July 12, 1906] 



NA TURE 



245 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [Tin- Editor does not hold himself responsible Jor opin'ons 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 numuscripts intended for this or any other part of Natvre. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Geological Survey of Canada. 



I\ the issue of Nature of June 21 is a letter from 

 Mr. A. P. Low. This communication is liable to be mis- 

 leading, and I shall be greatly obliged if you will allow 

 me 10 correct the misstatement which it contain, namely, 

 ih.it "at the same time. Dr. R. Bell simply returned to 

 his former position of assistant-director and chief geologist, 

 i(j which he had been appointed in 1892." 



I was not appointed chief geologist in 1892. This office 

 did not then exist. It was created on March 27 last, and 

 1 was appointed to it by a formal Order-in-Council on that 

 daii-, a large increase being made to my salary at the same 

 linic. Robert Bell. 



Orticp of the Canadian High fommissioner, London, 

 July 0. 



I iLWE taken some trouble to inquire into the extra- 

 ordinary appointment to the Geological Survey of Canada 

 concerning which you published a paragraph on April 26 

 (vol. Ixxiii., p. 613) and a letter on June 21 (p. 175). I 

 send you my results in case you would cure to continue 

 the correspondence. 



Report states that the Premier informed Dr. Bell that ih' 

 Government, for its own reasons, was going to make 

 certain changes in the administration of the department, 

 but that wishing Dr. Bell to be quite contented with these 

 changes, he asked him to state the conditions which 

 would be agreeable to him. I have also learned that the 

 Premier transferred Dr. Bell's letter for action to the 

 Minister of the Interior, who is at the head of the Geo- 

 logical Survey Department. Owing to the great pressure 

 of the business of the session of Parliament, the matter 

 has not yet been considered, and further changes are 

 probable, but for the present Dr. Bell has been promoted 

 to be chief geologist of Canada, and allowed to devote his 

 time entirely to scientific matters. He attains at least 

 equal rank, and receives a substantial addition to his 

 salary, with a promise of further increase in the near 

 future. In connection with the above change, Sir Wilfrid 

 Laurier spoke in Parliament in the highest terms of Dr. 

 Bell's ability and of the great scientific services he had 

 already rendered the Dominion. 



If these are facts, then Mr. Low's letter (p. 175) appears 

 to be inaccurate. The office of chief geologist was, it 

 seems, newly created for Dr. Bell last March, and he was 

 not appointed to it, as Mr. Low asserts, in 1892. 



Mr. Low, I find, is quite unknown in the geological 

 world, whereas Dr. Robert Bell's name has long been 

 familiar throughout Europe and America. He is now in 

 his fiftieth year of service to the Government of Canada 

 in connection with its Geological Survey, and as practical 

 head of that department for the last five years he has 

 maintained its high reputation and administered all its 

 affairs with credit. He is a Fellow of the Royal .Society 

 of London, a Doctor of Science of Cambridge, a Doctor 

 of Medicine of McGill, a Doctor of Laws, &c., and has 

 been honoured by the King with the companionship of 

 the Imperial Service Order. 



During his administration of the business affairs of the 

 Canadian Survey, it is generally recognised that he has 

 improved its efficiency in many ways, and has increased 

 the number of its officers, the extent of its operations, the 

 Government grant, the library, the extent of its premises, 

 &c. He has sent to the field an average of more than 

 thirty parties every year, as compared with less than half 

 that number in the time of his various predecessors. Surely 

 this is a good record, for the sooner a country is surveyed 

 the better it is for all economic purposes. 



The above matters and many others are clearly de- 

 scribed by Dr. Bell in his annual summary reports of the 

 survey for the past five years. He had previously caused 



NO. 19 I 5, VOL. 74I 



to be carried on very extensive topographical surveys in 

 all sections of the vast Dominion, taking the leading part 

 himself in this work. It was for these valuable services 

 to geography that the Royal Geographical Society this 

 year awarded him the patron's gold medal, with the 

 approval of the King. 



It is clear, I think, that although the interests of science 

 have not been wholly sacrificed, party politics and not 

 geology have been in question in regard to Mr. Low's 

 appointment. F* R- S. 



July 7- 



Osmotic Pressure. 



The gravamen of our criticism of Prof. Kahlenberg's 

 paper is directed against his statement that " indirect 

 measurements of osmotic pressures involve the assumption 

 that the gas laws hold for solutions." In vol. Ixxvii., 

 Proc. Roy. Soc, we deduce a relation between the os- 

 motic and vapour pressures of a solution which is inde- 

 pendent of the gas laws " holding for solutions." Prof. 

 Kahlenberg, in his recent letter, does not atteinpt to show- 

 that this relation is unsound ; we may therefore take it 

 that he accepts the theory, but is dissatisfied with the ex- 

 perimental evidence which we adduced to corroborate it. 

 Perhaps the following will help to convince him. 



In a paper read before the Royal Society, June 7, we 



give the results of the direct and indirect measurements of 



the osmotic pressures of some aqueous solutions of cane 



sugar. 



,- . .■ n- ...no ,,„■<- Indirect OP. 



Concentration Direct U.l'. at o C (from V P at o' C.> 



540 grs. per lit. sol. ... 67'5I 69*4 



660 „ ,, ... 10078 .. iof9 



750 .. .. ••■ 13374 1360 



Since reading this paper we have found that aqueous 

 solutions of dextrose and galactose give similarly concor- 

 dant results. As regards the last paragraph of Prof. 

 Kahlenberg's letter (p. 222), we would point out that he 

 gives no experimental evidence for the assumption that 

 the sugar that had passed through the rubber membrane 

 was sugar from which, so to speak, the solvent had been 

 filtered off. Until such evidence is forthcoming, it seems 

 to us that the criticism we levelled at his work is legiti- 

 mate, and suggests a simple explanation of the low 

 results he obtained. Berkeley. 



Foxcombe, near Oxford. E. G. J. H.^rtlev. 



Family Diseases and Temperaments. 



May I appeal through your columns to those of your 

 readers who are interested in the tendency of certain 

 diseases and temperaments to run in particular families 

 to aid me in an investigation I am at present making? 

 The schedules now being issued contain space for a great 

 deal of information, but it is rare for any single recorder 

 to be able to su[ ply all of it. What is wanted is a per- 

 fectly frank statement of what the recorder knows or can 

 find out without much trouble. The only request made is 

 that if the recorder feels unable to state certain facts not 

 to the family credit, as well as those which indicate a 

 sound, successful stock, no attempt should be made to fill in 

 the schedule. At the saine time, no names are required, 

 the recorder may select any family he pleases for record, 

 and the name of the recorder is only required in case 

 it is needful to ask for explanation of any entry, and as a 

 general sign of good faith. 



I am fully aware of the labour involved in giving a 

 fairly full family record, and my gratitude for aid in the 

 matter is very great. At the same time, it is, I think, 

 not unjust'fiable to hope that among the readers of Nature 

 there will be some ready to help in an inquiry which if 

 completed will be of considerable scientific value. There 

 exists at present no ample data from which we can deter- 

 mine the inter-relationship of disease, temperament, and 

 success in life. We know comparatively little the extent 

 to which these factors are associated together or persist 

 in certain families. After some considerable labour, about 

 200 records have been obtained, some of them very full and 

 excellent, and the majority of considerable value. But the 



