126 



NATURE 



[October 9, 19 19 



Ix", but every successive step increases tlie probability 

 of its truth; and probability, as Bishop Butler 

 taught, is the guide of life. Meantime it is, one 

 may say, the positive duty of evervone who has the 

 opportunity, to fill up, so far as is'in his power, the 

 gaps that still exist in the chain of evidence. Here 

 is an especially promising field for naturalists resident 

 in tropical regions. 



Before concluding this iiddress there are two points 

 on which I should like to lay some special emphasis. 

 One is the undesirability— I' had almost said folly— 

 of undervaluing any source of information or anv 

 particular department of study which does not come 

 within the personal purview of the critic or com- 

 mentator. "I hold," savs Quiller-Couch, "there is 

 no surer sign of intellectual ill-breeding than to speak, 

 even to feel, slightingly of anv knowledge oneself does 

 not happen to possess." This is a temptation to 

 which many of us are liable; and falls, I fear, are 

 frequent. It was a matter of sincere regret to me 

 to find one of my most valued scientific friends 

 speaking publicly of the Odes of Horace as a subject 

 comparatively devoid of interest. I can only confess 

 my utter inability to .sympathise with my friend's 

 point of view. If he had merely said, " Excellent as 

 those works may be, I have other things to do than 

 to attend to them," I could approve; but that is a 

 different matter. The failing that I speak of is, 

 unfortunately, by no means unknown among scientific 

 men, and is perhaps rather specially prevalent when 

 such subjects as those of my present address are in 

 question. I can recall a very eminent man of science, 

 no longer living, speaking with scarcelv veiled scorn 

 of those who occupied themselves with "butterflies in 

 cases." This was in a presidential address to a 

 section of this association. If so little respect is 

 paid by a leader of science to work done in another 

 part of the field, it is perhaps not to be wondered at 

 that one of his Majesty's judges should speak of 

 the formation of a great collection of butterflies — a 

 most valuable asset for bionomic research — as the 

 "gratification of an infantile taste." This or that 

 collector may h>e an unscientific person, but it would 

 be easy to show that the study of insects in general, 

 and of butterflies in particular, is one of the most 

 efficient of the instruments in our hands for arriving 

 at a solution of fundamental problems in biologv. 



My second and final point is this: 1 have not 

 hesitated to affirm my conviction of the importance 

 in evolution of the Darwinian doctrine of natural 

 selection. This necessarily carries with it a belief 

 in the existence and general prevalence of adaptation. 

 I am willing to admit that at times too much exuber- 

 ance may have been shown in the pursuit of what 

 Aubrey Moore called "the new teleology." "Men of 

 science," it has been said, "like voung colts in a 

 fresh pasture, are apt to be exhilarated on being 

 turned into a new field of inquirv ; to go off at a 

 hand-gallop, in total disregard of hedges and ditches, 

 to lose sight of the real limitation of theii- inquiries, 

 and to forget the extreme imperfection of what is 

 really known." This is not the utterance of some 

 cold outside critic, but of a great exponent of scientific 

 method — no other than Huxlev himself. It mav be 

 true of some of the wilder speculations of Huxlev's 

 date. I am by no means sure that there is not truth 

 in it as applied to some of the developments of a 

 later time. But however wide of the mark our sug- 

 gested explanations and hypotheses mav be, the net 

 result of all our inquiries, after the gradual pruning 

 awav of excrescences and superfluities, will be a real 

 advance into the realms of the unknown. We may 

 feel perfectly assured that the objections so far 

 brought against our own interpretations are null and 



NO. 2606, VOL. 104] 



void, but we may yet have to give way in the light 

 of further knowledge. " Let us not smile too soon at 

 the pranks of Puck among the critics; it is more 

 prudent to move apart and feel gently whether that 

 sleek nose with fair large cars may not have been 

 slipped upon our own shoulders." ' 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Bristol. — Under the will of the late Dr. Joseph 

 Wiglesworth, whose interest in bird life is widely 

 known, his ornithological library passes by bequest 

 to the L^niversity. This library of more than 1000 

 volumes, including finely-bound copies of the works of 

 Gould, Seebohm, Dresser, Lilford, Levaillant, and other 

 leading authorities, is probably one of the best in the 

 kingdom. It will be housed in a separate room in the 

 new University buildings, and will be kept up to date. 

 Dr. Wiglesworth gave the residue of his estate to the 

 University after his widow's death for the furnishing 

 and maintenance of this special library. The advan- 

 tage to a university of facilities for prosecuting specific 

 lines of research can scarcely be overestimated. 

 .Situate, as is Bristol, in a district rich in birds, it is 

 to be hoped that the studies to which Dr. Wiglesworth 

 devoted so large a portion of the little leisure obtain- 

 able m a busy and fruitful life will be stimulated by 

 a bequest which will serve to keep his own work in 

 remembrance. 



Cambridge.— Dr. .\. E. .Shiplev, Master of fhrist's 

 College, has resigned the office of Vice-Chancellor 

 and been succeeded bv Dr. Peter Giles, Master of 

 Emmanuel. During his period of otTice Dr. Shipley 

 devoted himself consistently to progressive measures, 

 and was most active in furthering schemes of scientific 

 importance. He has had two years of very strenuous 

 work under abnormal conditions, and members of I he 

 University are grateful to him for the devoted atten- 

 tion he has given to all matters affecting their b'st 

 interests. 



Glasgow. — During the summer an unusually laige 

 number of university lecturers have been promoted to 

 professorial chairs at Glasgow and elsewhere. Prof. 

 Henderson, formerly assistant, and lately professor, 

 at the affiliated Royal Technical College, has been 

 appointed to the Regius chair of chemistrv in the 

 University; Dr. T. S. Patterson, Waltonian' lecturer, 

 to the Gardiner chair of organic chemistrv; Dr. E. P. 

 Cathcart, formerly Grieve lecturer, to the Gardiner 

 chair of physiological chemistrv; Dr. C. Browning, 

 forrnerly lecturer in clinical pathologv, to the Gardiner 

 chair of bacteriology; and two other lecturers in the 

 arts faculty have also been promoted to chairs in the 

 University. 



The Queen's University of Belfast has elected Dr. 

 A. W. Stewart, lecturer in physical chemistrv at Glas- 

 gow, to its chair of chemistry, and Dr. T. Walmsley, 

 lecturer in embryology at Glasgow, to its chair of 

 anatomy. Dundee L'niversity College (St. .\ndrews) 

 has appointed Dr. F. J. Charteris, lecturer in 

 pharmacy at Glasgow, to its chair of materia medica, 

 and Dr. J. F. Gemmill, research fellow and formerly 

 lecturer in embryologv at Glasgow, to its chair of 

 natural history. Dr. Shaw Dunn, lecturer in clinical 

 pathologv at Glasgow, has been appointed professor 

 of pathology in the I'niversity of Birmingham. Dr. 

 W. E. .Xgar, lecturer in zoologv and hereditv at Glas- 

 gow, has been appointed professor of biolofx- in the 

 University of Melbourne. Dr. Leonard Findlav, Gow 

 lecturer in medical diseases of children, has also been 

 ' Dowden. 



