94 



NATURE 



\_Nov. 29, 1877 



of such a formula. Whoever will have a formula, whoever says 

 " I absolutely want a formula, I wish to be perfectly at one with 

 myself, I must have a coherent conception of the universe," must 

 either admit gcncratio (tqi/ivoca pv creation j there is no other 

 alternative. If we want to be outspoken we may indeed own 

 th^t naturalists may have a slight predilection for genei-atio 

 cvquivoca. It would be very beautiful if it could be proved. 



But we must admit that it is not yet proved. Proofs are still 

 wanting. I f any kind of proof were to be successfully given we would 

 acquiesce. But even then it would have to be determined first, to 

 what extent we could adnait generatio aquivoca. We should 

 quietly have to continue our investigations, because nobody will 

 think that spontaneous generation is valid for the totality of 

 organic beings. Possibly it would only apply to a single series 

 of beings. But I believe we have time to wait for the proof. 

 Whoever remembers in what a regrettable manner, quite recently, 

 all attempts to' find a certain ba-,is for generatio ccqidvoca in the 

 lowest forms of the transition fro;'?:! the inorganic to the organic 

 world, have failed, should c ns'der it doubly dangerous to 

 demand that this ill-reputed doctrine should be adopted as a 

 basis for all human conceptions of life, I may, doubtless, 

 suppose that the story of the Bathyhius has become known to 

 nearly all educated persons. With this Bathybiiis the hope has 

 Egain vanished that generatio ceqtnvoca can be prove 1. 



I think, therefore, that with regard to this first point, the 

 IJoint of the connection between the organic and the inorganic, 

 we must simply own that in reality we know nothing about it. 

 We may not set down our supposiiion as a certainty, oar 

 problem as a dogma ; that cannot ba permitted. Just as in the 

 progress of the doctrines of evolution it has been far more 

 certain, more fertile, and more in accordance with the progress 

 of accredited natural science, to analyse the original single doc- 

 trine part by part, we shall also have first to keep apart the 

 organic and inorganic thinn;s in the old well-known analysing 

 vay, and not to throw them together prematurely. 



Nothing, gentlemen, has been more dangerous to natural 

 science, nothing has done more harm to its progress and to its 

 position in th^ opinion of nations than premature syntheses. 

 While laying stress upon this, I would point out specially how 

 our Father Oken was damaged in the opinion not only of his 

 contemporaries, but also in that of the following generation, 

 because he was one of those who admitted syntheses into their 

 conceptions to a far greater extent than a stricter method would 

 have allowed. Do not let us lose the example of the natural 

 philosophers j do not let us forget that every lime that a doctrine 

 which has assurced the air of a certain, well-founded, and reliable 

 one, of one which claims general validity, turns out to be faulty 

 in its outlines, or is found to be an arbitrary and despotic one in 

 essential and great points, then a great number of men lose 

 their faith in science entirely. Then the reproaches begia — 

 "You are not sure even yourselves; your doctrine, which is 

 called truth to-day, is a falsehood to-morrow ; how can you 

 demand that your doctrine shall become the object of instruction 

 and of the general consciousness ? " From such experiences I take 

 the warning that if we wish to continue to claim the attention of 

 all we must resist the temptation of pushing our suppositions, 

 our merely theoretical and speculative structures into prominence 

 to such a degree that from them we would construct the concep- 

 tion of the whole remaining universe. 



(To be continued.') 



THE METEOR 



A METEOR of unusual brilliancy was seen on the evening of 

 -^*- Friday, the 23rd inst., from various parts of the kingdom. 

 Mr. F. A. Buxton writing to us from Hertford states that he saw 

 it two miles north of that town at 8.26 P.M. He says : — "I 

 was attracted 'ry its glare notwithstanding the moonlight, and 

 saw it moving vertically downwards. I could not accurately 

 observe its path, but it passed, nearly or exactly, over a small 

 star, just visible in the moonlight, which I think is tt Herculis, 

 and di- appeared suddenly before it reached the horizon, in about 

 N.P.D. 60 and R. A. i6"40. By comparing notes with another 

 observer (half a mile north of Hertford) it appears to have been 

 visible much nearer the zenith than I had seen it ; probably I saw 

 the last \^ of its path. From the apparent slowness of its motion 

 and complete absence of sound I gather that it was far off. My 

 guess at the moment was fifty miles. In consequence of its 

 brightness its apparent diameter was probably illusory. It 

 attained two maxima of splendour, one about over the star 



named, the other at its disappearance. Scarcely any ' trail ' was 

 left ; what there was almost immediately vanished. " 



Mr. T. Mellard Reade writes that he saw it from Blundell- 

 sands, Liverpool, at 8.20 P.M. Looking up he saw a splendid 

 broad streak of blue light terminating in a ball of red fire rushing 

 across the sky ja a north-westerly direction. The first flash 

 seemed directly overhead ; if so, Mr. Reade states, the meteor 

 must have travelled through at least 45°. Shortly afterwards the 

 moon being intensely bright and a shower coming on from the 

 west, across the sea a most splendid "mo jn " rainbow made its 

 appearance, finishing as a perfect arch of vivid colours with a 

 second and a perfect bow above it. 



