152 



NATURE 



\yune 24, 1875 



SCIENCE IN GERMANY 

 {From a German Correspondent^ 



SINCE Darwin first gave the signal for a complete 

 rupture with the old tradition of the morphology of 

 animals, Germany has zealously continued working in the 

 new direction, trying to bring anatomical, embryological, 

 and biological facts into causal connection with each 

 other by the comparative method. Darwin's theory re- 

 mains the basis, and it has been principally Haeckel who, 

 in advance of all its supporters, deduced further important 

 consequences ; the antagonists of the theory have confined 

 themselves to a purely negative criticism. At one time 

 the whole theory with all its suppositions and deductions 

 was rejected by them ; at another, the theory of descent 

 was accepted in principle, but the further representation 

 of its connection with the anatomy and the development 

 history of animals was refuted ; in all cases they either 

 returned to the old views openly or they were satisfied 

 with simple contradiction, leaving it to the future to fill up 

 the gaps thus produced in the theory. In a work that 

 has lately been published, the attempt has been made to 

 consider the whole science of the morphology of animals 

 from a different point of view. This work is : " Die 

 Entwicklungsgeschichte der Unke als Grundlage einer 

 vergleichenden Morphologie der Wirbelthiere " (the His- 

 tory of Development of Bombinator igneus as the basis 

 of a Comparative Morphology of Vertebrata), by Dr. 

 Alexander Gotte, Professor of the University of Strass- 

 burg. 



I From a careful examination of the individual his- 

 tory of the development of Vertebrata and comparative 

 consideration of the lower types, Gotte tries to determine 

 the morphological laws for the individual species, and 

 from this to deduce their causal connection ; he thus 

 arrives at certain general theorems which, according to 

 his view, form the basis for a conception of the origin of 

 new animal species, totally different from Darwin's view. 

 On the one side Gotte does not look upon the animal 

 ovum as a cell, nor in fact as a living organism at all ; 

 this of course is different from all other theories hitherto 

 published. According to his view the cells, which are the 

 basis of the formation of the ovum, only produce a con- 

 glomeration of a certain material (yolk) in a certain 

 arrangement, but are themselves dissolved sooner or later, 

 so that the complete ovum is a peculiar body, not living, 

 but endowed with properties that enable it to be con- 

 verted into a living organism under certain conditions. 

 He maintains that this capacity for development is not 

 the simple consequence of the chemical composition of 

 the yolk, but that it only contains the motive force which 

 is freed by chemical processes, and can do very different 

 work according to the physical conditions under which it 

 happens to be. The result may therefore as likely be the 

 destruction of the ovum as its further development. For 

 the latter, perfectly certain conditions of form are neces- 

 sary, which have already been initiated during the forma- 

 tion of the ovum, and cause the force in question to work 

 in a direction just as determined and certain as they are 

 themselves. The results in that case are self-divisions of 

 the yolk, when the parts are either of equal or of different 

 sizes, and produced at different intervals. The former 

 separate very soon and form separate individuals, which 

 therefore consist only of one element and represent the 

 lowest type (Protozoa) ; the ova of Matazoa, which are 

 unequally divided according to a certain law, remain 

 whole. Their coarser formation is brought about in a 

 purely mechanical way, each division causing a displace- 

 ment. 



Thus Dr. Gotte finds the basis of the fundamental 

 - structure, the type of each animal species, in the differ- 

 ences originatmg through the laws regulating the first 

 divisions of the yolk. 



NOTES 



An Exhibition of 50/. a year, tenable for four years, was 

 recently devoted by the Endowed Schools Commission 'for an- 

 nual competition between the four schools of Taunton, Tiverton, 

 Exeter, and Sherborne. The details of the competition were 

 left entirely to local trustees, whose names we do not know, but 

 whom we understand to be gentlemen of the county of Somerset. 

 The regulations issued by the trustees are before us. They very 

 properly order that the examination shall be conducted by the 

 Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board. The sub. 

 jects proposed by that Board include four groups, of which 

 Science is one, and all candidates, whether choosing to take 

 up Science or not, are permitted, if they please, to substitute 

 Botany for Latin Verse, and Physical Geography for Greek Prose 

 Composition. The scheme of the Somersetshire ^trustees includes 

 all the subjects named by the Universities except those which come 

 under the head of Science, refusing to permit any branch of science 

 to form part of the examination, whether as an independent topic 

 or as an alternative. We content ourselves for the present with 

 the statement of a fact likely to interest all our readers, those 

 more especially who are aware of the efforts that have been 

 made during the past six years to establish in the county ot 

 Somerset a centre of first-rate scientific teaching. 



Among the additional estimates recently voted by the House 

 of Commons is one for the^alary of an Assistant- Director to the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew. Everyone will be rejoiced to hear that 

 the arduous duties of the Director are likely to be lightened by 

 this appointment, which has been filled up by the selection of 

 Prof. Thiselton Dyer. 



In connection with the Commission appointed by the President 

 of the United States to experimcntand report upon the metals used 

 in construction (Nature, vol. xii. p. 94), Mr. R. H.Thurston, the 

 Secretary, has issued circulars expressing his desire to secure the 

 assistance of all who are interested in this great work, and through 

 them to obtain all information available as the result of the 

 labours of earlier or of contemporaneous investigators and oh- 

 servers. The circulars indicate the scope of the labours under- 

 taken by this Commission, and request aid from all in a position 

 to render it, in the collection of all information which may be 

 accessible, relating to either the general work of the Commission 

 or to the special subjects assigned to its committees. Data col- 

 lected in the course of ordinary business practice, and the records 

 of special researches previously made or now in progress, are par- 

 ticularly desired. It is expected that the Commission will receive 

 valuable information and useful suggestions, both from business 

 men an d from men of science, and it is hoped that the work un- 

 dertaken by the Commission may be supplemented by original 

 investigations made by both these classes. The great importance 

 of this work justifies the expectation of an earnest and effective 

 co-operation. Part of the work of the Commission is the inves- 

 tigation of the methods and effects of Abrasion and Wear of 

 metals in engineering and mechanical operations. Valuable data 

 for the purpose could be furnished by railway engineers and 

 others in regard to the wear of rails, wheels, axles, journals 

 under heavy loads or at high velocities, the wear of tools, and 

 other points, and we hope that all in this country who have it in 

 their power will lend what aid they can to this important Com- 

 mission. Another part of the Commission's work is a series of 

 determinations of the effects of carbon, phosphorus, silica, man- 

 ganese, and other elements, upon the strength, toughness, elas- 

 ticity, and other quaUties of iron and steel. Mr. A. L. Holley, 

 Chairman of the Committee on Chemical Research, issues a cir- 

 cular giving detailed instructions as to the specimens and kind 

 of information wanted. We should advise all interested to 

 apply t* Mr. R. H. Thurston, Stevens Institute of Technology, 

 Hoboken, N.J., for detailed information; and we think the 



