January 24, 1895J 



NATURE 



295 



he precise significance of these words as lately determined by 

 he Council of the Sjciely. 



Two courses appeared to be open : either to submit proofs 

 . the authors of the abstracts of their papers sent to the Society, 

 if any substantial {i.e. more than typographical) alteration had 

 been made ; in which case, the authors themselves would natu- 

 rally bear the responsibility of their statements ; or to thro* the 

 whole responsibility on the Editors, leaving them to make any 

 excisions or alleraiions they may choose in the abstracts sent to 

 them ; or indeed, if they so think fit, entirely to rewrite them. 

 The Council, in order to secure rapid ]iubIicalion, have chosen 

 the latter alternative ; and it should be understood that the 

 abstracts are now "official" — ie. the responsibility for all 

 statements put forth rests solely on the Editors of the 

 Proceedings. William Ramsay. 



University College, London, W.C., January 14. 



Philosophy and Natural Science. 



Whilst feeling obliged to your reviewer's appreciation of 

 my essay (p. 220), I am bound to rectify some very glaring 

 discrepancies, 



(1) As plainly stated in my pr.-face, my essay has «u/ obtained 

 the Philosophical Society's prize, but only an " honourable 

 recognition," and two fifths of the prize sum. 



(2) Eighth line from bottom (p. 220), for " physical," read 

 " psychieal," as said in my paper (p. 30). 



(3) Your reviewer makes me say : " Physical development is 

 not the cause, but the effect of psychical development " ; 

 whereas, I have expressedly combated this view of Wundt's 



(P- 32)- 



(4) Neilher did I say: " The modifications in the brain and 

 nervous system throughout the animal kingdom are intelli- 

 gii)le as resulting from psychical causes . . ." but only (p. 32) 

 that in many cases the beginnings of nndifications are intelligible 

 from the ps)chical side — e.g. the modifications of many organs — 

 resulting from sexual selection. 



(5) Lastly, far from saying that the high mental position of 

 man, on the one hand, and of ants on the other, " is indepen- 

 dent of the structure of the nervous system," my sentence (p. 

 34) is: "Here, where the organic substratum (z'.c. the brain) 

 in both types differs even in its principal morphological features, 

 it is most evident how occult are the processes which constitute 

 the proper material side of psychical phenomena." 



Freiburg, Badenia, January 5. David Wetteriian. 



(i) The facts are that the Philosophical Society of Berlin 

 offered a prize of icoo marks for an essay on "The relation 

 of phdo.sophy to the empirical knowledge of nature." 



'The essay reviewed, only obtained 400 marks of this prize, 

 and an honourable mention. In a hasty glance at the preface 

 1 overlooked the words " ein Antheil von vierhundert Mark," 

 which occur in the next line to " der als Preis ausgesetzen 

 Summp," which caught my eye. 



t2) This is evidently a slip of the pen, which I regret was 

 overlonked in proof. 



(3) In my notes, jotted down as I read the pamphlet, I pu' 

 Wundt's words in quotation marks, intending to point out Mr. 

 Wetterhan's opposition thereto ; but in writing the review, I 

 unfortunately omitted the commas, and, I regret, entirely 

 misrepresented the author's views. Perhaps I may quote from 

 p. 32 of the jiamphlet : " Man durfte Wundt's Satz, ' dass die 

 phjsische Entwicklung nichl die Ursache, sondern vielmehr 

 die Wirkung der psychischen Entwicklung isi,' zu weitgehend, 

 und auch in seinen Konsequenz bedenklich finden." We are 

 then referred to page 46, where we reati ; " Der Ausfiihrung 

 dagegen, welche Wundt (s.o. p. 32) jenem Prinzipe gegeben 

 hat, vermag ich kaum eher beizustimmen, als der verwandten 

 Ideen Schopenhauer's." 



(4) It appears to me that the passage will bear the construc- 

 tion which I put upon it ; though perhaps "throughout" the 

 animal series is too inclusive as a rendering of "der 

 Tierreihen." 



(5) The author had been discussing the similarity of habits 

 and instincts in ants and termites, and then remarks that there 

 is a distinct .igreement in the mental functions (" von geistigen, 

 ja gcmiiilichen Kunkiionen ' ) of bees with those of the higher 



NO. I317, VOL. 51] 



animals. He refers to Darwin's opinion that the small brain of 

 a bee is a more wonderful thing than the brain of a Man : and 

 I think I was entitled to make the obviously true remark 

 that this "mental development is independent of the structure 

 of the nervous system." I was not quoting Mr. Wetterhan's 

 words, but giving the general sense of the passage. 



