514 



NA TURE 



[September 20, 1906 



anemone is an undoubted animal, yet it is not on a 

 higher level than the sensitive plant ; it only closes 

 when touched. The argument here is a rediictio ad 

 absurdum. If you recognise consciousness in the 

 lower animals you must also recognise it in plants. 

 To which we may reply, "Why not?" They may 

 have a very dim rudimentary consciousness. Deny 

 consciousness to all animals except men, and you are 

 confronted with greater difficulties than this. We all 

 believe in evolution. Mr. Robinson himself accepts it. 

 Consciousness must, therefore, have shown itself first 

 in a rudimentary form. Evolution does nothing but 

 develop the powers of which we find suggestions in 

 the simplest forms of life. Nothing, therefore, can 

 have its first beginning in the highest form of life ; 

 in the more intelligent animals it is difficult to 

 believe that consciousness is entirely rudimentary. 

 Mr. Romanes's monkey that got possession of the 

 key of a chest and tried hard for two hours to unlock 

 it must have had a fair allowance of self-conscious- 

 ness. Dogs have dreams. Why may they not even 

 when awake think over their recent fights and adven- 

 tures? .Animals learn by experience; pleasure and 

 pain are the great educators for them as for us. 

 Whittle their pleasure and pain down to nothing, 

 eviscerate both the one and the other of all reality, 

 and how could they steer their course amid the rocks 

 and shoals of life? 



Mr. Robinson ends by making a damaging 

 admission. Men, he says, can educate animals and 

 elevate them; but education can only bring out what 

 is already present. There is, therefore, in animals, 

 whether wild or domesticated, something beyond that 

 which Mr. Robinson would concede to them. 



Carboni fossili inglesi. By Dr. Guglielmo Gherardi. 



Pp. xvi + 5S6. (Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1906.) 



Price 5s. 

 It is undoubtedly advantageous " to see oursels as 

 ithers see us," and the British coal-miner has an 

 excellent opportunity of doing so by studying this 

 attractive manual on British coals, cokes, and 

 briquettes from the pen of an experienced Italian 

 works-chemist. The book is divided into four parts. 

 In the first the various coals are dealt with from a 

 theoretical point of view, the methods of analysis, 

 both rapid and exact, being described in detail. In 

 the second part the British coals are described under 

 the head of the various coalfields, numerous analyses 

 being given, with full references to tlpe sources from 

 which "thev were obtained. In the third and fourth 

 parts the manufacture of coke and of briquettes 

 receives attention, the subject being one of special 

 importance for the future development of Italian in- 

 dustries. The manual concludes with five maps of 

 the coalfields, and with various appendices containing 

 useful information for the coal merchant. The book, 

 which is the first of its kind written in Italian, cannot 

 fail to prove of value to Italian manufacturers desirous 

 of securing the greatest heating effect with the least 

 expense, by supplying them with accurate inform- 

 ation regarding the nature of the coals they purchase. 

 It is written with care and impartiality in a concise 

 and lucid style, and, like all the volumes of the well- 

 known series of " Manuali Hoepli," is produced in a 

 tasteful manner at a modest price. 



How to Find and Name Wild Flowers. By Thomas 

 Fox. Pp. xvi-t-265. (London: Cassell and Co., 

 Ltd., 1906.) Price is. 6d. 

 Does the natural system of botanical classification 

 present many difficulties to the beginner? Is the 

 Linnean system simpler? Can an easier method of 

 identification than either of these two be devised? If 



NO. 1925, VOL. 74] 



so, what are the advantages and disadvantages? To 

 those interested in these questions, especially the last, 

 this book is offered as an attempt to provide a solu- 

 tion. The primary means of identification are fur- 

 nished by the month in which the flowers appear and 

 their colour, after which the size and other details of 

 the flower are taken as the most general guide. With 

 what results? Side by side in the same category are 

 found the frogbit, Italian catchfly, floating water- 

 plantain, common feverfew, and the large-flowered 

 winter-green. This series was taken at random, but 

 is probably one of the most extreme instances. Does 

 a non-technical method of discrimination compensate 

 for this mingling of unallied plants? Will the 

 learner be led to associate them together? Will 

 not considerable difficulties arise with regard to the 

 exact size, also with regard to the colour? As for 

 comparison, after becoming conversant with a flora 

 according to one system it is not easy to gauge the 

 merits of another; but to those wishing to identify 

 plants, and to whom the natural system offers great 

 difficulty, this book may be recommended as an earnest 

 endeavour to provide a substitute. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

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

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous comnnmications.] 



American Chemists and the Jubilee of the Coal-tar 

 Colour Industry. 



In justice to our .American colleagues, I think it neces- 

 sary to supplement the paragraph which appears in your 

 " Notes " of last week (p. 496), and is similar to a state- 

 ment published in the Times of September 6, by the 

 following explanation : — 



When the international movement was inaugurated here 

 last February at the meeting held at the Mansion House, 

 .\merica was, of course, invited to participate in the scheme 

 which had been adopted at the public meeting, and for 

 the carrying out of which a fund had to be raised. In 

 response to our invitation, a meeting of .\merican chemists 

 was convened in New York and a number of proposals 

 considered, the final outcome being the scheme set forth 

 in the paragraph published in your issue of last week 

 {September 13). From this it would appear that the 

 .Americans had cut themselves adrift from the international 

 movement, and had decided to have an independent celebra- 

 tion in honour of Sir Wm. Perkin and his work. From 

 their point of view — the promotion of chemistry in their 

 own country — there was, of course, very good reason for 

 the lino of action which they had decided upon taking, 

 but it is also obvious that their scheme, as published, is 

 purely local, and that if this represented their whole pro- 

 ject there would have been every justification for the view 

 taken bv our executive committee, that the Americans 

 wished to detach themselves from the European movement. 



It is necessary, therefore, to add that the scheme pub- 

 lished last week does not represent the latest phase of the 

 American celebration. In addition to the objects set forth 

 in that scheine, provision is made for receiving contribu- 

 tions to the Perkin research fund, founded here as part of 

 our scheme, and loyally supported by all the contributing 

 nations, the representatives of which at the last general 

 meeting of the executive committee on July 27 unreservedly 

 added their contributions to the general fund to be 

 administered through our Chemical Society. At that meet- 

 ing, as also at the general international meeting at the 

 Roval Institution the previous day, the official representative 

 of American chemists. Dr. Leo Baekeland, confirmed in 

 public the cablegram which we had received from the 

 American committee announcing its decision to cooperate 

 with us and to contribute to our scheme. 



The .American programme, therefore, is not so purely 



