44 



NATURE 



[November 8, 1894 



conditions. And we must farther compare the speed of organic 

 processes with those of the crjstal — quiescent to all eternity, 

 unless disturbed by external forces. One of the finest concep- 

 tions of modem science is that the dynamic equipoise in the life 

 of the individual corresponds to the cycle of living matter in all 

 nature. 



Labile equipoise is, however, preponderant in the organism. 

 And here is the simplest explanation of the rciction which 

 MuIIer held peculiar to living beings — excitability. The specific 

 energies yielded up by living things in response to stimulus, 

 amount to nothing more than the mechanical reaction of 

 stored-up energy which we find, *.:,'., in a chronometer. A re- 

 peating clock, in its specific reaction to stress or strain, heat or 

 cold, moisture or dryness, electrical or chemical influences, pre- 

 sents a close analogy to the living muscle. 



-V final blow, it seemed, was dealt to vitalism by Darwin's 

 " Origin of Species." which, through natural selection and the 

 sur^Mval of the fittest, accounted rationally for existing variations. 

 Thus the controversy was to all appearance ended. Of late, 

 however, on anatomical rather than on physiological grounds, a 

 new school of vitalism has arisen. By a somewhat strained 

 conclusion from the labours of Schwann and Heidenhain, it is 

 asserted that the processes deriving from element.il organisms 

 are too vast in relation to the latter to be accounted for on 

 mechanical principles. .-V more satisfactory rationale for 

 heredity is also demanded. 



Prof du Bois-Reymond dismisses in a few words the argu- 

 ments of Driesch and Rindfleisch (1SS8-93). In regard to 

 Bunge (" Lehrbuch der physiol. Chemie," 18S7), he pomts out 

 that the " activity behind which lies the mystery of life " is 

 only static equilibrium of the organism, dependent on in- 

 legraiing stimuli, and reducible to a physical equation. In 

 fact, it is metabolism, maintained by chemical processes, which 

 convert potential into kinetic energy. We have here the Ttfinov 

 i(<rSi)t of the older vitalism, for it matters little whether we 

 deal with the comparatively .simple problem of fifty years back, 

 or, with Driesch and Bunge, search into the cell and its atoms, 

 or their yet unknown final particles. Impassable, indeed, are 

 the limits of our knowledge, but let us confine our i^totabimus 

 10 its proper frontier. 



To the first contention of Keo-vitalism, du Bois-Reymond 

 opposes the molecular theory with its infinitesimal particles of 

 matter ; for the last, he refers us to the current controversy 

 between Weismann and Herbeit Spencer. There is, doubtless, 

 room for criticism of the Darwinian theory. For instance, 

 natural selection fails to account for the appearance of organs 

 such as the poison-fangs of snakes or the electric organs of 

 fishes, which are useless in the struggle for existence until fully 

 developed. But if Darwinism were fore-doomed, and exposed, 

 in the words of Herr Driesch, as "a cheap and specious 

 deception, " it is improbable that Xeo-Vitalism would reap any 

 benefit. There may 1 e still another solution to the problem. 



Now, a* before, we stand in (ace of the unsolved riddle, 

 Origin of Being, with all the wondrous chain and intricacies 

 of development. Yet as an alternative to supernaturalism, we 

 can conceive one primordial act of creation whereby the germ 

 of life inherent in matter could develop by its intrinsic laws 

 into the brain of a Newton. Thus, with no day of creation 

 the whole order of nature would evolve mechanically, without 

 intervention of Old or New Vitalism. 



And so we return upon the ideas of Leibnitz, save that 

 Materialism replaces Supernaturalism, inasmuch as we may 

 conceive that infinite matter, with its qualities as we know them, 

 has been circling in infinite space from all eternity. 



Frances .\. Welhv. 



SCIENCE IN THE MAGAZINES. 



pROF. A. \V. RtCKER contributes to the Forlnishlly tl 

 ■'■ brief sketch of the work of von Ilclmholtz. Our readers 

 are familiar »ith the investigations carried out by this eminent 

 phy!iicist ; nevertheless, the two concluding paragraphs of Prof. 

 Riicker's article sums up the chief of them so admirably as to be 

 worth quoting here. 



