Jjily 4, 1872" 



NATURE 



191 



THE SCIENTIFIC RELATIONS OF GERMANY, 

 FRANCE, AND ENGLAND 



THE following extracts from'M. Berlhelot's recent excellent 

 . article in the Temps, on the Relations which should exist 

 between Germany and France, are taken from a recent number 

 of the Pharmaceutical Jcuriial : — 



We know that modem civilisation depends upon three nations, 

 ■which should at all times and at any cost remain united — namely, 

 France, Germany, and England, each wich its peculiar genius 

 and its share in the historic development of the human race. 

 From the seventeenth century each of these nations has taken an 

 active and prominent part in the progress of science. 



To speak first of physical and mathematical sciences. Though 

 the initiative was due principally to a few men of other countries 

 — Galileo, an Italian, and Copernicus, a Pole, being the founders 

 of modem astronomy and mechanics — yet the development of 

 these sciences was concentrated chiefly in France, Germany, and 

 England. In France, Descartes discovered the methods of geo- 

 metric analysis, which have proved more durable than his 

 philosophical and cosmogonical theories. In Germany, Kepler 

 invented the laws of planetaiy movement ; and Leibnitz, who 

 by education and the clearness of his conceptions was perhaps 

 more French than German, laid down the rules of the differential 

 calculus under a form in which they still exist amongst us. At 

 the same time, England produced Newton, greater, perhaps, in 

 the science of nature than either Descartes, Kepler, or Leibnitz ; 

 for Newton discovered both new methods of calculation and the 

 laws of astronomy, and since his time we have scarcely done 

 more than develop his ideas and doctrines in studying the move- 

 ment of the stars. 



This same concourse of the three great nations of modern times 

 is seen also in the foundation of chemical science, which in the 

 present day plays so important a part, whether it be in the theories 

 relative to atoms and tlie constitution of matter, to the formation 

 of stars and of the successive layers of the terrestrial globe, to 

 the origin of life itself ; or, on the other hand, in the applications 

 of human industry, dealing with metals, colouring matters, 

 remedies, agriculture, and manufactures. 



Towards the end of the eighteenth, and at the commencement 

 of the nineteenth centuries, chemistry was established upon a 

 durable basis, after having floated during nearly two thousand 

 years amongst mystical, obscure, and incoherent notions. It was 

 a Frenchman, Lavoisier, who fixed these indecisive ideas, by the 

 definite principle of the stability of matter, invariable in the 

 nature and weight of its simple bodies. Perhaps, as has been 

 asserted, Lavoisier did not discover any particular fact; but, ac- 

 cording to Aristotle, principles and causes are things which are 

 of more scientific importance, for by them we arrive at other 

 knowledge. Now Lavoisier discovered the fundamental principle 

 of chemistry ; the science dates from him. 



Is this saying that Lavoisier divined all, perceived all, traced 

 for all time the plan of chemical science? Not at all; no more 

 than that Newton alone founded astronomy. For this the in- 

 evitable concourse of the great nations was required. Whilst 

 Lavoisier publislied his immortal researches, the English Priestley 

 and Cavendish discovered the principal gases and the nature of 

 water — inventions that were seized immediately by Lavoisier to 

 support his theory. The -Swedish .Scheele brought also his 

 precious contingent to the common work. Some years after- 

 wards, an Englishman of genius, Humphry Davy, completed 

 the edifice by the discovery of the alkaline metals, which he 

 obtained by the application to chemical decompositions of the 

 pile I'ecently discovered by a great Italian, Volta. 



Germany equally marked its place in the foundation of the 

 new science. It was in the law of numbers that its work was 

 principally characterised : Richter, Wenzel, and the great V>er- 

 zelius (a Swede) established the law of chemical equivalents, 

 that is to say, a law as general and as absolute in chemistry as 

 the law of Newton in astronomy. It is remarkable that the 

 part of the Germans in this discovery has been principally ex- 

 perimental and practical, contrary to the opinion generally re- 

 ceived of German genius. On the contrary, the atomic theory, 

 properly so-called, of a character more abstract and more 

 litigious, is dueto.an Englishman, Dalton ; whilst its demon- 

 stration by the physical study of the gases has been accomplished 

 by a Frenchman, Gay-Lussac. This shows that the geniuses of 

 the European races are not so different as has been asserted. 

