the development of v,,ni. un- 

 doubtedly useful organ, such as a frontal horn, mii^'ht at 

 the same time permit the growth of all sorts of • m res- 

 cenc^s which have no adaptive significance. 



I need hardly say that I have no wish to speak dogmatic- 

 allv with regard to the cause of that remarkable momentum 

 which organisms certainly seem in many cases to acquire 



NO. 2200, VOL. 88] 



during the course of their evolution. Our knowledge of 

 internal iwcretion* and their specific action upon the 

 difT«*rent part* of the body ist still in its infancy : indeed, it 

 has hardly commenced ; but I venture to point out to 

 hi ' - - possible cluf to what ha* been for a long time 

 a I enigma. I hope that my fuggettioo will be 



fi:. : . : ,iscd, and that it may give riie Co a difcussion 

 from which come grain of truth will ultimatelj emerge. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Lord Haldank has beer elected Chancellor of xhf Tni- 

 • rsity of Briistol, in succession to the late ry 



' »vert'on Wills. 



The Clothworkers' Company has supplemented its 

 previous grant of 500/. to the Bedford College for Wom'^n 

 Building Fund by a further grant of 500/. 



Rkuter reports that the council of tb>^- 1 

 Paris has sanctioned a scheme for an exrl 

 between the Universities of Paris and Loti'. 



The Paris correspondent of The Times announces tl 

 the Marquise .Xrconati-Vsconti has endowed the Urc"'- 

 of Paris with the sum of 20,000/., which is to be r-- 

 for the benefit of the faculties of medicine and of !• 



The annual meeting of the Mathematical .^ssociati 

 will Ix; held on Wednesday, January 10, 1912, at : 

 London Day Training College, Southampton Row, Lond< 

 W.C. There will 1^ an address by the president, Pr 

 E. W. Hobson, F.R.S., and the following papers will 

 read : — on the work of the International Commission 

 Mathematical Teaching, C. Godfrey; on some ur 

 possibilities in mathematical education, G. St. L. ' 

 a plea for the earlier introduction of the calculus. ' ^ 

 Durell. 



In August last Mr. Snowden, M.P., sent the Pr; 

 Minister a memorial, sjgn.i by more than 400 meml- 

 of the House of Commons, urging that the time had co 

 for a new inquiry into the system of appointment and 

 method of promotion in the Civil Service. The Pr: 

 Minister has now replied that the Government has c< 

 to the conclusion that such an inquiry, by a Royal Ci 

 mission, would be useful and opportune. The composit 

 of the commission and the terms of reference will 

 announced in due course. 



We learn from The Pioneer Mail th.m 

 of India has decided to place Lieut.-Colonel t. H. 

 Atkinson, R.E., principal of the Thomason Coll- 

 Rorkee, and Mr. T. Dawson, principal of the Vict- 

 Technical Institute, Bombay, on special duty early in 

 new year. The object of the special duty is to bring 

 technical institutions of India into closer practical r 

 tions with the employers of labour in the countr}-, whet 

 they be Government workshops or factories or pri\: • 

 concerns. Colonel Atkinson and Mr. Dawson will sti: ' 

 the existing requirements of employers of labour, and 1 

 far they can be met at existing institutions. They 

 also make proposals for establishing closer connec 

 between the existing business concerns and the exis 

 technical institutions. On entering any province they 

 report themselves to the local government, and condi 

 their inquiries on lines approved by the local governnv • 

 and in the company of any person whom the local gov 

 ment may appoint for the purpose. It is hoped • 

 employers of labour will cooperate with the Governmen- 

 this important practical work. 



The necessity for the establishment in this country > 

 lectureship in tropical agriculture forms the subject t 

 leaflet which has been circulated by Mr. S. Simpson. 

 49 Finsbury Pavement, London, E.C., and a copy 

 which has been received. The departmental commi;. 

 appointed in 1908 by the Board of .Agriculture and 

 Fisheries to inquire into and report upon the subject of 

 agricultural education in England and Wales, put on 



