694 



NATURE 



[January 27, 192 1 



for toddy. The stretch of arms in rowing demands 

 no explanation, but it may be mentioned that the 

 rowers were not engaged in rowing as they might be 

 in England, but often continuously for long periods. 

 Thus on first acquaintance they rowed (eighteen of 

 them) forty-six miles to where I was, halted an hour 

 or so to cook and eat a meal, and rowed back again 

 the same distance, covering the ninety-two miles 

 within twenty-four hours — not at all as a feat, but just 

 in the ordinary way of work. 



The climbing of the palms in this region needs 

 some remarks, because whereas toddy-drawers are 

 usually sustained by a strap round the back to ease 

 the strain on the arms, in Malabar the whole weight 

 of the body is borne by the arms alone, legs straight, 

 feet held together by a grummet, the hands embrac- 

 ing the stem. Climbing in this manner is fatiguing, 

 and when he has reached the top the climber works 

 for about a quarter of an hour preparing the spathe, 

 changing his pots, and so on, all the while upheld by 

 the arms, which are thus on the stretch for a consider- 

 .able portion of each day. It seemed, therefore, worth 

 while to examine bv careful measurements with instru- 

 ments for anthropological work whether the continual 

 straining of the arms during many generations affected 

 the length of arms in relation to length of body- 

 height. The result was that it did not. The arms of 

 the hereditary rowers and of the hereditary climbers 

 are no longer in proportion to height than of those 

 engaged in occupations involving no strain of the 

 arms. Writing far from home, I am unable to give 

 you measures. Frederick Fawcett. 



Algiers, January 12. 



Popular Science Lectures on Natural History. 



The lecture^ to juveniles at the Royal Institution by 

 Prof. J. Arthur Thomson have been undoubtedly a 

 great success, and I cannot help thinking that there 

 are others, especially among our young men fresh 

 from the universities, who could give lectures of this 

 kind to popular audiences. If so, can they be dis- 

 covered? They may be difficult to find, for success in 

 this field requires a rare combination of gifts. It is 

 absolutely necessary for such a lecturer to possess, 

 besides knowledge and enthusiasm, a good voice and 

 manner ; his speech must be fairly loud, good, and 

 clear, and his personality distinctly pleasing, or he 

 will fail to win his audience. Unfortunately, few 

 scientific men are good public speakers. It is also 

 much to be regretted that many writers on biology 

 and natural history adopt a style so learned and 

 pedantic that both young and old are repelled. 



Huxley, the younger Buckland, Gosse, and Hugh 

 Miller are gone, and few follow in their steps. How 

 sadly are the themes of beauty, mutual aid (so well 

 treated by Kropotkin), and symbiosis neglected by 

 modern writers ! Those who do treat of these subjects 

 seem to deal with them in a cold, dry way. The 

 leading idea in Prof. Thomson's lectures is conquest 

 by animals of the elements, and no other lecturer or 

 writer has developed the subject as Prof. Thomson 

 has done. 



In conclusion, may I ask whether it would be pos- 

 sible to arrange courses of lectures on the same lines 

 in different parts of London? It seems a pity that 

 such lectures should be confined to the Royal Institu- 

 tion. Eager South London audiences can be found 

 for Shakespeare's plays, and I believTe good lectures on 

 natural history would also appeal to such audiences, 

 cspeciallv if well illustrated and well delivered. 



H. Neville Hutchinson. 



Royal Societies' Club, January 10. 



NO. 2674, VOL. 106] 



Anglo-American University Library for Central Europe. 



In connection with the above library, we are en- 

 deavouring to supply the various university libraries 

 on the Continent with the scientific journals they 

 urgently need. 



Among the periodicals for which we have received 

 a pressing demand Nature is frequently mentioned, 

 and) I very much hope that you will be good enough 

 to publish this letter in your columns so that any of 

 your readers having copies of your journal from 1914 

 onwards may hear of our appeal. Any numbers of 

 the periodical which readers may feel they can dis- 

 pense with will be gratefully welcomed. 



The library is entirely non-political and non-sec- 

 tarian, its sole object being to enable humanity at 

 large to benefit in the future, as it has done in the 

 past, from the research of European scholars. Such 

 research has been brought almost to a standstill from 

 the fact that European centres of learning have been 

 cut off since 1914, first of all by the blockade, and 

 more recently by the exceedingly unfavourable posi- 

 tion of the foreign exchanges, from English and 

 American thought. 



I fervently hope that some of your readers may be 

 able to help in supplying the literary needs of Central 

 Europe. .\ copy of the prospectus of the library will 

 be gladly sent to anyone desiring a fuller account 

 of its work and objects. B. M. Headicar, 



Hon. Secretary. 



London School of Economics, Clare Market, 

 London, W.C.2, January 21. 



Greenland in Europe. 



Whatever lapse may be imputed to the London 

 school-book of 1812, noticed by Mr. MacRitchie in 

 Nature of January 13, p. 647, it is not shared by the 

 Rev. J. Goldsmith's "Geography, on a Popular Plan, 

 Designed for the Use of Schools, and Young Persons," 

 in its fifth edition at the earlier date of 1808. For 

 that author, in a verv interesting account of Green- 

 land, at p. 46 remarks that many so-called " ice 

 islands" "are to be met with on the coasts of Spitz- 

 bergen, to the great danger of the shipping employed 

 in the Greenland fishery." He further instances the 

 peril to which "Lord Mulgrave" was thus exposed 

 in 1772, when bv an opportune rising of the wind 

 his ships, "after labouring against the resisting fields 

 of ice, arrived at the west end of Spitzbergen." .At 

 this critical time, however, "Lord Mulgrave" was 

 Capt. Phipps. T. R. R. S. 



January 20. 



Electric Light and Vegetation. 



Mr. Pendred's interesting observations on the 

 growth of vegetation beside the electric lights in 

 the Cheddar caves (Nature, vol. cv., p. 709, .\ugust5, 

 1920) reminds me of some observations described by 

 Mr. E. Cheel in the Australian Naturalist, vol. ii., 

 1912, p. 117. Of a number of plane-trees growing 

 about Sydney railway station some were close to the 

 large electric lights, and Mr. Cheel noticed that the 

 branches nearest the lights retained their leaves from 

 a month to a month and a half longer than the more 

 j distant branches of the same tree and than the trees 

 distant from the lights. When the new leaves were 

 opening in spring a similar period elapsed between 

 the dates of opening of those near the lights and 

 those distant therefrom, the branches subject to 

 illumination being that much later in getting their 

 leaves. ' Thos. Steel. 



Sydney, New South Wales. 



