■ll!6 



NATURE 



[November 29, 1900 



Ephemeris for observations of Eros. — The following 

 abridged ephemeris will serve for finding the planet during the 

 month of December : — 



Ephemeris fur \2.h. Berlin Mean Time. 



Dec. 



R.A. 

 h. m. s. 

 I 27 1927 

 26 4270 



26 33"i2 



26 5026 



27 33 77 



28 43i{ 

 30 1 7 '82 

 32 17 24 

 34 40 •66 

 37 27-28 

 40 36-30 

 44 6-»5 

 47 57-92 

 52 849 



1 56 37 43 



2 1 23 '61 



Decl. 



+ 50 23 496 

 49 43 44 '9 

 49 I 407 

 48 17 51 2 

 47 32 28-9 

 46 45 46-0 

 45 57 53-5 

 45 9 27 

 44 19 24-0 

 43 29 7-2 

 42 38 20 "6 



41 47 12-2 



40 55 49-0 



40 4 17-1 



39 12 408 



+ 38 21 3-0 



Distribution of Minor Planets. — M. Freycinet has a 

 further article in the Coviptes rendtis (vol. cxxxi. pp. 815-821), 

 in which he discusses the distribution of the zone of asteroids 

 more critically than in his previous paper in Coviptes rendus, 

 cxxx. pp. II45-1 154. On the assumption that these small bodies 

 are the product of disruption of a former ring of matter revolving 

 round the central body, he calculated the mean eccentricities of 

 the several rings into which it might be expected to divide. On 

 examination of the elements of 428 of the planets, it has been 

 possible to divide them into eight groups, the members of each 

 group having similar eccentricity and inclination of orbit. The 

 numbers of separate bodies in each zone vary greatly — from i 

 to 170. The mean thickness of the rings is 0'278, the radius of 

 the earth's orbit being taken as unit, the individual rings vary- 

 ing from o"22 to 0*36. In each ring the mean eccentricity of 

 the members situated in the inner or inferior half is greater 

 than that of the members occupying the superior or outer half; 

 and comparing two rings, it is found that the mean eccentricity 

 of the planets in the inferior part of the outer ring is greater 

 than that of those occupying the superior part of the inner 

 ring. In one ring — the fifth — consisting of 69 planets, the mean 

 eccentricities of the two halves are identical, and it will be 

 interesting to examine the places occupied by asteroids dis- 

 covered in the future as to their effect on the constants of this 

 region of the swarm. 



The November Meteors. — In the Coviptes rendus (vol. 

 cxxxi. pp. 821-825) Dr. Janssen describes the special preparations 

 made for observing, from balloons, the meteors expected during 

 the past month. A few Leonids were seen, hut no indication of 

 any special fall. In the description of the ascents, mention is 

 made of the observers having to pass through several cloud belts, 

 suggesting that in future an altitude of some 6000 metres should 

 be attained to ensure more certainty of a clear sky. 



M. Deslandres also gives, in the same issue (pp. 826-7), the 

 results of the observations made at the Meudon Observatory. 

 They were both visual and photographic, the latter being made 

 with six cameras having apertures from 6 to 2 inches. All were 

 carried by a single equatorial mounting so as to be under the 

 control of one observer. 



On the night of November 14, from 9h. 30m. to ih. , traces of 

 16 meteors were secured, of which 6 were Leonids, 5 Andro- 

 medes and 2 sporadie. On the night of the 15th, after 9h. 30m. 

 5 traces were obtained, 3 of which were Leonids. 



HUXLEY'S LIFE AND WORK> 



II. 



A NOTIIER remarkable side of Huxley's mind was his interest 

 ■'"*• in and study of metaphysics. When the Metaphysical Society 

 was started in iS&g, there was some doubt among the promoters 

 whether Huxley and Tyndall should be invited to join or not. 

 Mr. Knowles was commissioned to come and consult me. I 

 said at once that to draw the line at the opinions which they 



1 The first " Huxley Memorial Lecture" of the Anthropological Insti- 

 tute, delivered on November 13, by the Rt. Hon. Lord Avebury, F.R.S., 

 D.C.L., LL.D. Continued from p. 96. 



