596 



NA TURE 



[October i8, 1894 



T cannot help thinking, that before publishing such an 

 article, it would hive been but in accordance with common 

 accuracy and equity if you had verified the liit of subjects 

 tauijht in this medical school, by reference either to the 

 prospfctus or to one of the officials, who would have been 

 pleased to give you all necessary information. The list relating 

 to Si. Mary's Medical School, in the number of the Lancet from 

 which you prepare your table, teems with inaccuracies and 

 omis'iions. It is not a list issued with any authority from this 

 school, nor is it submitted for revision or correction to any 

 official of the school. The statement in your article, that " the 

 table does not pretend to be complete," is one that I cordially 

 endorse; but the subsequent statement, that "it will serve to 

 show the kind of science subjects on which lectures are given to 

 medical students," is one that, as regards the teaching at St. 

 Mary's Medical School, is both misleading and untrue. 



My colleagues concerned in the management of this school 

 feel with me that such a reference to our science teaching in a 

 paper of such wide circulation as that of N.\ i URE, is calculated 

 to be most damaging to the interests of our medical school, 

 which we have used every endeavour, and spared no expense, to 

 render efficient from the educational point of view. We there- 

 fore trust that you will publish this letter in full, and that you 

 will take the earliest opportunity of correcting the erroneous ' 

 statement in connection with the science teaching here that ap- 

 pears in your issue of September 20 last. 



Arthur P. Luff. 



[The students' number of the Laiuet contains lists of the 

 "classes, lecturers, and fees" at the medical schools of Great 

 Britain, for the session 1894-95. We assumed that these lists 

 were fairlv complete, and the table referred to by Dr. Luff was 

 prepared from them. It occurred to us that our contemporary 

 ■ may have omitted some courses inadvertently, and this led us to 

 slate distinctly thit " the table does not pretend to be com- 

 olele," and, later on, " courses of lectures on bad eriology are 

 advertised to lake place at nine medical schools, but it must not 

 ue supposed that they are the only schools having facilities for 

 carrying on this work. ' The table served its purpose of 

 showing the kind of sciences laught in medical schools in 

 addition to the usual professional subjects. It was not intended 

 to be used as a criterion of the efficiency of the schools indi- 

 vidually. — Ed. Nature.] 



worthy report from Gohna, a lake has been left which is over j 

 miles long and 400 feet deep, and so far as it is possible to judge 

 it will have the perm.anence predicted for it. I hold no brief 

 for Mr. Holland, but itseems to me that his predictions, founded 

 on careful research and accurate reasoning, have been fulfilled 

 to a most remarkable degree, and that he has fully justified the 

 confidence placed in him by the authorities." 



Gohna Lake. 



The notices in Nature (August 30, p. 42S, and September 

 20, p. 501), on the overflow of the lake dammed up Ijy a land- 

 slip at Gohna, in the Kumaun Himalayas, leave the impression 

 that the dam burst and the lake was completely drainecl. This 

 is incorrect. The accompanying extract shows that Mr. 

 Holland's forecast, an al stract of which, with illustrations, 

 appeared in Nature, July 5, was singularly accurate. The 

 whole occurrence is of remarkable geological interest, and it 

 is important the correct facts should be known. 



W. T. Bl.ANFORD. 



Weyburn, near Godalming, October 9. 



Mr. Michie Smith, the Madras Astronomer, referring to the 

 Gohna Lake, writes to the Moiiras Mail: — "My excuse 

 for writing to you again on this sul'ject is that I have now 

 received trustworthy information regaiding the present slate of 

 the lake, which makes it possible to compare Mr. Holland s 

 forecast with what has actually taken place. In Mr. Holland's 

 official report, he laid stress on three main poinis. (i)That 

 the dam would not yield until the water overflowed it. Thi?, 

 as is admitted, was correct. (2) That ihe waler would overflow 

 the barrier about the middle of August. This was the result of 

 a veiy intricate calculation, the data lor which were obtained 

 with great difficulty ; yet, a; we now know, this estimate was 

 within Icn days of the actual time, and on the safe side. Both 

 thc^e points were of much practical importance for the purpose 

 of making airangenienis in ihe valley below, and Government 

 accepting ihe conclusions allowed traffic to continue in the 

 valley (or 160 miles till .\ugu,t 15. (3) Mr. Holland held that 

 it was probable that 'there will be preserved above a lake 3J 

 miles lonf, and li miles wide, whose destruction by gradual 

 ero.sion of the dam and silting up of the basin, though a matter 

 of lime geologically considered short, will be sufficientfy slow 

 for what historically may be called a permanent lake.* Now, 

 what are the facts of the case? According to the latest trust- 



Instinctive Attitudes. 



