NATURE 



481 



THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1896. 



T' 



THE SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE OF 



GEORGE ROMANES. 



The Life and Letters of George John Romanes. Written 



and edited by his Wife. Pp. viii + 360. (London : 



Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) 

 HE life of most men of science is uneventful so far 

 as the rest of the world is concerned, and can 

 hardly interest more than the circle of personal friends. 

 And the letters of men of science also have, as a rule, 

 but a limited interest. Any scientific information which 

 they contain has usually been published elsewhere, 

 and if of importance, is already familiar to the scientific 

 reader. The account of the life, and the selection of 

 the letters of George Romanes, which is here presented, 

 offer in some measure an exception to the general rule, 

 for they contain matters which will keenly interest others 

 than those who may desire to follow merely the scientific 

 career of the man. But it is the scientific correspon- 

 dence which will, without doubt, be that which will 

 chiefly interest the readers of NATURE, and it is this, 

 therefore, with which alone we propose here to deal. 

 And of the scientific correspondence, that which 

 Romanes carried on with Charles Darwin during a 

 period of nine years would alone furnish enough interest 

 to ensure a cordial welcome to this work. For Mrs. 

 Romanes has not confined herself, as is so often done 

 by the biographer, to presenting only the one side of a 

 correspondence, but has wisely decided in this and 

 certain other instances to allow both sides to appear, 

 far more than doubling thereby its value and interest. 

 And since, with one exception, none of these letters of 

 Darwin have hitherto been given to the world, and 

 moreover he seems in them to have opened up his heart 

 Avith the frankest confidence to the young devotee whose 

 powers of thought he was one of the first to recognise, 

 it is obvious that this correspondence must have an 

 altogether exceptional interest. It deals mainly, as 

 might be supposed, with subjects bearing on the question 

 of inheritance, and especially with Darwin's hypothesis 

 of Pangenesis. In attempts to prove this theory, 

 Romanes devoted an immense amount of time in patient 

 experimentation, but as the experiments yielded for the 

 most part a negative result, showing neither for nor 

 against the hypothesis, they were never systematically 

 published. On this account the descriptions of some 

 ■of these experiments, which are here given at length, 

 will be welcomed by those who may be carrying on 

 similar work in the future. The subject was one 

 upon which Romanes was " keen " to the very last, and 

 almost the latest experiments which he planned, had a 

 •direct bearing upon the doctrine in question. And even 

 when his time was fully occupied with the fascinating 

 experiments upon Medusas, by which he first found fame 

 as a scientific inquirer, he was able to devote attention 

 to the carrying out of laborious work on this subject. 

 In July 1875, he writes to Darwin : 



As you have heard alx)ut the Medusa;, I fear you will infer 

 i that they have diverted my attention from Pangenesis ; but 



although it is true that they have consumed a great deal of time 

 NO. 1378, VOL. 53] 



and energy, I have done my best to keep Pangenesis in the fore- 

 ground. 



Then follows a precise account of numerous experi- 

 ments on grafting of tubers and the like, after which he 

 continues — 



But as I am a young man yet (he was just 27), and hope to do 

 a good deal of "hammering," I shall not let Pangenesis alone 

 until I feel that it does not admit of being any further driven 

 home by experimental work ; and even if I never get positive 

 results, I shall always continue to believe in the theory. 



And a little later— 



I have an idea that you are afraid I am neglecting Pangenesis 

 for Medusae. If so, I should like to assure you that such is not 

 the case. ... I confess, however, that but for personal reasons 

 I should have postponed Pangenesis, and worked the Medusje 

 right through in one year. There is a glitter about immediate 

 results which is very alluring. 



To which Darwin replies — 



So far from thinking that you have neglected Pangenesis, I 

 have been astonished and pleased that your splendid work on 

 the jelly-fishes did not make you throw every other subject to 

 the dogs. 



In another letter from Darwin the following occurs — 



As you are interested in Pangenesis, and will some day, I 

 hope, convert an "airy nothing" into a substantial theory, 

 therefore I send by this post an essay by Hackel, attacking 

 "Pan.," and substituting a molecular hypothesis. If I under- 

 stand his views rightly, he would say that with a bird which 

 strengthened its wings by use, the formative protoplasm of the 

 strengthened parts becomes changed, and its molecular vibra- 

 tions consequently changed, and that their vibrations are trans- 

 mitted throughout the whole frame of the bird. How he 

 explains reversion to a remote ancestor I know not. Perhaps I 

 have misunderstood him, though I have skimmed the whole 

 with some care. He lays much stress on inheritance being a 

 form of unconscious memory, but how far this is part of his 

 molecular vibration I do not understand. His views make 

 nothing clearer to me, but this may be my fault. 



In a letter written in 1877, after referring in enthusi- 

 astic terms to a lecture by Romanes on the " Evidences 

 of Organic Evolution," he says : 



I am very sorry to hear about the failure in the graft experi- 

 ments, and not from your own fault or ill-luck. TroUope, in 

 one of his novels, gives us a maxim of constant use by a brick- 

 maker, " It is dogged as does it !" and I have often and often 

 thought this is the motto for every scientific worker. 



With characteristic generosity Darwin handed over to 

 Romanes, who was preparing his book on " Animal 

 Intelligence," his notes on instinct. 



You are quite welcome to have my longer chapter on instinct. 

 It was abstracted for the Origin. I have never had time to work 

 it up in a state fit for publication, and it is so much more 

 interesting to observe than to write. 



The book in question was heralded by a lecture on the 

 subject given before the British Association at its meet- 

 ing in Dublin in 1878. A copy of the lecture, as well as 

 a newspaper account, from which it appeared that the 

 lecture (especially an allusion in it to Darwin hmiself) was 

 most cordially received, was sent by Romanes to Darwin, 

 who thus acknowledges the receipt : 



I am most heartily glad that your lecture (just received and 

 read) has been so eminently successful. You have indeed passed 

 a most magnificent eulogium on me, and I wonder that you were 

 not afraid of hearing " Oh ! oh !" or some other sign of dis- 

 approbation. Many persons think that what I have done in 

 science has been much overrated, and I very often think so 

 myself ; but my comfort is that I have never consciously done 

 anything to gain applause. 



Y 



