2 94 



NATURE 



[July 2\ 



Moral Sense and Ethic. 



In the criticism of Mr. Sutherland's book by " F. G." 

 (Nature, July 14, p. 241), no notice is taken of the distinction 

 between moral sentiments and ethical perceptions. Perhaps 

 this distinction is most evident in cases where a man, or woman, 

 perceives an action to be a bad one, and at the same time 

 prefers to do it, and does it. 



At p. 249 Principal Lloyd Morgan quotes Mr. Thorndike as 

 saying, of writings about animals, that "they have all been 

 about animal intelligence, never about animal stupidity." The 

 chapter on "the animal faculties " in my work •' On Truth," 

 contains a distinct section (p. 355) devoted to "animal 

 stupidity," which is also referred to (p. 124) in my "Origin of 

 Human Reason." St. George Mivart. 



77 Inverness Terrace, W,, July 15. 



Curious Phenomenon. 



On July 8, at about 8.50 (Mean European time), I noticed 

 what I took at first to be the end of a rainbow. The sky was 

 nearly cloudless towards the north ; 30° south of the zenith 



ing still when considered in connection with Dufour's observ- 

 ation touching the freedom of the Algerian Solpugas from per- 

 secution by the solitary wasps. The importance of the fact he 

 records, moreover, would be considerably increased if the reason 

 why the honey-bees of California permit the intrusion of their 

 hives by these Arachnoids was explained. Such an explanation 

 might perhaps furnish a solution to the hitherto unanswered 

 problem why the wasps let the Solpugas alone. 



R. I. POCOCK. 



THE BUILDINGS AT SOUTH KENSINGTON. 

 CO far there does not appear to be anything finally 

 •^-^ settled with regard to the allocation of space to the 

 Science and Art Buildings at South Kensington. While on 

 the one hand Mr. Akers Douglas has declined to give any 

 information to the Chairman of the Select Committee 

 which made the recommendations which have since 

 been strenuously supported by the representatives of 

 Science and Art ; on the other, the Birmmgham Daily 



> linp<Miiil luHliiiiK 



'^ "nrzzf" 



.\i 1' 1: a I A u 



^-%1^ 



. '0 



:^^^-^^ 



<■ u .M W I-: L 



ii A U 



Fig. I —The neighbourhood of the South Kensington and Natural History Museums, showing the space (bounded by a black line) available for \ 



buildings on the east side of Exhibition Road. 



began a mass of grey clouds, tinged here and there with red till 

 about 15° from the horizon. Below the lowest of the red 

 clouds was an object, about as broad as a rainbow, a degree or 

 two E. of S., and about 12° high. It was red, but in tlie 

 first few moments I thought I detected a linge of green on the 

 E. side. It remained in its original brightness about five 

 minutes, then faded very rapidly, and then remained almost 

 stationary again, finally disappearing about eight minutes after 

 I first saw it. The sun had, so far as I could judge, set about 

 five or ten minutes before I noticed the appearance. I am quite 

 sure of the time, as we have a mid-day gun. 



9 Gerhard Street, Kiel. N. W. Thomas. 



The Nature and Habits of Pliny's Solpuga. 



Although of great interest in itself, the note by Prof. 

 Cook, in Nature for July 14, p. 247, becomes more interest- 



NO. 1500, VOL. 58] 



Post announces that the matter has been settled on the 

 lines of the recommendations in question. 



In order that the exact nature of the question at issue 

 between the representatives of Science and Art on the 

 one hand, and certain Government officials on the other, 

 may be clearly grasped, it is only necessary to follow up 

 the statistics given by Sir Philip Magnus in his article on 

 Technical High Schools (Nature, May 19). In this 

 article a comparison was made of the area occupied by 

 the Royal College of Science with that of several German 

 technical schools, one of the results which clearly comes 

 out being that some of the latter are ten times bigger than 

 the College. 



It has long been known to the Government that the 

 College is too small. Physics, Astronomical Physics, 

 Geology, Mining, Metallurgy and Mechanics have had 



