7a7l. 



li, 1877] 



NA TURE 



217 



form of the craltis, as I might caU Uicm, (.f the barometric 

 depressions, and their steepness in ditTerent directions. 



The foilowint; note has some connection wiiii this inquiry, and 

 I beg you, if you think it suitable, to give it a place in your 

 esteemed journal : — 



In 1874 1 proposed to lay, as well as it can be done, a plane 

 or planes, having t-uch a slope as would repiesent the barometric 

 height at some two distant places, and to indicat-; (in geodetic 

 terms) the fall and strike, or the inclination on the horizon and the 

 azimuih of the projection of the perpendicular on such a plane, 

 and I btill recommend it. In the Netherlands, where my area is 

 small (see Jour. Scot. Met. Soc, iv. 25) it is always easy to find 

 such a plane, and of course its perpendicular. Now I have in- 

 quired whether the projection of that perpendicular moved round 

 the horizon generally in a direct way (with the sun) in the same 

 manner as M. Dove has found that the direction of the wind 

 tioes, and which I demonstrated in Pog^;. Ann., Ixviii. 417, 553, 

 to be the case thirteen times per annum in oar latitude. 



On examination I find that in 1874 and 1875 tiie projection 

 has gone round the horizon in a direct way ten times more than 

 the opposite way ; further, .that it often goes back when the direc- 

 tion ol the projection lies to the south-east, but that when it has 

 veered to be to the northwest it veers forward surely and quickly 

 enough in a direct way to the east, which is in accordance with 

 the fact that when we have a depression over Ireland or Scot- 

 land it then moves in the direction of N orway and Finland. I 

 don't think it superfluous to call the attention of others to this 

 research, and I propose to calculate the results for other years 

 in this rehpect, which is easily « one by means of the Nether- 

 lands' Annmhes, and thus find thrice a day the direction atid 

 size of the steepest gradient. 



Utrecht, December 23, 1876 Buys Ballot 



Mind and Matter 



The problem, " How consciousness stands related (o the 

 riiaterial organism," has b-en attempted to be solved l)y Mr. 

 '.uiicun, under the head of "Mind and Mater" (Nature, 

 .0!. XV., p. 78). Now that a more exact scientific examinati'jii 

 as reconciled so many differences on this question, a return to 

 I he old a priori method of mere logic is still perfectly legitimate, 

 ])rovided ttie logic is sound. 



Admitting that consciousness is related to matter, and without 

 '"on* ending, for the present, that it may not be a state of matter 

 under certain restrictions o the term), I will content myself with 

 dinting out what seem to be fallacies in this " solution." " It is 

 -s easy, " says Mr. Duncan, "to predicate subjectivity (suscep- 

 ;ibility to consciousnes.-) of one entity called matter as of an- 

 other entity called soul or spirit. It is no more difficult to con- 

 ceive of matter being subjective than of spiiit being subjective." 

 j.et us see if this is or is not petiiio principii. It was the 

 ifhculty, real or apparent, of ascribing certain attributes (men- 

 Mi) to matter, that demanded the supposition of some supjjoit 

 ' iher than material. So that when we say that spitit is alone 

 usceptible to consciousness, we merely express that matter is 

 lot thus susceptible. Therefore, to affirm that the one may be 

 as susceptible to consciousness as the other is to assume, in 

 'mine, that matter may be susceptible to consciousness, the 

 ly probability which has to be established. 

 Mr. Duncan next asserts that " How energy is related to mat- 

 er in ail its form.--, is no less mysterious than how subjectivity 

 nay be a property of matter." Now every opponent ot matc- 

 lalism admits that how energy is related to matter is a mystery, 

 and avows that he cannot conceive of consciousness as di property 

 ^matter; but the difficulty of understanding the /w-c, even if 

 _ grant it equal in both cases, cannot establish any parity of 

 probability as to the facts ; for while we know as a lact that 

 i ergy is iclatd to matter, we do not know as a fact that sub- 

 ctivity (susceptibility to consciousness) is z. property of matter. 

 And even if we put the arj^ument more exactly, and affirm that 

 ^ e know that subjectivity, like energy, is related to matter, still 

 loihing in point is gained, seeing that while we know all matter 

 II relation to energy, it is only a ceitain furm of matter (the 

 .11) which vickiioiu to be related to subjectivity ; for if we 

 '_■ this of a dog, we cannot know it till he tell us. 

