April 2^, 1884J 



NA TURE 



may not .let lill the cloud is discharged. Consider a clovtd elec- 

 irified slightly; the mists and clouds in its vicinity begin to 

 coagulate, and go on till large drops are formed, which may be 

 held U[) by electrical action, the drops dancing from one cloud to 

 another and thus forming the very dense thunder-cloud. The 

 coagulation of charged drops increases the potential, as Prof. Tait 

 points out, until at length — flash — the cloud is discharged and 

 the large drops fall in a violent shower. Moreover, the rapid 

 e.xcui-sion to and fro of the drops may easily have caused them to 

 evaporate so fast as to freeze, and hence we may get hail. 



While the cloud was electrified, it acted inductively on the 

 earth underneath, drawing up an opposite charge from all points, 

 and thu.-; electrifying the atmosphere. Wlien the discharge 

 occurs this atmospheric electrification engages with the earth, 

 clearing the air between, and driving the dust and germs on to 

 all exposed surfaces. In some such way also it may be that 

 •'thunder turns milk sour," and exerts other putrefactive in- 

 fluences on the bodies which receive the germs and dust from the 

 air. 



But we are now no longer on safe and thoroughly explored 

 territory. I have allowed myself to found upon a basis of experi- 

 mental fact a superstructure of practical application to the 

 explanation of the phenomena of nature and to the uses of man. 

 The basis seems to me strong enough to bear most of the super- 

 structure, but before being sure it will be necessary actually to 

 put the methods into operation and to experiment on a very large 

 scale. I hope to do this when I can get to a suitable place of 

 operation. Liverpool fogs are poor affairs, and not worth clear- 

 ing off. Manchester fogs are much better and more frequent, 

 but there is nothing to beat the real article as found in London, 

 and in London if possible I intend to rig up some large machines 

 and to see what happens. The underground railway also offers 

 its suffocating murkiness as a most tempting field for experiment, 

 and I wish I were able already to tell you the actual result 

 instead of being only in a position to indicate possibilities. 

 Whether anything comes of it practically or not, it is an in- 

 structive example of how the smallest and most unpromising 

 beginnings may, if only followed up long enough, lead to 

 suggestions for large practical application. When we began the 

 investigation into the dust-free spaces found above warm bodies 

 we were not only without expectation, but without hope or idea 

 of any sort, that anything practical was likely to come of it : the 

 phenomenon itself possessed its own interest and charm. 



And so it must ever be. The devotee of pure science never 

 has practical developments as his primary aim ; often he not only 

 does not know, but does not in the least care, whether his re- 

 searches will ever lead to any beneficial result. In some minds 

 this passive ignoring of the practical goes so far as to become 

 active repulsion ; so that some singularly biased minds will not 

 engage in anything which seems likely to lead to practical use. 

 I regard this as an error, and as the sign of a warped judgment, 

 for after all man is to us the most important part of Nature ; 

 hut the system works well nevertheless, and the division 

 of labour accomplishes its object. One man investigates 

 Nature impelled simply by his own genius and because he feels 

 he cannot help it : it never occurs to him to give a reason for or 

 to justify his pursuits. Another subsequently utilises his results, 

 and applies them to the benefit of the race. Meanwhile, however, 

 it may happen that the yet una])plied and unfruitful results 

 evoke a sneer, and the question, " Cui bono ? " the only answer 

 to which question seems to be : No one is wise enough to tell 

 beforehand what gigantic developments may not spring from the 

 most insignificant fact. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Oxford. — The following are the University and College lec- 

 tures in natural science for the summer term : — 



In the Physical Department of the Museum Prof. Clifton lec- 

 tures on the instruments and methods of measurement employed 

 in optics ; Mr. Heaton lectures on problems in elementary 

 physics ; and practical instruction is given by the Professor and 

 Messrs. Heaton and Walker. At Christ Church Mr. Baynes 

 lectures on conduction of heat, and gives practical instruction on 

 llie measurements of electricity and magnetism ; at Balliol Mr. 

 Dixon lectures on elementary electricity and magnetism. 



In the Chemical Department of the Museum Dr. Odiing will 

 hold an informal discussion on chemical constitution, Mr. 

 Fisher lectures on inorganic and Dr. Watts on organic 



chemistry. At Christ Church Mr. Harcourt lectures on quanti- 

 tative analysis and Mr. Veley on the relation between the 

 physical properties and the constitution of organic compounds. 



In the Morphological Department of the Museum Prof. 

