654 



NATURE 



[February 19, 1920 



the control of the Government of India, the Local 

 Governments, the Indian States, and trusts, of 

 which latter the Indian Institute of Science at 

 Bangalore is the chief example. A large number 

 of the most successful investigators working in 

 the universities and at the various research in- 

 stitutes do not favour centralisation in separate 

 scientific services, but consider that the present 

 system should be developed and extended, and 

 that in applied science the bond of union of the 

 workers engaged should be the general subject 

 investigated, such as agriculture or forestry, 

 rather than the particular science involved. At 

 present the investigators dealing with a many- 

 sided subject like agriculture are collected at agri- 

 cultural research institutes, and now belong to the 

 agricultural department. A similar method of 

 organisation obtains in forestry and at the centres 

 of medical research like Calcutta and Bombay. 



The present system has proved successful in 

 practice, and the value of the work done in India 

 in pure science, in tropical diseases, in agriculture, 

 and in forestry has been widely recognised. 

 Decentralisation, therefore, has been justified by 

 success, and a very strong case will have to be 

 made out before the workers at the existing in- 

 stitutes are re-grouped in centralised services 

 under the control, as regards their scientific work, 

 of the proposed Department of Industries of the 

 Government of India. 



Increased financial assistance on the part of the 

 State would enable the present universities and 

 research institutes to be developed and more 

 workers secured. With such facilities, there 

 should be the greatest possible freedom for the 

 investigators carrying on original work. The 

 general conditions under which the researches are 

 conducted should be made as attractive as pos- 

 sible, and the policy to be adopted should be one 

 which would secure the very best men available, 

 and the provision of adequate means for their 

 work. For original scientific investigators little 

 or no official control is needed, and they should 

 not be constantly called upon to furnish interim 

 reports and programmes of work to an official 

 chief, or to obtain his formal sanction before 

 undertaking an investigation or publishing the 

 results of their work. Such formalities waste 

 valuable time, lead to constant friction, and are 

 altogether foreign to the spirit which should reign 

 in all centres of creative scientific research. 



Briefly stated, the case to be decided is om; 

 between the advocates of a system of rigid cen- 

 tralisation and those who consider that in research 

 ^©.'2625, VOL. 104] 



work the man is everything, and that there can 

 be no progress without freedom. Obviously, the 

 conflict of opinion is a fundamental one, and 

 much will depend on the wisdom and sympathies 

 of the Secretary of State, with whom the final 

 word lies, in deciding which policy is to prevail. 



MODERN PHYSIOLOGY. 



An Introduction io General Physiology : ]Vith 



Practical Exercises. By Prof. W. M. Bayliss. 



Pp. XV -1- 238. (London : Longmans, Green, and 



Co., 1919.) Price 7s. 6d. net. 

 " •"p'HE task of physiologists is to refer, as far 

 1 as they can, all phenomena of life to the 

 laws of physics and chemistry." With this defini- 

 tion Prof. Bayliss presents the student with those 

 fundamental principles of these sciences which 

 are of primary importance in the study of physio- 

 logy. It is quite remarkable how the author can 

 compress these principles into a small compass, 

 and at the same time give such a clear picture, 

 not only of these parts of physics and chemistry, 

 but also of their applications in physiology. It 

 is essentially an introduction to the author's 

 "Principles of General Physiology," and reference 

 is constantlv made to this larger book. The 

 student would often welcome, at these places, a 

 rather longer description, for he will probably not 

 possess the larger book at this period of his science 

 course. 



The book is so full of interest that if it were a 

 little longer the beginner would not be over- 

 whelmed, but would gather all the more fruit. The 

 first chapter, entitled "Life and Energy," contains 

 those parts of physics concerned in vital pheno- 

 mena, written in illustration of certain phenomena 

 easily observed with an amoeba. Brownian move- 

 ment is the visualisation of the moving molecules 

 in a liquid. Protoplasm is a liquid containing 

 matter both in solution and in suspension, and 

 is surrounded by a cell membrane. Surface pro- 

 perties are those mainly concerned, but no grasp 

 of their complexity is possible without a know- 

 ledge of energy and its laws. A considerable 

 section is devoted to this subject. The change of \ 

 energy at the surface of the cell is the cause of j 

 extrusion of the pseudopodium. The entry into 5 

 and exit of matter from the cell is connected with J 

 osmosis and the permeabilitv of membranes. This '' 

 is most lucidly explained. P^ectrolytic dissocia- 

 tion and the colloidal state are included in the 

 chapter. 



"Food — Digestion and Respiration" are dealt 

 with in the second chapter. A short cut is made 

 through organic chemistry so as to give a con- 



