April 2, 1 885 J 



NA TURE 



5i. 



question force itself upon us, What of this power which reads 

 and interprets nature? Beside and beyond the outward and 

 visible, linked to it by mysterious connection, is the sphere of 

 thought, of mind, the home and dwelling-place of thought. 

 What is this being of ours which thinks, plans, and wills ? What 

 means it ? Whither tends it ? This, the question of questions, 

 from far distant periods, souls possessed with profound genius 

 have dared to ask and yearned for a reply. When no complete 

 reply was gained, they yet toiled on, finding in the search food 

 for deeper and more reverent wonder than even in the splendid 

 picture which outward nature displays. They held fast the 

 courageous and hopeful faith that for man who 'names the 

 name Eternity,' 'there must be answer,' here or elsewhere 

 to his trembling doubt, to his 'obstinate questionings.' Such 

 searchers were the early Greek philosophers, who kindled a 

 spark amid surrounding darkness, destined not to die out, but 

 gradually to brighten by careful tendance, and grow into a light 

 that will shine to all coming times, as successive generations of 

 inquiring spirits look up to the great names of Plato and 

 Aristotle as loftiest among their guides and forerunners. In the 

 unsurpassed lucidity of diction exhibited by these two masters, 

 we are led into the very foundry of ideas, and can follow the 

 subtle process of new-born thought growing clearer to itself, and 

 shaping language into its close-fitting outward vesture." 



The Qneen has intimated through Sir Henry Ponsonby that 

 she will contribute 50/. to the guarantee fund in connec 

 tion wiih the approaching visit of the British Association to 

 Aberdeen. The fund is now almost completed. We learn 

 that the nomination as President of the British Association at 

 the Birmingham meeting in 1886 has been offered to Sir William 

 Dawson, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S., principal of McGill College, 

 Montreal, and that he has telegraphed his intention of accepting 

 the honour. 



A.n important meeting was held on Monday at Marlborough 

 House, under the presidency of the Prince of Wales, in connec- 

 tion with the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886. The 

 Prince of Wales, in an address of some length, stated the objects 

 of the Exhibition, which is likely to form one of the most 

 attractive and instructive of any recently held at South Kensing- 

 ton. As the Prince stated, the objects for which her Majesty 

 has been pleased to appoint this Commission are, briefly, to 

 organise and carry out an exhibition by which the reproductive 

 resources of our colonies and of the Indian Empire may be 

 brought before the people of Great Britain, and by which alsi 

 the distant portions of her Majesty's dominions may be enabled 

 to compare the advances made by each other in trade, manu- 

 factures, and general material progress. No such opportunity 

 of becoming piactically acquainted with the economic condition 

 of our colonies and the Indian Empire has ever been afforded in 

 this country. A guarantee fund of 128,000/. has already been 

 secured, though it is not likely that any of this will be required. 



The following are the Royal Institution lecture arrangements 

 after Caster : — Prof. Gamgee, eight lectures on digestion and 

 nutrition, on Tuesdays, April 14 to June 2 ; Prof. Tyndall, five 

 lectures on natural forces and energies, on Thursdays, April 16 

 to May 14: Prof. Meymott Tidy, three lectures on poisons in 

 relation to their chemical constitution and to vital functions, on 

 . May 2f, 28, June 4 ; Mr. VV. Carruthers, four lec- 

 tures on fir-trees and their allies, in the present and in the past, 

 on Saturdays, April 18 to May 9 ; Prof. Odling. two lectures on 

 organic septics and antiseptics, on Saturdays, May 16, 23 ; and 

 Rev. C. Taylor, two lectures on a lately discovered document, 

 possibly of the first century, entitled "The Teaching of the 

 Twelve Apostles," with illustrations from the Talmud. The 

 Friday evening meetings will be resumed on April 17, when 



Prof. S. P. Langley, of the Alleghany Observatory, Pennsyl- 

 vania, will give a discourse on sunlight and the earth's 

 atmosphere. 



On March 25 the Sunday Society held a National Conference 

 at St. James's Hall with the authorities and officers of museums, 

 art galleries, and libraries which have been open in the United 

 Kingdom on Sundays. There was a good attendance, those 

 present for the most part being representative men ; a large 

 number of ladies were present. Prof. Corfield, the Chairman 

 of the Committee, presided. The chairman having briefly 

 opened the proceedings, official statements respecting the Sunday 

 opening of the following institutions, which are supported by 

 public money, were submitted by different speakers : — National 

 Museum and Exhibition of Pictures at Kew ; National Picture 

 Galleries at Hampton Court Palace; National Picture Gallery 

 at Greenwich Hospital ; National Gallery, Dublin ; National 

 Museum of Science and Art, Dublin ; Birmingham Art Gallery 

 and Library ; Manchester — six Free Public Libraries ; Middles- 

 borough Free Public Library ; Newcastle-upon-Tyne Free 

 Public Library ; Stockport Museum ; Stoke upon-Trent Free 

 Library and Museum ; Wigan Free Public Library. Each 

 of these official statements spoke of satisfactory results 

 as the outcome of Sunday opening, the statements by 

 Mr. Valentine Ball, F.R.S., Director of the Dublin Science 

 and Art Museum ; Mr. Caddie, Principal Librarian and 

 Curator of the Library and Museum in Stoke-upon-Trent, and 

 by Major Turner, Chairman of the Stockport Library and 

 Museum, being specially exhaustive and interesting. The Rev. 

 Septimus Hansard, M.A., rector of Bethnal Green, proposed 

 the following resolution: — "That the facts submitted to this 

 Conference respecting those public museums, art galleries, 

 and libraries which have been opened on Sundays in the United 

 Kingdom are most satisfactory, and it is hereby resolved that 

 they be embodied in petitions to be presented to the Lords of 

 the Treasury and the House of Commons, praying that the 

 trustees of the British Museum and the National Gallery may 

 be provided with the money required to enable them to open 

 these institutions on Sunday afternoons. " This was seconded by 

 Mr. John Westlake, Q.C., LL.D., and supported by a great 

 many speakers, including Mr. Wyles, of Coventry ; Mr. Freak, 

 of the National Boot and Shoe Riveters' Society ; Mr. Steele, 

 J. P., of Rochester ; Mr. Faulkner, M.A., of Oxford ; Mr. R. M. 

 Morrell, Mr. H. Rutherford, and Mr. Mark H. Judge. The 

 resolution was carried unanimously. 



Mr. Thomas Fletcher, of Warrington, gave a useful lecture 

 on "Smokeless Houses and Manufactories" at the Parkes 

 Museum on March 26. In concluding his lecture, Mr. Fletcher 

 said : — "The ground has been cleared by independent experi- 

 menters, and I think it may fairly be said that both houses and 

 all manufacturing industries can be profitably carried on abso- 

 lutely without smoke, and it is simply a question of time as to 

 when this state of things becomes general throughout the world. 

 Some people are afraid that when after a short time the coal 

 supply of England is exhausted, the predicted New Zealander, 

 when he sits on the ruins of Westminster Abbey, will be able 

 to live on the rabbits caught amongst the ruins ; but if gaseous 

 fuel is adopted in our houses and flameless regenerative furnaces 

 are used in our manufactories it is probable that the coming New 

 Zealander will have to defer his visit for a length of time which 

 the present generation need not consider ; in fact, we shall be 

 able to import our fuel from unexhausted countries, and hold our 

 own against them after our coal is all gone. The future of 

 gaseous fuel is settled beyond all question on the best of all 

 possible grounds, that it is profitable to use, and users of solid 

 fuel will soon discontinue their present system when they learn 

 their position in the matter." 



