440 



NATURE 



{April A,, 1872 



the very first day of their arrival. He himself will do all 

 in his power to procure every day fresh material of all 

 kinds ; by the help of the small steam yacht of the station 

 he may succeed in carrying over to the station sharks 

 which were taken two hours before, so as to secure the 

 life of the embryos without any danger of destruction. 

 Then he can isolate and feed them, and make them live 

 as long as he wants. Any one who knows the fauna of 

 the Mediterranean knows also what a large number of 

 different species of rays and sharks arrive in it, and all 

 these could be readily placed at the disposal of the em- 

 bryologists, thus enabling them to overcome at once 

 immense difficulties which have hitherto been almost 

 completely unassailable. 



The station will have several people, fishermen or 

 guards, who by-and-by will be completely acquainted 

 with the fauna of the bay, and will be able to collect 

 whatever is necessary. As very often rare or much- 

 wanted animals come in with some current in great quan- 

 tities and disappear even the next day, such animals 

 may at once be taken in great numbers and distributed 

 through a great number of tanks, so as to keep them 

 alive for future time. 



Very often zoologists from the Universities have just 

 four or six weeks' leisure, and would very much like to 

 do some original work on the shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean. But to go there for so short a period, to lose 

 so much time in getting up all the necessary arrange- 

 ments, and spend so much money for so small and uncer- 

 tain scientific profit, is rather inadvisable for those who 

 have to live on small incomes. But suppose the station is 

 ready, zoologists announce some weeks beforehand their 

 intention to come to Naples, and to work with this or 

 that object, what is easier and what more comfortabk- 

 than to arrive at the fixed date, to find lodging, labora- 

 tory, library, and material all ready and in the very best 

 state, and to go over a ground of scientific work in six 

 weeks, which otherwise would, perhaps, have occupied 

 three months. 



And will not the establishment of the Naples Station 

 enable even those to come and work there, who (like many 

 of the very best German and foreign zoolngists) do not 

 command means large enough even for a stay of two or 

 three months at their own expense ? Will not the constant 

 presence and the collected experience of the station- 

 zoologists save the foreign naturalists all the trouble and 

 annoyance which inevitably result to every one who is 

 not well acquainted with the ways and modes of life and 

 customs of a place so complicated, and in every way 

 so strange, as Naples ? And, on the other side, will noi 

 the presence of the three station zoolngists guarantee 

 Science that it shall not lose the fruits of all that work which 

 was begun but could not be finished by foreign zoologists, 

 since their teaching duties forced them to go home and 

 leave it uncompleted behind? Easily enough one of the 

 station zoologists takes it up and carries it on to a point 

 where it may be fit for publication, thus preserving the 

 labour and energy spent on it. 



But I could continue preaching and preaching on a 

 chapter which ought to be clear to every one who under- 

 stands the progress of Science. I trust that what ha- 

 been said is sufficient to procure the assistance of all 

 those who think it a pity that whilst millions and 



millions are accumulated for the pleasure of individuals 

 who very often do not care a bit for the welfare or the 

 progress of their fellow creatures, schemes like the pre- 

 sent, so evidently adapted for throwing open new lines of 

 inquiry into the mystery of the universe, and by that 

 means adding to human progress and happiness, should be 

 abandoned to chance and to isolated individual goodwill 

 and effort. 



Naples, March 9 ANTON DOHRN 



SCROPE ON VOLCANOS 



Volcanos. By G. Poulett Scrope, F.R.S., &c. Second 

 Edition revised and enlarged. With Prefatory Re- 

 marks. (London : Longmans, 1872.) 

 THE subject of volcanos is one which possesses a 

 popular as well as a purely scientific interest, and 

 the more so of late years, since it seldom happens that 

 the foreign mails come in without bringing us tidings of 

 volcanic outbursts or earthquake shocks, often fearfully 

 disastrous, which have occurred in some one or other part 

 of the globe ; so that it is but natural to expect that the 

 appearance of a revised and enlarged reissue of the second 

 edition of the well-known work on volcanos by the dis- 

 tinguished and veteran geologist Mr. Poulett Scrope, will 

 attract the attention, not only of geologists, but of the 

 scientifically inclined public in general. 



It is not saying too much, when we express our opinion 

 that no geological library can be considered complete 

 without Mr. Poulett Scrope's work ; but at the same ' 

 time it is fairly open to question as to whether this . 

 volume in its present form can in 1872 be regarded 

 as an improvement upon what it was before in 1862 ; 

 since, with the exception of a list of the earthquakes and 

 volcanic eruptions which have occurred since the year 

 i860, the additional matter, introduced into it as a sort of 

 postscriptum preface, is of a purely discursive and theo- 

 retical character, and for various reasons not likely to 

 meet with thit general acceptance, from those posted up 

 to date in the subject, which the mass of excellent 

 observational and descriptive matter embodied in the book 

 Itself is fully entiled to. 



To render full justice to Mr. Poulett Scrope as a vul- 

 canolo^ist, we must, however, carrv ourselves back nearly 

 half a century^ to the time when the first edition of this 

 work appeared in print ; for it is only by so doing that we 

 can be enabled to thoroughly appreciate the importance 

 of his labours in the study of these wonderful phenomena, 

 or to understand how largely they contributed to bring 

 About the substitution of sounder doctrines concerning 

 the forniati^m and structure of volcanos, instead of the very 

 erroneous, yet all but universally received hypotheses, 

 ivhich at that time were taught in the schools of natural 

 science. 



If now we proceed to analyse the contents of the 

 volume before us, its perusal will soon show that it de- 

 votes itself exclusively to the consideration of the subject 

 treated only from a purely physical and geographical point 

 of view, and as such, it must be admifed to be a most 

 . laborate digest of what is known relating to what may be 

 termed the mechanics of volcanos, their physical struc- 

 ture, and their local distribution over the surface of the 



