234 



NATURE 



[May 17, 19 1 7 



Displacements of Solar Lines. — In continuation of 

 previous work on iron, Dr. Royds has recently jnade 

 an extensive series ot comparisons of the spectra of 

 the sun and arc for nickel and titanium, and has also 

 investigated the displacements at the negative pole of 

 the arc in the case of these elements (Kodaikanal Bul- 

 letin, No. ^i). Unsymmetrical lines of nickel and 

 titanium, as indicated by their behaviour at the nega- 

 tive pole, and by records of their appearance under 

 pressure, were found to be very numerous, and it was 

 only possible to confirm to a limited extent the con- 

 clusions arrived at from the lines of iron. It is con- 

 sidered, however, that the new results are not incon- 

 sistent with the conclusions deduced from iron by Mr. 

 Evershed, namely, that the displacements at the centre 

 of the sun's disc, and at the sun's limb, are Doppler 

 effects due to descending motion in the line of sight, 

 and that the solar pressure is of the order of three- 

 quarters of an atmosphere. The spectrograph em- 

 ployed in these investigations has been provided with 

 a new Anderson grating having 75,085 lines on a ruled 

 surface of 97 x 12-8 cm. 



The Problem of Spiral Nebula. — ^The view that 

 spiral nebulae may be distant galaxies, or "island- 

 universes," is discussed in an interesting article by 

 Dr. Crommelin in the May number of Scientia. In 

 rtcent years this hypothesis has received consldeiable 

 support from the discovery that a large proportion of 

 the non-gaseous nebulae are of spiral form, and by the 

 accumulation of evidence that our own system has a 

 somewhat similar structure. One of the chief difficul- 

 ties with regard to it is tTie fact that such nebulae are 

 mainly concentrated in the vicinity of the galactic 

 poles, thus suggesting a connection with our system, 

 but Dr. Crommelin considers that this apparent avoid- 

 ance of the galactic plane by the spirals may be ex- 

 plained by assuming the existence of patches of obscur- 

 ing matter which become more numerous as the galac- 

 tic plane is approached. Moreover, if the spirals were 

 inside our system, their "-rouping would probably be 

 about an axis through the centre of the galaxy, and 

 not about an axis through our sun at right angles to 

 the galactic plane. The alternative view that the 

 spirals may be emanations driven out of our system 

 by some agency seems to be rendered untenable by the 

 recently discovered fact that their radial velocities are 

 greatly in excess of any velocities which have been 

 observed within the system. Dr. Crommelin con- 

 cludes that most of the evidence seems to favour the 

 extra-galactic position of the spirals, and if this view 

 be adopted, it follows that they are of dimensions com- 

 parable with those of our galaxy. They are probably at 

 a comparatively early stage of development, much of 

 their matter being still scattered and diffused in clouds 

 which reflect som'e of the starlight. 



ELI AS ASH MOLE, F.R.S., FOUNDER 



OF THE FIRST PUBLIC MUSEUM OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



TV/TAY 23 next wijl be the three hundredth anni- 

 ■'■'-*■ versary of the birth of Ashmole, antiquary, 

 herald, and 'man of science. He included among his 

 . interests not onlv the entire world of Nature, but, like 

 some physicists of the present day, he delighted to 

 explore the rtgions of the preternatural. He has often 

 been blamed, and we think unjustly, for devoting so 

 much time to astrology and alchemy, which were the 

 "scientific" pursuits in fashion at that period; but we 

 should dwell upon what has lasted of his work rather 

 than upon what was trivial and ephemeral. So far as 

 science is concerned, the outcome of his lifework will 

 always be memorable, for he became the founder of 

 the first public museum of natural history in Great 



NO. 2481, VOL. 99] 



Britain ; next, he must be regarded as the founder of 

 the first university chemical laboratory; and^- thirdly, 

 he founded the first chair of chemistry in Oxford; 



Ashmole was born at Lichfield, and received his early 

 education at the local Grampiar School. At the age 

 of twenty-seven circumstances brought him, in the 

 character of a commissioner of excise, to Oxford, 

 where he continued his education in physics and mathe- 

 matics as a member of Brasenose College, and imbibed 

 ft om a Capt. George Wharton that taste for the study 

 of astrology and alchemy which led him to give these 

 subjects so much of his time. In October, 1646, he 

 moved to London, and there for the next ten years 

 eagerly assimilated the experimental facts and vision- 

 ary lore of Lilly, Booker, and Martin Backhouse. 

 He vigorously pushed forward his studies in astrologjj, 

 chemistry, and botany; was a guest at " the mathe- 

 matical feast at the White Hart"; edited Dr. Dee's 

 writings; published the "Theatrum Chemicum," and, 

 to quote Selden, " was affected to the furtherance of 

 all good learning." 



Ashmole lacked the touchstone of modern training 

 which renders a student competent to discriminate 

 between false and true learning; it was beyond the 

 power of any one man to investigate every recipe for 

 the philosopher's stone, and discover for himself the 

 futility of this and similar quests. But during those 

 years of research in London Ashmole arrived at the 

 best method of stimulating interest in scientific 

 matters, knowledge which wa ; . put to the best use 

 some years later. We will not therefore regard him 

 as a scientific observer nor as a, successful .experi- 

 mentalist, but as the pre moter of one of the most 

 effective methods of primary scientific education, which 

 aims at awakening and developing the intellectual 

 activity of the young by putting before their eyes re- 

 markable objects of natural history. Prof. Tyndall 

 well expresses the essentials of the method in his ad- 

 dress on " The Importance of the Study of Physics as 

 a Branch of Education for all Classes " ; he points out 

 the great value of the incentive that the exhibition of 

 natural objects and phenomena- supplies in the stimu- 

 lating of mental activity : — " As the nurse holds her 

 glittering tov before the infant she would encourage 

 to take its first step, so it would appear as if one 

 of the ends of the Creator, in setting those shining 

 things in heaven, was to woo the attention and excite 

 the intellectual activity of His earth-born child." With, 

 out going so far as the distinguished physicist, in 

 attributing motives to the Creator, we would insist 

 that the more strongly the senses of the observer can 

 be arrested by objects or phenorriena of curious or 

 unusual nature, the more vivid are the images of 

 thought which are conjured up In the mind. When 

 objects become commonplace, or operations a part of 

 our everyday life, they lose this power of stimulation. 

 Impressions arising from accidental circumstances 

 often exercise so powerful an effect on the young as 

 to determine the direction of a career. Hurnboldt re- 

 lates that his early desire to visit tropical countries 

 sprang partly from seeing some pictures of the shores 

 of the Ganges in the house of Warren Hastings in 

 London, and from the sight of a colossal dragon- 

 tree In the old tower of a botanic garden. To a mind 

 susceptible to impressions of this kind such object- 

 lessons have the greatest educational value. And it is 

 for this reason that Ashmole, as the founder of the 

 first public museum of natural history, has the greatest 

 claim to our consideration. 



The oldest specimens in his museum had been col- 

 lected by John Tradescant the elder (died 1638) during 

 his travels in Holland, Russia, and Barbary, about 

 the end of the sixteenth century. He left the collection 

 to his son John (died 1662), who enriched it by adding 

 new specimens collected on 'his travels in Virginia, 



