182 



POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 



[December, 1888. 



being are these : they are able to keep themselves 

 alive and to keep their kind alive; in other words, to 

 perform the functions of nutrition and reproduction. 

 If we study the cell, either as constituting a 

 specific organism, as the monad, or as one of the 

 units of a highly organized animal or plant body, 

 it is easily seen that all its active manifestations 

 directly relate to either one or the other of the two 

 fundamental functions of nutrition and reproduc- 

 tion. But when we study the higher organisms, — 

 a vertebrate animal or a flowering pi ant, — we seldom 

 think that all their activities can also be referred 

 to the exercise of these two functions. Take, for 

 example, a bird, as a robin: it performs a great 

 variety of actions, many of which seem often read- 

 ily assignable to some external cause. For instance, 

 it leaps from its perch to the ground because it has 

 espied a crumb or worm, or it flies to a neighbor- 

 ing tree becau.se it hears there the note of its 

 mate. It would scarcely seem at first thought 

 that these activities proceeded from the exercise of 

 the two fundamental powers of its being, — the two 

 powers which it possesses in common with all living 

 organisms, including the monad. But it is clear 

 that this is the fact: it daited at the worm because 

 of hunger, that is, because the body must needs 

 exercise the function of nutrition; and it flew to 

 its mate impelled by .sexual attraction, that is, 

 because it must needs exercise the function of 

 reproduction. 



It is of exceeding interest to refer in this way 

 the various activities of animals to their ultimate 

 causes in the exercise of these two primary func- 

 tions. It is necessary, of course, to take animals in 

 their natural state, since in domesticated animals 

 there is more or less enforced activity, as in the 

 case of the horse, or activity resulting from educa- 

 tion, as in the dog. Nevertheless, it will be found 

 that the activities of domestic animals, even when 

 resulting from training, are in the line of activities 

 natural to them and springing from the exercise of 

 the two fundamental powers. Thus, the labor done 

 by the draught horse is in the line of the exercise 

 of his muscular system required for a normal opera- 

 tion of the function of nutrition, and manifested in 

 the horse left in his native domain in the sportive 

 acts of running and leaping. And the watchful- 

 ness of the dog left to guai-d his master's property 

 is in line with the jealous care which the ancestral 

 wolf shows in guarding her den. 



We may return to the robin for a more perfect 

 illustration of this principle. Take all tlie activities 

 arising from the instinct of nest- making, — the gath- 

 ering of materials for the nest, and the ingenious 

 weaving of them together, — is it not clear that 

 these activities are but phases of the exercise of 

 the primary function of reproduction? Or take 

 that other remarkable instinct, migration; it is 

 equally plain that it is subservient to the function 

 of nutrition. Indeed, we may define instinct as a 

 mental force, having its physiological basis in in- 

 herited activities of the nerve-centres, which imjiels 

 animals to carry on the two fundamental bodily 

 functions. And this brings us to the broad fact 

 that all the operations of the nervous system in 

 animals, whether those that are the basis of the 

 sensations, as seeing, smelling, etc., or those that 

 awaken the appetites and passions, as hunger, fear, 

 lust, etc., or those that result in definite acts of 

 intelligence, are, from the biological point of view, 

 merely auxiliary to the carrying-on of the two 

 primary functions of nutrition and reproduction. 

 To appreciate this principle, let it be remembered 

 that the lowest animals are destitute of a nervous 

 system, yet perfectly carry on the two functions, 

 and that as we go upward in the animal scale, and 

 meet with the first rudiments of a nervous organi- 

 zation, it has the clearest subordination to these 



functions. It cannot be conceived that the rudi- 

 mentary eyes of the jelly-fish have any other use 

 than to enable it in some slight degree to take 

 better care of its body (nutrition), either by moving 

 about more freely in search of food or by better 

 avoiding its enemies. And, as we find in the higher 

 animals the nervous system growing more and 

 more complex in its structure and in its manifesta- 

 tions in outward actions, it is still easy to see that 

 it remains sub.servient to the primary functions. 



To take illustrations: the dog has a strong sense 

 of smell or scent, the hawk has a keen eye, the cat 

 a quick ear : these special powers of sense enable 

 the animals to secure their prey, and thus provide 

 for the nutrition of the body. Again, the squirrel 

 is timid or shows fear, the bear is cross or shows 

 anger, the sparrow is quarrelsome, showing jealousy : 

 the.se passions clearly enable the animals to ward 

 oif their enemies, and save themselves from extinc- 

 tion ; in other words, they subserve the perpetuation 

 of the .species, or reproduction. Again, the fox 

 ■shows cunning, the beaver skill, the dog sagacity: 

 these acts of intelligence relate to the welfare of 

 the animals, either as individuals or as members 

 of their kind; that is to say, at bottom, either to 

 their bodily nutrition or to the reproduction of 

 their species. 



