August 2, 1900] 



NATURE 



Z2>^ 



incapable of consciousness), evoke movements appropriate for 

 escape from or removal of the stimulus applied. Now " feel- 

 ing " is implicit in the emotional state ; the state is an " affective 

 state." In the evolution of emotion the revival of "feelings" 

 pleasurable and painful must have played a large part. Hence 

 the close relation of emotion with sense organs that can initiate 

 bodily pain or pleasure, and hence its connection with impulsive 

 or instinctive movement. There is no wide interval between 

 the reflex movement of the spinal dog, whose foot attempts to 

 scratch away an irritant applied to its back — both leg and back 

 absolutely detached from consciousness — and the reaction of the 

 decerebrate dog that turns and growls and bites at the fingers 

 holding his hind foot too roughly. In the ormer case the 

 motor reaction occurs, although the mind is not even aware of 

 the stimulus, far less percipient of it as an irritant. The action 

 occurs, and plays the pantomime of feeling ; but no feeling comes 

 to pass. In the latter case the motor reaction occurs, and is ex- 

 pressive of emotion ; but it is probably the reaction of an organic 

 machine, which can be started working, though the mutilation 

 precludes the psychosis of emotion. 



And with the gesture and the attitude will occur the visceral 

 concomitant. It would be consonant with what we know of reflex 

 action if the spur that started the muscular expression should 

 simultaneously and of itself initiate, also, the visceral adjunct 

 reaction. It is almost impossible to believe that with the mere 

 stump of brain that remained to Goltz's dog there could be any 

 elaboration of a percept. All trace of memory was lacking to 

 the creature. Yet though not evincing other emotion, anger it 

 showed as far as expression can yield revelation. Fear, joy, 

 affection seem, therefore, in the observation of this skilled 

 observer of animal mind, to demand higher nervous organ- 

 isation than does anger. Be that as it may, the retention 

 of its expression by Goltz's dog indicates that by " retro- 

 gradation " the complex movement of expression has in 

 certain emotions passed into a simple reflex act. When the 

 habituating practice of acts is carried far the determining 

 motives finally become, even in impulsive acts, weaker and more 

 transient. The external stimulus originally aroused a strongly 

 affective group of ideas, which operated as a motive, but now it 

 causes a discharge of the act before it can be apprehended as an 

 idea. The impulsive movement of a "lower," " coarser," so- 

 called " animal " emotion, has in this case become an automatic 

 reflex process no longer necessarily combined with the psychical 

 state whence it arose, of which it is normally at once the 

 adjunct and the symbol. C. S. Sherrington. 



THE CENTENARY OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE 



OF SURGEONS. 

 jyi R. VICTOR PLARR'S article, in last week's Nature, on 

 the celebration of the centenary of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons of England contained a brief statement of the cere- 

 monies which were to commence on the day we went to press. 

 The proceedings were opened on Wednesday morning, July 25, 

 when demonstrations were given in the Hunterian Museum of 

 the College by the conservator. Prof. C. Stewart, F.R.S.,who 

 conducted visitors round the galleries, pointing out and describ- 

 ing some of the more important and interesting specimens. At 

 the same time, in the theatre of the Examination Hall, Dr. 

 T. G. Brodie, director of the laboratories of the Conjoint 

 Board, gave an account of some of the work recently carried 

 out in the research laboratories. In the evening a conversazione 

 was held at the College, and was attended by many distinguished 

 guests. Demonstrations were again given by Prof. Stewart and 

 Dr. Brodie on Thursday morning ; and in the afternoon. Sir 

 William MacCormack, the president, delivered an address of 

 welcome, and presented the diploma of Honorary Fellow to 

 the Marquis of Salisbury and the Earl of Rosebery. As already 

 stated (p. 294), the Prince of Wales received the diploma on 

 July 24 ; and the form of the Royal diploma is the same as 

 that employed for all the Honorary Fellowships. 



The following is the list of other Honorary Fellows to whom 

 diplomas were presented on Thursday : — E. Albert, professor of 

 clinical surgery, University of Vienna ; C. B. Ball, Regius pro- 

 fessor of surgery. University of Dublin ; E. Bassini, professor of 

 clinical surgery. Royal University of Padua ; E. H. Bennett, pro- 

 fessor of surgery, Trinity College, Dublin ; J. W. Berg, professor 

 of surgery. Royal Caroline Institute of Medicine and Surgery, 

 Stockholm ; Prof, von Bergmann, Berlin ; O. Bloch, professor 



NO. 1605, VOL, 62] 



of surgery. University of Copenhagen ; E, Bottini, professor of 

 clinical surgery, Royal University of Pavia ; I. II. Cameron, 

 professor of clinical surgery. University of Toronto ; Dr. 