 Moseley lectures on the relations of the anthropoid apes and 

 man, Mr. S. Hickson on the embryology of the chick, Mr. 

 Jackson on Osteological Types, Mr. Poulton on Descriptive 

 Histology, Mr. Morgan on Odontography, and Mr. Barclay- 

 Thompson on the Anatomy of the Sauropsida. 



In the Physiological Department Prof. Burdon- Sanderson lec- 

 tures on the Chemical Processes of the Animal Body ; at Mag- 

 dalen Mr. Yule lectures on Practical Physiology. 



Prof. Prestwich lectures on the Strata in the Neighbourhood 

 of Oxford, and gives practical instruction in the field on the days 

 following his lectures. 



Prof. Gilbert will give an introductory lecture on May 6, 

 on the Sources of the Constituents of Plants — the Soil, the 

 Atmosphere. Dr. Tylor lectures on the Development of Arts 

 and Sciences. 



Prof. Pritchard concludes his course on the Planetary Theory, 

 and will give a public lecture on his recent journey to Egypt in 

 order to measure the absorptive power of the atmosphere on the 

 light of the stars. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



American Journal of Science, April. — Recent explorations in 

 the Wappinger Valley limestone of Duchess County, New York, 

 by Prof. William B. Dwight. To the paper is appended a plate 

 of the Wappinger Valley fossils. — Description of the Kettle- 

 Holes near Wood's Hall, Massachusetts, with map of the dis- 

 trict showing the positions and direction of the larger diameter 

 of the Holes, by Prof. B. F. Koons. — Ex.amination of Mr. Alfred 

 R. Wallace's modification of the physical theory of secular 

 changes of climate (second paper), by Dr. James Croll. Here 

 the question is studied from the physical standpoint, and it is 

 argued that a geographical change in the crust of the earth is 

 not necessary to remove the Antarctic ice. — A contribution to 

 the geology of Rhode Island (continued), by T. Nelson Dale. — 

 On Mesozoic Dicotyledons (Angiosperms), by Lester F. Ward. 

 — 0.1 the tourmaline and associated minerals of Auburn, Maine, 

 by George F. Kunz. — On andalusite from Gorham, Maine, by 

 the same author. — On the white garnet from Wakefield, Canada, 

 by the same author. — Horizontal motions of small floating bodies 

 in relation to the validity of the postulates of the theory ot 

 capillarity, by John Le Conte. — The principal characters of 

 American Jurassic Dinosaurs ; Part vii., the order Theropod 

 (with plates 8 to 14), by Prof. O. C. Marsh. — A new order of 

 extinct Jurassic reptiles [Macelognatha], (one illustration, M. 

 vagans), by the same author. 



The first article in the ycnmal of Botany for April is a mono- 

 graph, by Dr. Masters, on the singular "umbrella pine" of Japan, 

 SciaJi'pitys verticillata. The most important points which he 

 brings out are that the true leaves of Hciadopitys are the homo- 

 logues of the true or primordial leaves oi Pinus ; that the so- 

 called "needles" of Sciadopitys, although occupying the same 

 relative position as the leaves of Pinus, are not necessarily mor- 

 phologically homologous with them ; and that the bracts of i he 

 cone oi Sciadopitys are homologous with the true leaves of that 

 plant, and also with the bracts of Abietinea; generally. 



The most important article in the Nuovo Giornale Botanico 

 Italiano for January 1SS4 is one by Sig. A. Borzi, on a parasitic 

 crganism of a very low type which he finds in the irdinary 

 cells of Spirogyra crassa, and to which he gives tl e name 

 Protochytrium Spirogyra. In its systematic position it dis- 

 plays, on the one hand, affinities with the Myxomycetes, on the 

 other hand, with such genera of Chytridiacese as IVoronina, 

 Rozella, and Olpidiopsis. The entire absence of a cell-nucleus 

 identifies it, according to the author, with Klein's family of 

 HydromyxaceEe, along with Monas, Vampyrella, Monadopsis, and 

 Protoinyxa. Its ordinary condition is that of a naked mass of 

 protoplasm, endowed with amoeboid movements, and living on 

 the chlorophyllaceous contents of the cells of the host, these 

 Plasmodia having the power of coalescing like myxamoebEe ; but 

 it also has an encysted state, and in certain conditions propagates 

 itself by the production of uniflagellate zoospores. 

 '■' Rendiconti del Rcale Istitnto Lombardo, March 6. — Observa- 

 tions made at Milan on the passage of the atmospheric waves 

 produced by the Krakatoa eruption, by E. G. Schiaparelli. — On 