If it be true, then, that we can trace all the 

 actions of animals to their causes in the exercise of 

 the two fundamental powers common to all organic 

 beings, it becomes evident, in a new light, that the 

 cell is not only the unit, but also the type, of living 

 bodies. It perfoims the functions of nutrition and 

 reproduction; and, in the long run, this is all that 

 any living organism does. The only difference 

 between the high animal and the minute single- 

 celled animalcule — between the monad and the 

 mammal — is in the manner in which these two 

 fundamental functions are carried on. In the 

 monad they are carried on without tlie aid of parts 

 or organs, in the mammal by the aid of a highly 

 complex organization. Animals differ from one 

 another, are low or high in the scale of life, accord- 

 ing as they have a less or more highly organized 

 body to enable them to carry on the two primary 

 functions. They differ not at all in their essential 

 powers, but only in the means of exercising these 

 powers according to their varying environment 

 Organization, in animal bodies, may be defined as 

 a means whereby they are able, under difficult and 

 complex conditions, to carry on the functions of 

 nutrition and reproduction. 



And it is still to be kept in mind that the highly 

 organized body is an aggregate of cells, each of 

 which lives its own life, — a life which is typical of 

 that of the body of which it forms one minute 

 element. As a drop of water is one of an infinite 

 number of drops which make the ocean, and as the 

 powers of the great body of water are determined 

 by the qualities of the single drop, the drop being 

 both the unit and the type of the ocean, so the 

 cell is the unit and the type of the living body. 



Such a study as this shows clearly how shar[ily 

 man is set off from the purely animal world about 

 him. AVhile, as po.ssessing an animal body, his first 

 necessities are those connected with the functions 

 of nutrition and reproduction, yet above the sphere 

 of animal activities he lives a life immeasurably 

 higher and nobler. His best thoughts and actions 

 are not for himself; he alone is capable of altruistic 

 conduct. 

 Union College, Scuenkctadv, N.Y., Nov. 1. 

 — • — 



An Obstinate Patient. — " How many 

 deaths?" asked a hospital physician. "Nine." 

 — "Why, I ordered medicine for ten." — "Yes; 

 but one would not take it," was the startling reply. 



[Specially reported for The Popular Science .A'cws.] 

 THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT BATH. 



BY K. B. CLAYl'OLE. 



THE.meeting of the British A.s.sociation for the 

 Advancementof Science, recently held in Bath, was 

 neither large nor brilliant. The city, although rich 

 in antiquities and historic associations, offered lit- 

 tle attraction to the holiday-making member, and 

 the programme tempted him with but few of those 

 names that always draw a crowd. Still, the mem- 

 bers who did gather together found at least the 

 average number of papers interesting and impor- 

 tant to specialists, witli perhaps more than the 

 average of those of wider interest. But they found 

 also that the various rooms were scattered over the 

 town, compelling a close attendance to one section 

 or the loss of much valuable time in going from 

 one to another. 



The proceedings began on the evening of Wednes- 

 day, Sept. 5, with the address of the president. Sir 

 Frederick Bramwell, which brought forward in a 

 suggestive manner the value of the " Next to 

 Nothing," and sketched some of the various 

 labors recently achieved by the civil engineer, 

 especially in electricity, through attention to this 

 infinitesimal item. 



The practical development of electricity was 

 taken up again next morning by !Mr. W. II. 

 Preece, who, in his address as ])resident of the 

 Mechanical Section, dLscussed it with a vigor and 

 breadth of view which delighted a large and 

 mingled audience. In the Section of Mathematics 

 and Physics electricity was also the theme of the 

 opening address, with the difference, however, that 

 the theoretical was there the side of the sulqect 

 cho.sen for consideration. In tlie hands of Pro- 

 fessor G. F. Fitzgerald even this side became lucid 

 as he explained some of the experiments by which 

 in the present year Ilerby in Germany has decided 

 tlie moot question of the production of electro- 

 magnetic phenomena in favor of an intervening 

 medium, — a medium pervading all space, and no 

 other than the one by which light is propagated. 

 Carryiug the subject a little farther, Oliver J. Lodge 

 followed with an important paper on " The Pro- 

 duction of Ether Waves, and their ilepsurement." 

 In this he gave an account of his endeavors to 

 manufacture light by direct electric action, show- 

 ing that, through his present inability to reduce 

 the wave-lengths of the alternating electric current 

 to a length small enough to affect the retina, he had 

 as yet accomplished only the artificial production 

 of direct electrical radiation, whose waves travelled 

 through space with the same speed as light, and 

 were refracted and absorbed by material sub- 

 stances according to the same laws. 



It was not in the section-room only that one 

 heard electricity discussed this year at Bath; the 

 interest in it was keen and general, and was on 

 Friday evening greatly increased when Professor 

 Ayrton discoursed on " The Electrical 'J'ransmission 

 of Power," and illustrated his lecture with experi- 

 ments on a .scale seldom if ever before attempted 

 in public. At his touch bells rang; lamps were 

 suddenly lighted; small cars ran on rails or sus- 

 pended under them; motor power was converted 

 into electric power; electrical power at low press- 

 ure into electrical power at high pressure, or vice 

 versa/ and, as an illustration both of the impor- 

 tance of this electrical transformation and of one 

 of the latest developments in electrical engineer- 

 ing, the profcs.sor caused bars of metal to be 

 welded on the platform, and held them up to the 

 audience while still red and glowing. 



The member with tastes of a general ratlier 

 than special nature was well cared for at this Bath 

 meeting, and one section seemed to vie with 



