June 13, 1918] 



NATURE 



287 



behaviour depends on inborn, ready-made capacity ; 

 it is not reflective. But why did Fabre think that 

 ■' transformism " was compelled to rank instinct 

 in a line with reason? 



Fabre was a very great naturalist, but not, of 

 course, invariably wise. Thus, once in a way it 

 may have been useful to deplore the fact, or sup- 

 posed fact, that "natural history, youth's glorious 

 study, has, by dint of cellular improvements \_sic\ , 

 become a hateful and repulsive thing," but it was 

 unwise to reiterate contempt for the labours of 

 the analytic zoologist who follows the nerve-fibres 

 of a Cirripede, or counts the joints of a Crusta- 

 cean's antenna, or puzzles over the architecture 

 pf an Annelid's ^^^. Fabre had no sympathy 

 with this sort of study, and he did not understand 

 it. The same must be said in regard to- the great 

 naturalist's attitude to "transformism" or evolu- 

 tion-theory. 



The translation continues to be clear and 

 spirited, but the right word has not always been 

 found. More care should have been taken with 

 the little notes; thus the word "species" is mis- 

 used with tiresome reiteration; not every Annelid 

 is a red-blooded worm ; it is unhappy to say that 

 "zoophytes are plant-like sea-animals, including 

 star-fishes, jelly-fishes, sea-anemones, and 

 sponges"; and surely the cicada is not "akin to 

 the grasshopper." But these and their like do not 

 affect the general success of the translators' work. 

 We do not think that the British public could find 

 reading much more wholesome than these essays 

 by one of the greatest of observers, but we are in 

 its name obliged to express to the publishers our 

 surprise that this fascinating volume should con- 

 tain several essays which we have read in book 

 form before. We read "The Harmas " and "The 

 Bluebottle" in "The Life of the Fly " ; we read 

 "The Processionary Caterpillar" and "The Cab- 

 bage Caterpillar " in "The Life of the Caterpillar. " 

 But can we have too much of a good thing? 



PROF. P. BLASERNA. 



OF the life and work of Prof. Pietro Blaserna, 

 who died at Rome on February 26, an in- 

 teresting account is now contributed by Prof. 

 Cantone to the Atti dei Lincei, xxvii., (i) 7. 

 Prof. Blaserna was born on February 29, 1836, at 

 Aquileja, near Gorizia, and attended school at 

 the latter place, afterwards proceeding to Vienna, 

 where, after he had completed his degree course, 

 he assisted in the physical department. Being 

 thus a native of the scene of recent conflicts 

 between Italy and Austria, he was entirely Italian 

 in his sympathies, and, after studying in Paris 

 under Regnault, he obtained a chair of physics, 

 first at Palermo, and then at Rome. Here he 

 devoted his main efforts to teaching and organ- 

 isation, and succeeded in building up a school of 

 physicists of which Italy has every reason to be 

 proud. Instead of giving most of his time to 

 researches, which might have necessitated his 

 maintaining an attitude of exclusiveness towards 

 elementary students, Prof. Blaserna endeavoured 

 to make his classes popular, and thus to 

 NO. 2537, VOL. lOl] 



disseminate a scientific spirit in Italy. At Rome 

 the laboratory of practical physics was originally 

 in a church building, but was removed in 1881 to 

 the Istituto di Panisperma. A weekly colloquium 

 was instituted at an early stage, and the names 

 of Alfonso Sella, Eugenio Beltrami, and Vito 

 Volterra are among those who derived inspiration 

 from him. 



To physicists outside Italy Prof. Blaserna 's 

 name will be familiar in connection with the 

 Accademia dei Lincei, of which he was president for 

 twelve years, up to December, 19 16. Although his 

 duties left scanty time for research, Prof. Blaserna 

 made important contributions to science connected 

 with electromagnetic induction, determination of 

 refractive indices, tangent galvanometers, and the 

 polarisation of the light of the corona in the eclipse 

 of 1870. Of practical problems, that of the design 

 of the best form of amphitheatre was solved by him 

 and applied to the construction of his classroom; 

 this problem also led to a study of certain pro- 

 perties of Z and Gamma functions. Much work 

 of national importance was also entrusted to Prof. 

 Blaserna, who figured prominently in many pro- 

 ceedings of the Second Chamber. He was keenly 

 interested in music, which he studied from the 

 acoustical point of view, and he was instrumental 

 in standardising the concert pitch for Italy, be- 

 sides writing a popular treatise on sound and 

 music, G. H. B. 



NOTES. 



In a long list of promotions in^ and appointments 

 to, the Order of the British Empire, mad^ on the 

 occasion of the King's birthday, we notice the fol- 

 lowing names of men who have been honoured for 

 scientific services in connection with the war :— 

 Knights Commanders (K.B.E.): Col. H. E. F. Goold- 

 Adams, late Controller, Munitions Inventions Depart- 

 ment; Mr. Horace Darwin, F.R.S., chairman, Cam- 

 bridge Scientific Instrument Co., Ltd., member of 

 Munitions Inventions Department Panel; Lt.-Col. 

 A. G. Hadcock, F.R.S., managing director, Sir W, G. 

 .-Xrmstrong, Whitworth and Co., Ltd. ; Dr. A. C. 

 Houston, director of Water Examinations, Metropoli- 

 tan Water Board; Mr. H. D. McCowan, managing 

 director of Nobel's Explosive Co., Ltd. ; Prof. T. H. 

 Middleton, Deputy Director-General, Food Production 

 Department, Board of .\gricuUure; Col. Sir Frederic 

 L. Nathan, chairman. Standing Committee on the 

 Causes of Explosions at Government and Controlled 

 Factories, Ministry of Munitions, chairman .\dvisory 

 Committee on Alcohol Supplies for War Purposes ; 

 Mr. A. Nimmo, president, Mining .Vssociation of 

 Great Britain, chairman Board of Trade Committee 

 on the Coal Trade after the War, member Central 

 Coal and Coke Supplies Committee; Admiral Sir 

 Richard H. Peirse, Naval Member of the Central 

 Committee of the Board of Invention and Research; 

 Mr. P. L. D. Perry, Director of Mechanical Warfare, 

 Ministry of Munitions; Mr. J. W. Restler, chairman. 

 Metropolitan Munitions Committee, chief engineer 

 Metropolitan Water Board. Commanders (C.B.E.): 

 Prof. E. C. C. Baly, F.R.S., professor of chemistry, 

 Liverpool University, Deputy Inspector of High Ex- 

 plosives, Liverpool Area; Dr. J. Barcroft, F.R.S., 

 Superintendent of Physiological Investigations, 

 Chemical Warfare Department, Ministry of Muni- 

 tions; Mr. Conrad Beck, president, British Optical 



