2 50 



NA TURE 



[July 13, 1893 



The anthropometric system could be established in 

 England at the present time, for Mr. Spearman points 

 out that in the Penal Servitude Act, 1 89 1, it is enacted • 

 that 



The Secretary of State shall make regulations as to the meas- 

 uring and photngraphing of all prisoners who may for the time 

 being be confined in any prison, and all the provisions of section 

 six of the Prevention of Crimes Act, 187 1, with respect to the 

 photographing of prisoners, shall apply to any regulations as to 

 measuring made in pursuance of the section. 



Dr. S. S. Sprigge has an article on "The Poisoning of 

 the Future." He says : — 



There are two directions which the poisoner of the future may 

 tale in an intelligent attempt to use superior knowledge in the 

 accomplishment of undetected crime. One of them is the bring- 

 ing of the older methods of poisoning to perfection by the exhi- 

 bition of subtler dnig^. Tne other, and by far the more terri- 

 fying, is the employment by the poisoner of the results of recent 

 biological research. 



Neither of these methods is likely to be very successful, 

 for those who understand the p nver of such deadly 

 essences as strychnine, atropine, digitalin, and aconitine, 

 or know how to isolate, cultivate, preserve, and inoculate 

 the germs of a malignant disease, will be comparatively 

 marked men, inasmuch as they will belong to a limited 

 class 



The Humanitarian appears this month for the first 

 time as a magazine. In it M. A. Bertillon gives a de- 

 scription of the anthropometrical measurements made in 

 France under his direction. The measures taken are 

 (i) height, (2) length of head, (3) raa.ximum breadth of 

 head, (4) length of middle finger of left hand, (5) maxi- 

 mum length of left foot, (6) ma.ximum length of arms 

 extended, (7) colour of the eyes. M. Bertillon describes 

 in detail all the operations, and shows how the measures 

 are classified so that the question as to whether a prisoner 

 has been arrested before or not can be irrevocably settled 

 in a few minutes. 



In the Contemporary Review Mr. G. J. Romanes, 

 F.R S., furnishes a postscript to his article in the April 

 number in support of Weismannism against Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer. The points touched upon are (i) the principle 

 of Panmixia, or cessation of selection ; and (2) the 

 influence of a previous sire on the progeny of a subsequent 

 one by the same dam. Mr. Spencer briefly replies to 

 Prof Romanes, and Prof. Marcus Hartog follows with a 

 short description of the works of Weismann, from the 

 publication of the essay on " Heredity" in 1883 to the 

 last conception of the germ-plasm and the theory of 

 variation at present held by the great zoologist of 

 Freiburg. 



Prof. Thorpe, F.R.S., contributes to the Fortnightly 

 Review a descriptive account of the recent solar eclipse 

 in the form of a reprint of a discourse delivered at the 

 Royal Institution. As the article contains no information 

 of scientific moment that has not been chronicled in these 

 columns, further comment upon it is unnecessary. 



The Century Magazine contains an article by Dr. 

 Allan McLane Hamilton on " Mental Medicine," or the 

 treatment of disease by suggestion. Though a vast 

 amount of quackery is carried on in connection with 

 hypnotism and mesmerism, there is no doubt that many 

 cases have been successfully tr'eated. 



It is only within the past few years that scientific men have 

 really adopted suggestion in a rational way, and the advances 

 in phjchology and p.'^ychopathology have paved the way for the 

 use of a most potent agent. Our knowledge of disorders of 

 motility and the disturbance of the governing coordinating 

 faculties permits us to determine the pathology of certain 

 convulsive and spasmodic conditions, which until recently were 

 simply looked upon as vague symptomatic slates. Writer's 

 cramp, which is a diseased automatism, has been repeatedly 

 ■cured by suggestion made during the hypnotic state. I have 



NO. 1237, VOL. 48] 



seen forms of persistent tremor, chorea, speech defects, and 

 other motor disturbances very much ameliorated, if not always 

 cured, by the methods of Luys and Bcrnheim. In England 

 and elsewhere suggestion has been used for the correction of cer- 

 tain mental states manifested in moral perversion, among which 

 dipsomania and certain varieties of infantile viciousness figure; 

 and my own experience has convinced me that in some in- 

 sanities it i< certainly a most valuable means for combating 

 the development of delusions, and in restoring the equilibrium 

 of an unbalanced nervous system. 



" The Galaxy " (seen through a telescope) forms the 

 subject of a short poem by Mr. Charles J. O'Malley. 

 He finely describes the Milky Way in the lines - 



" Luminous archipelago of heaven ! 



Islands of splendour sown in depths of night." 



In lifcClure's Magazine Dr. H. R. Mill describes the 

 Arctic Expeditions of Nansen and Jackson under the 

 title " The Race to the North Pole." The former expe- 

 dition started from Christiania a few days ago, but Mr. 

 Jackson will not leave England with his companions 

 until about the middle of July, or perhaps the beginning 

 of August. He intends to approach Franz-Josef Land, 

 which will be a comparatively easy task, and tlien to 

 advance over the ice in sledges, trusting that thi; land- 

 ice stretches northwards to the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of the Pole. If, however, Franz Josef Land 

 proves not to have a great northerly extent, an advance 

 may be made on the sea-ice, carrying boats for crossing 

 open water. Mr. C. Moffett summarises the programme 

 of Lieut. Peary's expedition, pointing out several im- 

 portant considerations which make it probable that the 

 expedition will attain a considerable measure of success. 

 It remains to be seen whether any or all the explorers 

 will reach the goal. The race is a long one, aiad will tax 

 to the utmost the energies and pertinacity of those who 

 have elected to run. 



" An Expedition to the North Magnetic Pole " is the 

 theine of an article by Colonel W. H. Gilder. About 

 three years ago Prof. Mendenhall wrote to the Secretary 

 of the United States Treasury as follows : — 



" The importance of a redetermination of the geographic*! 

 position of the North Magnetic Pole has long been reognued 

 by all interested in the theory of the earth's magnetism or JIt 

 application. The point as determined liy Ross in the efflflf 

 part of this century was not located ivith that degree of aoet- 

 racy which modern science demands and permits, and, tesidci, 

 it is altogether likely that its position is not a fixed one. Ottr 

 knowledge of the secular variation of the magnetic needle 

 would be better increased by belter information concerning the 

 Magnetic Pole, and, in my judgment, it would be the duty of 

 the Government to offer all possible encouragement to any stth- 

 ably organised exploring expedition which might undertake to 

 seek for this information." 



Acting upon a further recommendation, the Secretary of the 

 Treasury requested the President of the National Academy of 

 Sciences to appoint a committee of its members " to formulate 

 a plan or scheme for the carrying out of a systematic search for 

 the North Magnetic Pole and kindred work," and such a com- 

 mittee was subsequently appointed, with Prof. S. P. Langl«y, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as Chairman. 



The observers will be selected from among the officers 

 of the United States Navy attached to the Coast Survey, 

 who have had special training in magnetic field work, 

 and a scheme of the observations to be made has been 

 drawn up by Prof C. A. Schott. 



It is proposed to charter a steam whaler to lake the party 

 from Si. John's, Newfoundland, to the nonhern pait of Repulse 

 Hay, which, being directly connected with Hudson's Bay, is 

 the nearest point to the Pule, containing area that is accessible 

 any year. There a permanent station is to be erected, where 

 regular observations will be continued all the time, and from 

 which each spring a field parly (perhaps two) will start to locate 

 the geographical position of ihe Pole. 



