December 22, 1921] 



NATURE 



531 



I have no doubt that Prof. Goodrich is familiar with 

 recent advances in psychotherapy, and I cannot 

 imagine how he reconciles them with the above state- 

 ments. The treatise on "Suggestion and Autosug- 

 gestion," by Prof. Badouin, which describes the 

 practice of the new Nancy school, gives plenty of 

 examples of curative processes, which necessarily in- 

 volve metabolism, set in motion by purely mental pro- 

 cesses. A good example is furnished by the article of 

 Prof. J. Stanley Gardiner in Nature of December 15, 

 p. 505. If autosuggestion can initiate metabolism, in 

 the individual, why is it to be ruled out as a possible 

 factor in evolution ? Prof. Goodrich is not an advocate 

 of the view that only congenital characteristics can 

 affect the progeny of the individual. If the requisite 

 •'environmental stimulus" persists I gather that in 

 his opinion an acquired modification may also persist. 

 In this connection it is surely a loss to his theory to 

 rule out the effect which environment may produce 

 primarily on the mind, and through the mind on 

 metabolic processes. Why is the student of biology to 

 regard all this as "outside the sphere of natural 

 science " ? W. R. Bousfield. 



In answer to Mr. W. R. Bousfield's question I mav 

 say that he is mistaken if he thinks that I would 

 deny the possibility of curative processes being set 

 going by "suggestion." But I would maintain" that 

 suggestion is not a mental process. There is a popu- 

 lar error, widespread, that thought can be directly 

 transferred, whereas, as a matter of fact, we know 

 that ^ one organism communicates with another by 

 physical means through the organs of sense — by 

 touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing. Suggestion 

 consists in bringing to bear appropriate stimuli which 

 directly or indirectly set going certain metabolic pro- 

 cesses ; or, to put it in another wav, the stimuli excite 

 in the organism responses which from one aspect 

 appear as a series of metabolic processes, and from 

 another aspect as a series of mental pro<"esses. The 

 one series cannot be altered without also altering the 

 other. 



In Nature of November 17 Dr. J- T. Cunningham 

 complains that I have ignored " the greater part of 

 all the new conceptions and new results obtained by 

 recent research on heredity and genetics." Now it is 

 difficult within the limits of a short address to guard 

 against all possible misunderstanding, yet I think 

 Dr. Cunningham might have gathered that mv object 

 was to concentrate on certain fundamental problems, 

 avoiding all unnecessary detail. Although yielding to 

 none in my admiration for the triumphs of Men- 

 delism, I purposely set aside (as stated in a foot- 

 note) complications due to hybridisation, the forma- 

 tion of heterozygotes, segregation, etc., because thev 

 did not seem to me to bear directly on the questions 

 discussed. My innocent statement "that the newest 

 characters may be inherited as constantly as the most 

 ancient, provided they are possessed by both parents," 

 in no way contradicts Dr. Cunningham's own state- 

 ment "that a character may be inherited when it is 

 apparent only in one parent or in neither," a fact 

 which, by the way. was known before Mendelism was 

 invented. I still hope that nothing said in the address 

 is inconsistent with even the newest sound concep- 

 tions and newest results of experimental genetics. 



In the third paragraph of his letter, while seeming 

 to agree that a change of character must be due 

 either -to an alteration of the germinal factors or of 

 the environmental conditions, Dr. Cunningham con- 

 fuses the issue bv failing to distinguish consistently 

 between the variation and the resulting character. 

 This is just one of the important distinctions which, 

 as I endeavoured to show in the address, must be 

 NO. 2721, VOL. 108] 



realised if we are not to waste time in endless and 

 futile controversy. 



Great as is our debt to Weismann, it must be 

 acknowledged that not a little of the confusion in 

 discussions on "acquired characters " is traceable to 

 obscurities and inconsistencies in his writings. In 

 this matter I gladly acknowledge mv indebtedness to 

 the works of Sir Archdall Reid. No one, I think, 

 has so clearly shown that, as some others saw before 

 him, there are two kinds of variation, but only one 

 kind of character. E. S. Goodrich. 



Oxford, December 9. 



World List of Scientific Periodicals. 



The Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies proposes, 

 if sufficient support is obtained, to arrange for the 

 issue of a world list of periodical publications which 

 contain the results of original scientific research, and 

 has entrusted preliminary arrangements to a com- 

 mittee, of which the following are members :— Sir 

 Sidney F. Harmer (chairman), Mr. F. W. Clifford, 

 Sir Richard Gregory, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, Mr! 

 A. VV. Pollard, and Prof. W. W. Watts, secretary-. 



The list will be an octavo volume containing', in 

 alphabetical order, the titles and places of publication 

 of all such periodicals in existence on Januarv* i, 

 1900, and of all issued after that date. 



Libraries in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Edin- 

 burgh, Dublin, and Aberystwyth vshich take in these 

 periodicals will be indicated in the list, and, wherever 

 possible, at least one library in the L'nited Kingdom 

 will be indicated for each title. 



The copies will be printed on one side only to facili- 

 tate alterations and additions. 



The objects of the proposed volume are : (i) To 

 supply as nearly as possible a complete list of current 

 scientific periodicals ; (2) to indicate, where possible, at 

 least one library where each periodical is taken ; (3) 

 to form a basis for co-operation between libraries, so 

 that both the number of duplicates and the list of 

 periodicals not taken in may be reduced; and (4) to 

 enable each library to use the list for its own pur- 

 poses, by placing a mark against the title of each 

 periodical it possesses, by cutting up for a card index, 

 etc. 



The trustees of the British Museum, recognising 

 the importance of this work to scientific research and 

 bibliography, have consented to allow the compilation 

 to be undertaken by the staff of the Museum. Thev 

 are unable, however, to defray the cost of printing 

 and publication. 



Although the value of a list of this kind to libraries 

 and scientific societies would be very great, it is 

 scarcely possible that the production of so costly a 

 work would be entertained by a publishing firm as an 

 ordinary commercial enterprise. If, however, a suffi- 

 cient number of libraries and institutions agree in ad- 

 vance to purchase one or more copies, when issued, 

 the compilation of the list will be put in- hand at 

 once. Already a large bulk of material has been 

 collected in the British Museum by various societies 

 and by the Conjoint Board. 



I shall be glad to receive by January 31, if possible, 

 the names and addresses of institutions or individuals 

 who will support this proposal by undertaking to 

 subscribe for one or more copies of the list. The 

 price per copy will be 2Z. 2«r. net. W. W. Watts. 



Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, 

 Burlington House, London. W. i. 



Old Observations Bearing on the Duration of Sunrise. 



In 1769 the French academician Le Gentil went on 

 a journey to Mauritius, Pondich^n,-, and Manila to 



