30 



NA TURE 



[November 14, 1907 



pilus, and Aster are large genera, and Vernonia pro- 

 vides eight new species. The genus Quercus is 

 important both for the number of species and also on 

 account of their dominance in the forests of the area. 

 Q. alba, the white oak, Q. rubra and Q. Schneckii, 

 red oaks, are widely distributed; O. niacrocarpa, 

 Q. platanoides, and Q. palustris occur on the coal 

 measures ; O. acuminata and Q. tinctoria are also 

 common. 



The ecological survey is detailed, almost too de- 

 tailed, as it loses conciseness owing to the multifarious 

 subdivisions. The forests, as the prevailing features 

 of the district, receive the most attention ; the cliff and 

 marsh associations are also important. The charac- 

 ters of the various formations are carefully delineated, 

 and the te.xt furnishes an estimable addition to the 

 literature of plant distribution, but the area has ap- 

 parently not been surveyed with the view of plotting on 

 a map, nor are any illustrations provided. 



The Evolution of Matter, Life, and Mind. By W. 



Stewart Duncan. Pp. 250. (Philadelphia : Index 



Publishing Company, iQoy.) 

 This is a vade meciim of evolutionism, a sequel to 

 a previous volume in which the author sought to show 

 that feeling and energy are alternate states of matter 

 everywhere. Feeling is given out as energy, and 

 energy is experienced as feeling. Both are spiritual 

 or non-substantial, sister properties or manifestations 

 capable of inhering and co-inhering in one universal 

 substance, the ether. The progress of investigation 

 has enabled the author to make his monism even more 

 definite. Matter is being refined away into a mode of 

 motion in the ether. This ether is " the fountain of 

 all being," " the hitherto unknown God." Prof. 

 Larmor and others are theologians in spite of them- 

 selves. Helped by abundant quotations, Mr. Duncan 

 gives a sketch of recent investigations as to the nature 

 of matter, and he points out that he anticipated some 

 of them. In 1893, for instance, he contended that an 

 ordinary ray is a succession of such motions of the 

 ether as beget waves with longitudinal as well as 

 transverse elements of vibration, and it was only last 

 year that Prof. J. H. Poynting showed that rays of 

 light do exert energy in the direction of propagation. 

 In the present volume he develops some original 

 speculations, e.g. a theory of radiation and gravi- 

 tation. 



The author tells us that wc must believe in the 

 spirituality of matter and of the ether. Physical pro- 

 cesses are never complete chains of sequence. Feel- 

 ing and energising arise alternately in all matter. 

 Animal matter has sprung from vegetable matter, and 

 the latter from inorganic matter (in the Arctic 

 regions). All that we call " matter " is at least sensi- 

 tive and capable of feeling. It is so because of what 

 it produces, and it is so because the ether is the foun- 

 tain of all being, physical and mental. Every re- 

 ceiver of energy passes through two states, which cor- 

 respond to those of every living personality, a subjec- 

 tive state of feeling which results from influence from 

 without, and an ejective state of energising which 

 results from influence from within. We trust that 

 this is all quite clear. 



Mr. Duncan gives an account of the origin of every- 

 thing — including evil — except the ether, which is a 

 scientific name for God. He traces the evolution of 

 all living creatures and of the human mind, show- 

 ing that the difficulty of thinking out the long genetic 

 process may be in great measure overcome if we 

 start from a broad enough basis — the psychosis of 

 " matter." In the course of his exposition he quotes 

 the story of a delightful orchid, discovered by Mr. 

 E. .\. .Suverkrop, of Philadelphia, which sends down 

 a tubular stem into the water when it is thirstv, fills 



the tip, and coils it up again. " As the last coil is 

 made the water trickles down upon the roots at the 

 other end." When the discoverer touched the leaves, 

 he was " astonished to see the centre stem convul- 

 sively coil itself into a spiral like the spring of a 

 watch." Wonders will never cease. Nor is pathos 

 wanting, for on dry ground " it was almost pitiable 

 to see how the tube would work its way over the 

 ground, in search of water that was not." 



Ballistic Experiments, from 1864 to 1880. By the 



Rev. Francis Bashforth. Pp. 33. (Cambridge : 



University Press, 1907.) Price is. 

 The pamphlet is interesting reading as an uncon- 

 scious revelation of the timidity of thought of our 

 military authority. Afraid to trust its opinion, it 

 waited for approbation to come from abroad before 

 expressing a judgment. 



Although carried out with our muzzle-loading guns, 

 Mr. Bashforth 's experiments were so careful as to re- 

 quire slight modification only to serve for the newest 

 pattern of modern artillery, and the arrangement of 

 his tabular matter for practical use has been adopted 

 universally, and is never likelj' to be displaced. 



Mr. Bashforth is the creator of the science of 

 modern artillery, but our official world considers this 

 a very improper remark to make, at least in his 

 lifetime. 



The rapid progress in electromagnetic science has 

 made possible a great improvement in the chrono- 

 graph, and further experiment is needed urgently if 

 we are to make the best use of manufacture in the 

 production of improved weapons of war. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



The Origin of Radium. 



In his two interesting letters published in Nature of 

 September 26 and October 10 respectively, Dr. Boltwood 

 states that he has obtained undoubted proof of the exist- 

 ence of the parent substance of radium, and that he finds 

 it to be allied in chemical properties with thorium. I may 

 be permitted to describe some experiments which afford 

 independent evidence that the parent substance of radium 

 possesses in a chemical sense the properties of thorium, 

 and that it occurs with the latter. 



In experiments made with a new intermediate product 

 obtained from thorium to which I have given the name 

 " mesothorium," I was struck by the fact that old pre- 

 parations of pure thorium contained relatively large 

 quantities of radium. This appeared all the more note- 

 worthy since the monazite sand from which the thorium 

 is prepared contains onlv a very small quantity of uranium ; 

 the radium corresponding to this small amount must con- 

 sequently have been separated from the thorium during the 

 complicated processes used in extracting the latter. 



A few months ago, therefore, I began a systematic 

 investigation of the quantity of radium in samples of 

 thorium salts of different ages. A weighed quantity of 

 the pure nitrate, generally 10 grams, was dissolved in 

 pure water, and the solution boiled and sealed up. After 

 a sufficient interval the radium emanation was collected 

 by boiling the solution, and shortly afterwards, after 

 allowing the thorium emanation to decay, transferred to 

 an electroscope and measured. Samples of thorium 

 nitrate of very different but accurately known ages were 

 placed at my disposal by the firm of Dr. O. Knofler. It 

 was found as a result that the older the sample the 

 larger was the quantity of radium contained in it. The 

 oldest sample of all, one dating from i8q8, contained the 

 greatest amount. In quite a new sample the quantity 

 of radium was very small, 100 grams of the sample 



NO. 1985, VOL. yy] 