 Give them a common and equally high culture, and from each 

 will proceed inventions equally original. 



This conjunction of Germany, France, and England is to be 

 seen in every great epoch in the history of modern science. The 

 demonstration could be carried down to the present lime, proving 

 that neither of these three nations has degenerated from its past : 

 the doctrine of substitutions, the theory of the ethers, that of 

 the polyatomic alcohols, dissociation, the idea of organic fer- 

 ments, the methods of synthesis of organic principles, have been 

 principally established by P'rench discoveries ; the theory of the 

 radicals and that of the polyatomic elements are rather to be 

 attributed to German discoveries ; whilst the electro-chemical 

 theory and the method of double decompositions have been in- 

 vented in England. Finally, the great doctrine of the equiva- 

 lence of the natural forces, more particularly designated under 

 the name of the mechanical theory of heat, was first discerned 

 by a German, Mayer, and an Englishman, Joule. Developed 

 afterwards by a German mathematician, it has been established 

 in chemistry principally by the experiments of French, English, 

 and Danish scientific men. But it would not be wise to dilate 

 upon the science of the present day ; we are too near to it, and 

 are too much engaged in it, for any estimate to escape suspicion 

 of partiality. 



In looking back over this short sketch of the progress of the 

 science with which I am best acquainted, I would not ignore the 

 part of Italy, which in the past was so great (may it resume its 

 importance in the future!), nor that of the United States, nor of 

 Russia. But, I repeat, the initiative of the ideas and discoveries 

 has rested for more two centuries in the bosom of three nations 

 — English, French, and German. Their union and their reci- 

 procal sympathy is indispensable, under the penalty of a general 

 loss to civilisation. 



INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING BIRDS' 

 EGGS "■ 



T WISH to say a few words for the benefit of those engaged in 

 -'• collecting ijological specimens. 



Twenty years ago all eggs were blown with two holes — one 

 at each end, and until within ten years most eggs have been 

 emptied witli two holes as above, or at the side. Very many of 

 the eggs which I now receive in my exchanges are similarly pre- 

 pared. At the present time no experienced collector ever makes 

 but one hole to remove the contents of the egg, ushig a blowpipe 

 in some form to accomplish this object. The following rules 

 should invariably be followed : — 



1. Prepare your eggs neat and clean. There is no excuse for 

 having a dirty set of eggs where water, soap, and a tooth-brush 

 can be found. Some eggs will not bear washing, as the shell is 

 so calcareous that the characteristic markings will wash away. 

 There are, however, but few of this class, and I believe this 

 peculiarity is confined to the water-birds. You can see it in any 

 of thespecies (Smithsonian Catalogue) from 615 to 62S inclusive, 

 and also in the eggs of the Grebes and Flamingo, and some 

 others. Having once seen it you will never mistake it for any- 

 tliing else. 



2. Make but one hole, and that a small one in the middle of 

 the egg ; cover this hole, when the contents are removed, and the 

 specimen is dry, with gold-beater skin or the paper number indi- 

 cating the bird. Use an egg drill or a pointed wire of four or six 

 sides to make the opening. 



3. If the blowpipe does not readily remove the contents of the 

 egg, inject water and shake the specimen thoroughly, then blow 

 again, and repeat the operation until every particle of the egg is 

 removed. 



4. If the embryo is too far advanced to remove through a 

 moderate sized hole, blow out what you can of the liquid part 

 and fill the egg with water, wipe it dry and put it away in a 

 covered box in some warm place, and every twenty-four or forty- 

 eight hours shako it well and remove what you can, and tlien re- 

 fill with water. Repeat this operation several times, and after a 

 few days the contents will become sufficiently decomposed to take 

 away. 



5. After removing the contents of any egg, cleanse the shell 

 thoroughly. Fill it with clean water and shake vigorously, blow 

 out the contents and repeat the operation until the specimen is 

 perfectly clean. This is particularly desirable in white eggs, as 

 black spots will show through the shell after a time if the least 

 particle of the egg or blood stains remains inside. 



* By William Wood, M.D. Reprinted from the American Nattiralist. 



