5i° 



NA TURE 



[Sept. 20, 1883 



attainments, Prof. V. Ball is also known by his papers on 

 various ethnological subjects. This appointment will leave the 

 Chair of Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Dublin 

 vacant afler next Michaelmas Term. 



The Improvement Commissioners of Bournemouth, at a 

 meeting on Tuesday, discussed the desirability of inviting the 

 British Association to visit Bournemouth. It was unanimously 

 decided to invite it for 1885. 



The last news received by the Russian Geographical Society 

 from the Lena meteorological station is dated April 3. The 

 observers have suffered to some extent from the hard winter, 

 and especially from the winds, and it was with difficulty that 

 they succeeded in maintaining a moderate temperature in their 

 house. Still they were all in good health. The lowest tem- 

 perature observed was - 52°'3 Celsius on February 9. In January 

 and February it usually did not fall below - 40 , excepting 

 during quite calm weather. In March the thermometer oscil- 

 lated about — 40°, and at the beginning of April it began to rise 

 to -19°. M. Yurgens found great difficulties with the magnetic 

 instruments, the range of deviation of the needles during the 

 magnetic perturbations being as much as 25° from the magnetic 

 meridian, and those which measure the horzontal intensity 

 s howing deviations of as much as 90 , 



The subterranean rooms of the Paris Observatory are ready 

 for the recepti >r. of the magnetic instruments. Three sets will 

 be arranged — one for registering, the second for direct observa- 

 tion as established by Lamont at Munich, and the third will be 

 composed of the old instruments used by Arago for comparing 

 the numbers taken in former times. 



Circumstances, says Science, were not favourable to the 

 production of remarkable essays at the recent meeting of the 

 American Association. The attendance was not large. The 

 officers of the meeting, and especially those who had to make 

 addresses, could scarcely be expected to produce elaborate papers 

 in addition to their other labours. As the number of addre-ses 

 per meeting has increased, we may observe more readily some of 

 the effects of the system that demands them. The mo;t evident 

 result is that usually where we gain one good address we lose 

 two or three good papers. The distance of the meeting from 

 their homes affected especially members of Sections A, B, C, 

 and D, devoted to the exact sciences. Perhaps it affected the 

 quality as well as the number of their papers. There were not 

 many from the east to present essays, though quite as many as 

 could have reasonably been expected ; but there were scarcely 

 any from the locality of the meeting and its neighbourhood. 

 Local interest, both as to authors and hearers, was of course 

 deficient. In short, there was nothing remarkable in those sec- 

 tions to spur production, and the product was not remarkaUe. 

 It was good, but not great. 



The fourth annual " Cryptogamic Meeting" of the Essex 

 Field Club will take place in Epping Forest on Saturday, Sep- 

 tember 29. A large number of botanists have promised to be 

 present and act as referees. In the evening a meeting for the 

 exhibition of botanical specimens will be held in the Assembly 

 Room at the " Roebuck " Hotel, Buckhurst Hill, when the fol- 

 lowing papers will be read : — "Recent Additions to the Fungu ; 

 Flora of Epping Forest," by Dr. M. C. Cooke, M.A., F.L.S. ; 

 " The ' Lower Orders ' of Fungi," by Worthington G. Smith, 

 F.L.S. ; "Fungi as Poisons," by Dr. Wharton, M. A., F.L.S. 

 Botanists wishing to attend the meeting or to exhibit specimens 

 should communicate with the Hon. Secretary, Mr. W. Cole, 

 Buckhurst Hill, Essex. 



Mr. Simmons and a companion left Hastings in a balloon 

 at 3.20 p.m. on Thursday last, and landed in about seven hours 

 at Cape La Hogue, in France. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Chinese Rhesus Monkeys (Macacus lasio- 

 lus $ 9 ) from China, presented by Mr. G. A. Conder ; a Pig- 

 tailed Monkey (Macacus ncmestrinus $ ) from Java, presented 

 by Mr. Robert Smith ; a Hog Deer (Cervus porcinus <5 ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. D. Charles Home ; a Sidw Bunting 

 (Plectrophancs nivalis), European, presented by Mr. E. J. 

