386 



NA TURE 



[January 28, 1909 



meetings of advantageously varied couples, from age to 

 age, are to provide the pedigree of modifications wliicii 

 unite us to our ancestors, the jelly-fish." 



Here we have the extraordinary misconception presented 

 to a scientific audience as actual fact, that advantageous 

 variations occur singly, at long intervals, and remote from 

 each other, each statement being, as is well known, the 

 absolute reverse of what is really the case. It totally 

 ignores the fact that every abundant species consists of 

 tens or hundreds of millions of individuals, and that as 

 regards any faculty or quality whatever, this vast host may 

 be divided into two portions — the less and the more adapted 

 — not very unequal in amount. It follows that at any 

 given time, in any given country, the advantageous varia- 

 tions always present are not to be counted by ones and 

 twos, as stated by Lord Salisbury, but by scores of 

 millions ; and not in individuals widely apart from each 

 other, but constituting in every locality or country some- 

 where about one-half of the whole population of the species. 



The facts of nature being what they are, it is impossible 

 to imagine any slow change of environment to which the 

 more populous species would not become automatically 

 adjusted under the laws of multiplication, variation, and 

 survival of the fittest. Almost every objection that has 

 been made to Darwinism assumes conditions of nature 

 very unlike those which actuallv exist, and which must, 

 under the same general laws of life, always have existed. 



Protective Colour and Mimicry. 



The phenomena of protective coloration and mimicry 

 were very briefly alluded to, both because they are com- 

 paratively well known and had formed the subject of 

 previous lectures, while they are very easily explained on 

 the general principles now set forth. The explanation is 

 the more easy and complete, because of all the characters 

 of living organisms, colour is that which varies most, is 

 most distinctive of the different species, and is almost 

 universally utilised for concealment, for warning, or for 

 recognition ; and, further, its useful results are clear and 

 unmistakable, and have never been attempted to be 

 accounted for in detail by any other theory than that of 

 the continuous selection of beneficial variations. 



Tlie Dispersal of Seeds. 



The subject of the dispersal of seeds through the agencv 

 of the wind, or of carriage by birds or mammals in a 

 variety of ways, and often by most curious and varied 

 arrangements of hooks, spines, or sticky exudations almost 

 Infinitely varied in the different species, was also briefly 

 treated, since they are all readily explicable by the law's 

 of variation and selection, while no other rational explana- 

 tion of their formation has ever been given. 



Conclusion. 



In concluding, the lecturer directed attention to a series 

 of cases which had shown us the actual working of natural 

 selection at the present time. He also explained that these 

 cases were at present few in number, first, because they 

 had not been searched for, but perhaps mainly because 

 they only occur on a large scale at rather long intervals, 

 when some great and rather rapid modification of the 

 environment is taking place. 



In the following paragraph he endeavoured to summarise 

 the -entire problem and its solution : — " It is only by con- 

 tinually keeping in our minds all the facts of nature which 

 I have endeavoured, however imperfectly, to set before you, 

 that we can possibly realise and comprehend the great 

 problems presented by the ' World of Life ' — its persistence 

 in ever-changing but unchecked development throughout 

 the geological ages, the exact adaptations of every species 

 to it actual environment both inorganic and organic, and 

 the exquisite forms of beauty and harmony in flower and 

 fruit, in mammal and bird, in mollusc and in the infinitude 

 of the insect-tribes; all of which have been brought into 

 existence through the unknown but supremely marvellous 

 powers of Life, in strict relation to that great law of 

 Usefulness, which constitutes the fundamental principle of 

 Darwinism." 



NO. 2048, VOL. 79] 



LONG-DIST.ANCE TELEGRAPH Y. 



'X'HE developments which have recently taken place in 

 long-distance direct telegraphic working show that 

 progress has been made in telegraphic transmission by 

 wire as well as in wireless telegraphy. The direct trans- 

 mission of public messages between London and India was 

 put into operation last week, and messages were sent at 

 the rate of forty words per minute between London and 

 Karachi. Direct working with Calcutta, Bombay, and 

 Madras has been successfully established, the experiment 

 of direct transmission to the first-named centre being 

 attempted for the first time last Saturday, when a world's 

 record was established of about 7000 miles. 



Direct Wheatstone working over the line between London 

 and Teheran — a distance of 3748 miles — has been possible 

 since the beginning of 1903, but no land line existed 

 between Teheran and Karachi. This line has been recently 

 erected by the Indo-European Department of the India 

 Office, and was put into operation in November, 1907, 

 bringing the total length of line — London to Karachi — up 

 to S532 miles. Wheatstone automatic transmission is used 

 throughout the line, and many improvements in telegraphic 

 instruments which have been introduced in recent years 

 have been installed. One of the latest key-board per- 

 forators is the Kotyra, which is so arranged that the key- 

 board is made to actuate three electromagnets so con- 

 structed that the necessary number of blows are communi- 

 cated to the keys of a Wheatstone perforator. .\t each 

 relay station a receiving apparatus is placed in circuit 

 enabling the operator in charge to see how the signals 

 are leaving that station, and any fault in regulation can 

 be at once rectified. 



The great advantage of being able to transmit direct 

 messages over such distances is that, apart from the time 

 saved and the consequent increase in the capacity of the 

 line, greater accur,acy is ensured owing to the fact that 

 no intermediate handling takes place. Thus liability to 

 error is reduced to a minimum. The importance of this 

 will be understood when it is realised that 1600 messages 

 per diem — 97 per cent, of which are in code — are sent on 

 the average over this line. The Indo-European Telegraph 

 Company and the Telegraphic Department of the Indi.n 

 OITice have, with the cooperation of the Indian Govern- 

 ment, achieved a great success, considering the enormous 

 difficulties attendant upon a land line traversing eve-' 

 variety of country and exposed to all sorts of climatic 

 conditions. J. L. M. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 Cambridgk. — Mr. H. F. Newall, F.R.S., has been electctf 

 a fellow of Trinity College. Mr. Ncwall has been engaged 

 for many years in astrophysical research at the observatory. 

 In connection with a large Equatorial presented to the 

 University by his father. He was formerly an assistant to 

 the Cavendish professor of physics, and demonstrator in the 

 Cavendish Laboratory. He is at present assistant director 

 of the Observatory, treasurer of the Cambridge Philo- 

 sophical Society, and president of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society. Mr. Newall, by his continuous generosity, has 

 firmly established the study of astrophysics in the Univer- 

 sity, and to him the University owes a considerable debt of 

 gratitude. 



London. — A course of eight lectures on national 

 eugenics, in connection with the Gallon Laboratory, will 

 be given at University College on Tuesdays at 5 o'clock, 

 beginning on February 23. The first lecture will be given 

 by Prof. Karl Pearson, on " The Purport of the Science 

 of Eugenics." On the four following Tuesdays the lectures 

 will bo given by Mr. D. Heron, and will deal with the 

 following subjects: — methods of eugenic inquiry; trans- 

 mission of physical characters in man ; transmission of 

 psychical characters in man ; inheritance of disease and 

 deformity. The course will be continued in the third term, 

 beginning on May 4, when Miss E. Eldcrton will lecture 

 on " Effects of Kinship in Marriage " and " Comparison 

 of Heredity and Environmental Factors." Full par- 



