Sept. 8, 1881] 



NA TURE 



455 



they had been produced by the gradual modification of the 

 earliest form oi the series. These are facts of the history of the 

 earth guaranteed by as good evidence as any facts in civil history. 



Hitherto 1 have kept carefully clear of all the hypotheses to 

 which men have at various times endeavoured to fit the facts of 

 paiasontology, or by which they have endeavoured to connect 

 as many of these facts-as they happened to be acquainted with. I 

 do not think it would be a profitable employment of our time to 

 difcuss conceptions which doubtle.-s have had their justification 

 and even their use, but which are now obviously incompatible 

 with the well-ascertained truths of palfeontology. At present 

 these truths leave room for only two hypotheses. The fir>t is 

 that, in ihe cour e of the history of the earth, iimumerable 

 species of animals and plants have come into existence, inde- 

 pendently of one another, innumerahile times. 7~his, of course, 

 implies either that spontaneous generation on the most astound- 

 ing scale, and of animals fuch as horses and elephants, has been 

 going on, as a natural process, through all the time recorded by 

 the tosjiliferous rocl<s ; or it necessitates the belief in innumer- 

 able acts of creation repeated itmumerable times. The other 

 hypothesis is, that the successive species of animals and plants 

 have arisen, the later by the gr.i dual modification of the earlier. 

 This is the hypothesis of evolution ; and the palxontological 

 discoveries of the last decade are so completely in accordance 

 with the requirements of this hypothesis that, if it had not 

 existed, the palaeontologist would have had to invent it. 



I have always had a certain horror of presuming to set a lituit 

 upon the possibilities of things. Therefore, I will not venture 

 to say that it is impossible that the multitudinous species of 

 animals and plants may have been produced one separately from 

 the other by spontaneous generation, nor that it is impossible 

 that they should have been independently originated by an 

 endless succession of miraculous creative acts. But I must 

 confess that both these hypotheses strike me as !0 astound- 

 ingly improbable, so devoid of a shred of either scientific 

 or traditional support, that even if there were no other evidence 

 than that of paltseontology in its favour, I should feel com- 

 pelled to adopt the hypothesis of evolution. Happily, the 

 future of palaeontology is independent of all hypothetical 

 considerations. Fifty years hence, whoever undertakes to record 

 the progress of palteontology will note the present time as the 

 epoch in which the law of succession of the forms of the higher 

 animals was determined by the observation of palseontological 

 facts. He will point out that, just as Steno and as Cuvier were 

 enabled from their knowledge of the empirical laws of co- 

 existence of the parts of animals to conclude from a part to the 

 whole, so the knowledge of the law of succession of forms 

 empowered their successors to corclude, from one or two terms 

 of such a succession, to the whole series, and thus to divine the 

 existence of forms of life, of which, perhaps, no trace remains, 

 at epochs of inconceivable remoteness in the past. 



NOTES 



Most of the foreign Governments have appointed their dele- 

 gates to the International Congress of Electricians at Paris. 

 Among the German delegates are M. Wiedemann, editor of 

 Wiedemann's Annalen, Helmholtz, Du Bois-Reymond, and 

 Weber, who, as we stated in our last issue, has received a medal 

 in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his professoriate 

 in Halle. The name of Weber is the only one among living 

 men which has been inscribed on the walls of the Palais de 

 ITndustrie. The original instrument which Weber invented with 

 Gauss in 1833 is exhibited in the German section. Amongst the 

 names of English men of science who are said to have been 

 delegated by the English Government are those of Sir William 

 Thomson and Dr. Siemens. One, if not the principal, object of 

 the deliberations of the Congress will be the adoption of a 

 universal system of electi-ic and magnetic measures, as advocated 

 by the British Association. The work of the Commission which 

 has been appointed by it will be discussed, and practical sugges- 

 tions are to be made relating to it. It is supposed that the 

 electrical and magnetic units are to be considered as a sequel to 

 the metric system of \ieights and measiu-es. Another question 

 will relate to the laying of submarine cables, viz., the establish- 

 ment of an international codex of signals for telegraphic steamers, 



and the necessity of adopting rules for parallel or transversal 

 lines, liable to endanger the existing ones. But it does not 

 appear that any allusion is to be made to the neutralisation in 

 war time, although it has been recommended by M. Barthelemy 

 St. Hilaire, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. All the sittings are 

 to be private, to the exclusion of the public and Press, except a 

 few lectures given by some members on selected topics. Procis- 

 verbaux are to be written and published by a select body of 

 authorised secretaries. 



The telephonic audition of the Opera at the Paris Electrical 

 Exhibition is very popular. Not less than 1500 people are 

 admitted by relays of twentj'-four, during two minutes at a time, 

 to enjoy it every opera night. It was contemplated to transmit 

 the performances from the Theatre Fran9ais on the same prin- 

 ciple, but it has not been successful. The receipts of the 

 Exhibition exceed 4000/. daily. 



A SIXTH electrical paper h.Ts been started in Paris. It is 

 a large folio issued every Saturday, and called MoniUur 

 (ifficicl Je V Electricite. It is conducted by M. Barbieny, a 

 gentleman connected with the political Press, and who ha^ 

 founded several periodicals. Electricity has now more papers 

 in Paris than general science. 



The will of the late Sir Josiah Mason of Bii'mingham ha 

 just been proved. The personal estate was sworn to be of the 

 value of 56,729/. The testator had no real property, havmg in 

 his lifetime disposed of his real estate, worth upwards of 10,000/. 

 per annum, either to his orphanage or college trustees, or his 

 great nephew. After legacies and bequests amounting to "jy^ol., 

 the w hole of the testator's personal estate by law applicable to 

 chai-itable purposes is bequeathed to the triistees of the Mason 

 Science College, for the general pm-poses of the institution. 

 Elaborate provisions are made for cliargiag the debts, annuities, 

 and legacies on the property \\ hich cannot legally be bequeathed 

 to charitable purposes, so as to secure the whole residue for the 

 college. 



Dr. Archibald Billing, M.A., F.R.S., the author of the 

 " First Principles of Medicine," died in London on Friday, at 

 the age of ninety. The deceased physician, who was a native 

 of Ireland, was bom in 1791, and was educated at Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dnblin, and at Oxford, graduating at the first-named 

 University. While engaged at the London Hospital, he insti- 

 tuted the series of chemical lectures which have since become an 

 establi'-hed featm-e of the medical school at that institution, but 

 resigned his appointment at the close of 1836, upon the esta- 

 blishment of the University of London. Dr. Billing was a large 

 contributor to the medical Press. He was a membei- of a large 

 number of learned societies, both in this country and on the 

 Continent. 



A Convention of American photographers has recently con- 

 cluded its sittings at New York. Before sepai-ating the members 

 appointed a committee to consider the feasibility of forming an 

 International Photographic Association, and to confer with 

 foreign societies witli that view. A report upon the subject will 

 be presented at the next meeting of the Convention, which is to 

 take place at Indianopolis. 



The American Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 at its meeting last month in Cincinnati, took action in reference 

 to the scandal of American degrees, by resolving to unite with 

 the American Philological Association in presenting a memorial 

 to all colleges in the United States empowered to confer degrees, 

 stating the objections to conferring the degree of Ph.D. honoris 

 causa, and praying them to discontinue the practice, if it exists. 

 It seems that the reprehensible practice has been growing of late 

 in the United States. There are, it would seem, in the United 