NO. 1622, VOL. 63] 



were known to hold would, as it seemed to me, limit the field 

 of discussion, and there would always be doubts as to when the for- 

 bidden region began ; that I had understood there was to be 

 perfect freedom, and that though Huxley's and Tyndall's views 

 might be objectionable to others of our members, I would answer 

 for it that there could be nothing in the form of expression of 

 which any just complaint could be made. 



The society consisted of about forty members, and when we 

 consider that they included Thompson, Archbishop of York, 

 Ellicott, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, Deart Stanley and 

 Dean Alford as representatives of the Church of England ; 

 Cardinal Manning, Father Dalgairns and W. G. Ward as Roman 

 Catholics ; among statesmen, Gladstone, the late Duke of Argyll, 

 Lord Sherbrooke, Sir M. Grant Duff, John Morley, as well as 

 Martineau, Tennyson, Browning, R. H. Hutlon, W. Bagehot, 

 Frederic Harrison, Leslie Stephen, Sir J. Stephen, Dr. Carpenter, 

 Sir W. Gull, W. R. Greg, James Hinton, Shadworth Hodgson, 

 Lord Arthur Russell, Sir Andrew Clark, Sir Alexander Grant, 

 Mark Patteson, and W. K. Clifford, it will not be wondered that 

 I looked forward to the meetings with the greatest interest. I 

 experienced also one of the greatest surprises of my life. We 

 all, I suppose, wondered who would be the first President. No 

 doubt what happened was that Roman Catholics objected to 

 Anglicans, Anglicans to Roman Catholics, both to Noncon- 

 formists ; and the different schools of metaphysics also pre- 

 sented difficulties, so that finally, to my amazement, I found 

 myself the first President ! The discussions were perfectly free, 

 but perfectly friendly ; and I quite agree with Mr. H. Sidgwick, 

 that Huxley was one of the foremost, keenest and most interest- 

 ing debaters, which, in such a company, is indeed no slight 

 praise. 



We dined together, then a paper was read, which had gener- 

 ally been circulated beforehand, and then it was freely discussed, 

 the author responding at the close. Huxley contributed several 

 papers, but his main contribution to the interest of the Society 

 was his extraordinary ability and clearness in debate. 



His metaphysical studies led to his work on Hume and his 

 memoirs on the writings of Descartes. 



One of his most interesting treatises is a criticism of Descartes 

 theory of animal automatism. Descartes was not only a great 

 philosopher, but also a great naturalist, and we owe to him the 

 definite allocation of all the phenomena of consciousness to the 

 brain. This was a great step in science, but, just because Des- 

 cartes' views have been so completely incorporated with every- 

 day thought, few of us realise how recently it was supposed that 

 the passions were seated in the apparatuses of organic life. Even 

 now we speak of the heart rather than the brain in describing 

 character. 



Descartes, as is known, was much puzzled as to the function 

 of one part of the brain — a small, pear-shaped body about 

 the size of a nut, and deeply seated. Known as the pineal 

 gland, he suggested that it was the seat of the soul ; but 

 it is now regarded, and apparently on solid grounds, 

 as the remains of the optic lobe of a central eye once 

 possessed by our far-away ancestors, and still found in some 

 animals, as, for instance, in certain lizards. Descartes was much 

 impressed by the movements which are independent of con- 

 sciousness or volition, and known as reflex actions — such, for 

 instance, as the winking of the eye or the movement of the leg 

 if the sole of the foot is touched. This takes place equally if, 

 by any injury to the spinal marrow, the sensation in the legs has 

 been destroyed. 



Such movements appear to be more frequent among lower 

 animals, and Descartes supposed that all their movements might 

 be thus accounted for — that they were, like the movements of 

 sensitive plants, absolutely detached from consciousness or sen- 

 sation, and that, in fact, animals were mere machines or 

 automata, devoid not only of reason, but of any kind of con- 

 sciousness. 



It must be admitted that Descartes' arguments are not easy 

 to disprove, and no doubt certain cases of disease or injury — as, 

 for instance, that of the soldier described by Dr. Mesnet, who, 

 as the result of a wound in the head, fell from time to time into 

 a condition of unconsciousness, during which, however, he ate, 

 drank, smoked, dressed and undressed, and even wrote — have 

 supplied additional evidence in support of his views. Huxley, 

 while fully admitting this, came, and I think rightly, to the con- 

 clusion that the consciousness of which we feel certain in ourselves 

 must have been evolved very gradually, and must therefore exist, 

 though probably in a less degree, in other animals. 



