I82 



NATURE 



[October io, 191 2 



that the rhythm thus established may be maintainec 

 for a certain time under uniform conditions of illu- 

 mination. This is the case with the sensitive plant 

 and many another. 



Animals also exhibit a like periodicity. Thus some 

 years ago iDr. Gamble and I showed that certain 

 shrimp-like animals, Hippolyte varians, roll up their 

 brilliant chroma tophores at night and assume a sky- 

 blue colour. When daylight comes they put on their 

 daytime dress by spreading out the pigment of their 

 rhromatophores in far-reaching superficial networks. 

 Kept in the dark, these animals retain for many days 

 this periodic habit, and when the hour of night arrives, 

 although thev have no light to tell it by, they lay 

 aside their daily garb and put on the uniform of 

 night. .So also the plant-animal Convohita roscoff- 

 ensia. which lives on the seashore, orders its behaviour 

 by the sun and moon. It lies on the sand till the 

 waves of the making tide are upon it, and then 

 descends to security and darkness. When the tide 

 recedes it rises to the light. Even the uncongenial 

 surroundings of a teacup and a laboratory fail to 

 break this habit ; for in these surroundings its up- 

 risings and down-lyings keep time with the tides. 



To one who has scrutinised with perplexed mind 

 these mysteries of biology, the speculation mav be 

 permitted that light and darkness may work these 

 wonders through the control of chemical agents such 

 as oxvdases. But though it be legitimate to make a 

 soeculation of this kind, it is idle to hunt the un- 

 known to the death without the lethal weapon of 

 evperiment, and so T leave it for the present un- 

 Dursued, and with it my address. We have it on the 

 authoritv of a poet and philosopher that to the traveller 

 on a lonely road each bush becomes a bear, and I am 

 not oblivious of the fact that oxydases have obtruded 

 themselves with a certain obstinacv in the course of 

 my address. Nevertheless, obsession has its uses and 

 significance, for it is the after-effect of enthusiasm ; 

 md though I have dealt, perhaps at undue length, 

 "ith special problems and with suggestions, I venture 

 to think that I have made out my case for the oppor- 

 tuneness of an entente cordiale between phvsiology 

 and Mendelism. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Camhridge. — The Henry Sidgwick memorial lecture 

 at Newnham College will be given by Prof. Ward in 

 the College Hall on .Saturday, November g, at 5 p.m., 

 and will be open to all. The' subject will be " Heredity 

 and Memory." 



The prize of 50I. out of the Gordon Wigan Fund for 

 a research in chemistry has been awarded to D. H. 

 Peacock, of Trinity College, for investigations on 

 " Hydroxvhvdrindenehydrazine and its Resolution," 

 " I : 2 : 4-Trikptopentamethylene," and "The Theory 

 of Molecular Volumes." 



The next combined examination for fifty-seven en- 

 trance scholarships and a large number of exhibitions, 

 at Pembroke, Gonville and Caius, Jesus, Christ's, 

 St. John's, and Emmanuel Colleges, will be held 

 on Tuesday, December 3, and following days. 

 Mathematics, classics, natural sciences, and history 

 will be the subjects of examination at all the above- 

 mi>ntioned colleges. A candidate for a scholarship or 

 exhibition at any of the six colleges must not be 

 more than nineteen years of age on October i, iqi2. 

 Forms of application for admission to the examina- 

 tion at the respective colleges mav be obtained as 

 follows :— Pembroke Colleee, The 'Master; Gonville 

 and Caius College, the Master; Jesus College, A. 

 Gray; Christ's College, the Master; St. John's Col- 

 NO. 2241, VOL. 90] 



lege, the Master ; Emmanuel College, the Master ; 

 from any of whom further information respecting the 

 scholarships and other matters connected w.ith the 

 several colleges may be obtained. The forms of appli- 

 cation must be sent in on or before Saturday, Novem- 

 ber 23. 



Colonel Harding, of Madingley Hall, has offered to 

 the Vice-Chancellor to hand over to the University a 

 sum which will produce an annual income of between 

 50/. and 60Z. a year, to be devoted to the payment of 

 a lectureship in zoology. 



A SERIES of (en free public lectures upon natural 

 history, folk-lore, and related subjects will be given 

 in the ne\v I^ecture Hall of the Horniman Museum, 

 Forest Hill, S.E., at 3.30 o'clock on Saturday after- 

 noons, commencing October 12. 



It is stated in Science that at the September meet- 

 ing of the Yale Corporation it was announced that 

 since the last meeting three wills have been filed for 

 probate from which Yale University will probably 

 receive during the year about 150,000?. These be- 

 quests include 50,000/., unrestricted, bv bequest of 

 Mr. Matthew CD. Borden, and the McPherson fund 

 of between 80,000/. and ioo,oooL, "to be employed in 

 assisting worthy indigent students." 



A COPY of the second issue of the " Register of Old 

 Students of the Royal College of Science, London," 

 compiled bv the Old Students' Association, has been 

 leceived. An excellently reproduced photograph of 

 Sir William Crookes, O.M., F.R.S., the president of 

 the association, serves as a frontispiece to the register. 

 The names of 876 old students are given ; of these 729 

 are associates of the college, and in their cases the 

 subjects in which they took their diplomas are 

 enumerated. Copies of the register may be obtained, 

 price IS. net, from Messrs. Lamley and Co., Exhibi- 

 tion Road, South Kensington. 



The Secretary of State for India in Council has 

 made the following appointments to the Indian Educa- 

 tional Service : — Dr. W. N. F. Woodland to be pro- 

 fessor of zoology at the Muir Central College, Alla- 

 habad; Dr. .\. N. Meldrum to be professor of physics 

 and chemistry at the Institute of Science, Ahmedabad ; 

 Mr. W. S. Rowlands to be professor of philosophy at 

 the Government College, Jubbulpore ; Mr. G. H. Luce 

 to be professor of English at the Government College, 

 Rangoon ; and Mr. C. S. Gibson to be additional pro- 

 fessor of chemistrv at his Highness the Maharaja's 

 College, Trfvandrum, in the Travancore State Service. 



At the University of Leeds on October 3 honorary 

 degrees were conferred upon Mr. Arthur Cooper, 

 president of the Iron and Steel Institute ; Sir Robert 

 Hadfield, F.R.S., a past president of the institute; 

 M. Adolphe Greiner, of Liege; Herr Friedrich Spring- 

 orum and Mr. J. E. Stead, F.R.S., members of the 

 council of the institute; Mr. Corbet Woodall, Mr. 

 Charles Carpenter, and Mr. Thomas Newbigging, for 

 their services to science in the gas industry; and Sir 

 Swire Smith, Mrs. R. W. Eddison, Mr. W. E. Gar- 

 forth, and the Rev. W. H. Keeling, headmaster of 

 Bradford Grammar School, for their services to science 

 and education in Yorkshire. 



The students of forestry in Edinburgh L^niversity, 

 as part of their practical training, have during August 

 and September been camping out at the Drumbuick 

 Wood, Methven. Perthshire, and part of the Logie- 

 almond estate of the Earl of Mansfield, so as to have 

 the opportunity of measuring timber". The trees were 

 principally Scots pine, larch, and spruce, and these 

 were numbered and measured. The accessible trees 

 were dealt with in detail in lo-ft. sections, while 



