October 25, 1906J 



NA TURE 



641 



The remainiiifj letters, of which there are eight, 

 consist of two thing's — on the one liand of discus- 

 sion of the results of the hawlvsweed experiments 

 and of appeals for rare or unobtainable species of that 

 genus, and on the other of personal and friendly 

 coniniunicalions. The former are interesting only to 

 ihe specialist, and to hini even the interest is chiefly 

 hisliirical, since Mendel did his crossings without the 

 knowledge which we now possess, that the hawUs- 

 uced sometimes exhibits parthenogenctic reproduction. 



At the beginning of the third letter we get a 

 glimpse of Mendel. He is giving his reason for 

 not having studied the hawksweeds in their natural 

 habitat in the neighbourhood of Briinn, and proceeds : 

 " . . . . auch tauge ich mich nicht mehr recht fiir 

 botanische Excursionen, da mich der Himmel mit 

 einem Uebergewichte gesegnet hat, welches sich bei 

 wciteren Fusspartien, namentlich aber beim Berg- 

 steigen, in Folge der allgemeinen (iravitation, sehr 

 fiihlbar macht." 



Later, in the s.ime letter, we read of him nearly 

 ruining his eyesight by the extremely difficult opera- 

 tion of castrating Hicracium, and we can picture him, 

 with bent head close to (lower, absorbed in his beloved 

 experiments. That Mendel did this work because he 

 loved it, and not for the hope of any reputation he 

 might gain bv it. is abundantly evident. The im- 

 p.'itience with which he waited for the blossoming of 

 certain liybrids finds eloquent expression in the last 

 words of the third letter. .And Prof. Correns remarks 

 in his introduction : " Die Briefe zeigen, dass das 

 was Mendel veroffentUchf hat, in der Tat in gar 

 keinem Verhiiltnis steht zu dem, was er gearbeitet 

 hat." The reason that he published so little lies also 

 in the fact that in '68 a great change took place in 

 his circumstances, which robbed him of his time. 

 " . . . . Meine \A'enigkeit wurde namlich am 30 

 Marz von dem Kapitel des Stiftes, dessen Mitglied 

 ich bin, zum lebenslanglichen Vorstande gewiihlt." 



That Niigeli entertained a high opinion of Mendel 

 is show'n by the trouble that he took to obtain the 

 plants which Mendel wanted; and that, as a result 

 of this correspondence, Nageli grew not only to 

 esteem him as a man of science, but to value him as 

 .1 friend, is shown bv the fact that in the first five 

 letters he addresses Mendel as Verehrtester Herr 

 College, but that in the last five he calls him Hoch- 

 geehrter Herr und Freund. .And that, I think, sums 

 up one's feelings when one reads these letters. At 

 llie beginning, we feel, Mendel stands to us in the 

 r<lation of a Colleee onlv ; at the end we feel that 

 he is both our College und Freund. Is there not 

 something that attracts us in passages like the fol- 

 lowing, from the end of the seventh letter? " We 

 have been rejoicing here for weeks past in the most 

 glorious spring weather. Compared with the yearly 

 average, the vegetation is thirteen days in advance, 

 and everything is in leaf." -A. D. D. 



NOTES. 



TnE pupils of M. Moissan are taking the opportunity 

 prcsonted by the twentieth anniversary of the isolation of 

 lliiorine to offer their distinguished master a medal in 

 commemoration of this important event in the history of 

 chemistry. The execution of the medal has been entrusted 

 10 M. Chaplain. The promoters of this happily-conceived 

 scheme have decided to extend to men of science generally 

 an invitation to contribute to the expenses. Every sub- 

 •icriber of 25 francs will receive a replica in bronze of the 

 medal. Donations may be sent, up to November 30, to 

 the tieasurer to the committee of management, M. P. 

 NO. IQ30, VOL. 74] 



Masson, 120 boulevard .Sainl-tiermain, Paris. Fuller par- 

 ticulars may be obtained from the secretary of the com- 

 mitlee. Dr. (iuichard, 3 rue .Michelet, Paris. 



Proi". T. H. MinDi.inoN, professor of agriculture in the 

 University of C"ambrldge, has been appointed assistant 

 secretary lo the Hoard of .Agriculture and Fisheries, in 

 succession n> Dr. W. Somerville. 



i iir; dc.iih of Mr. W'illiam Sedgwick, a member ot the 

 medical i)ruri".Nli>n who combined the active duties of his 

 calling with ihc pursuit of scientific investigation, is 

 announced in Wednesday's Times. Mr. Sedgwick was 

 born in 1821, and during the 'sixties of last century he- 

 devoted much allcniion to the siudy of heredity, and pub- 

 lished articles upon the -ubjicl which were referred to 

 and quoted bv Darwin. Soon after his establishment in 

 Marvlebone as a general practitioner, London was visited 

 by the great cholera epidemic of 1.S54 ; and Mr. Sedgwick 

 devoted mvich altenlion to the chemical changes incidental 

 to the disease, and made them, in i88(), the subject of 

 his presidenti.il .iddress to the Ilarveian Society. 



TnE death is announced in Si. Petersburg, on October iq, 

 of Prof. T. T. Beilstein, the well-known Russian chemist, 

 ills numerous researches in organic and analytical chem- 

 istry, and especiallv his work on the aromatic series. 

 enriched science with many new discoveries, and gave a 

 new direction to chemical industry. He also made extensive 

 researches on Caucasian naphtha and coal-tar. His works, 

 written in German, were very numerous, the chief of 

 them being his " Handbuch der organischen Chemie " and 

 his text-book on analytical chemistry. Prof. Beilstein was 

 born in St. Petersburg on February 5, T838. He studied 

 chemistry under Prof. Bunsen at Heidelberg, and also 

 attended the lectures of Liebig at Munich. He studied 

 physics under Prof. Jolly, and at the age of eighteen pub- 

 lished his first work on the diffusion of liquids. .\t 

 Gdttingen he obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 

 In 1850 he became assistant professor of chemistry at the 

 Breslau University, and in 1866 was appointed pro- 

 fessor of chemistry at the St. Petersburg Technological 

 Institute, where he remained the rest of his life. He also 

 lectured at the St. Petersburg Military Academy, and was 

 made an academician of the St. Petersburg .Academy of 

 .Sciences in 1886. 



The proposed new scheme for the mathematical tripos 

 will be voted upon at Cambridge this afternoon. In a 

 letter to the Times of October 22, the professors of mathe- 

 matics and of the cognate subjects of physics and engineer- 

 ing, and all the other olllcial teachers of mathematics in 

 the University, state the chief grounds upon which they 

 are in favour of the proposed changes. The traditional 

 system of placing the names in the mathematical tripos list 

 in order of merit is shown to be unsatisfactory, and lo 

 involve the sacrifice of the educational interests of many- 

 students. The number of men who wish to devote their 

 whole course at Cambridge to the study of mathematics is 

 much smaller than twenty years ago. .At the present time, 

 however, there are a considerable and increasing number 

 of students of engineering and of physics who require 

 mathematics up to a fairly high level, but do not come 

 into contact with the mathematical school proper. To 

 provide for the needs of the important class of men who 

 ought to spend part, but not the whole, of their time at 

 Cambridge in studying mathematics is one of the chief 

 objects aimed at in the proposed new .scheme. It will be 

 for the advantage of the special mathematical students. 



