57^ 



NATURE 



[January 21, 19 15 



and, finally, the distribution of spectroscopic binaries 

 as regards the Milky Way, 



The Nature and Cause of Cepheid Variation. — 

 Dr. Harlow Shapley, in the December number of the 

 Astrophysical Journal (vol. xl., No. 5, p. 448) presents 

 a discussion on the nature and cause of Cepheid 

 variation, in which he investigates the question of 

 whether or not the usually accepted double-star inter- 

 pretation of Cepheid variation should be abandoned. 

 From the spectroscopic point of view alone, he states, 

 the Cepheids stand out as unexplainable anomalies. 

 There are persistent peculiarities in the spectroscopic 

 elements, a universal absence of a secondary spectrum, 

 and minute apparent orbits. They do exhibit definite 

 periodic oscillations of their spectral lines, as is the 

 case with ordinary spectroscopic binaries, which may 

 be interpreted as periodic orbital motion. In the pre- 

 sent discussion, which the author considers only as 

 preliminary, no complete explanation of Cepheid varia- 

 tion is offered as a substitute for the existing inadequate 

 theories, but he points out the direction in which he 

 thinks the real interpretation seems to lie. The sec- 

 tions of the present paper are devoted to the principal 

 results which he has obtained from an extensive in- 

 vestigation, details of which will be published in subse- 

 quent papers. The main conclusion which he has 

 reached is summed up by him as follows: — "That the 

 Cepheid and cluster variables are not binary systems, 

 and that the explanation of their light-changes can 

 much more likely be found in a consideration of 

 internal or surface pulsations of isolated stellar 

 bodies." 



THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY OF EAST 



ANGLIA. 

 A,TR. MILLER CHRISTY, in the Proceedings of 

 ^^^ the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, 1913-14, 

 discusses the curious engraved shell from the Red 

 Crag at Walton-on-the-Naze, which has formed the 

 subject of much controversy since it was exhibited at 

 the York meeting of the British Association in 188 1. 

 It is a crude and inartistic attempt to depict a human 

 portrait. It is much ruder in its execution than the 

 celebrated drawings of the human figure from the 

 French caves and the Bushman drawings from South 

 Africa. It also differs from other drawings of this 

 kind as it represents, not a profile, but a full face. 

 The characteristics of this supposed portrait have 

 been investigated by a special committee, and on the 

 whole Mr. Christy is disposed to agree with its 

 members that the evidence is insufficient to enable 

 us to reach any definite conclusion regarding its age. 



Under the title of "An Early Norfolk Trackway: 

 The Drove Road," Messrs. W. G. Clarke and H. D. 

 Hewitt describe a supposed ancient trackway, four- 

 teen miles in length, connecting the fenland at Black- 

 dike, Hockwold, with Peddar's Way on Roudham 

 Heath. There are some indications that this was an 

 ancient route, but the evidence adduced in support of 

 the conclusion that it is of extreme antiquity is not 

 quite conclusive. In its original state it possesses 

 many points of resemblance to known prehistoric track- 

 ways in East Anglia and other parts of England ; it 

 is subsidiary to Peddar's Way, and it is also con- 

 nected with the Pilgrim's Walk; in relation to the 

 Fendyke it resembles the Icknield Way, which is cer- 

 tainly prehistoric ; roads from Saxon settlements were 

 in some cases diverted from their natural course by 

 the Drove ; there are barrows in the vicinity, and 

 flint implements and ancient pottery have been found 

 in the neighbourhood. Another similar road near 

 Norwich is described by Mr. Walter Rye in the same 

 issue of the Proceedings. 



NO. 2360, VOL. 94] 



ANNUAL MEETING OF THE PARIS 

 ACADEMY OF SCIENCES^ 



'T* HE year just ended has been broken by a formid- 



*• able discontinuity. In the first period our work 

 has followed its usual course; in the second, it has 

 been dominated by the constant thought of national 

 defence. 



The importance of the role of our academy grows 

 from year to year. Nearly all the development of 

 modern civilisation takes its roots in scientific re- 

 search; that is to say, in the study, the co-ordination 

 and the generalisation of those facts and ideas which 

 lend themselves to exact measurements or precise 

 comparisons. The domain of science thus understood 

 is unlimited ; it ranges from the highest abstractions 

 to the most practical applications, from the world of 

 stars and nebulai to that of atoms and molecules ; 

 from the mechanics of worlds to factories, to armoured 

 vessels, and to aeroplanes ; from the delicate pheno- 

 mena of physics and chemistry to the great indus- 

 tries, to telephony, to wireless telegraphy, and to 

 explosives ; from the most complex living organisms 

 in the present and the past to microscopic beings ; 

 from the experiments of physiology and microbiology 

 to agriculture, medicine, and surgery. If, at all 

 times, the evolution of philosophy has followed that 

 of science, modern work on the principles of geometry 

 and mechanics, the examination of the ideas of space 

 and time, the daring attempts to connect simul- 

 taneously these two ideas with the theory of groups 

 of transformations, have opened entirely new paths 

 in the study of the foundations of our knowledge. 



The search for scientific truth by a mind enamoured 

 of moral beauty is the noblest aim of mankind. But 

 the study of science, deflected from the steady ideal 

 of right and humanity, confined to the path of a 

 narrow specialisation, disciplined with a view to 

 domination and reduced principally to practical use, 

 leads rapidly to a civilisation of selfishness, hardness, 

 and materialism, to a kind of learned barbarity like 

 that which has gradually overgrown the Germany of 

 the present day. Granted that the acquisition of the 

 scientific spirit is indispensable to education, other 

 elements should be joined to it to form a man worthy 

 of the name, and these are presented to us by the 

 "humanities," which are studied by our colleagues 

 of the other academies ; philosophy and history, reli- 

 gious and social science, the rights of individuals or 

 of nations, the creations of thinkers or of artists. 



Instruction and erudition must not be confused with 

 education, the laborious work of acquiring knowledge 

 with the development of civilisation. True education 

 ought to create a personal religion, a conscience in- 

 creasing in sensitiveness and loftiness of ideal, the 

 love of clearness, the power of forming general ideas, 

 devotion to justice, respect for other men. 



This is the well-balanced culture after which France 

 has always sought ; it is this which is threatened 

 to-day ; at the sight of this danger Prof. Murray 

 Butler, of Columbia University, has said : — 



"What are we to think? Is science a sham? Is 

 philosophy a pretence? Is religion a mere rumour? 

 Is the great international structure of friendship, 

 good-will, and scholarly co-operation upon which this 

 university and many of its members have worked so 

 long, so faithfully, and apparently with so much 

 success, only an illusion? Are the long and devoted 

 labours of scholars and of statesmen .to enthrone 

 Justice in the place of Brute Force in the world, all 

 without effect? The answer is No; a thousand times, 

 No ! " 



The American conscience has thus formulated the 



1 Translation of the main part of the address delivered on December 2r, 

 1914, by the president, M. Paul Appell. 



