?86 



NA TURE 



[^August i6, 1906 



mutter of considerable interest to have a new fern recorded 

 from the Coal-measures. The plant, consisting of axis, 

 pt-tioles, and root, is described by Miss M. C. Stopes in 

 the Memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical 

 Society, vol. 1., part x. ; associated with these fossil re- 

 mains are small annulate sporangia which, there is every 

 reason to believe, belong to the same plant. The plant is 

 referred to Tubicaulis, a fern genus, formerly monotypic, 

 that is probably one of the simpler Botryopteridea;. 



The Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, which has been 

 in existence twenty-six years, appears to be in a very 

 satisfactory condition, financially, numerically, and in the 

 interest shown in the monthly meetings. During the vear 

 which ended in April last, eight papers relating to zoology 

 were read; eleven papers dealt with botany, two with 

 geology, and one with pal.-eonlology. The president (Mr. 

 F. G. \. Barnard) at the annual meeting took as the sub- 

 ject of his address " The First Quarter of a Century of 

 the Field Naturalists' Club of \'ictoria," from which we 

 notice there are still thirteen of the original members in 

 association with the institution. 



The Xational Gcogrdpluc Mai;azi)tc (the organ of the 

 National Geographic Society of \A'ashington) maintains its 

 high standard of excellence, and the August issue — devoted 

 mainly to .South America — contains many articles of 

 interest, notably one by Prof. A. Heilprin on the shattered 

 obelisk of Mont Pel(?e, which i> illustrated by reproductions 

 of several striking photographs of the peculiar cone of 

 rock which was thrown up during the volcanic activity of 

 the mountain a few years ago, and which at the time of 

 its greatest development attained the height of more than 

 a thousand feet. To-day the obelisk is in ruins, consisting 

 of boulders ranging from 2 feet or 3 feel: in diameter to 

 30 feet, and it was to view these and to endeavour to under- 

 stand the geological riddle of the mountain that Prof. Heil- 

 prin in February last paid his fourth visit to Martinique. 



A FIFTH edition has been published by Messrs. Swan 

 Sonnenschein and Co., Ltd., of " Through the Wordsworth 

 Country: A Companion to the Lake District," by Prof. 

 William Knighl, with sixteen full-page illustrations by Mr. 

 Harry Goodwin. In an explanatory preface Prof. Knight 

 explains his aim as having been to be as terse and simple 

 as possible, and not to traverse precisely the same ground 

 as that covered in one of his earlier works. He modestly 

 insists more than once that the merit of the book rests on 

 Mr. Goodwin's drawings and certainly these are delight- 

 ful, but lovers of Wordsworth visiting the Lake District 

 will also find Prof. Knight mi interesting and inspiring 

 guide. 



Fror 



this 



ill be seen that the comet is now 

 apparently travelling through Taurus towards the northern- 

 most extremity of Orion, and will be about 4° south of 

 Aldebaran on August 21, on which date it will rise a 

 little north of east at about 12 o'clock (midnight). 



NO. 1920, VOL. 74"! 



Pl.wets .^xd Pl.^xetarv Observations. — In the second 

 of the series of articles which he is writing for the Observ- 

 atory, Mr. Denning discusses the powers best suited for 

 planetary observations, the best times for making the 

 observations, and the modus operandi most suitable for 

 observers with moderate equipments. 



In this he emphasises the importance of noting every 

 detail very carefully, and of keeping any one object under 

 regular observation for as long a period as possible. 



in a discussion as to the relative values of eve-eslimates 

 and instrumental observations of transit times, Mr. 

 Denning supports the former method (the Observatory, 

 No. 373). 



A New l-'oioi of .Si-ectroheliograph. — A new form of 

 spectroheliograph, in which it is hoped that the effects of 

 instrumental vibrations will be materially reduced, is pro- 

 posed by MM. G. Millochau and M. Stefanik in No. i, 

 vol. xxiv. , of the Astrophysical Journal. 



This instrument may be fed from a coelostat or siderostat, 

 or attached directly to a telescope. It is moved about a 

 horizontal axis perpendicular to the plane containing the 

 optical axes of the spectrograph by a Brashear clepsydra 

 mounted vertically. 



By widening the primary slit at its two extremities, a 

 photograph of n portion of the spectrum of the diffuse sky- 

 light may be obtained, thus giving an indication of the 

 exact radiation which is being employed. 



TNE RELA TIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND 



INDUSTRY. 

 "T^HIS year's meeting of the Association fran^aise pour 

 I'avancement des Sciences was held at LTons, and 

 opened on the same day as the meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation at York. On August i. Prof. G. Lippmann, the 

 president of the French association, delivered his presiden- 

 tial address," and by a significant coincidence dealt with 

 the want of respect accorded to scientific research by 

 French manufacturers and merchants on the same day that 

 Prof. E. Ray Lankester was directing the attention of the 

 visitors to Vork to the " less widespread interest than 

 formerly in natural history and general science, outside the 

 strictly professional arena of the school and university." 



Prof. Lippmann found the text of his discourse in the 

 success which has followed the attempts of the manu- 

 facturers of Lyons to benefit fully by the work accomplished 

 by men of science. At Lyons, he said, " science and in- 

 dustry live together in harmony." In this district scientifi- 

 cally organised factories are to be found, in which it is 

 recognised that science can give daily assistance to in- 

 dustrial development — a truth other parts of France arc, 

 said Prof. Lippmann, far from understanding. The mistake 

 is too common that industry only has need of technicists. 

 or, at least, that she need trouble only about " applied 

 science, taught specifically with a view to the various manu- 

 factures ; and this tendency the president described as the 

 fatal error which had caused the total production of French 

 industries to fall from the first to the fourth .-ank. It is 

 the duty of every man of science, he continued, to wage 

 war on such false ideas, wherever met, and to substitute 

 for them the salutary truth that success in industry is 

 founded upon a proper regard for the methods of science. 

 For this reason, he explained, he had decided to speak on 

 the relations between science and industry. 



It is easy to define the bond which unites science to in- 

 dustry. There is only one nature. The forces which mould 

 the material world are those also which inspire the 

 apparatus of the laboratory, which are utilised in industry, 

 and in the arts of peace and of war. There is one science 

 only, which is neither professorial, industrial, civil, nor 

 militai-y. Experimental science is the art of wielding the 

 forces of nature — and industry and science are developed 

 along parallel lines. 



During an unknown number of centuries science was 

 empirical and industry mere fumbling and groping. In 

 the last hundred years science has developed more than 

 in thousands of years previously, and industry has 

 advanced with giant's strides. Prof. Lippmann exemplified 

 his statements by reference to the chemical and industrial 

 industries, and paid eloquent tributes to the creator of the 

 ' The .iddress is printed in Ih^Revnc Scientifiqne for August 11, 1906. 