Dr. Livingstone makes this interesting observation 

 "M.Tnyuema children do not creep, as European children do, 

 on their knees, but begin by putting forward one foot and using 

 one knee. Generally a Manyuema child uses both feet and both 

 hands, but never both knees. One Arab child did the same ; 

 he never crept, but go; up on both feel, holding on till he could 

 walk." ("Last Journals," p. 3S1.) The last instance sug- 

 gests arbireal survival, the Man)uema style being pure planii 

 grade, but rarely seen in civilised life. Creeping of infants as 

 instinctive activity certainly throws light on human evolution, 

 and it may be that racial dilTerences will be revealed by investi- 

 gation, it would also be interesting to inquire how far idiosyn- 

 crasy in walking is connected with peculiarity in creeping. 

 Swinging the arms seems quadrupedal survival. Looking down 

 from a high building on people walking below, their move- 

 ments thus projected on a plane are strilcingly suggestive of a 

 quadruped, and the professional pedestrian who makes the 

 utmost use of aim-swinging to accelerate gait suggests the rapid 

 shuflle of a bear. 



Again, the various attitudes instinctively assumed by persons 

 for sleep are significant for the evolutionist. 1 know those who 

 naturally dispose themselves flat on the stomach, with the limbs 

 placed much like a dog asleep. 



So far as habits of creeping, walking, and sleeping have not 

 been laught, but are purely instinctive, they throw light on the 

 history of man. It is very desirable that tiavellers and resi- 

 dents in all countries secure photogr.iphs of the^e atliludcs, and 

 deposit them with anthropological societies, where they would 

 be of great use to the investigator. lIiKAM M. Stanley. 



Lake Forest University, CJctober 3. 



NO. 1303, VOL. 50] 



The Tetrahedral Carbon Atom. 

 In the letter which he has addressed to you on this subject, 

 it seems to me that Dr. Turpin has not succeeded in justifying 

 his position. Whether your reviewer is or is not nopiainted 

 with all that has been written on the subject, is not a matter of 

 great importance, though reference to the Proceedings of the 

 Birmingham I'hilosophical Society (vii. part ii. p. 264) will be 

 sufhcient to show that the views of Wislicenus and Wunderlich 

 have not been overlooked. The question is wheiher the writer 

 of a text-book bearing on its title-p.Tge ihe word " F.lemenlary," 

 is justified in prtsenling without jireface, and almos: without 

 explanation, a liakl slatcmcnt such as ihat compl.iined of, which 

 represents not the dclitierate conclusions of the majority, or 

 even of a considerable liody of chemists, but speculations still 

 in the earliest stage of evolution. (Wislicenus himself says, in 

 reference to his own views, " Ich lege ihnen keineswegs den 

 Werih ciner wiisenschaftlichen Uebeiz;ugung bei und nmchte 

 nicht auf ihnen ' feslgenagelt ' werden. ' Ber. xxi. 5S4.) 1 

 hope and believe that tliis sort of thing is not commonly l.iiighl 

 to beginners in organic chemistry, ami it may be as well lor 

 Dr. Turpin and his pupils to note lhat tetrahedral carbon is not 

 referred to in any way in the syll.tbus of the first stage of 

 organic chemistry in the Directory of the Science and Art 

 Department. W. A. T. 



"Abstract Geometry." 



I see your reviewer of Prof. Veronen-'s book on " Abstract 

 Geometry " says : " App.irently this method " (lhat of pure 

 geometry, free from axes, algebraic processes, &c.) "has not 

 previously been applied to the discussion of space ol more than 

 thice dimensions." Will you allow me to point oat to him 

 lhat this is a mistake ? The case of four dimensions is discussed, 

 and a general method indicated, in my " Foundations of 

 Geometry," which was reviewed in your issue of .Vpril 6, 189I 

 (vol. xliii. p. 554). I have not jet read Prof. Veronese's 

 book, but from your review I gather he treats the subject 

 rather differently. Edward T. Dixon. 



Cambridge, September 28. 



