76 



NATURE 



IJl/ay 27, 1 8 So 



that "such freedom actually exists ; " and that "the vei7 condi- 

 tion for its existence is seen to be the prevalence of that strict 

 causal sequence in nature demanded by the Neces-itarians." But 

 although the suggested reconciliation shows all this, it fails to 

 extend to the upholders of Free Will the relief which they most 

 require, for the procuring of which their doctrine was conceived, 

 and for the continuance of which their doctrine is continued, 

 notwithstanding the manifest and manifolil absurdities which it 

 involves. That the supposed reconciliation here fails, seems 

 almost too obvious to require shov\ ing. The more certainly it 

 can be proved that every volition is the result of definite causes, 

 and therefore that the character — even in that part of it which is 

 formed by all previous volitions — is also the result of definite 

 causes, the less possibility is there of justifying the sense of 

 Responsibility. 



Unless it can be shown that a man is responsible for the character 

 of his character it is nonsense to speak of him as responsible for 

 his actions, when the-e are determined by his volitions, which, 

 in turn, are determined by his character. Can it, then, be shown 

 that a man is responsible for the character of his character? 

 Obviously not, either upon Clifford's view or any other. It is 

 futile to speak of a man as " the architect of his own character " ; 

 for, according to the hypothesis before us, he is nothing of the 

 kind : his chiracter has been bu It up stage by stage, first by 

 hereditary transmission, next by numberless unintentional influ- 

 ences acting both from within and from without, and lastly by 

 numberless acts of volition, every one of which was strictly de- 

 termined by causes, and therefore was what it was by way of 

 inevitable necessity. It follows, therefore, that the supposed 

 reconciliation between Free Will and Necessity tends rather to 

 emphasise than to diminish the difficulty ; it shows more clearly 

 than ever that the sense of Re-.ponsibility, and the correlative 

 sense of Praie or Blame, are alike incapable of any logical justi- 

 fication. No doubt the sense of Responsibility, the love of 

 Praise, and the dread of Blame act as powerful motives to voli- 

 tion ; but this fact clearly does not justify either the feeling of 

 responsibility in him who acts, or the feeling of approval or dis- 

 approval in him who obser\'es. 



But it is of importance also to see that it is quite as impossible 

 to justify these feelings by the doctrine of Free Will as it is by 

 the doctrine of Necessity. For if volitions are uncaused, or but 

 partly .and irregularly caused, it is clear that neither moral 

 responsibility, nor praise, nor blame can attach to the unfortunate 

 man whose actions are not guided even by the hand of Providence, 

 but occur by way of inexplicable caprice. 



What, then, it cannot but be asked, is the psychological 

 explanation of these deeply-rooted feelings of Responsibility, 

 Praise, and Blame, which can never be eradicated by any evi- 

 dence of their irrationality ? Tome it appears the only answer 

 is that these feelings have been gradually formed as instincts, 

 which, while undoubtedly of much benefit to the race, are 

 destitute of any rational justification. George J. Romanes 



The Inevitable Test for Aurora 



Lv Nature, vol. xxii. p. 33, is an implication, if not also a 

 declaration, that the limits of height in the atmosphere, at which 

 the Aurora Borcalis both can, and cannot, appear, have been 

 ascertained by those world-respected scientists, Messrs. Warren 

 De La Rue and Hugo W. Miiller, F.R.S.S. both. The skill of 

 their experiments, the sufiiciency of their exhausting apparatus, 

 and the power of their unequalled chloride of silver battery are 

 beyond all que tion; and they did, without doubt, ascertain in 

 a very complete manner at what particular degrees of rarefaction 

 of certain glass vessels, their electric discharges therein, took 

 such and such appearances. 



But what proof do they give that those appearances were 

 aurora ? 



They mention carmine-coloured discharges in the denser air, 

 salmon-coloured in more rarefied, and pale milky white in the 

 highest rarefaction of alL But those colours, as judged of merely 

 by the eye, are little proof in themselves of the presence of 

 one and one only out of a number, of different tilings, ele- 

 ments, or manifestations somewhat similarly coloured. So 

 that although I would not presume to be too confident of the 

 sufiiciency of the test I am about to set before those eminent 

 men, still, as I was obliged to have the honour of presenting it to 

 that admirable electric philosopher, M. Gaston de Plante, of 

 Paris, three years ago, when he described with his equally 

 wondrous collection of "secondary" galvanic-battery pots and 



currents of terrific intensity, the aurora-like effects it produced — 

 impartial justice demands the same te.-t to be presented now to 

 our best physicists on the west of the British Channel. 



