62 



NA TURE 



\Nov. 26, 1874 



the globe ; what Government will do when it takes such 

 work in hand, we have a good example of in the Challenger 

 expedition. 



There is now such a vast stock of experience in Arctic 

 exploration from which to derive lessons for guidance as 

 to the equipment of the new expedition, that we have 

 every assurance the new expedition will be organised in 

 such a manner as to secure the maximum of efficiency with 

 the minimum of danger and discomfort. But, indeed, Mr. 

 Markham has clearly proved, in his "Threshold of the 

 Unknown Region." that the cry of danger has no founda- 

 tion whatever, and his statement is only confirmed by the 

 three most recent and by no means adequately equipped 

 expeditions, those of the Polaris, the Cmitania-Haiisa, 

 and the Tccictlhof. 



It is calculated that the expedition will cost about 

 30,ood/. a year, " which," as the Daily Nc-vs justlv says, 

 " is surely a very moderate expenditure for an object so 

 important. The officers and men of the expedition will 

 belong exclusively to the Royal Navy ; the former will be 

 selected for their scientific qualifications, and will at orce 

 enter on the study of the special subject, a knowledge of 

 which the purposes of the expedition demand." No 

 doubt, then, every branch of science on which exploration 

 near the pole of the earth is likely to throw light will have 

 .a competent representative on the staff; and here we 

 would urge upon the organisers the great importance of 

 the spectroscopic examination of the aurora in those 

 regions where often it can be studied almost nightly; no 

 doubt there will be some competent man on board to look 

 after this investigation. 



From this expedition, then, entered on after the most 

 mature deliberation, and likely to be organised on the 

 rrost liberal basis, science m.ay expect to reap a rich 

 harvest. To quote the concluding words of the article 

 already referred to : " As the object of the expedition is 

 not merely to reach the pole, there will be no hurried 

 racing to attain that point. The whole phenomena of the 

 polar area is of deep and still mysterious interest. The 

 opportunity now is within reach to lay open to the scien- 

 tific world a mass of invaluable data relating to the 

 region which lies concealed behind the Soth parallel of 

 latitude and within an area of two million sq"are miles. 

 It may be shown that no such extent of unknown area in 

 any part of the Avorld ever failed to yield results of prac- 

 tical as well as of purely scientific value ; and it may be 

 safely urged that, as it is mathematically certain that the 

 area exists, it is impossible that its examination can fail 

 to add largely to the sum of human knowledge." 



OBSTACLES TO SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 

 C OME remarks with which Prof. M'Nab prefaces a 

 *^ paper " On the Movements of Water in Plants," 

 recently published in the Transactions of the Roval Irish 

 Academy, deserve serious consideration as an instance of 

 the obstacles which exist in the way of scientific research 

 in this countiy quite apart from the personal difficulties 

 of those who may wish to engage in it. He complains 

 that " the chief difficulty I have had to contend with has 

 been the impossibility of obtaining in Dublin, in the same 

 locality, the two essentials for experimenting, namely, a 

 laboratory and a botanical garden. The , appliances of a 



chemical laboratory must' be within easy reach of the 

 plants to be experimented on ; if not, then errors are sure 

 to be made ; and as much time would necessarily elapse 

 between procuring the plant for experiment and the com- 

 mencement of the experiment itself, the results obtained 

 would certainly be untrustworthy. In fact, the nearer the 

 plants are to the laboratory the better ; the results will be 

 more accurate, and the experiments much more easily 

 performed. ... A large number of most interesting and 

 valuable experiments might be made if only a few 

 pieces of apparatus could be placed near the plants 

 to be experimented on. A balance, a water-oven, spectro- 

 scope, and the like, are essential ; while the few chemicals 

 and small pieces of apparatus could easily be had. There 

 can be little doubt that the reason why so few physio- 

 logical experiments fare made in this country is to be 

 looked for in the absence of the necessary laboratory 

 accommodation near our gardens. In Germany and 

 France the agricultural stations supply most of the re- 

 searches in vegetable physiology. Here, however, all 

 depends on private enterprise ; and when there is an 

 observer capable of undertaking experiments, he may not 

 be willing to incur the expense of supplying plants and 

 apparatus." 



At the present time there is no place in the whole 

 country where facilities for investigations in Phy- 

 siological Botany are in any way afforded. Even 

 Vegetable Chemistry is confined to the laboratories at 

 Cirencester and Rothamstead, both private property and 

 with a scope somewhat limited by their immediate rela- 

 tion to agriculture. Besides these it would be hard to 

 mention, even in the whole British Empire, any o'her 

 place where this kind of research is carried on, unless we 

 except the Government manufacton- of cinchona alkaloids 

 under Mr. Broughton's charge on the Nilghiris, which has 

 yielded, incidentally, new information on many interesting 

 points. It is true that the Science Commission has re- 

 ported in favour of opportunities for the pursuit of investi- 

 gations in Physiological Botanybeing afforded in the Royal 

 Gardens at Kew. But there seems but faint hope of any- 

 thing of the kind being done — or in any adequate way. 

 Even the action of our Universities, munificent as it has 

 been in some directions, has been reactionary in this. 

 As long as Dr. Daubeny was Professor of Botany at Ox- 

 ford, the small chemical laboratory belonging to Magdalen 

 College, adjacent to the Botanical Garden, was available 

 for purposes of research of this kind. Now it is separated 

 altogether, and used for purposes of college instruction. 

 And it may be added that this laboratoiy will always be a 

 classical spot as having been the place where the first re- 

 searches on the relation of light of different degrees of 

 refrangibility to the elimination of oxygen from tissues 

 containing chlorophyll were carried on. Hunt, Draper, 

 and Sachs have arrived at a better knowledge of the sub- 

 ject, but Daubeny was able to show first that the effect is 

 principally due to the influence of rays in the neighbour- 

 hood of the yellow portion of the spectnim, and that 

 those of higher refrangibility are practically destitute of 

 any influence in the matter— a result, even now, that it is 

 firmly established far indeed from being d priori expli- 

 cable. 



So much has now been clearly worked out in respect to 

 the physical details of the " vital " processes of plants, 



