November 24, 192 1] 



NATURE 



409 



at all, their existence may even be denied. On 

 the contrary, when describing complex behaviour 

 when impulses from external or internal stimuli 

 modify each other before the final result is trans- 

 lated into action, it is the intervening physico- 

 chemical processes which are unknown and 

 perhaps ignored, and the action is said to 

 be voluntary or prompted by emotion or the \ 

 will. 



The point I wish to make, however, is that the 

 actions and behaviour of organisms are responses, 

 are characters in the sense described in the earlier 

 part of this address. They are inherited, they 

 vary, they are selected, and evolve like other char- 

 acters. The distinction so often drawn by psycho- , 

 legists between instinctive behaviour said to be ; 

 inherited and intelligent behaviour said to be 

 acquired is as misleading and as little justified in 

 this case as in that of structural characters. Time 

 will not allow me to develop this point of view, but 

 I will only mention that instinctive behaviour is 

 carried out by a mechanism developed under the 

 influence of stimuli, chiefly internal, which are 

 constantly present in the normal environmental 

 conditions, while intelligent behaviour depends on 



responses called forth by stimuli which may or 

 may not be present. Hence, the former is, but 

 the latter may or may not be inherited. As in 

 other cases, the distinction lies in the factors and 

 conditions which produce the results. Instinctive 

 and intelligent behaviour are usually, perhaps 

 always, combined, and one is not more primitive 

 or lower than the other. 



It would be a mistake to think that these 

 problems concerning factors and environment, 

 heredity and evolution, are merely matters of 

 academic interest. Knowledge is power, and in 

 the long run it is always the most abstruse re- 

 searches that yield the most practical results. 

 Already, in the effort to keep up and increase our 

 supply of food, in the constant fight against 

 disease, in education, and in the progress of 

 civilisation generally, we are beginning to appre- 

 ciate -the value of knowledge pursued for its own 

 sake. Could we acquire the power to control and 

 alter at will the factors of inheritance in domesti- 

 cated animals and plants, and even in man him- 

 self, such vast results might be achieved that the 

 past triumphs of the science would fade into 

 insignificance. 



Mount Everest. . 

 By LiEUT.-CoL. H. H. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S. 



r X the issue of Nature of March 31 last, 

 p. 137, I offered some remarks on the Mount 

 Everest Expedition. I have now been asked to 

 give some account of the progress made by the 

 recent expedition, and to point out some facts of 

 interest to men of science. I have some hesita- 

 tion in doing this, as so much has been written 

 by able officers, such as Brig. -Gen. the Hon. C. G. 

 Bruce [Geographical Journal, January, 192 1) and 

 Major H, T. Morshead (Survey of India, March, 

 192 1 ), who have done more and been at greater 

 heights than myself. 



The news which has come regularly and rapidly 

 through the Times reports tells of signal success ; 

 fine work has been done, and a difficult task faced 

 1 with all the enthusiasm such an expedition can 

 \ create. Enthusiasm for mountain reconnaissance 

 i was displayed on the lamentable death of Dr. 

 j A. M. Kellas on June 5 at Kampa Dzong, one 

 I of the first to join the expedition ; in truth, he was 

 already worn out by previous exposure. He gave 

 his life, but not before his knowledge of Hima- 

 layan travel and what the native porter can do 

 must have been of inestimable value. Now the ex- 

 pedition has completed its first season's work with 

 the object of reaching next year a point as high as 

 possible on its flank, I can better attempt to show 

 what there is of interest not generallv known. 

 what the great height of Everest indicates, and 

 Ihow much it is bound up with the physical 

 features of a vast area and with the geology of 

 the same. There is something more than Mount 

 K\erest being the highest peak in the world 

 NO. 2717, VOL. 108] 



which is bringing it rather suddenly into notice 

 and proving of interest to the general public. This 

 something 1 hope to bring before the reader and 

 increase his interest. 



I am envious of the good fortune of those who 

 may stand on the flank of Mount Everest. They 

 will, indeed, be fortunate men, for, with a clear 

 horizon, they will look over the world laid out 

 before them; still more fortunate they will be if 

 they can ponder on the many problems it presents. 

 Would that we could recall Sir Joseph Hooker 

 with his knowledge and power of observation. 

 ,We must not forget what he accomplished with 

 limited means — his mapping and botanical record ; 

 indeed, few books of travel are on a level with 

 his "Himalayan Journals." 



I would ask the reader first of all to look at a 

 good map of India, noting particularly the scale 

 of miles to an inch on which it is compiled. First, 

 I would direct attention to the peak,'s association 

 with a gigantic geodetical undertaking, the 

 measurement of an arc of the meridian or the 

 great arc series of triangulation which, starting 

 at Cape Comorin, was carried for 1500 miles to 

 Banog at the base of the Himalaya — systematic 

 work too technical to explain here. It was the 

 conception of Col. Sir George Everest, R.E., 

 when Surveyor General of India, assisted bv his 

 successor. Col. Sir Andrew Waugh, R.E. Exact 

 triangulation gives us the true latitude, longitude, 

 and height of the many lofty peaks on the far-off 

 Himalayan chain, with the names and position 

 of which the public are becoming familiar. Among 