" lie was one of the first to grasp the principle of the Con- 

 lervation of Energy. He struck independently, and at a criti- 

 cal moment, a powerful blow in its defence. \\: penetrated 

 further thin any before him into the my«lery of the mechanism 



NO. 1306, VOL. 51] 



which connects us with external nature through the eye and the 

 ear. He discovered the fundamental properties of vortex 

 motion in a perfect liquid, which have since not only been 

 applied in the explanation of all sons of physical phenomena, 

 of ripple marks in the sand, and of cirrus clouds in the air, but 

 have been the bases of some of the most advanced and preg- 

 nant speculations as to the constitution of matter and of the 

 luminiferous ether itself. 



" These scientific achievements are not, perhaps, of the type 

 which most easily commands general attention. They have not 

 been utilised in theological warfare ; ihey have not revolution 

 ised the daily business of the world. It will, however, be 

 universally admitted that such tests do not supply a real measure 

 of the greatness of a student of nature. That must finally be 

 appraised by his power of detecting beneath the complication 

 of things as they seem, something of the order which rules 

 things as they are. Judged by this standard, few names will 

 take a higher place than that of Hermann von Helmhollz. " 



In ihe same magazine Sir Robert Ball discusses the possibility 

 of life in other worlds— a subject that has a curious fascination 

 for the unscientific, but upon which the author throws the light 

 of modern scientific knowledge. "No reasonable person 

 will," he thinks, "doubt that the tendency of modem research 

 has been in favour of the supposition that there may be life on 

 some of the other globes. But the character of each organism 

 has to be fitted so exactly to its environment that it seems in 

 the highest degree unlikely that any organism we know here 

 could live on any other globe elsewhere. We cannot conjec- 

 ture what the organism must be which would be adapted for 

 residence in Venus or Mars, nor does any line of research at 

 present known to us hold out the hope of more definite know- 

 ledge." The verdict thus appears to be "possible, but not 

 probable," and the subject therefore stands where it did. 



Mr. R. S. Gundry contributes to the same magazine an 

 article on Corea, China, and Japan ; and Mr. \. H. Savage- 

 Landor one on Japanese people and customs ; while Mr. G. 

 Lindsay describes his rambles in Norsk Finmarken. 



Prof. N. S. Shaler contributes to Scrihnet an interesting 

 paper on " The Horse," the text being illustrated wilh pictures 

 by Delort. He dots not speak very highly of the animal's in- 

 telligence. In his words : " The nirntal peculiarities of the 

 horse are much less characteristic ihan its physical. It is, 

 indeed, the common opinion, among those who do not know 

 the animal well, that it is endowed with much sagacity, but no 

 experienced and careful observer is likely to maintain this 

 opinion. All such students find the intelligence of the horse 

 to be very limited. Although some part of this menial defect 

 in the horse, causing its actions to be widely contrasted wiih 

 those of the dog, may be due to a lack of deliberate training 

 and to breeding with reference to intellectual accomplishment, 

 we see by comparing the creature wilh the elephant, which 

 practically has never been bred in captiviiy, that the equine 

 mind is, Irom the point of view of rationality, very feeble." It 

 is worth remark, however, that a good deal of misappre- 

 hension exists as lo the intelligence of the elephant. According 

 to the best authorities, though elephants are docile and 

 obedient, their intellecual capacity is below that of most other 

 Ungulates. Colonel H. G. Piout contributes his second article 

 on " English Railroad Methods," giving a number of interesting 

 facts respecting passenger and freight traffic, cost of 

 construction, &c. , in England and .\merica. 



Colonel A. G. Durand shows, in a paper in the Conlem- 

 forary, that the southern region of the Eastern Hindu Rush is 

 one lull of interest. In the J/uiihiiiilaiiaii, St. George Mivatt 

 writes on " Heredity. " A portiait of the author forms the 

 frontispiece of the number Mr. Grant Allen continues his 

 moorland idylls in the English Illiislraliii, his subject this 

 month being house-martins. 



Chamhiri's 7.'«/;m/ contains its usual complement of chatty 

 articles, among which may be mentioned " Feathered Archi- 

 tects," "The Infinity of Space," and "The Vanishing Eland," 

 Loni^mans J/<i;-,j:(»;f reprints an address, " How to Make the 

 Most of Life," delivered by Sir B. W. Richardson before the 

 Literary and Scientific Section of the Grindelwald Conference 

 this year. The Rev. B. G. Johns writes on " The Injuries 

 and Benefits of Insects " in the Sunday Magaunc, and the Key. 

 T. R. K. Slebbing contributes an instructive article on certain 

 Crustacea to Good iVurdi. The latter magazine also contains an 

 article on tea, by Mrs. A. H. Green, and a well-written ex- 

 planation of the laws of motion, by Emma Marie Caillard. 