 . 1,0 next position, " Energy may be divided. Why not sub- 

 ieciivity?" would seem to demand nothing less than absolute 

 >roof, since subjectivity, or the state of the Ego, appears indivi- 

 ble in virtue of its essential unity. Yet no support is advanced 

 xcept the foregoing assertion, which we have seen is a mere 

 lumption on the side of materialism, and which we shall next 



r 



fee coiitd.is an admission all but f^ial to ihc ca ue it advocates. 

 When Mr. Duncan says, " How energy is related to matter is 

 no less mysterious than how subjectivity may be a property of 

 matter," he admits that we cannot understand either, while he 

 believes the first because it is a fact. But why should we believe 

 the last? Because we cannot understand it, and becau.se it is 

 not a fact ? Will he admit that we have advanced any proof of 

 an oyster being an astronomer, when we have affirmed that this 

 would be no more mysterious than the relation of energy to 

 m itter? Yet his three remaining arguments go on this ground : 

 they assume that tlie probability of subjectivity being a property 

 of matter equals the fact of energy being related to matter. 

 Rugby J. L. Tui'PEP 



Solar Physics at the Present Time 



At the conclusion of his letter of the 1st inst. (Nature, vol. 

 XV. p. 196), Sir G. B. Airy alludes to a paper of mine as being 

 cited by me (in my last letter to Nature) as being "in the 

 ' Philosophical Transactions.' " 



The paper referred to ought, with little doubt, to have ap- 

 peared there, but it did nor, and I was most careful to avoid 

 implying that it had ; my words being with regard to it (.see 

 your pages 157 and 158) : — 



1st, " which I had the honour of communicating to the Royal 

 Society of London six years ago ; " and 



2nd, "that paper of six years ago, and still in the hands of 

 the Royal Society ;" 



nor is there any mention of the " Philosophical Transactions'' 

 throughout. Piazzi Smyth, 



Edinburgh, January 5 Astronomer Royal for Scotland 



Towering of Birds 



Snipe frequently tower — also pigeons. I saw a mallard that 

 flew nearly half a mile, towered, and, fell dead. Teal also 

 lower, but their towering is different to the ordinary, as they are 

 as often alive as dead when they fall. I have also remarked 

 this in widgeons, and once in a partiioge. In the latter case birds 

 fell right and lelt, the second a towerer. It was in heavy turnips 

 that had been planted when mangel had mis-ed. The towerer 

 fell on an isolated mangel ; when picked up, he was at lea t ten 

 yards from the mangel and still alive. Some years ago there 

 was a discussion on this subject in Land and IVater or the Field, 

 and I think it was shown it was due to pulmonary ha;morrhaye. 

 At least I was quite aware of the cause, and that head or spine 

 injuries had nothing to do with it. 



Ovoca, Ireland G. H. KiNAHAN 



Rooks Building at Christmas 



On Christmas morning I saw a iew rooks engaged in building 

 in a clump of elms near my house. Four nests are now in pro- 

 gress, though the gale of December 30 made the rooks desist 

 from their work. During the ten years (about) that I have 

 watched their proceedings, I think I have never seen these birds 

 b,gin building till February. 



I may add that our well-watered lands and woods are being 

 visited with wild duck, teal, peewus, and gulls in great 

 numbers. C. M. Ingleby 



Valentines, Ilford, Essex 



Are We Drying Up ? 



The above qtieslion has been asked in the columns of Nature. 

 As a small contribution towards an answer, it may be stated that 

 at this place the two last years, 1875 ^""^ ^^7^y have been the 

 two wettest in a series of twenty-four years. 



In 1S75, the rainfall was 44 '05 incheg. 

 In 1876 „ „ 42-42 „ 



The average of twenty-four years has been 33'II inches. 

 Clifton, January 7 GEORGE F. Burder 



Radiant Points of Shooting Stars 



In December, from observations of 163 shooting stars seen in 

 2cJ^ hours' watching, chiefly in the evenings, I amply confirmed 

 several of the positions ot radiant points as given in my note 

 (Nature, vol. xv., p. 158), and observed that several of the 

 showers there mentioned were actively continued. The centres, 

 as I gave them, of two of these reqtiire revision, as the addi- 

 tional meteois seen in December indicate the radiants with 