 Gibbins ; two Ring Doves (Co'umba palumbus), British, pre- 

 sented by Mrs. Courage ; two Land Rails (Crex pralensis), 

 British, presented by Dr. Marshall ; a Robben Island Snake 

 [Coromlla p/wcarnm), a Rufescent Snake (Leptodira ru/cscens), 

 a Ring-hals Snake (Sepedon hamachctes) from South Africa, pre- 

 sented by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z.S. ; a Grey Seal 

 (Halicbccrus gryp&us) from Cornwall, two Margined Tortoises 

 (Testudo marginatd), South European, a Glass Snake (Pseudopus 

 pallasi) from Dalmatia, deposited. 



A PLEA FOR PURE SCIENCE^ 

 T AM required to address the so-called Physical Section of this 

 Association. Fain would I speak pleasant words to you on 

 this subject ; fain would I recount to you the progress made in 

 this subject by my countrymen, and their noble efforts to under- 

 stand the order of the universe. But I go out to gather the 

 grain ripe to tiie harvest, and I find only tares. Here and there 

 a noble head of grain rises above the weeds ; but so few are 

 they that I find the majority of my countrymen know them not, 

 but think that they have a waving harvest, while it is only one 

 of weeds after all. American science is a thing of the future, 

 and not of the present or past ; and the proper course of one in 

 my position is to consider what must be done to create a science 

 of physics in this country, rather than to call telegraphs, electric 

 lights, and such conveniences by the name of science. I do not 

 wish to underrate the value of all these things : the progress of 

 the world depends on them, and he is to be honoured who cul- 

 tivates them successfully. So also the cook who invents a new 

 and palatable dish for the table, benefits the world to a certain 

 degree ; and yet we do not dignify him by the name of a chemist. 

 And yet it is uot an uncommon thing, especially in American 

 newspapers, to have the applications of science confounded with 

 pure science ; and some obscure American who steals the ideas 

 of some great mind of the past and enriches himself by the 

 application of the same to domestic uses, is often lauded above 

 the great originator of the idea, who might have worked out 

 hundreds of such applications had his mind possessed the neces- 

 sary element of vulgarity. I have often been asked which was 

 the more important to the world, pure or applied science. To 

 have the applications of a science, the science itself must exist. 

 Should we stop its progress and attend only to its applications, 

 we should soon degenerate into a people like the Chinese, who 

 have made no progress for generations, because they have been 

 satisfied with the applications of science, and have never sought 

 for reasons in what they have done. The rea-ons constitute pure 

 science. They have known the application of gunpowder for 

 centuries ; and yet the reasons for its peculiar action, if sought 

 in the proper manner, would have developed the science of che- 

 mistry, and even of physics, with all their numerous applica- 

 tions. By contenting themselves with the fact that gunpowder 

 would explode, and seeking no further, they have fallen behind 

 in the progress of the world ; and we now regard this oldest 

 and most numerous of nations as only barbarians. And yet our 

 own country is in this same state. But we have done better ; for 

 we have taken the science of the Old World and applied it to all 

 our uses, accepting it like the rain of heaven, without asking 

 whence it came, or even acknowledging the debt of gratitude we 

 owe to the great and unselfish workers who have given it to us. 

 And, like the rain of heaven, this pure science has fallen upon 

 our country, and made it great and rich and strong. 



To a civilised nation of the present day the applications of 

 science are a necessity ; and our country has hitherto succeeded 

 in this line only for the reason that there are certain countries 

 in the world where pure science has been and is cultivated, and 

 where the study of nature is considered a noble pursuit. But 

 such countries are rare, and those who wish to pursue pure 



1 Condensed abstract of the address of Prof. H. A Rowland of Baltimore, 

 vice-president of Section B (Physics), before the American Association at 

 Minneapolis, August 15. In using the word science the author refers to 

 physical science, *' as I know nothing of natural science. Probably my 

 remarkswill, however, apply to bnh, bat I do not know.'* 



