May 20, 1922J 



NA TURE 



'65> 



Research Items. 



Mental Tests and Mentality. — At the present 

 time when, owing to the exigencies of practical life, 

 some method is needed whereby individuals can be 

 selected rapidly and effectively for specific tasks, the 

 question of mental tests is a serious problem. Selec- 

 tion by examination, by influence or personal opinion 

 lias been found to be inadequate, and so there is a 

 tendenc}' to expect too much from the alternative 

 method known as mental tests. In Psyche (Vol. II. 

 Xo. 4) Prof. Pear raises some very interesting 

 problems connected with such tests. He insists that 

 intelligence tests indicate only one kind of mental 

 capacity ; they are an attempt to provide a quantita- 

 tive indication of some mental trait. In practical 

 testing, however, the tester often ignores the charac- 

 teristic apparatus possessed by the examinee ; even 

 though two people may be assigned like marks for a 

 test, in actual life it may matter seriously whether 

 the result was attained by the use of visual imagery, 

 kinesthetic imagery, verbal formulae, or imageless 

 thinking. Again, the attitude of mind of the 

 examinee must be considered ; a genius might display 

 apparent lack of intelligence because he saw in the 

 problem many more complications than the ordinary 

 person, and the typical extrovert will react quite 

 differently from the typical introvert. Lastly, the 

 author discusses the problem of stupidity both 

 intellectual and emotional, the latter type having 

 been very much neglected. The paper is both critical 

 and suggestive, and will be of interest to workers in 

 this field whether from the educational or industrial 

 aspect. 



Light Requirements in Hospitals. — At a joint 

 meeting of the Illuminating Engineering Society and 

 the Royal Society of Medicine on April 27 the light- 

 ing of hospitals was discussed. The subject presents 

 many interesting problems, and has not yet received 

 sufficient attention. Mr. J. Darch, who presented the 

 introductory paper, showed a variety of illustrations 

 of methods of lighting wards devised to avoid glare 

 from lights shining in the eyes of patients — apparently 

 a common fault in hospitals. He also discussed the 

 lighting of operating tables where somewhat complex 

 requirements exist, including a very high illumination, 

 freedom from troublesome shadows cast by the person 

 of the operator, and elimination of the possibility of 

 dust falling from the fixture during an operation. 

 A value of not less than 25 foot-candles on the 

 operating table was suggested. Reference was also 

 made to natural lighting, the somewhat revolutionary 

 proposal being made that the operating theatre should 

 be located at the top of the building so as to secure 

 maximum daylight. A number of medical men and 

 ophthalmic surgeons joined in the discussion. Mr. 

 Conrad Beck contributed an analysis of the require- 

 ments to be met in microscope illumination. The 

 suggestion was made that " artificial daylight " units 

 would prove very serviceable in cases where correct 

 appearance of colours forms an important feature in 

 diagnosis. Mr. J. B. Reiner showed some compact 

 forms of inspection lamps where the provision of a 

 sufficiently bright and uniform illumination, without 

 striations, presents difficulties. Prior to the discussion 

 a series of queries relating to problems met with in 

 hospital lighting had been drawn up and circulated, 

 and Mr. Gaster suggested that these might form the 

 subject of study by a small joint committee. 



The Origins of existing Corals. — Prof. P. C. 

 Raymond (" The History of Corals and the ' limeless 

 oceans,' " Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. 202, p. 343, 1921) 

 traces the hexacoralla back to Walcott's Mackenzia 



NO. 2742, VOL. 109] 



costalis from the Middle Cambrian of Burgess Pass. 

 British Columbia, a limeless form first described as a 

 holothurian, and referred to the actinians by H. L. 

 Clark. Its modern representative is found in Ed- 

 wardsia, an inhabitant of sandy shores. Prof. Ray- 

 mond regards all the Palaeozoic corals that adopted 

 the habit of secreting — or, from the present point of 

 view, excreting — calcium carbonate as tetracoralla. 

 These were killed off in the cold waters of the Permian 

 glacial epoch, leaving the Edwardsian line to pass on 

 into a large number of hexacorallan types with 

 calcareous skeletons, which first become prominent 

 as reef-builders in Middle Triassic times. At this 

 period, the warmer waters contained more salts, and 

 the sedentary habits of the actinians decreased their 

 power of elimination. These seem large conclusions 

 to found upon the impress of a soft-bodied organism 

 of Cambrian age ; but palaeontology at present glows 

 warmly through the use of well-controlled scientific 

 imagination. 



Geology of Western Southland, New Zealand. 

 — The Geological Survey of New Zealand continues, 

 in Bulletin 23, its admirable practice of combining geo- 

 logical description with illustrations of the scenery 

 o;f the country. The fascinating South Island bids 

 fair to be as well " visualised " by those who cannot 

 travel as are the west central States of North America ; 

 and each new Bulletin issued by Mr. P. G. Morgan 

 makes one wish that New Zealand could be floated 

 nearer to its antipodal colleague on some favouring 

 current of the " sima " (see Wegener's views. Nature, 

 vol. 109, p. 202). Prof. J. Park in No. 23 describes 

 part of Western Southland, including Lake Te Anau, 

 which simulates a fjord among the mountains. The 

 deep dissection of the early Cretaceous peneplain that 

 was worn across the folded masses of the New Zealand 

 Alps has formed noble ravines like that of the Clinton 

 River (PI. III.), where intrusive diorites and granites, 

 probably of Permian age, come to light. These Valleys 

 have been carved along Pliocene lines of fracture. 

 Though Prof. Park gives a general summary of the 

 geological history of New Zealand (pp. 25-28), he 

 touches very briefly on the formation of the arc of 

 which the axis of the islands forms a part. He 

 significantly refers the folding and fracturing to com- 

 pressive stresses set up by the sinking of the adjacent 

 troughs ; but he inclines to regard these troughs as 

 very ancient and persistent features. One would like 

 to know if the present islands, as a ridge between the 

 great eastern and the shallower western deeps, owe 

 their existence above sea-level to a Pliocene creep of 

 the ocean-floor resisted by an unseen extension of the 

 Australian block. 



Cloud Forms. — An article by Prof. W. J. 

 Humphreys of the U.S. Weather Bureau on " Inter- 

 national definitions and description of cloud forms, and 

 supplementary remarks " is given in the March number 

 of the Journal of the Franklin Institute. The article, 

 which is continued from the February number, is 

 based on a lecture on " Fogs and Clouds," given before 

 the Section of Physics and Chemistry of the Franklin 

 Institute on January 5 last. The different forms of 

 cloud are well illustrated from photographs, many of 

 which are new so far as cloud illustrations published 

 on this side of the Atlantic are concerned. Cirrus 

 clouds, from their light formation, are usually very 

 difficult to represent in published form, but the illus- 

 trations given are good. Cirrus, which is the highest 

 cloud, is said to occur at a height, approximately, of 

 5 miles in polar regions, 7 miles in middle latitudes, and 

 9 miles within the tropics. Many of the photographs 



