372 



NATURE 



[Fed. 14, 1889 



cruises, the first off the north-west and the west coasts of 

 Ireland, the second ofT the south and south-west coasts of 

 Ireland, and the third off the north of Scotland as far as 

 the Faroes. In 1870, the Porcupine dredged down the 

 west coasts of France and Spain and in the neighbour- 

 hood of Gibraltar Strait, and explored the African coast 

 of the Mediterranean as far east as Sicily. Prof. W. A. 

 Herdman contributes to the Transactions the Report 

 upon the T'ww/V^/ia: dredged during the cruises of H.M.SS. 

 Porcupine and Lightni?ig in the summers of 1868, 1869, 

 and 1870. The Simple Ascidians alone are treated of. 

 The 'RG^ortowihe Pennatult(i(E drtAge.dhyth& Porcupine, 

 is by Prof. Milnes Marshall and Dr. G. H. Fowler. One 

 new genus and one new variety were obtained. Dr. P. 

 H. Carpenter writes " On the Crinoidea of the North 

 Atlantic between Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands," and 

 some notes are added by Prof. L. von Graff on the Myzo- 

 stomida. The Report on the Ophiuroidea of the Faroe 

 Channel, mainly collected by H. M.S. Triton in 1882, is 

 drawn up by Mr. W. E. Hoyle. Mr. Hoyle also gives 

 the second part (on the Decapodd) of a preliminary Report 

 on the Cephalopoda collected by H.M.S. Challenger. 



Mr. J. T. Cunningham (then of the Scottish Marine 

 Station) writes on the " Eggs and Larvae of Teleosteans ; " 

 on the " Reproductive Organs of Bdcllostoma, and a 

 Teleostean Ovum from the West Coast of Africa ;" on 

 Stichocotyle nephropis, a new Trematode, found as a 

 parasite in the Norway lobster ; and, along with Mr. 

 Rupert Vallentin, on the " Luminous Organs of NycH- 

 phanes norvegica.'" Mr. George Brook discusses "The 

 Formation of the Germinal Layers in Teleostei." Mr. 

 Harvey Gibson gives a detailed account of the anatomy 

 of Patella vulgata, no systematic account having been 

 previously given, though separate accounts of various 

 organs have appeared. Mr. Frank E. Beddard writes 

 " On the Minute Structure of the Eye in certain Cy7no- 

 thoidcEj " " On the Structural Characters of certain new 

 or little known Earthworms," five apparently new species 

 and possibly a new genus being described ; and " On the 

 Reproductive Organs of the Cienus Et/drilus." Mr. J. 

 Arthur Thomson describes the structure of Suberites 

 domuncula, a sponge found covering the outside of a 

 sea-snail shell inhabited by a hermit-crab. 



In geology some important papers appear. Dr. Tra- 

 quair contributes the first part of a Report on fossil fishes 

 collected in Eskdale and Liddesdale {Ganoidei). Mr. 

 R. Kidston gives the first two parts of an account of the 

 fossil flora of the Radstock series of the Somerset and 

 Bristol coal-field (Upper Coal Measures). A note is ap- 

 pended on the fossil flora of the Farrington, New Rock, 

 and Vobster series, and a table is given comparing the 

 flora of the Radstock series with that of other coal-fields. 

 Mr. Kidston also discusses the fructification of some ferns 

 from the Carboniferous formation. Prof. Geikie writes 

 on the geology and petrology of St. Abb's Head. The 

 final Report of the Boulder Committee of the Society is 

 contained in the Proceedings. 



The plates in Vol. xxx. accompanying a paper by Dr. 

 Traquair on fossil fishes are of great artistic merit. In- 

 deed, the illustrations which are contained in the Proceed- 

 ings and Transactions are probably unsurpassed by those 

 published by any other similar Society. 



