156 



KNOWLEDGE. 



April, 1913. 



dimension may be as small as we please by comparison 

 with the others. Moreover, it is a matter of convention 

 which we call x, y, or z, but a fourth dimension cannot be 

 interchanged with any one of the others, any more than can 

 the time element (one-dimensional) be exchanged for it or them. 

 "The phenomena whose study is the object of Natural 

 Philosophy take place each at a definite location at a definite 

 moment, the whole constituting a four-dimensional world of 

 space and time " (Whittaker's " Aether and Electricity," 

 pages 447-8) and a method of analysis may be (and has 

 been) devised, dealing with the theory of the aether and 

 other matters. 



But the essential nature of the one-dimensional element, 

 time, is in thought at least so different from that of the others 

 that nothing can be inferred from this as to the existence of 

 a fourth dimension of space. 



Bodies move in space and require time to do so ; perhaps, 

 after all, our knowledge is confined to moving objects, time 

 and space being more or less necessary mental concepts. Then 

 the number of dimensions we adopt for each is a matter of 

 convenience, the fewest necessary and sufficient to adequately 



describe phenomena. 



F. W. HENKEL. 



THE JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY. 



Within the next few days the first number of a new 

 natural history journal will be published — The Journal of 

 Ecology — which will be primarily the organ of the British 

 Ecological Society. The proposed formation of this Society 

 was mentioned in an editorial note in "Knowledge" for 

 February, 1913 (page 56), and has met with such a hearty 

 response — not only from botanists but from others, both in 

 this country and abroad, interested in Natural History in 

 general, including Zoology, Geology, Geography — that it has 

 been found possible to extend considerably the originally 

 proposed scope of the Journal, and at the same time to issue 

 it at a moderate price. 



The Journal of Ecology will be published quarterly (March, 

 June, September, and December), at. an annual subscription 

 of 12s. 6d., post free to any part of the world. This subscrip- 

 tion carries with it the privileges of Associateship of the 

 British Ecological Society, including the use of a library of 

 ecological works which is being formed, the answering of 

 enquiries addressed to the Secretary of the Society, the right 

 to attend the indoor and outdoor meetings, which it is proposed 

 shall be held at different centres in Great Britain, and 

 participation in other advantages which are offered. The 

 membership subscription is one guinea, entitling the sub- 

 scriber to receive the Journal and to other associateship 

 privileges, and in addition to vote for, and serve upon, the 

 Executive of the Society, and to assist in shaping its policy 

 and directing its activities. 



The first number of The Journal of Ecology contains 

 eighty pages, and includes many and varied interesting 

 articles. 



The Editor has taken a wide and generous view of the 

 scope of Ecology — briefly stated, this embraces everything 

 connected with the relation of plants and animals to their 

 surroundings. So far as the animal kingdom is concerned it 

 is proposed at first to confine Animal Ecology to such topics 

 as the inter-relationships between plants and animals — in 

 itself a large field — but it is recognised that, logically, it is not 

 possible, nor is it desirable, to confine the concept of Ecology 

 to plant ecology as is usually done. In the present, as in 

 the past, the distribution and migrations of plants and of 

 animals over the earth are in many respects closely bound up 

 with each other, to say nothing of the many special cases of 

 mutually beneficial partnership (symbiosis in the wide sense) 

 and of other forms of interaction between the two kingdoms 

 of Organic Nature. 



Following an introductory article stating the aims of the 

 new Journal, Professor F. W. Oliver, F.R.S., contributes an 

 interesting account of the vegetation of the new Nature 

 Reserve at Blakeney Point — the remarkable shingle beach 

 (see " Knowledge," January, 1913, page 1) and other 

 habitats in this locality now secured as a refuge for an 

 unusually rich flora and fauna — with remarks on the influence 

 of the animals upon the vegetation, Mr. Wilfred Mark 

 Webb, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., gives a useful and encouraging 

 summary of the progress which has been made, and the 

 organisations which are now in existence, towards the making 

 of Nature Reserves in this country — while the Editor reviews 

 a number of recent foreign publications regarding Nature 

 Reserves in various parts of the world. Dr. W, G. Smith 

 writes concerning the work of Raunkiaer on "biological 



types " or " life-forms " of flowering-plants and their 

 distribution — thus bringing to the notice of English 

 readers, for the first time, some of the most fertile 

 and interesting new ideas and points of view that have 

 been introduced into the study of plant-life during recent 

 years ; this article will be of special value to field botanists, 

 and will indicate a fascinating line of work which they can 

 well take up with pleasure and profit to themselves and with 

 every probability of contributing usefully to the general 

 knowledge of plant distribution and adaptation. Mr. A. G. 

 Tansley, M.A., F.L.S., reviews the recent attempt of Drs. 

 Brockmann - Jerosch and Rube], two distinguished Swiss 

 botanists, to draw up a general classification of plant com- 

 munities, criticising certain aspects of the scheme proposed 

 by them and giving details of the various communities. Mr. 

 Clement Reid, F.R.S., and Mr. W. B. Crump, M. A. .contribute 

 articles originally read by them before the British Association, 

 the former dealing with the relation of the present plant 

 population of the British Isles to the Glacial Period, the latter 

 with the ecology of moorland plants and the phenomena of 

 wilting in plants generally. 



In addition to these articles, occupying the first half of the 

 number, there are numerous other articles based upon recent 

 work published in this country and abroad, dealing with 

 Ecology in the wide sense and including plant distribution, 

 the study of individual plants and of plant communities, the 

 anatomy and physiology of plants where the facts discovered 

 bear directly upon the relation of plants to their environment, 

 nitrification and other aspects of soil-study, experimental 

 morphology, and so on. The Editor has succeeded in making 

 these review-articles thoroughly readable and easily intelligible 

 to general readers with little or no special knowledge of 

 botanical science — this is perhaps especially the case with 

 those dealing with coast, woodland, marsh and desert vegeta- 

 tion, and the biology of cushion-plants, of insectivorous plants, 

 of heather, and so on — while at the same time these summaries 

 of recent work will prove useful to botanists and even to those 

 themselves engaged in research work in plant ecology and 

 biology. Teachers, for instance, will find such articles as 

 those on desert vegetation, the glacial floras of Europe, as 

 well as those dealing with British vegetation, of the greatest 

 interest in connection with the teaching of geography as well as 

 nature study. 



The editor of The Journal of Ecology (Dr. Cavers, 

 Goldsmiths' College, London, S.E.) is also secretary of the 

 British Ecological Society, and information regarding the 

 Society may be obtained from him. Subscriptions for the 

 Journal with Associateship (12s. 6d.) or with membership (one 

 guinea) of the Society should be sent to the Cambridge 

 University Press, Fetter Lane, London, E.C. 



The number concludes with extensive lists of recent 

 literature on Ecology and cognate branches of study, and in a 

 list of " forthcoming attractions," inserted in this number, we 

 find promise of some interesting contributions which will 

 appear in subsequent numbers of the Journal. A special 

 feature will be a series of articles dealing with methods of 

 ecological study, which should prove of great value to those 

 wishing to take up this interesting line of study, since the 

 articles will be written by well-known botanists who have 

 specialised in the subjects with which they will deal. 



