140 



DISCOVERY 



poor. Many technical terms are not given their English 

 equivalents, but names which are literal translations of 

 the German ; and some of the English is not English. 

 Inorganic Chemistry. By T. Martin Lowry, C.B.E., 

 D.Sc, F.R.S. (Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 285,) 



Correspondence 



Sir, 



JUPITER'S SATELLITES 



To the Editor of Discovery 



I have read with much interest the article by the 

 Rev. Hector Macpherson on " The Giant Planets," in the 

 March issue of Discovery. 



Considering the suggestion made in the article referred 

 to that the smaller satellites of Jupiter may be " cap- 

 tured " asteroids, in contradistinction from the origination 

 of the larger satellites, which may be considered to have 

 bsen formed out of the original Jovian mass, in like 

 manner as the earth-moon satellite was doubtless formed, 

 would not the " captured " asteroids have greatly 

 elongated orbits, compared with the orbits of the larger 

 satellites of Jupiter ? Yours, etc., 



Legh Osborn. 

 23 Queen Street, Darlington. 

 March 2, 1922. 



Sir, 



To the Editor 0/ Discovery 



In reply to Mr. Osborn's letter, the suggestion has 

 bsen made from time to time that the smaller Jovian 

 satellites and the satellites of Mars were originally aster- 

 oids which at some epoch in the remote past came into 

 the spheres of influence of these planets. But, of course, 

 the suggestion is merely a suggestion. At the same time, 

 the similarity in size between these tiny moons and the 

 asteroids seems to call for some such explanation. 



As to the question raised by Mr. Osborn regarding the 

 shape of the orbits of these satellites, Professor T. J. J. 

 Sse's " capture theory " may be helpful. He believes 

 that all satellites " formerly moved about the sun, and 

 since they were captured have had their orbits reduced in 

 size and rounded up under the secular action of the 

 resisting medium formerly pervading our Solar System." 

 Few astronomers would be disposed to accept this theory 

 in its entirety. But it is not improbable that it is a 

 satisfactory explanation of the present orbits of these 

 minute moons. Yours, etc.. 



Hector Macpherson. 

 30 PiLRiG Street, Edinburgh. 

 March 7, 1922. 



Sir, 



RACIAL INTERMARRIAGE 



To the Editor of Discovery 



When in a public library to-day, I glanced through 

 your March correspondence column and noticed a query 

 about the above. 



If it be of any interest to your inquirer, I may say that 

 in 1902 I was assisting another medical practitioner in a 

 coast town of a south-east county in England, and came 

 across a family of seven children which was the result of 

 one of these marriages. The African parent was of a 

 South African race, the mother was English ; and the 

 children took completely in appearance after one or other 

 of the parents. There was no child in this family wliich 

 showed part European and part African. From what I 

 saw of them, the children were healthy so far as general 

 health was concerned ; but I understood that they were 

 inclined to take sides in the event of a dispute between 

 two of different appearances over some trifling matter 

 which, unless the parents were present at the time, was 

 liable to develop rapidly into a more serious family 

 squabble. 



Yours, etc., 

 Frederick D. Welch, 

 M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. 

 Hartley, Longfield, Kent. 

 March 24, 1922. 



THE PROBLEM OF PERSONALITY 



Sir, 



To the Editor 0/ Discovery 



The suggestion in your Editorial Notes for April, 

 that a Commission should be set up to collate \'iews from 

 all angles on the Problem of Human Personality, is a 

 most valuable one. In the first place, it is a crying need 

 of the times that the public should, if it be possible, be 

 given some orientation in matters where they are at 

 present the prey of writers and speakers, either those who 

 combine glibness with ignorance, whose efforts appear 

 daily in the Press, or those who suffer from a fixed idea, 

 of whom the gentleman whose work, The Glands Regulat- 

 ing Personality, has apparently led you to make the 

 aforesaid suggestion, would appear to be a good, if extreme, 

 example. 



Secondly, if a Commission of this sort could be estab- 

 lished, the door would be opened for work on a far wider 

 field — the Co-ordination of Science in general. 



It is unnecessary to enlarge on what is more than a 

 tendency of modern Science and Thought to work in water- 

 tight compartments. In matters of deep research and 

 high achievement the process is inevitable. One may, 

 however, venture the prophecy that Science and Philo- 

 sophy will sooner or later be forced to make a great effort 

 to obtain co-ordination of all their branches, and that, 

 when this is achieved, not only will there be direct results 

 of the utmost importance resulting from the linking up 

 of different lines of research and thought, but the world 

 will find itself possessed of an intellectual mechanism that 

 may conceivably open the way to fields of which at present 

 one can only dream. 



Yours, etc., 

 Frank W. Herbert. 

 iS Upper Phillimore Place, 



Kensington, W.8. 

 April 7, 1922. 



