January 30, 1908] 



NA TURE 



305 



stcrnida;, in which they form the subfamily Staurotypinas. 

 Mr. Siebenrock goes, however, even further than this, and 

 suggests that the Cinosternida; should be brigaded with 

 the ChelydridEe in one sectional group — the Chelydroidea ; 

 while the families Dermatemydid;E and Platysternid^ are 

 regarded as more nearly related to the Testudinida;, with 

 which they should form the group Testudinoidea. For the 

 structural details on which the author justifies this radical 

 change in taxonomy, reference must be made to the paper 

 itself. 



Morphologists will find much to interest them in an 

 article in the same volume by Mr. Max HoU, of Graz, 

 on the anatomy of the hind portion of the cerebral lobes 

 in man and apes. The author appears to have been led 

 to undertake the investigation by finding one human brain 

 which differed most remarkably in regard to the arrange- 

 ment and complexity of the postero-lateral sulci from all 

 others which had come under his observation. His studies 

 have, however, shown that there is a great amount of 

 variation in this respect in human brains, and he has in 

 consequence been led to recognise two principal types. To 

 the more primitive of these he gives the name pithecoid 

 and to the other that of anthropoid, type. Between the 

 two there exists, howe%-er, an almost complete gradation. 

 By far the greatest degree of individual variation in the 

 form of the postero-lateral region of the brains of Primates 

 occurs in the case of the tropical American spider-monkeys 

 of the genus .Ateles. 



Attention may likewise be directed to a paper by Dr. 

 Karl Byloff in the same volume on the structure and life- 

 history of the blood-parasites Trypatiosoma lewisi and 

 T. brucei. New methods of staining microscopic prepar- 

 ations have enabled the author to bring to light certain 

 previously unknown features in connection with these 

 organisms. The various developmental stages assumed by 

 trypanosomes in mammalian blood are the result of division 

 of adult forms. High magnifying power has revealed the 

 presence of pseudopodla-ltke projections at the " hind 

 extremity " of both species of trypanosomes, but whether 

 these are constant morphological features or merely 

 temporary developments has yet to be demonsti'ated. 



THE CENTENARY OF DAVY'S DISCOVERY 



OF THE METALS OF THE ALKALIS} 

 A HUNDRED years ago last October, there happened 

 "^ one of those events to which the term epoch-making 

 may, without cavil or question, be fittingly applied. 



.■\s it was an occurrence with which the name and fame 

 of the Royal Institution are inseparably bound up, the 

 managers have thought it only proper that its centenary 

 should not pass unnoticed here, and it is by their wish, 

 therefore, that I appear on this the first possible oppor- 

 tunity after the actual date of its hundredth anniversary 

 to give you some account of it, and to state, so far as 

 I am able and within the limits of an hour, the fruitful 

 consequences that have flowed from it. 



Let me, in the first place, attempt to recall the circum- 

 stances which led up to that cardinal discovery of which 

 to-night we celebrate the centenary. These are connected 

 partly with the institution itself and partly with the state 

 of science in the early yenrs of the nineteenth century. 



In the year 1807 this institution was entering upon the 

 eighth year of its existe ce. As you doubtless know, the 

 Royal Institution grew out of a proposal to deal with the 

 question of the unemployed, namely, by forming in London 

 by private subscription an establishment for feeding the 

 poor and giving them useful employment, and also for 

 furnishing food at a cheap rate to others who may stand 

 in need of such assistance, connected with an institution 

 for introducing and bringing forward into general use 

 new inventions and improvements, particularly such as 

 relate to the management of heat and the saving of fuel, 

 and to various other mechanical contrivances by which 

 domestic comfort and economy may be promoted. .Such 

 was the original prospectus, but, like many other pro- 

 spectuses, it failed to equal the promise its projectors held 

 out. 



I A lecture delivere'1 at the Royal Insliliitinn of Great Britain, on Friday. 

 January 17, by Prof. T. E. Tbortie, C B., F.R.S. 



NO. 1996, VOL. 77I 



Eventuallv the promoters decided, on the initiation of 

 Count Rum'ford, that the Associated Institution would, as 

 they expressed it, be " too conspicuous and too interesting 

 and important to be made an appendix to any other exist- 

 ing establishment," and therefore it ought to stand alone 

 on its own proper basis. 