In conclusion, I must express my regret that the condensation 

 of some of the author's remarks should have resulted in a con- 

 fused expression of his views. The Reviewkk. 



SO!\fE EARLY TERRESTRIAL MAGNETIC 

 DISCOVERIES PERTAINING TO ENGLAND. 



T T should be a source of considerable pride to British 

 ^ men of science that so many of the discoveries in 

 terrestrial magnetism have been made in England. And 

 yet, owinc; to the absence of a complete and carefully 

 written history of the development of this science, pro- 

 bably few could enumerate all the achievements in this 

 subject by Englishmen. 



In February 1893 the writer had the good fortune to 

 light upon a book,' by Will Whiston, containing matter 

 pertaining to the terrestrial magnetism of England, which 

 appears to have been entirely overlooked by prominent 

 terrestrial magneticians. Owing to pressure of work, this 

 interesting book, of which a copy was found in the Royal 

 Library of Berlin, could not be subjected to a critical 

 examination until the early part of 1894, when the writer 

 called the attention of prominent Berlin investigators, 

 such as Prof. Hellmann and Dr. Eschenhagen, to it.'- In 

 the meantime. Dr. W. Felgentraeger, Assistant at the 

 Gfittingen Magnetic Observatory, made an independent 

 discovery of W'histon's book, and carefully worked up 

 part of the mate/ial contained therein.' The writer has 

 since found time to complete his examination of Whiston's 

 contribution, and has embodied his results in a paper* 

 presented by Prof. Cleveland Abbe before the Philo- 

 sophical Society of Washington on November 10, 1S94. 

 In the following these results will be briefly sketched. 



As will appear from the title of Whiston's work, the 

 chief object was the e.xposition of a method for deter- 

 mining the longitude and latitude by means of the 

 magnetic dip-needle, i.e. by means of the angle which a 

 magnetic needle mounted on a horizontal axis, when 

 placed in the vertical plane of passing through the 

 magnetic meridian, makes with the plane of the horizon. 

 It will be recalled that at that tiine great prizes had been 

 offered by the English Parliament for an easy and trust- 

 worthy method of determining longitude at sea. From 

 the very birth of terrestrial magnetism we find methods 

 proposed for determining longitude by means of mag- 

 netic observations, and, like the problem of perpetual 

 motion, these magnetic methods were revived every once 

 in a while until the beginning of the nineteenth century. 

 Owing to the irregular distribution of magnetism 

 within the earth's surface, and on account of the many 

 fluctuations terrestrial magnetism is subject to, these 

 magnetic attempts to determine geographical position 

 have been doomed to failure. They, nevertheless, 

 have done much to promote the science of terrestrial 

 magnetism. A striking instance of this is the book of 

 Whiston's. The prime object of the book has failed of 



I "Th« Longitude and Latitude found by the Inclin.-itory or Dipping 

 Needle : wh. rem tlie l^vis of Magnetism arc also discnvcr'd. To which is 

 prefix'd an Hisloiicil Preface: and to wtiich is .subjcm'd Mr. Robert 

 Norman's New Attractive, or Account of the first Invrn-i n of the 

 Dipping Needle." By Will Whiston, M.A.. scmetime P'ofessor of 

 Maihciiiatifks in the Vniver«iiy of Cambridge. (London, 1731. 8vo, xxviii. 

 1 15, iv. and -ct pp a charts and 3 ctits.) 



- Sec reina' ks in Physical Jin'ictv, vo'. ii. No. i, p. 72. 



3 "Trie I^okline_r karie von Whist' ri und die jakuiare Aenderung der 

 magnetischcn Jiiklinaiion im n-ili«hfn Frplarrt." V\ n W Fe1g« ntineser. 

 Kepript from Nachrichtcu tier k Ccsclt. der It'iss. zu Ci^tliitgcn Math. 

 Phys. Klaisc, i?94. Nn. a. 8vo, ra pp. 



■* Entitled *• The Earliest Isc clinics and Observations of Magnetic Force." 

 {liuii. J'hil. Stfc, U'ash.t vol. xii. pp. 397-410.) 



