476 



NA TURE 



\_March 20, 1884 



" It has been laid down that evolution, in its most 

 perfect conception, would be such that the development 

 of every creature would be compatible with the equal 

 development of every other. In such a system it is said 

 there would be no ' struggle for existence — no harmful 

 competition, no mutual devouring — no death' (Herbert 

 Spencer, 'Data of Ethics,' chap. ii. pp. i8, 19). The 

 inspired imaginings of^ the Jewish prophets of some future 

 time when the lion shall lie down with the lamb, and the 

 ideas which have clustered round the Christian heaven, 

 are more probably the real origin of this conception than 

 any theory of evolution founded on the facts and laws of 

 nature." 



It is needless to say that no more ridiculous travesty 

 than this could well be imagined, or that no such absurdity 

 as that which professes to be formally quoted from Mr. 

 Spencer is to be found either under the reference given or 

 in any other part of his writings. In short, this "most 

 perfect conception" of evolution is a pure invention, 

 which reads almost as if it were intended to misinform 

 the uninformed. We do not, however, suppose that such 

 is the case. This e.\trcme of inaccuracy we take to have 

 been reached by the habit of drawing upon " inner con- 

 sciousness,'' until not only the whole sense and substance 

 of other writings are perverted, but even the most pure 

 and delicious nonsense is seen by "the mind's eye " to 

 occur in particular words on a particular page of some 

 other book. 



If space permitted or need required, we could point 

 out other inaccuracies, and even still greater absurdities, 

 both in this chapter and elsewhere ; but we have doubt- 

 less already said more than enough to show that "The 

 Unity of Nature" can scarcely be considered a successful 

 work from a scientitic point of view. 



George J. Romanes 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



The Electricia}i s Directory, with Handbook for 18 84. 



67 pp. (London : Electrician Office, 1884.) 

 This work, now in the second year of publication, con- 

 tains much information of use to electric and telegraphic 

 engineers. Amongst its contents are comprised a list of 

 new electric companies, a list of provisional orders 

 granted by Parliament for electric lighting, a list of the 

 " Briti-ih Cable Fleet," a list of British railways and rail- 

 way officials, a fairly complete directory of the professions 

 and trades connected with electricity ; also a large 

 amount of statistical information about different kinds 

 of dvnamo machines, electric lamps, and telegraph tariffs, 

 much of which will doubtless be out of date in twelve 

 inonth-i' time. There is also an obituary of electricians 

 decease! in 1883, a table by Mr. Geipel of the cost of 

 electric conductors as calculated by Sir W. Thomson's 

 formula, and a set of tables by Mr. Crawley for correc- 

 tions of measurements in horse-power and in watts. 

 These two sets of tables are the only portion of the 

 wor'-: claiming independent scientific value. We object 

 entirely to Mr. Crawley's gratuitous remark in the pre- 

 fatory naragraph of his section that the accepted system 

 of electric units was " really foisted upon electricians by 

 men devoted more to theoretic than to practical work." 

 Nothing could be further from the truth than to accuse 

 Mr. Latimer Clark. Sir Charles Bright, who originated the 

 system, and Sir William Thomson, who did so much to 

 perfect it, of not being practical workers, ki a matter of 

 fact, ohms, iiolts, farads, and webcrs were used by prac- 

 tical electricians for years before they found their way 

 into the te.\t-books written by the theorists. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsthU for opinions expran 

 l>y his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscript 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



l^The Editor urgently requests conespondents to keep their lettct,^ 

 as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 

 that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 

 of coin'r.iniications containing interesting and novel facts.'\ 



On a "Magnetic Sense" 



Sir William Thomso.v, in his presideuti.al address at the 

 Midland Institute, which is reported in Nature for March 6 

 (p. 438), draws attention to the marvellous fact that hitherto 

 we have no evidence to show that even the most powerful elec- 

 tromagnets can produce the slightest effect upon a living vege- 

 table or animal body. But Sir William "thinks it possible that 

 an e.tceedingly powerful magnetic effect may produce a sensation 

 that we cannot compare with heat, or force, or any other sensa- 

 tion," and hence he cannot admit that the investigation of this 

 question is completed, — for although the two eminent experi- 

 menters named by Sir W. Thomson felt nothing when they 

 put their heads between the poles of a powerful electromagnet, 

 it does not follow that, therefore, every member of the human 

 race wonld feel nothing. 



May I be permitted to point out that some slight evidence 

 already exists in the direction sought by Sir W. Thomson ? 

 Scattered in different publications there are numerous statements 

 made by different observers in different countries during the 

 present century, which, if trustworthy, indicate that upon certain 

 human organisms a powerful magnet does produce a very dis- 

 tinct and often profound effect. Unfortunately, with the excep- 

 tion of the careful and excellent observations made by Dr. W. 

 H. Stone, who tried Charcot's experiments on a patient of his 

 at St. Thomas's Hospital, the observations referred to are singu- 

 larly wanting in precision of statement and in a due recognition 

 of the precautions needful in order to avoid fallacious or 

 ambiguous results from illusions of the senses. 



This being the case, an attempt is being made by the Society 

 for Psychical Research to ascertain — by direct and careful ex- 

 periment, extending over a wide range of individuals — whether 

 any trustworthy evidence really exists on behalf of a distinct 

 magnetic sense. The sectional Committee of that Society in- 

 trusted with this and cognate work has published a preliminary 

 report,' which contains a fragment of evidence pointing in the 

 direction of the existence of a magnetic sense in certain indi- 

 viduals. Three persons have been found by the Committee, 

 who, when their heads were placed near the poles of a powerful 

 electromagnet, could tell by their sensations when the magnet was 

 e.Kcited or not. One of these "sensitives " told the investigating 

 Committee accurately twenty-one times running whether the 

 current was "on" or "off" from a peculiar and unpleasant 

 sensation he alleges that he experienced across his forehead. 

 Every precaution that suggested itself was taken to prevent the 

 subjects gaining any information through the ordinary channels 

 of sensation of what was being done at the contact-breaker 

 placed in another room. But I am sure the Committee will 

 gratefully welcome any criticism of their procedure or sugges- 

 tions for future experiment vvhich Sir William Thomson may 

 feel inclined to give. The honorary secretary of the Committee 

 is Mr. W. H. Coffin, Cornwall Gardens, S.W. 



Two or three months ago one of the gentlemen who appeared 

 to have this magnetic sense was in Dublin, and I took the 

 opportunity of repeating with care in my own laboratory the 

 experiments previously made at the Society's rooms in London. 

 The result satisfied me that this individual did in general expe- 

 rience a peculiar sensation, which he describes as unpleasant, 

 when his head was within the field of a powerful magnet. 

 Nevertheless the keenness of his magnetic sense, if such it be, 

 varied considerably on different days, and sometimes he stated 

 that he could detect little or no sensory effect. Usually the 

 effect was felt most strongly when the forehead was in the line 

 joining the two poles ; but one day, when he was suffering froui 

 facial neuralgia, he found that his face was the most sensitive 

 part, and complained of a sudden increase of pain w henever the 

 magnet was excited, his face being near the poles. Sufferers 

 from neuralgia among the students of science may therefore have 

 a new and useful career before them, in the pursuit of which 



' Proceedings of thc'^Society'/or Psychical Research, Part 3. (Trubner 

 and Co.) 