Mr. W. B. Ferguson writes from Edinburgh that while 

 walking down Princes Street about 8-25 P.M. he saw a 

 most brilliant meteor which appeared to fall almost vertically 

 and burst with great brilliance appirently just behind the castle. 

 Its direction from where he observed it wa? 10^ west of south. 



Mr. p. H. Dance, writing from Manor House, Ardwick, Man- 

 chester, gives the time as 8h. 25 n. p.m. Greenwich mean time. 

 The meteor, he states, appea.red to come from the constellation 

 Cassiopeia, and after travelling in a direction a little to the west 

 of north, finally hurst behind a cloud about thirty degrees above 

 the horizon. The apparent size of the meteor was considerably 

 greater than that of Mars during the late opposition, and the 

 light which it emitted was intensely bright and of a bluish-greea 

 colour, leaving a decidedly red impresfion on the retina. The 

 period of visibility would be about five seconds, and the sparks 

 in the train were also visible for some seconds. 



Mr. Plant, the Curator of the Salfbrd Museum, observed the 

 meteor at the same time, visible to the narth of Manchester. 



Di'. S. Drew, of Sheffield, saw it at about 8.30 p.m. He gives 

 the apparent diameter as two minutes ; path, from the square of 

 Pegasus to near Altair ; motion, slow ; shape, at first globular, 

 afterwards elongate I, with tail. It then appeared to break up. 

 Colour, at first blue-green, afterwards ruddy ; light, brilliant. 

 He heard no sound accompanying the meteor, and from the 

 absence of sound and slow apparent motion, he infers the real 

 distance and size of the bolide to have been great. Dr. Drew 

 wa<;, at the time of observation, a little to the west of the town 

 of Rotherham. 



Several correspondents write to the Tifiies describing what 

 they saw of this remarkable meteor, for it is evidently the same 

 body which has been seen by the various observers. The Liver- 

 pool correspondent of the Times saw it about 8'30. " A large 

 ball of fire shot from the sky, exploding and throwing off in- 

 numerable variegated sparks as it descended in a northerly 

 direction. The track of sparks gave the meteor the appearance 

 of a brilliant comet with a long tail. Some spectators state that 

 they heard the hissing noise made in its course, and othfers allege 

 that it descended into the water near the bar of the Mersey with 

 a great noise, sending up a column of steam and spray." 



Mr. Donald Mackay saw it from Victoria Street, London, 

 shortly before 830 P.M. "It travelled Avith great rapidity for 

 about 20° from the zenith to the horizon, bursting in a white 

 ball as large as twelve of the planet Mars in one, lighting up all 

 the houses surrounding Victoria Street, the point of observation, 

 and leaving a large tail behind of the shape of a spear-head, with 

 all the colours of the rainbow in it." 



The Rev. J. Hoskyns-Abrahall writes from Combe Vicarage, 

 near Woodstock, that about 8.20 the northern sky was 

 suddenly lighted up with a glow that outshone that spread 

 over the south-eastern sky by a moon nearly full. "Looking 

 northwards I saw a globular meteor of a pale orange colour 

 dejcending perpendicularly. Its apparent size was scarcely less 

 than that of the moon. Just above the slope on which I was, 

 and seemingly not half a mile off, it burst into huge fragments, 

 which flared forth with a fierce, lightning-like, reddish glare, 

 and scattered sparks of surpassing splendour." 



Mr. D. Aldred writes from Milford, Derby, to the same effect. 

 He saw the meteor about six miles north of Derby, about 8.25. 

 " It was almost due north, and travelling from the zenith to the 

 horizon, the point of dispersion being about 45° above the north 

 point of the horizon. In shape it was conical, the greatest 

 breadth about one and a half times the diameter of the moon, It 

 left a trail of considerable length, and the colours detached were 

 of most remarkable brilliancy." 



" R. ]\I. C." writes from Cathedine, Brecknockshire, giving 

 the report of two reliable witnesses who were walking in an 

 easterly direction at 8.25 p.m. Looking back, the moon being 

 at the time obscured by a cloud, tliey tav a ball of the rao-.l 

 intense white li^ht, "about the si^j of a caimou-bali," travers- 



