192 



NATURE 



\ November 7, 1918 



consumption from the time of Hippocrates. The 

 seventeenth century, which produced Harvey's great 

 work on the circulation, constituted an epoch in the 



study of consumption, and two m stand out pre- 



eminently in this connection- Franciscus Sylvius and 

 Richard .Morton. The latter had a cleat conception of 

 the nature of consumption of the lungs, stated his 

 opinion that the formation of tubercles constitutes the 

 first stage in the phthisical proo >s, and recognised a 

 special scrofulous variet) of the disease. Both Sylvius 

 and Morton insisted upon the contagious nature of the 

 affection. Tin- work and views of subsequent inves- 

 tigators were reviewed, and, finally, the recent results 



ef a statistical investigation l\ l'r '-ill:: inch: ding 

 that there are at least two tvpes of phthisis, were com. 



mented upon. 



In connection with the Sir Walter Raleigh tercen- 

 tenary, of which we gave an account last week, we 

 are reminded that there is some reason for regarding 

 Raleigh as one of the pioneers of evolution. He 

 was not far from the general idea of transformism. 

 Thus in his "History of the World" (book i., 

 chap, vii.l he sa\s: "For mine owne opinion I find 

 no difference but only in magnitude between the Cat 

 of Europe and the Ounce of India. . . . The common 

 crow and rooke of India is full of red feathers in the 

 droun'd and low islands of Caribana, and the black- 

 bird and thrush hath his feathers mixt with black and 

 carnation in the north parts of Virginia. The Dog- 

 fish of England is the Sharke of the South Ocean." 

 What is suggested is certainly that one kind of animal 

 mav have diverse forms in diverse conditions. Raleigh 

 goes on to sav thafl differences in colour and magni- 

 tude cannot make "a difference of Species," using the 

 argument that if they did it would be necessary to 

 regard negroes, not as men, but as some kind of 

 strange beasts ; " and so the giants of the South 

 America should be of another kind than the people 

 of this part of the World"; and he adds: "We also 

 see it dayly that the nature of fruits are changed by 

 transplantation." It need scarcely be said that 

 Raleigh did not see the transformation of species as 

 Darwin saw it, but the general idea of transformism 

 was surely his. 



A collision, when the vessel on which he was 

 returning on leave from West Africa was within three 

 hours' steaming from Holyhead, caused the death, on 

 October 3, of Mr. C. O. Farquharson, mycologist in 

 Nigeria. A graduate in arts and in science of the I niver- 

 sity of Aberdeen, Mr. Farquharson was a student of the 

 best type, more keen to know thoroughly what he set 

 himself to learn than preoccupied with mere success in 

 examinations. Botany was especially attractive to him, 

 and he proved himself acute and trustworthy in per- 

 sonal investigation of problems in both field and 

 laboratory. He devoted attention to the parasitic 

 fungi, and gladly accepted the position of mycologist 

 in Nigeria. Mr. Farquharson threw himself into the 

 duties with whole-hearted enthusiasm, striving to gain 

 the fullest knowledge of the methods likely to prove 

 helpful in the discover} of the causes and treatment of 

 diseases of economic plants, not confining his attention 

 to those due to fungi. He was also interested in the 

 endeavour to obtain improved races of such plants, 

 whether native or introduced. Moreover, he did 

 good service in the investigation of the botan} 

 and entomology of Nigeria, as evinci d bj .1 paper on 

 the Myxomvcetes of that territory in the Journal of 

 Botany in 1016, and by collections and notes on 

 insects communicated to Prof. Poulton. Mr. 

 Farquharson first began to study insects under the 

 influence of Mr. W. A. Lamborn, who, as Govern- 

 ment entomologist, became his colleague at Moor 

 NO. 2558, VOL. I02] 



Plantation, Ibadan, Southern Nigeria, in May, 1913. 

 After Mr. Lamborn's departure in May, km 4, he 

 corresponded with Prof. Poulton, his last letter 

 being dated August .31, 191S, the da] before he 

 sailed in the ill-fated Burutu. Mr. Farquharson 

 was a verj acute and patient naturalist, who was 

 instinctively drawn to attack the most obscure and 

 difficult problems of bionomics. Manv of his valu- 

 able observations on insect life, especially on ants and 

 tin- forms associated with them, are published in the 

 Proceedings of the Entomological Society from 

 December, 1013, onwards, and it is confidently be- 

 lieved that tie appearance of his unpublished work 

 will show even more clearly how' high were the hopes 

 that perished with him. Mr. Farquharson's character 

 and disposition were such as to win him affection 

 and respect, and his death brings a sense of grievous 

 loss to those who knew him intimately. His place 

 will be difficult to fill. He was in his thirty-first year, 



The Calcutta Mint has overcome the difficulty of 

 supplying metals for coinage during the war owing to 

 increasing demands and recent withdrawals of the 

 old copper pieces. The difficulty of procuring 

 nickel was serious, untjl it was noticed that the 

 ordnance factories were advertising for sale as scrap 

 large quantities of cupro-nickel derived from used 

 hull' ts, but contaminated with lead. This metal was 

 utilised in the Mint, and as manv as 226 tons of 

 cupro-nickel were used in this way in producing 

 2,750,000 two-anna nickel pieces issued during the 

 closing months of last year. 



In the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Insti- 

 tute (vol. xlviii., part i., 1918) Prof. 11. J. I'leure and 

 Miss L. Winstanley contribute a paper on " Anthropo- 

 logy and our Older Histories." The Irish chronicler 

 Nennius, the " Brut," and Geoffrey of Monmouth are 

 examined in connection with early race movements. 

 Tin- evidence is naturally scrappv and uncertain, but 

 the authors suggest that studies of this kind mav be 

 a connecting link between history and anthropology, 

 the distributional examination of place-names being of 

 linguistic value. "Thus archaeology and anthropology 

 hint at an unsuspected value of the older and sup- 

 posedly legendary historians, and suggest that even 

 the chronology of these older historians mav have a 

 good deal behind it." 



An interesting case of complete absence of sensa- 

 tions from skin receptors, and of some other special 

 senses, is described in the Lancet of October 19. 

 The senses absent are touch, both superficial and 

 deep, pain, heat and cold, muscular sense, taste, and 

 smell. The state has been present for twenty years, 

 but the subject possesses more than the average 

 intelligence. In the absence of guidance from the 

 eyes, he is unable to make any movement as re- 

 quested, saving that he has no knowledge of whether 

 he is making anv movement or not. On the other 

 hand, the more automatic movements of walking and 

 swimming, not requiring conscious co-operalion, can 

 he e\ei uied correctly without the eyes. It is also 

 clear that the proprioceptive mechanism of the 

 muscles is intact, since, with eyes closed, the limbs 

 can be placed by another person in any position and 

 remain there (Sherrington's "plastic" phenomenon), 

 although the patient is unaware of what position the] 

 are in. With visual control, all movements are per- 

 fectly normally executed. Tin- subject is ignorant of 

 any feelings of fatigue, and seems to be devoid of 

 most forms of emotion. He has no love of country 

 or of home, and makes neither friends nor enemies. 

 Nevertheless, he is an efficient soldier, and always 

 willing to help in hospital work. 



