4'42; 



NATURE 



{March 8, 1888 



it of the above-named journal as a medium for publica- 

 tion, taken in conjunction with the fact that the same 

 has entered on its twenty-second year, affords a fitting op- 

 portunity for briefly reviewing its progress and prospects. 



Of the work of the Society to which we have alluded it 

 would be premature to judge. It has been founded in 

 the cause of " those interested in the science of anatomy," 

 and on glancing through its roll of members we see that 

 , the comparative and human anatomist are, at last, at 

 work in a common cause. All modern experience shows 

 it to be a truism that the study of human anatomy, if it is 

 to bear good fruit, must be based upon the comparative 

 method. It is well known that essays have long since 

 been made, by certain leaders at home, and by Coues 

 more especially in America, towards the realization of 

 this dream : we will not pause to comment upon the 

 somewhat tardy manner in which these have been re- 

 ceived by human anatomists at large. The new Ana- 

 tomical Society, as its constitution shows, is alive to the 

 truth we have asserted, and, this being so, we shall follow 

 with extreme interest the progress of the new brotherhood, 

 which, if properly ordered, cannot fail to exercise a most 

 beneficial influence upon the healing art. 



The journal which the founders of the new Society 

 have selected as their mouth-piece has had, thus far, 

 a successful run. To its pages most of our leading 

 anatomists and physiologists have contributed, and within 

 its covers lie papers which have revolutionized the 

 particular departments of knowledge with which they 

 deal. Fifteen months ago it entered, under a change 

 of publishers, upon a " new series " ; and more re- 

 cently it has, under its extended auspices, as might 

 be expected, shown signs of increase in bulk. Its 

 editors have been ever indefatigable, and most willing to 

 oblige all who have applied to them ; but the limit of their 

 generosity has most certainly been reached, and, unless 

 we are sadly mistaken, they will before long find it 

 necessary to reconsider their scheme. In anticipation of 

 this, and in the interests of workers in general, we would 

 advise a more judicious selection and revision of matter 

 tendered for publication than is at present adopted. In 

 the current number we find thirteen papers presented in 

 all — some of great merit, others of a more questionable 

 character. In one of them we read at the outset the re- 

 markable statement that " the minute anatomy of the 

 skin of the horse has never before been described," and at 

 the conclusion the erroneous assertion that " having got 

 perfectly free from the old hair the (hair-) papilla now 

 commences secreting again." On reading this and certain 

 other papers which have been published of late, we cannot 

 close the volumes without being struck with the general 

 looseness and absence of all regard for authority which 

 pervade them. This should not be. To papers such as 

 these the worker turns for originality, or, failing that, for 

 at least a resutne of work done up to the time of writing : 

 their multiplication, in the unsatisfactory form to which 

 we now reluctantly call attention, is regrettable, and, in 

 the interests of a literature already overburdened, greatly 

 to be deplored. 



By way of further insuring the restriction of the 

 publication within reasonable limits, we would urge the 

 exclusion from the body of each issue of pure compilations 

 and papers wholly controversial — such, for example, as one 

 a short time ago devoted to a consideration of the rela- 

 tions of the Mammalia to the lower Vertebrata, and others 

 which could be named. Productions such as these, con- 

 taining nothing original, and occasionally but a portion of 

 that which is known on the subjects under review, should 

 be dealt with as supplementary matter. We hear a great 

 deal nowadays, on all hands, about the scant recognition 

 of work done by our countrymen. The retention of 

 papers such as those to which we have alluded, in an 

 authoritative journal like the one before us, cannot fail to 

 call forth the unwelcome "<?«/M// nichts neues" ; and if 



it be persisted in, is it not likely that we may yet have to 

 thank ourselves, in a measure, for the supposed want of 

 respect ? 



Far be it from us to discourage the efforts of individual 

 workers. In calling attention to these defects we merely 

 desire to guard against reproach. If the journal whose 

 interests we are seeking is to continue its useful work 

 done in the past, and to do justice to the best interests of 

 its new supporters in the future, some such deliberate 

 modifications as those to which we have pointed are called 

 for. Far-reaching interests will not excuse inauthorita- 

 tiveness, and, if the new leaven is to work its best, the 

 rising generation of anatomists will not tolerate 

 inefficiency. 



NOTES. 



Baron von Schwerin, the Swedish explorer, has presented 

 his whole collection of ethnographical objects, gathered during 

 the last two years' journeys in Afiica, to the National Ethno- 

 graphical Museum at Stockholm, The collection is the largest 

 and most valuable ever presented to this institution by any private 

 person. 



Admiral Sir Astley Cooper Key died suddenly last 

 Saturday. He was in his sixty-seventh year. He had seen 

 much active service, and had held some high appointments, 

 including that of Principal Naval Lord of the Admiralty, and 

 Director of the Royal Naval College, which owed much to his 

 endeavours to apply science to the wants of the Navy. 



The Swedish Government has decided to expend ;^3ooo on a 

 new botanical museum at the Lund University. 



The eighth German Geographentag will be held at Berlin 

 on April 4, 5, and 6. 



From July 25 to 31 there will be held in Paris, in the rooms 

 of the Medical School, a meeting of the Society for the study of 

 Human and Animal Tuberculosis, under the presidency of Profs. 

 Chauveau and Villemin, Interesting communications and papers 

 are expected. 



The Chair of Psychology to which M, Ribot has been ap- 

 pointed has long existed in the College de France, and was not, 

 as has been stated, established by the Paris Municipal Council, 

 This Chair must not be confounded with that of Pkilosophie 

 Biologique, which the Council is creating for Prof, Giard. 



A SHORT course of lectures on "The Protection of Buildings 

 from Lightning," by Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S,, to be 

 delivered under the title of the " Dr, Mann Lectures," as a 

 memorial of the late Dr, Mann, will be begun on Saturday 

 afternoon next, March 10, at the Society of Arts, The cour;e 

 will consist of two lectures, the first of which will take the form 

 of a slight historical sketch, and will call attention to the out- 

 standing questions, difficulties, and points of controversy in 

 connection with lightning-conductors. At the second lecture 

 experimental answers will be given to some of the questions 

 raised, and an endeavour will be made to supply a more com- 

 plete account of the liability of conductors to side-flash than 

 has yet been attempted. The chair will be taken at 3 o'clock. 



Last Saturday, Sir James Paget delivered an interesting 

 address to the students attending University Extension Lectures 

 in London. His subject was " Scientific Study," and he showed 

 in a remarkably clear and striking way how the study of science 

 develops the power of observation, fosters accuracy of thought, 

 gives men a vivid conception of the difficulty of attaining to a 

 real knowledge of the truth, and makes them familiar with the 

 methods by which they may pass from that which is proved to 