Observations by Dr. H. B. Guppy, of H.M.S. Lark, on 

 coral reefs and calcareous formations of the Solomon 

 Group, appear in both publications. He is led to the con- 

 clusions : (i) that these upraised reef-masses, whether 

 atoll, barrier-reef, or fringing-reef, were formed in a 

 region of elevation ; (2) that such upraised reefs are of 

 moderate thickness, their virtual measurement not ex- 

 ceeding the limit of the depth of the reef-coral zone ; (3) 

 that these upraised reef-masses in the majority of islands 

 rest on a partially consolidated deposit which possesses 

 characters of the "volcanic muds" which were found 

 during the Challenger expedition, to be at present form- 



ing around volcanic islands ; (4) that this deposit en- 

 velops anciently submerged volcanic peaks. The bear- 

 ing of the two latter conclusions on Dr. Murray's theory 

 of the formation of coral islands is important. 



We conclude with another quotation from the ad- 

 dress already referred to : — " With respect to Scotland, 

 the only grant for scientific purposes in aid of learned 

 Societies is ^300 annually to the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, which is repaid to a department of the 

 Government in the form of rent. One might well ask 

 what Scotland had done that her learned Societies and 

 scientific men should be treated so niggardly as com- 

 pared with those in England and Ireland. It cannot be 

 because she does no scientific work. It is sometimes 

 said, indeed, that in literary matters Scotland, and 

 especially Edinburgh, is a mere shadow of her former 

 self; but in science this is not the case, and it is towards 

 scientific matters that the great ploughshare of human 

 thought and activity is, in this age, directed. I question 

 if any country in the world, taking into consideration its 

 size, can show a better record of scientific work, or 

 a more excellent volume of scientific literature than 

 Scotland, during the past ten or twenty years." 



TIME. 



TIME is one of the very numerous subjects which seem 

 to be perfectly simple until we begin to think about 

 them ; then difficulties crop up in all directions, and 

 afford a favourite battle-ground to philosophers. 



Newton, avoiding metaphysical difificulties, gave an 

 account of time which suffices for all the purposes of the 

 mathematician and experimentalist. " Absolute, true, 

 and mathematical time of itself and from its own nature 

 flows equably and without regard to anything external, 

 and, by another name, is called duration ; relative, ap- 

 parent, and common time is some sensible and external 

 measure of duration by means of motion." 



The word time is here used to express two distinct 

 ideas, for the former of which it would be better to reserve 

 the term duration. This double meaning of the word has 

 caused much controversy between idealists and material- 

 ists, which is still far from arriving at any definite result. 

 Thus, Whewell writes (" Hist. Ind. Sci.," 131) :— -" Time 

 is not a notion obtained by experience." " Time is a 

 necessary condition in the presentation of all occurrences 

 to our minds. We cannot conceive this condition to be 

 taken away. We can conceive time to go on while 

 nothing happens in it, but we cannot conceive anything 

 to happen while time does not go on." 



It has always seemed to me that philosophers are rather 

 hard on the intellect of their fellow-mortals in laying down 

 so absolutely, as they are fond of doing, what can and 

 what cannot be conceived by the mind, when they are in 

 reality arguing from a single instance— their own. Many 

 persons would be tempted to say that the idea of the 

 fourth dimension of space is inconceivable, did not men 

 of more powerful intellect assure them that their crude 

 ideas on the subject are quite erroneous. I can myself 

 find no impossibility in the conception of a universe com- 

 posed of a homogeneous mixture of gases, to which the 

 ordinary conception of time does not apply. If I err, I 

 I at least do so in good company. Lucretius writes 

 (i. 460) :— 



" Tempus item per se non est, sed rebus ab ipsis 

 Consequitur sensus." 



And, in 1690, Locke gave the following luminous expo- 

 sition of this difficult matter ("Hum. Und.," xiv.) :— "A 

 man having, from reflection on the succession and num- 

 ber of his own thoughts, got the notion or idea of dura- 

 tion, he can apply that notion to things which exist while 