Now the test is simply this : did. the F.R.S.S. gentlemen see 

 in their electric lights the late M. Angstrom's one citron line of 

 aurora ? — that line being so invaluable an indication of aurora's 

 presence, though hitherto uninterpreted (see Rand Capron's 

 laborious bo:)k of Aurora;^) ; and without which strange linear 

 hieroglyph written from Creation must legibly on its forehead, 

 no aurora has ever yet been seen by mortal man properly equipped 

 for the occasion. And, inasmuch as the learned F.R.S.S. speak 

 of so many variations of red — as carmine, rose, and salmon 

 colours of various kinds — while I had the opportunity of calling 

 attention in Nature in 1872 to the remarkable fact that maugre 

 all the violent variations of auroral red to the eye on that occasion, 

 there was only one and the same red line in the spectroscope 

 through every one of them — did the London scientists see that 

 unique red auroral line manifesting itself through all their various 

 artificial reddish tints ; or, had each tint a line or lines peculiar 

 to itself ; or was there no red line whatever to be seen, though 

 they looked for it never so earnestly ; or is that crucial part of 

 their experiment described elsewhere than in Nature, vol. xxii. 

 p. 33 ? Pi.^zzi Smyth 



15, Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, May 17 



Variability of 60 Cancri 



I FOUND the above to be a red star in 1S74, and the Rev. Mr. 

 ^Yebb, in the same year, made independently a similar observa- 

 tion. It appeared to me of S magnitude, as it did also to Mr. 

 Webb. It is numbered 212 in my J\ed Star. Catalo^iie, where, 

 considering Argelander's previous estim-.te of about 6 mag., I 

 remarked that it might be variable. This appears now certain, 

 as on April 27 of the present year, and again on May 17, 1 found 

 the star to be 5 mag. and red-orange in colour. Dr. Copeland, 

 of Dunecht, replying to a letter on the subject, informs me that 

 on referring to vr.rious authorities, he finds estimates of the star's 

 magnitude from 5 by Lalande to 7 by Bessel, and in W. B. it is 

 marked 8. As I have seen it in both extremes, the recorded 

 differences cannot be ascribed to inaccuracies in different observers, 

 and I must regard the star as a remarkable variable well worth 

 special notice. It is now passing away from us, but I saw it so 

 late as May 17 in very bright tvvilignt, and its proximity to Alpha 

 gives facilities for estimations of colour and magnitude. 



Millbrook, Tuam, May 21 John Birmingham 



Notes ot the Cuckoo 



I REMARK that all the cuckoos here intone in a minor key, 

 except one, who alone does not flatten the 3rd of the tonic. 

 The key is in all cases precisely D of concert pitch, as proved 

 by a tuning-fork, and the first note is F on the fifth line. In 

 quality of voice the Major is not equal to the others, while he 

 affects a certain jerkiness of style that in no small degree 

 deteriorates his performance. It also wants the plaintive effect 

 of the minor key. I confess I am not very learned in these 

 matters, and a major cuckoo may not be so rare a bird on the 

 earth after all ; bitt I do not recollect ever having noticed one 

 before. All the other cuckoos that I have remarked were 

 minors, and, whatever may be the reason of the distinction, I 

 cannot, at least, regard it as connected with difference of sex. 



Some years ago I wrote to Nature concerning a cuckoo who 

 used to surprise me with a third note interposed between the 

 mediant and the key-note. JOHN Birmi.ngham 



Millbrook, Tuam, May 21 



Fall of Dust 



Extract from a letter to Sir B. C. Brodie, dated May i :— 

 Campagnc, Montfeld, Mustapha Superieur, Alger 



I write to-day just to enclose you some curious red dust 

 which fell all over Algiers last Saturday (April 24), the .air quite 

 still, and sky of a curious orange colour, everything looking as 

 though seen through a yellow glass. The next morning this 

 powder was swept up in large quantities in our court, all the flat 

 roofs being also covered, and the flowers quite spoiled. It fell 

 again the two following days, but rain followed and turned it 



I "Aurora and their Spectra," by J. Rand Capron, F.R.A.S. (London: 

 E. and F. Spon, 46, Ch.iring Cross, 1879.) 