Accordingly, the problem of the unemployed still remains 

 with us, whilst the new institution took the form of con- 

 verting Mr. Mellish's house in .\lbemarle Street into a 

 place where, by regular courses of philosophical lectures 

 and experiments, the applications of the new discoveries 

 in science to the improvement of the arts and manufactures 

 might be taught, so as to facilitate the means of procuring 

 the comforts and conveniences of life. 



The Royal Institution had a troubled infancy. Like 

 the poor it was originally designed to succour, it suffered 

 much in the outset from lack of nourishment. To add to 

 its miseries, the little starveling was caricatured by Gillray, 

 lampooned by Peter Pindar, and ridiculed by Lord 

 Brougham, and it was literally in the throes of dissolution 

 when new life was breathed into it by the opportune 

 arrival, in 1801, of a small spare youth of twenty-two 

 from Bristol, whom the managers had engaged at a salary 

 of 100 guineas a year. The youth was Humphry Davy, 

 who had acted as 'assistant to Dr. Beddoes, of the Pneu- 

 matic Institution, and who had already made some slight 

 stir in scientific circles by his discovery of a characteristic 

 property of nitrous oxide. In announcing his arrival to 

 the managers. Count Rumford reported that he had pur- 

 chased a cheap second-hand carpet for Mr. Davy's room, 

 together with such other articles as appeared to him 

 necessarv to make the room habitable, and among the rest 

 a new sofa-bed, which, in order that it may serve as a 

 model for imitation, had been made complete in all its 

 parts.- Six weeks after his arrival Davy w-as called upon 

 to lecture, and a descriptive paragrapher of the period thus 

 chronicles his success in the Philosophical Magazine for 

 1801 :— 



" It must give pleasure to our readers to learn that this 

 new and useful institution, the object of which is the 

 application of Science to the common purposes of life, may 

 be now considered as settled on a firm basis. . . . 



" We have also to notice a course of lectures, just com- 

 menced at the institution, on a new branch of philosophy 

 — we mean the Galvanic Phenomena. On this interesting 

 branch, Mr. Davy (late of Bristol) gave the first lecture orr 

 the 2Sth of April. He began with the history of Galvanism, 

 detailed the successive discoveries, and described the 

 different methods of accumulating galvanic influence. . . . 

 He showed the effect of galvanism on the legs of frogs, 

 rnd exhibited some interesting experiments on the galvanic 

 effects on the solution of metals in acids. Sir Joseph 

 Banks, Count Rumford, and other distinguished philo- 

 sophers were present. The audience were highly gratified, 

 and testified their satisfaction by general applause. Mr. 

 Daw, who appears to be very young, acquitted himself 

 admirably well : from the sparkling intelligence of his eye, 

 his animated manner, and the tout ensemble, we have no 

 doubt of his attaining a distinguished eminence." 



And what was of more immediate consequence, this 

 confident assurance was shared also by the managers, for 

 at a subsequent meeting they unanimously resolved " that 

 Mr. Humphry Davy, director of the chemical laboratory, 

 having given satisfactory proofs of his talents as a 

 lecturer, should be appointed, and in futuie denominated, 

 lecturer in chemistry at the Royal Institution, instead of 

 continuing to occupy the place of assistant lecturer, which 

 he has hitherto filled." 



That such shrewd experienced men of the world as Sir 

 Joseph Banks and Rumford, who were the moving spirits 

 in the management of the institution and genuinely 

 solicitous for its welfare, should thus entrust its fortunes, 

 then at their lowest ebb, to the power and ability of a 

 voung and comparatively unknown man, barelv out of his 

 teens, seems, even in an age which was familiar with the 

 spectacle of " a proud boy " as a Prime Minister, like 

 the desperate throw of a gambler. 



But Banks and Rumford had, doubtless, good reason 

 for the faith that was in them. For a happv combination 

 of circumstances had served to bring the Cornish youth 

 within the range of manv who could be of service to him 

 in that search for the fame for which he hungered. His 



