156 
NATURE 
[ DECEMBER 17, 1903 
When Spencer is compared with other great thinkers, 
he stands distinguished by the immense range of his 
knowledge of the facts and principles of the sciences 
and by that wonderful power of generalising their 
laws which was the instrument by means of which he 
sought to unify them in one grand scheme of thought. 
It is true that the specialist may discover shortcomings 
in his treatment of each one of those sciences, not less 
in the psychology, in which he is acknowledged as a 
master both of principles and of details, than in his 
biology and sociology; and it is true that certain of his 
great generalisations, for example, the ancestral-ghost- 
theory of the origin of religions, cannot now be re- 
garded as well founded. Nevertheless, he has con- 
tributed to each of these sciences a wealth of illumin- 
ating and suggestive ideas, and even those of his 
hypotheses that have proved untenable have done so 
great service in provoking thought and discussion 
that, had he given to the world these unsuccessful 
suggestions only, he would still have had a great claim 
upon our gratitude. 
On contemplating the completed System of Synthetic 
Philosophy there is a certain pathos in the fact that 
the final volumes, to which Spencer had long 
looked forward as the consummation and crown of his 
life’s labour, namely, those setting forth the principles 
of ethics, are perhaps generally felt to be the least 
convincing part of the whole, a feeling which, it can 
hardly be doubted, was shared by the great thinker 
himself. But, whatever may be the final verdict as to 
the value of Spencer’s ethical philosophy, there can be 
no difference of opinion as to the great moral value of | 
his own life. He gave us an example, all too rare and 
too sorely needed in these days, of a life strenuously 
devoted through all the years of maturity and age to 
the realisation of a great object, the spectacle of a man 
working cn with steadfast purpose, unmoved alike by 
the neglect and by the acclamation of the world, 
“ Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone ” 
towards the lofty heights of Thought whose dim and 
cloud-capped towers had caught and fixed his eager 
youthful gaze. 
Spencer’s writings may seem to some readers cold 
and lacking in emotional fervour, and the man himself 
a little wanting in human sympathies; but can it be 
doubted that se grand an effort was sustained through- 
out the arduous years by a deep feeling for the mystery 
and pathos of the life of man, that tiny organism en- 
dowed with the capacity for thought and set to wonder, 
to labour, and to hope among the spheres that roll for 
ever through infinite space ? 
If it could be ascertained what parts of all Spencer’s 
work do, and will, appeal most deeply to great numbers 
of thinking men, they would probably be found to be, 
firstly, the demonstration of the Unknowable Mystery 
that must for ever elude our grasp as the bounds of 
knowledge are thrown ever wider and wider, and 
secondly, the doctrine of Transfigured Realism that 
gives to the mind, painfully halting between the vain 
imaginings of the pure idealists and the shallow teach- 
ings of the materialists, a firm and sane standing- 
ground from which to view the two great orders of 
being, the internal and the external worlds. 
Much of Spencer’s way of thinking and many of his 
ideas have become a part of the very atmosphere we 
breathe and cannot but accept, and much of his work 
must form a part of every future system of philosophy 
that shall attempt the unification of the sciences. His 
fame is secure, for posterity can never forget that in 
an age in which men’s minds were oppressed, and in 
danger of being overwhelmed, by the rapidly growing 
wealth and complexity of their knowledge of the 
phenomenal world, Spencer generalised boldly and effec- 
tively, breathing life into the dead bones of science. 
NO. 1781, VOL. 69 
NOTES. 
THREE Nobel prizes for science have been awarded as 
follows :—for physics, Prof. Henri Becquerel divided with 
M. and Mme. Curie; for chemistry, Prof. Arrhenius; and 
for medicine, Prof. Finsen. The formal distribution of the 
prizes took place on Thursday, December 10, in the presence 
of the King of Sweden and several members of the Royal 
family and a distinguished gathering. It is announced that 
Prof. Finsen has decided to give 50,000 kroner (27531.) from 
the amount awarded to him to the Phototherapeutic Insti- 
tute at Copenhagen, and that two members of the governing 
body will each present it with a like sum. 
Mr. Bruce, the leader of the Scottish Antarctic Expedi- 
tion, which was sent out last year on board the Scotia, has 
arrived at Montevideo from the Falkland Islands. He re- 
ports that all is well on the Scotia, which is on the way to 
Buenos Ayres. Six men have been left behind in charge 
of a meteorological station. The meteorological station re-_ 
ferred to is evidently the station set up by Mr. Bruce at 
Cape Pembroke, Falkland Islands, before the Scotia left 
for the southern seas in January last. 
It is announced that Dr. Oscar Guttmann has _pre- 
sented to the Chemical Society a photograph of the portrait 
of Roger Bacon in possession of Lord Sackville at Knole 
House, Sevenoaks. 
Dr. Hans Gapow, F.R.S., has, we learn from Science, 
accepted an invitation of the Lowell Institute, Boston, to 
give a course of six lectures, beginning March 29, 1904, 
on ‘‘ Coloration of Amphibians and Reptiles.’’ Dr. Gadow 
will probably give other popular lectures on zoological sub- 
jects while he is in America. 
Ir is reported in La Nature that Baron Edmond de 
Rothschild has sent 20,000 francs to M. Albert Gaudry, 
president of the Paris Academy of Sciences, to make it 
possible for the Museum of Palzontology to secure the very 
precious specimens of the Filhol collection which were 
obtained from the Quercy phosphate beds. 
On November 28 about three hundred teachers met at New 
York to form an Association of Teachers of Mathematics in 
the Middle States and Maryland, the prime object of which 
is the improvement of mathematical teaching. Prof. David 
Smith, of the Teachers’ College, was elected president of 
the Association ; Prof. H. B. Fine, of Princeton University, 
vice-president ; and Dr. Arthur Schultze, of the New York 
High School of Commerce, secretary. After President 
Butler, of Columbia University, had delivered the address 
of welcome, papers on various aspects of mathematical 
teaching were read by Mr. Harry English, vf Washington, 
D.C., Mr. Isaac N. Failor, of Richmond Hill, Dr. Arthur 
Schultze, and Mr. J. L. Patterson, of Philadelphia. The 
next meeting of the Association will be held at Columbia 
University, New York City, about next Easter, and appli- 
cations for membership and other communications may be 
addressed to Dr. Schultze, No. 4 West o1st Street, New 
York City. 
His Majesty tHe KinG has presented a fine stag to the 
University College of North Wales for its zoological 
The animal has been specially selected for the 
college collection, and will illustrate fully the characters 
of the red deer. Prof. White has had the stag sent to Mr. 
Edward Gerrard, of Camden Town, to be mounted. The 
following gifts have reached the college during the past 
few weeks :—Mr. Assheton-Smith, specimens of the guanaco, 
St. Kilda sheep, Australian swan, goshawk, grouse, and 
rhea; Mr. Herbert C. Hodson and Mr. James M. Reid, 
museum. 