 Salvador Cardenal Fernandez, vice-president. Royal Academy ot 

 Medicine and Surgery, Barcelona ; Antonino D'Antona, pro- 

 fessor of surgery. Royal University of Naples ; Francesco 

 Durante, professor of clinical surgery, Royal University of 

 Rome ; Prof. Dr. Friedrich von Esmarch, Kiel ; W. S. 

 Halsted, professor of surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Balti- 

 more ; Hon. Sir W. H. Hingston, professor of clinical surgery. 

 University of Laval; Surgeon-General James Jameson, C.B., 

 Director-General, Army Medical Service ; W, W. Keen, professor 

 of the principles of surgery and of clinical surgery, Jefferson 

 Medical College, Philadelphia; Theodor Kocher, professor of 

 surgery. University of Bern ; Prof. Dr. Franz Kcinig, Berlin ; 

 Prof. Kosinskij, professor of surgery in the University of Warsaw ; 

 Prof. Dr. E. G. F. Kiister, Marburg ; Elie Lambotte, Brussels ; 

 Odilon Marc Lannelongue, professor of surgical pathology, 

 Faculty of Medicine of Paris ; Karl Gustaf Lennander, pro- 

 fessor of surgery and obstetrics. University of Upsala ; W. 

 Macewen, F.R.S., Regius professor of surgery. University of 

 Glasgow ; Colonel Kenneth MacLeod, professor of clinical and 

 military medicine, Army Medical School, Netley ; Julius 

 Nicolaysen, professor of surgery, Royal University of Chris- 

 tiania ; Sir Henry Frederick Norbury, K.C.B., Director-General, 

 Medical Department of the Royal Navy ; Leopold Oilier, pro- 

 fessor of clinical surgery. University of Lyons; Victor Pachou- 

 tine, president. Imperial Military Academy of Medicine, St. 

 Petersburg ; Samuel Pozzi, professor in the Faculty of Medicine 

 of Paris; Colonel D. C. O'Connell Raye, Indian Medical 

 Service ; T. G. Roddick, professor of surgery, McGill Univer- 

 sity, Montreal ; Federico Rubio y Gali, member of the Royal 

 Academy of Medicine of Madrid ; Nicolas Wassilievitch 

 Sklifossovsky, director and Emeritus professor, Imperial 

 Clinical Institute of the Grand Duchess Helena Pavlovna, 

 St. Petersburg ; Paul Tillaux, professor of clinical surgery, 

 Faculty of Medicine of Paris ; Nicolas Veliam.inoff, professor 

 of surgery. Imperial Military Academy of Medicine, St. Peters- 

 burg ; John Collins Warren, professor of surgery, Harvard 

 University ; Robert Fulton Weir, professor of clinical surgery, 

 Columbia University, New York. After the presentation brief 

 addresses of thanks were delivered by Prof. v. Bergmann of 

 Berlin, Prof Durante of Rome, Dr. W. W. Keen of Phila- 

 delphia, Prof. Lannelongue, and Dr. T. G. Roddick of 

 Montreal. 



FACTS OF INHERITANCE} 

 /^NE of the distinctive features of the nineteenth century has 

 ^-^ been a reduction in the number of supposed separate 

 powers or entities— the use of William of Occam's razor, in fact. 

 In view of this progress towards greater precision of phrase- 

 ology, it cannot be a matter for surprise that a biologist should 

 affirm that to speak of the " Principle of Heredity " in organisms 

 is like speaking of the "Principle of Horologity" in clocks. 

 For heredity is certainly no power or force, or principle, but a 

 convenient term for the relation of organic or genetic continuity 

 which binds generation to generation. 



Another distinctive feature in scientific progress has been the 

 introduction of precise measurement. In the development of 

 natural knowledge, science begins where measurement begins. 

 This is the case in regard to inheritance. While nothing can 

 take the place of experiment, much has been gained by the 

 application of statistical and mathematical methods to biological 

 results — a new contact between different disciplines — which we 

 may particularly associate with the names of Mr. Francis Galton 

 and Mr. Karl Pearson. 



I. The Physical Basis of Inheritance. 



What was for so long quite hidden from inquiring minds, or 

 but dimly discerned by a few, is now one of the most marvellous 

 of biological commonplaces— that the individual life of the great 

 majority of plants and animals begins in the union of two minute 

 elements — the sperm-cell and the egg-cell. If inheritance in- 

 cludes all that the living creature is or has to start with in virtue 

 of its genetic relation to its parents and ancestors, then it is 



1 Abridged from a discourse delivered at the Royal Institution on Friday 

 March 30, by Prof. J. Arthur Thonison, F.R.S. 



