April 19, 19 17] 



NATURE 



143 



of view, as well as in the subject dealt with. 

 Unlike his former volume of collected oceano- 

 graphical papers, this collection consists of a 

 selection on many subjects, scientific and jxjpular, 

 several reproduced from the pages of 5s^ature. 

 The strictly scientific memoirs deal with the rela- 

 tion of ice and brine, steam and brine, calori- 

 metry, and the occurrence of ice in Nature, mainly 

 in the form of glaciers. These researches grew 

 out of Mr. Buchanan's observations of melting 

 sea-ice during the cruise of the Challenger in 

 the Antarctic regions, and, as regards calorimetn,-, 

 in part out of observations on solar radiation 

 during a solar eclipse in Egypt. The memoirs 

 themselves form solid and informing reading for 

 students ; but they are rendered entertaining by 

 the extraordinarily copious analytical Table of 

 Contents, which occupies thirty pages. In this 

 each paf)er is not only analysed and epitomised 

 by the author, but also annotated, and some- 

 times criticised. For example, the discussion 

 (reprinted from Nature, vol. Ixix., p. 293) of the 

 system of the Royal Society (and, for that matter, 

 of all scientific societies) of referring the paf>ers of 

 fellows to unnamed referees, who may suggest or 

 insert alterations, is illustrated by a delightful 

 reminiscence. In explaining how they manage 

 these things better in France, Mr. Buchanan gives 

 this pleasing picture of an episode of his student 

 days : — 



■" In the summer of 1867, while working in the 

 laboratory of ^^'urtz in the Ecole de Medecine in 

 Paris, I made some investigations on the pro- 

 ducts of the reaction of perchloride of phos- 

 phorus on salts , of isethionic acid. I collected 

 the results in a short paper, and, with Wurtz's 



ipproval, I proposed to offer it to the Academy. 



\t that date Wurtz himself was not yet ' of the 

 Institute,' but there was a standing custom that 

 papers by his eleves were presented by Balard, 

 the veteran discoverer of bromine. Accordingly, 

 I took my pap"'- with me and made a formal call 

 on M. Balard, -.fho received me with the greatest 

 kindness and courtesy in his study, wearing, as 

 had been the fashion in his younger days, a black 

 frock-coat, and a white neckcloth taken twice 

 round his neck. When I had expressed my 

 desire that he would do me the honour to present 

 my paper to the Academy, he replied at once that 

 he would have the greatest pleasure in doing so. 

 I handed him the paper, he presented it the follow- 

 ing Monday, and it was published in the Comptes 

 rendiis of the next week." 



Reference may be made to another annotated 

 paper, the " Chemical and Physical Notes " which 

 appeared originally in the ".Antarctic Manual," 

 prepared for Captain Scott's first expedition. 

 These notes proved less useful than they should 

 have been, as there was no trained chemist on the 

 expedition, and the physicist who was appointed 

 did not sail with the Discovery, and only joined 

 her in Australia. Had there been a chemist of 

 Mr. Buchanan's manipulative skill and keen in- 

 sight the notes would have been most helpful, for 

 he now tells us that he prepared them as memo- 

 randa for a worker by imae^ining that the worker 

 NO. 2477, "V'OL. 99] 



was himself. Jn fact, we gather that they are 

 the instructions which thirty years of experience 

 had shown would have profited him most had 

 he himself received them when he sailed on 

 the Challenger in 1872. They will stand, we 

 trust, as inspiration for the chemist of some 

 future expedition. .\n interesting point about this 

 paper is mentioned in the preface : " It was con- 

 veyed to me through an old friend and former 

 colleague that this contribution to the ' Antarctic 

 Manual ' had done much to retard the standardisa- 

 tion of research. I took it as a compliment. To 

 standardise research is to limit its freedom and to 

 impede discovery. Originality and independence 

 are the characteristics of genuine research, and it 

 is stultified by the acceptance of standards and 

 by the recognition of authorit)'." 



This expression of opinion is really a confession 

 of faith, and Mr. Buchanan's consistent accept- 

 ance of it as a guide in his own work is apparent 

 in ever\' pajier and article which he has written. 

 It is one pf the curious instances of history repeat- 

 ing itself, that in every age the really original 

 thinker is treated as a heretic by organised bodies 

 and conventional men, unless, or until, he can 

 hold his own against all attempts at suppression, 

 passive and active; then he becomes a prophet, 

 whose disciples, in turn, exercise a like intoler- 

 ance of the forerunners of the next advance. 



H. R. M. 



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