November 25, 19 15] 



NATURE 



343 



ihoug-h near-at-hand, subjects will be found in the 

 essays on the blood and the lymph. 



Another feature is the author's felicitous sug-- 

 i^estion of movement. Nothing-, not even a fossil, 

 is finished and done with ; there is question on 

 the back of question ; science is a developing 

 system. So the essays give us problems to stretch 

 our brains over, such as the production of orang-e- 

 roloured flames under water by rubbing quartz- 

 j)ebbles together; the moth's flight into the candle ; 

 the puzzles of animal courtship; the science of 

 dancing; the missing link, Eoanihropus dawsoni, 

 better known as the Piltdown skull ; the difference 

 between instinctive behaviour (regarded as due to 

 automatically-working, inherited, "mechanisms of 

 the mind "J, intelligent behaviour (regarded as 

 based on learning by individual experience), and 

 the conscious behaviour of man and some hig^her 

 animals where educability is illumined by self- 

 recog-nition. 



In the essays on palmistry, toads in stones, 

 "dousing-," maternal impressions, telegony, and 

 the like, the reader will have the pleasure (or 

 otherwise) of seeing how a "tough-minded" in- 

 quirer exposes the weak points of faked evidence. 

 "The whole spirit of science, as contrasted with 

 that of superstition and ig-norance, is summed up 

 in the Royal Society's motto, "Nullius in verba" 

 (on no man's assertion !), and King- Charles's 

 command, "Don't chatter; make trial! " 



Another of the characteristics of Sir Ray Lan- 

 kester's popular essays is the emphasis laid on 

 making the most of things. Science is for life, 

 not life for science. The question is never far 

 off: Cannot man make more of his kingdom? 

 Thus we find essays on the importance of Nature- 

 reserves, both at home and abroad, where wild- 

 ness is allowed to flourish and shy creatures feel 

 at home ; on the promotion of scientific discovery 

 by money — the plan being to watch for the quite 

 unmistakable discoverer and commandeer him in 

 the service of the State at a generous salary; on 

 the supply of pure milk, and the most effective 

 kind of diet — "not much, but many." 



•A few more personal chapters complete the 

 charm of the volume, as when the author tells 

 of dredging- in Norwegian fjords, of finding a 

 newly-born grey seal on the shore of Pentargon 

 Cove in Cornwall, and of the flowers in the 

 meadowland above Argenti^re. In regard to the 

 bright colour of Alpine samples of flowers which 

 ire paler elsewhere, the author holds that there 

 ire genuine high-coloured races (rendered pos- 

 sible by the nutritive vigour of much-sunned plants) 

 which have survived in the short summer of the 

 high Alps since they attract the visits of the 

 pollinating insects more surely than do the paler 

 individuals. It is fitting- indeed that our notice 

 r)f this delightful book should happen to end at a 

 high level ! 



(2) Prof. Joly's book consists of twelve essays, 

 old and new, all of fascinating interest. They are 

 full of original ideas, they show great expositorv 

 skill, and they make considerable demands on the 

 reader's intelligence, encouraging- him, however, 

 with a fine suggestion of the bracing air of Alpine 

 NO. 2404, VOL. 96] 



heights. (The book is illustrated with beautiful 

 photog-raphs of the Alps, to which the author 

 owes some of his inspiration.) The first essav, on 

 "The Birth-time of the World," infers from denu- 

 dative effects and radioactive products the time 

 that has elapsed (perhaps a hundred million years) 

 since the ocean condensed upon the earth's sur- 

 face. The second essay argues from the quantity 

 of sodium in the sea to the activity of denudation 

 throughout geological time, and it seems that 

 rather more than a depth of two kilometres of 

 parent rock must have been removed from ofi" the 

 entire land surface of the globe. The essay on 

 " Mountain Genesis " seeks to show that the heat 

 of radioactivity has been a factor in determining 

 the surface features of the earth ; and this is fol- 

 lowed up by a discussion of Alpine structure. A 

 very ingenious attempt is made to interpret the 

 much-discussed details on the surface of Mars as 

 physical surface features. "Mars presents his 



From "The Birth-Time of the 



history written upon his face in the scars of 

 former encounters — like the shield of Sir Launce- 

 lot," and as to the theory of organismal interven- 

 tion, the author very wisely remarks : " In seek- 

 ing other minds than ours we seek for what is 

 almost infinitely complex and co-ordinated in a 

 material universe relatively simple and hetero- 

 geneous." 



Another essay deals with "pleochroic haloes," 

 microscopic darkened spheres in certain of the 

 rock minerals, which turn out to be " a quite 

 extraordinary record of radioactive energy," and 

 afford very striking- evidence of the unchanged 

 stability of the common elements since the begin- 

 ning of geological time. In another discourse 

 the author takes a very hopeful view of the appli- 

 ( atioii of radioactivity in medicine, and has some 

 imjinrtnnt suggestions to make. A somewhat 



