G34 



NATURE 



[February 6, 191 3 



Bonney's appendix to the third edition of Darwin's 

 "Coral Reefs" (London, 1889, pp. 310-3:1), but with- 

 out sufficient indication of its value as an independent 

 and therefore important confirmation of Darwin's 

 theory. It is noted by Ivrrimer, who gives it local 

 application in explaining certain bays on the Samoan 

 islands, but without recognising its value in relation 

 to the theory of subsidence in general ("Bau der 

 Korallenriffe," Leipzig, 1897, p. 24). It is quoted by 

 Gardiner, but without understanding of its import- 

 ance, for he adds: "Such evidence when applied to 

 volcanic islands is, I submit, of very doubtful value " 

 (Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc, ix., iS98,'p. 490). Murray 

 does not refer to it ; Agassiz quotes and rejects it 

 in reference to the Marquesas Islands (Mem. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool., xxviii., 1903, p. 5), and does not men- 

 tion it elsewhere. Singularly enough, Darwin him- 

 self refers in the second edition of his book only 

 twice, and then very briefly, to Dana's evidence of 

 subsidence ; both references concern the Marquesas 

 Islands ("Coral Reefs," second edition, London, 1S74, 

 pp. 163, 201). I have found no other passage in 

 which Darwin says a word upon the subject, although 

 his discussion is otherwise marvellously complete. 

 Dana's inference regarding the Marquesas is 'to be 

 found in his report on the geology of the Wilkes 

 Expedition (1S4Q, p. 397), in his "Coral Reefs and 

 Islands" (1853, p. 122), and in his "Corals and Coral 

 Islands" (1872, p. 325; 1890, p. 361). 



Doubtless other earlier writers cited Dana's principle, 

 but it has not yet come to be generally accepted as 

 an essential element in the demonstration that barrier 

 reefs have been formed by subsidence. This is prob- 

 ably because an understanding of the reasonable 

 evolution of coastal forms has not yet taken general 

 possession of the scientific mind, or perhaps because 

 some students of the coral-reef problem still adhere 

 to the obsolete explanation of bays by marine erosion, 

 an explanation that Dana explicitly 'excluded ; can it 

 possibly also be because there is as yet no sul¥icient 

 understanding of the logical principle that a theory, 

 even if it ,be well recommended by explaining the 

 things that it was invented to explain, still needs 

 confirmation by independent, unexpected evidence, 

 before it deserves to be accepted as "demonstrated"? 



Several recent writers on the coral-reef problem, 

 particularly those in Australia, have recognised the 

 value of the evidence for subsidence given bv drowned 

 valleys. The latest of these is Marshall, of Otago, 

 New Zealand. He writes as follows regarding the 

 Society Islands, in his recent essay on " Oceania " in 

 the Haitdbiiclier der rcgiotTaloi Geolo^ie : — "The 

 deep inlets that intersect the coast line . . '. are clearly 

 due to stream erosion. Prolonged marine action 

 would have shallowed or filled them, or at least 

 would have built up bars of coastal debris across the 

 entrances. The author is therefore strongly of opinion 

 that the absence of cliffs at the termination of the 

 radiating spurs, the presence of deep water in the 

 lagoon, and of far-reaching inlets, prove that marine 

 erosion has not had any influence on the form of 

 these islands at th'- present sea-level. . . . Finally, the 

 deep inlets appear to be drowned stream vallevs, and 

 their nature strongly supnorts the belief that the 

 islands have been subjected to an important move- 

 ment of subsidence." 



It is a pleasure to find a colleague who lias a per- 

 son,aj knowledge of coral islands and with whose 

 opinion I can so closely unite, even though we are 

 physically separated by 'the greatest distance that the 

 earth affords. I am glad' to join with him in 

 emnhasisinc the importance of Dana's principle as an 

 independent confirmation of Darwin's theory of coral 

 reefs. W. M.' Davis. 



NO. 2258, VOL. 90] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The readership in forestry will be 

 vacant on March 31 by the resignation of Mr. A. 

 Henry. The general board will in the Easter term 

 appoint a reader. The annual stipend is 400/. Can- 

 didates are requested to send their applications, w'ith 

 such testimonials as they think fit, to the Vice- 

 Chancellor on or before April 15. 



Oxford. — On February 4 the decree providing for 

 the allocation of a site on the south side of the Uni- 

 versity Park for the erection of an engineering labora- 

 tory was not moved. 



The subject of Prof. D'.Xrcy Thompson's Herbert 

 Spencer lecture on February 14 has been altered to 

 "Aristotle as a Biologist." 



Mr. R. H. Moody has been appointed professor 

 of mathematics at the Muir Central College, Alla- 

 habad. 



Mr. F. E. .\rmstrong has been appointed to the 

 professorship of mining in the University of Sheffield 

 in succession to Prof. Hardwick. 



A course of three public lectures on the electrical 

 properties of flames will be delivered in the Physics 

 Theatre of University College, University of London, 

 by Dr. E. N. da C. .Vndrade, on Mondays, February 

 10, 17, and 24, at 5 p.m. 



The first term of the newly formed L'niversity in 

 Western Australia will open in March of this year. 

 Three out of the eight chairs have been filled in 

 England. That of chemistry will be taken by Dr. 

 N."T. M. Wilsmore, and Dr. A. B. Ross will occupy 

 the post of professor of mathematics and physics, 

 both having left for Australia by R.M.S. Moldavia 

 on January 30. Dr. Wilsmore has been associated 

 with the University of London for some time, having 

 held the position of assistant-professor of chemistry 

 at University College. Dr. Ross has been assistant- 

 professor of natural philosophy in the L'niversity of 

 Glasgow. Dr. W. J. Dakin, assistant professor in 

 the department of zoology and comparative anatomy 

 in University College, London, will proceed to 

 Western Australia by R.M.S. Mongolia on February 

 7, to occupy the chair of biology. 



In The Quarterly Journal of Forestry for January 

 Prof. Eraser Storv gives a short account of the School 

 of Forestry at .Selmeczbanya, Hungary. This school, 

 which is about 150 miles north of Budapest, was 

 founded in 1S07, and is thus one of the oldest forestry 

 schools on the Continent. There is also a mining 

 school in the same building, and the combined staff 

 of the two includes twenty professors each with an 

 average of two assistants. No fees are charged ex- 

 cept a registration fee of less than i(. ; on the other 

 hand, liberal scholarships are provided bv the Hun- 

 garian Government conditionally on the holders sub- 

 sequently serving two years in the Government 

 Forestry Department. As for the laboratory equip- 

 ment, even the list of physical apparatus is on the 

 most elaborate scale, the electrical instruments includ- 

 ing galvanometers, amperimeters, voltameters, re- 

 sistanc; boxes, alternating-current generators, trans- 

 formers, rheostats, accumulators, Rontgen-ray appa- 

 ratus, and Ruhmkorff coils giving sparks more than 

 I iS in. long. 



TiiR New Zealand LIniversity Reform Association 



lia^ for some three years been urging on the public 



the need of various reforms, both in the constitution 



I of the Senate and of the governing bodies of the four 



, affilinted colleges, as well as in the method of 



