248 



NA TURE 



{Jan. 13, 1887 



occurrence as upon the theory of physiological selection we should 

 have antecedently expected. Looking to the great sensitiveness 

 of the reproductive system, to the many and the varied causes 

 which affect it, to the frequency with which these causes must 

 have been encountered under Nature, to the fact that whenever 

 a collective variation occurs of the kind which induces phy- 

 siological selection it must almost certainly leave a new species 

 to record the fact — looking to all these things, the only real 

 difficulty is to explain why, if physiological selection has ever 

 acted at all, it should only have done so at such comparatively 

 rare intervals, and therefore have produced such a comparatively 

 small measure of result. If my critics had adopted this line of 

 argtmient I should have experienced more difficulty in meeting 

 them. But, as the case now stands, it seems enough to remark 

 that I do not know of any way in which an adverse criticism 

 admits of being more thoroughly exploded, than by showing that 

 the difficulty which it undertakes to present is the precise opposite 

 of the one with which an author is in his own mind, and at that 

 very time, contending. 



" Seeing how remarkable has been the misunderstanding dis- 

 played by such competent readers as Mr. Wallace and Mr. 

 Seebohm — a misunderstanding on which they both found their 

 only objection to my theory — I should have been compelled to 

 suppose that my paper failed in clearness of expression, were it 

 not that (as above shown) they have disregarded the literal 

 construction of my sentences. Nevertheless, it is probable enough 

 that I may not have sufficiently guarded against a misunderstand- 

 ing which it never occurred to me that any one was likely to 

 make. For I supposed that all readers would have perceived at 

 least that the main feature of the theory is what my paper states 

 it to be — namely, that sterility with parent forms is one of the 

 conditions, and not always one of thi remits, of specific 

 differentiation. But, if so, is it not evident that all causes which 

 induce sterility with parent forms are comprised by the theory, 

 whether these causes happen to affect a few individuals 

 sporadically, a number of individuals simultaneously, or even 

 the majority of an entire species ? " 



George J. Romanes 



Meteor of December 28, 1886 



The meteor referred to by your correspondent "J. M. H.' 

 (Nature, January 6, p. 224) was also observed at Bristol at 

 I oh. 28m. The path was from 95° -I- 9V' to 1064° - 6°. A train 

 of sparks was thrown off from the nucleus as it slowly fell. 



Comparing the apparent course of the meteor as recorded at 

 Sidmouth and Bristol, it is evident that its radiant-point was at 

 about 77° -I- 30°, near ;8 Tauri. It belonged to a shower which 

 appears to have a very extended duration, and has been specially 

 referred to, with diagrams, in Nature, vol. xxxi. p. 463. 



This recent meteor affords unmistakable proof that the radiant 

 near /8 Tauri continues active until the end of the year. The 

 relative paths at Sidmouth and Bristol show that the meteor 

 was about 97 statute miles high at its first appearance over a 

 point in the English Channel some 28 miles off the Isle of 

 Wight. Moving with a very slight inclination west of north, it 

 disappeared 10 miles south-west of Niton, Isle of Wight, when 

 39 miles high. It traversed a path of 62 miles at an inclination 

 of 69° to the earth's surface. 



The duration of the meteor was about three seconds, so that 

 its velocity appears to have exceeded 20 miles per second, which 

 is greater thin that of a body moving in a parabola, though the 

 difference may quite possibly have been induced by observa- 

 tional errors. As regards visible effect, the meteor can lay no 

 claim to the dignity of a fire-ball, but it is one of considerable 

 interest as belonging to the remarkable display of ;3 Taurids. 



Bristol, January 7 W. F. Denning 



The Production of Ozone 



I SHAH, be much obliged if you can inform me through your 

 paper — 



(i) What apparatus would be most conveniently and easily 

 worked by ordinary persons for the production of ozone in a 

 room? I have tried a four-cell Smee's battery with a Siemens' 

 ozone tube. This produces the required quantity of ozone, and 

 works well in the hands of people used to scientific apparatus, 

 but the general manipulation (especially as regards keeping 

 the battery in working order) is above most people. 



(2) Is there any battery you know that would give good 



results and be easily worked by people wholly unused to scien- 

 tific apparatus (domestic servants for instance) ? The quantity 

 required is what would keep the air of an ordinary sitting-room, 

 say 18 X 16 X II feet so charged, that ozone would be always 

 juit sensible to the smell. 



I see by the advertisements of the hotels in the Engadine, 

 that the air in their corridors is kept constantly ozonised. (3) 

 Could they adapt their electric light dynamos for this purpose? 

 (4) If so, how? 



I may say I have no " trade purpose " in making these queries. 

 I am a sufferer from phthisis, and find relief in the inhalation of 

 ozone, but I want an apparatus that I could leave to my servants 

 to manage. W. H. 



" Brading," Madeira Road, Bournemouth 



JOHN ARTHUR PHILLIPS, F.R.S. 



"D Y the sudden death of this chemist and inetallurgist 

 -•-' on the 5th inst. geology loses one of its ablest 

 leaders in a department where the labourers are not very 

 numerous here, and at the same time one of the kindliest 

 and most helpful among the students of science. Mr. 

 Phillips was born in Cornwall, and among the metalliferous 

 rocks of that county began the scientific researches which 

 he has since prosecuted with so much success. Having 

 early shown his taste for mining and metallurgy, he, was 

 sent to obtain his training in these subjects at the Ecole 

 des Mines of Paris. As far back as 1841 he began to 

 contribute papers to the scientific journals. His e.arly 

 essays were almost wholly devoted to chemical and metal- 

 lurgical subjects. His studies among the Californian gold- 

 fields, however, led him to investigate wider questions in 

 physical geology. By degrees he turned into the domain 

 of petrography, and for the last sixteen years it has been 

 mainly in that branch of science that his original researches 

 have been carried on. His papers on the eruptive rocks of 

 the south-west of England are admirable illustrations of 

 the value of the union of chemical and mineralogical 

 qualifications in petrographical inquiry. Most of his time 

 during the last two or three years had been devoted to the 

 production of large and important treatises. Of these his 

 volume on " Ore Deposits," published in 1884, has taken 

 its place as a standard English work of reference. At the 

 time of his death he was busy with the preparation of a 

 new edition and expansion of a work on " Metallurgy," 

 which he had published when still a young man. In this 

 task he had associated Mr. Bauerman with himself, in 

 whoie competent hands the volume is sure to see the light 

 in a form worthy of its author's reputation. Those who 

 were personally acquainted with Mr. Phillips, while they 

 lament the loss to science which his sudden death has 

 inflicted, mourn still more the extinction of a life of 

 singular simplicity, earnestness, and kindliness. He was 

 a large-hearted and open-handed man, fond of taking 

 every chance that came in his way of doing a good deed 

 and helping every one to whom his help could be of 

 service. 



BOTANICAL FEDERATION IN THE WEST 

 INDIES 



IN the nearest of our tropical colonial possessions, which 

 comprise the group of islands generally known as 

 the West Indies, the dominant industry for the last 

 hundred years has been that of the sugar-cane. Sugar and 

 rum are indissolubly connected with these islands, and, 

 under the circumstances which existed fifty years ago, 

 there is no doubt that lowlands in the West Indies were 

 better suited for the remunerative culture and growth of 

 the sugar-cane than any other plant. Owing to a variety 

 of causes, among which the abolition of slavery and the 

 extension of sugar plantations in other lands are the chief, 

 sugar-growing in the West Indies has suffered numerous 

 reverses of fortune. Latterly, the difficulties of planters 



