August 2, 1894] 



NATURE 



o'D 



instead of to the second from the top (see fig.) ; or rather, 

 since the second line from the bottom is G, the same as 

 in the treble, no labelling would be wanted, and one clef 

 would serve for all instruments — a chansje which would 



# 



^ 



surely save a Conductor something? I wonder if it is 

 too late now to make the change ! This, however, is a 

 digression, and Lord Kelvin is not to be held responsible 

 for any of these musical notation heresies. 



The remaining parts of the book consist, for the most 

 part, of Presidential addresses and a couple of Royal 

 Institution lectures. The first R.I. lecture, " On the origin 

 and transformation of motive power," is now of only 

 historical interest. It is of date 1856, and in it the 

 energy of motion is called "dynamical" or "actual" 

 energy, though in a note the author says that he very 

 soon after suggested the name kinetic. 



It is followed by the address to Section A at York in 

 1881, on the practical utilisation of wind and water power ; 

 and then begin the quite recent articles. First, an article 

 on the Dissipation of Energy for the Fortnightly Review 

 of 1892, wherein the author points out how near Carnot 

 was to an appreciation of the second law of thermo- 

 dynamics, and justifies his own limitation of its statement 

 to " inanimate material agency " by the following :— 



" My statement of this axiom was limited to inanimate 

 matter because not enough was known either from the 

 natural history of plants and animals or from experi- 

 mental investigations in physiology to assert with con- 

 fidence that in animal or vegetable life there may not be 

 a conversion of heat into mechanical effect not subject 

 to the conditions of Carnot's theory. It seemed to me 

 then, and it still seems to me, most probable that the 

 animal body does not act as a thermodynamic engine in 

 converting heat produced by the combination of the 

 food with the oxygen of the inhaled air, but that it acts 

 in a manner more nearly analogous to that of an elec- 

 tric motor working in virtue of energy supplied to it by 

 a voltaic battery. ... It is, however, conceivable that 

 animal life might have the attribute of using the heat of 

 surrounding matter, at its natural temperature, as a 

 source of energy for mechanical effect, and thus con- 

 stituting a case of affirmative answer for Carnot's last 

 thermodynamic question.' The influence of animal or 

 vegetable life on matter is infinitely beyond the range 

 of any scientific inquiry hitherto entered on. Its power 

 of directing the motions of moving particles, in the 

 demonstrated daily miracle of our human free-will, and 

 n the growth of generation after generation of plants 

 rom a single seed, are infinitely different from any pos- 

 sible result of the fortuitous concourse of atoms." 



" Considerations of ideal reversibility . . . have no 

 place in the world of life." 



In an address on the opening of the Physical and 

 Chemical Laboratories of the North Wales College, 

 Bangor, it is stated that there is no philosophical division 



' Thisquestion was:— "Isit possible to derive mechanical cdcct from 

 neat of averaRc lemperalure '.' " 



NO. 



I 292, VOL. 50] 



whatever between chemistry and physics ; both "inves- 

 tigate the properties of matter." I would suggest that 

 properties common to many kinds of matter belong 

 to Physics, while the properties whereby one kind of 

 matter differs from other kinds belong to Chemistry. 

 Of course there can be no sharp line of demarcation, 

 but instinctively we are conscious of a difference ; and 

 wherever the investigation is concerned essentially with 

 specific varieties of matter, it is felt that the interest 

 attaching to it is a chemical interest. Properties of 

 matter in general, in its different states indeed but with- 

 out regard to whether the matter is pure or impure 

 simple or compound — those usually belong to Physics. 



In this Bangor address there are some interesting remi- 

 niscences of the old building of Glasgow University, and 

 of the early days of students' laboratory work there, 

 where under the inspiration of their unique teacher, even 

 theological students worked away at practical experi- 

 mental physics. And an excellent training too ! The 

 modern system of different curricula for each class of 

 professional students, even in the early stages of their 

 degree course, is probably not half so wise as the old 

 Scotch system, where everyone had a year at natural 

 philosophy as well as a year at metaphysics ; and the 

 course for everyone up to a degree standard was the 

 same, whatever he was going to be. Specialisation at an 

 early stage is now largely advocated, but I believe that 

 our descendants v/ill regard it as a mistake ; or certainly 

 that in effecting a partially required reform we are run- 

 ning now too far into an opposite extreme. 



A good wholesome uniform range of subjects, with 

 sufficient variety for different tastes but no reprieve 

 from any course, is the best pregraduate course 

 for all but intellectual weaklings ; and for weaklings 

 to attempt to specialise, as they sometimes do now, be- 

 cause it is easier to pass a high stage badly than a low 

 stage well, cannot be really useful or satisfactory. 



Those who are incompetent to go deep, and are neces- 

 sarily superficial, let t hem try to give their surface breadth ; 

 and for those who can go deep, let them spread wide too. 

 A liberal culture and wide information can hurt nobody of 

 decent ability, and it need not be inconsistent with any 

 depth to which a man's genius can carry him. True 

 depth is an affair of genius. Training has chiefly to do 

 with breadth. (This is another digression.) 



Of the author's brief annual addresses as President of 

 the Royal Society, the first is on the recently observed 

 slight shift of the earth's polar axis, and on the Faraday 

 centenary ; the second on terrestrial magnetism, and the 

 conceivable modes by which the sun may be able to dis- 

 turb it. The following sentence may be quoted : " I find 

 it unimaginable but that terrestrial magnetism is due to 

 the greatness and rotation of the earth." And on the 

 hypothesis that magnetic disturbances are caused by 

 the direct action of the sun acting as a variable 

 magnet, he says:— "In eight hours of a not very 

 severe magnetic storm, as much work must have 

 been done by the sun in sending magnetic waves out 

 in all directions through space as he actually does 

 in four months of his regular heat and light. This 

 result, it seems to me, is absolutely conclusive against 

 the supposition that terrestrial magnetic storms are due 

 to magnetic action of the sun ; or to any kind of 



