EDITOR'S TASLE. 



845 



made in our grasp of the nature of 

 that varying collection of molecular 

 conditions, potencies, and changes, 

 slimy hitherto to the intellectual no 

 less than to the physical touch, which 

 we are in the hahit of denoting hy 

 the word protoplasm." Here " the 

 animal physiologist touches hands 

 with the botanist, and both find that 

 under different names they are striv- 

 ing toward the same end." The 

 learned professor recognized that it 

 would be inopportune " to plunge into 

 the deep waters of the relation which 

 the body bears to the mind," but this, 

 he declared, we know, " that changes 

 in what we call the body bring 

 about changes in what we call the 

 mind." If, therefore, in the coming 

 years a clearer knowledge shall be 

 gained of " the nature and conditions 

 of that molecular dance which is to 

 us the token of nervous action," and 

 if " a fuller, exacter knowledge of the 

 laws which govern the sweep of nerv- 

 ous impulses along fiber and cell give 

 us wider and directer command over 

 the molding of the growing nervous 

 mechanism and the maintenance and 

 regulation of the grown one, then as- 

 suredly physiology will take its place 

 as a judge of appeal in questions not 

 only of the body but of the mind; it 

 will raise its voice not in the hospital 

 and consulting room only, but also 

 in the senate and the school." These 

 are eloquent words, but their elo- 

 quence is the least part of their mer- 

 it; the preponderant part lies in the 

 truth they contain a truth which at 

 this very moment it has become ur- 

 gently necessary to proclaim in face 

 of the fanatical doctrines of the abso- 

 lute supremacy of mind or spirit 

 which are running like wildfire 

 through certain sections of supposed- 

 ly educated communities. 



Wherever scientific men congre- 

 gate there the name of Darwin is 

 sure to be mentioned with honor. 

 Prof. Foster, in the address to 



which we have just referred, spoke 

 of his ''pregnant ideas" as having 

 "swayed physiology in the limited 

 sense of that word as well as that 

 broader study of living beings which 

 we sometimes call biology, as indeed 

 they have every branch of natural 

 knowledge." The President of the 

 Anthropological Section, Sir Wil- 

 liam Turner, spoke of the " enor- 

 mous impulse given to the study of 

 the anatomy of man in comparison 

 with the lower animals by Charles 

 Darwin's ever- memorable treatise on 

 the Origin of Species." According 

 to the President of the Botanical 

 Section, Prof. Marshall Ward, whose 

 address yielded to none in the wealth 

 of interesting facts and principles 

 it unfolded, recent comparative stud- 

 ies, both of existing and of fossil 

 plants, "are yielding at every turn 

 new building stones and explanatory 

 charts of the edifice of evolution on 

 the lines laid down by Darwin." 

 Not less ample were the acknowl- 

 edgments of the value of Darwin's 

 work made by Prof. Miall, President 

 of the Zoological Section. "I do 

 not," he said, "lay it down as an 

 article of the scientific faith that 

 Darwin's theories are to be taken as 

 true; we shall refute any or all of 

 them as soon as we know how ; but 

 it is a great thing that he raised so 

 many questions that were well worth 

 raising. He set all scientific minds 

 fermenting, and not only zoology 

 and botany, but paleontology, his- 

 tory, and even philology bear some 

 mark of his activity. We owe as 

 many discoveries to his sympathy 

 with living Nature as to his exactness 

 or his candor, though these two were 

 illustrious. A young student anxious 

 to be useful may feel sure that he is 

 not wasting his time if he is collect- 

 ing or verifying facts which would 

 have helped Darwin." 



Apart from his reference to Dar 

 win, there were many interesting 



