November i8, 1909J 



NA TURE 



71 



gravity was in excess, as is usual on oceanic islands ; 

 upon the ice it was nearly normal, which confirms 

 the results of Dr. Hecker's recent determinations of 

 gravity at sea. The observations on the ice were of 

 the heroic order, from difi'iculty, not with the pendu- 

 lums, but with the clocks. An ice pillar proved 

 nearly as stable as concrete for the pendulums, but 

 the chronometer stopped at a temperature of 

 — 35° C, and the clock was filled with snow in the 

 rather inadequate observing- hut. The clock was then 

 removed to the ship and connected with the " flash 

 box" by cable; but the ship heeled over in an 

 Antarctic gale, and again the clock stopped. Finally, 

 after six months' work, it was installed in an ice 

 house, when it went creditably. 



The discussion of the observations, largely due to 

 Prof. Haasemann, is full of interest, but the interest 

 lies, unfortunately, in the details of the struggle 

 against adverse circumstances rather than in the 

 wealth of results. It is much to be regretted that 

 Dr. Drygalski's pendulums failed to reach land 

 within the Antarctic circle, for it may be long before 

 so complete an equipment and so accomplished an 

 observer travels again to that sector of the Antarctic. 



A. R. H. 



A A'SW OCEANOGRAPHICAL EXPEDITION. 



THE Times of November g announces the organ- 

 isation of an important expedition for the 

 investigation of the eastern part of the North Atlantic 

 Ocean, with a possible extension westward to New- 

 foundland. By an Order in Council, dated October 

 16. his Majesty the King of Norway has granted per- 

 mission, subject to certain conditions, for the 

 Norwegian Government steamer Michael Sars " to 

 be placed gratuitously at disposal for a scientific ex- 

 pedition in the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary 

 islands to the Fa;roes, in the spring of igio, pro- 

 posed by a British subject. Sir John Murray," and 

 also for " the Fishery Director, Dr. Hjort, Assistant 

 Koefoed, and Mr. Helland-Hansen, as well as 

 the ship's captain and engineer ... to take part in 

 the expedition while continuing to draw their 

 salaries." 



The Michael Sars is to sail under the Norwegian 

 flag during the expedition, which is to extend over 

 not more than four months, and .Sir John Murray 

 has undertaken to pay all expenses not provided for 

 by the Order in Council. 



The chief purpose of the forthcoming expedition, 

 which must necessarily contribute results of first-rate 

 importance to the science of oceanography, is to apply 

 the new instruments and methods of research de- 

 veloped during the last few years, more particularly 

 by the International Council for the Study of the Sea, 

 to the deeper regions of the open ocean. It is 

 believed that the use of large nets and trawls is 

 practicable in deep water, and that, should this prove 

 to be the case, zoological discoveries of great interest 

 and importance will be made. The application of 

 methods of high precision to the determination of the 

 temperature and salinity of sea water has vielded 

 results which have raised considerable doubt in the 

 minds of some investigators as to the validity of the 

 earlier observations made by the Challenger and other 

 expeditions, and the cruise of the Michael Sars should 

 not only afiford much entirely new information, but 

 provide a means of valuing the earlier work. Speci- 

 ally valuable data may be expected from the use of 

 Ekman's new current-meter, which makes it possible 

 for the first time to obtain direct measurements of 

 the currents in the depth. 



NO. 2090, VOL. 82] 



THE h'EW ir. //. DALLIXGEK, F.R.S. 

 TN the history of "Protozoology" — a department 

 ••• which has advanced of late so rapidly that it has 

 journals, laboratories, and professorial chairs devoted 

 to it — an honoured place, in one of the earlier chapters, 

 must be given to the late Dr. Dallinger, for to him 

 and to his fellow-worker, the late Dr. Drysdale, we 

 owe the first complete record of a complex Protistan 

 life-history, and at the same time a fine example of 

 careful investigation. 



^^'illiam Henry Dallinger was born in 1842 at 

 Devonport. He entered the Wesleyan ministry in 

 1861, and travelled various circuits, much esteemed 

 as an impressive and weighty preacher. A serious 

 illness is said to have driven him from theology to 

 biology, for in his convalescence he took up the study 

 of open-air natural history, and became fascinated 

 with microscopic work. In 18S0 he was appointed 

 principal of the Wesley College, Sheffield, but he re- 

 signed this position in iSSK to devote himself more 

 exclusively to scientific work, the Wesleyan Con- 

 ference allowing him to retain his status and prero- 

 gatives as a minister, though without pastoral charge 

 or any other office. Dallinger did much efTective work 

 as a lecturer on the staff of the Gilchrist Educational 

 Trust, and his popular lectures on such subjects as 

 " The Infinitely Little," " An Hour with the Micro- 

 scope," and ".Spiders," were models of clear exposi- 

 tion. He had a vivid and careful style, and give his 

 delighted audiences a sound mixture of accurate facts 

 and suggestive ideas. A good instance was the lec- 

 ture on " The Lowest and Smallest Forms of Life." 

 which he delivered on the occasion of the Montreal 

 meeting of the British .Association in 18S4. For many 

 years Dr. Dallinger was secretary of the Rovai 

 Microscopical Society, and he occupied the presidential 

 chair from 1S83 to 1887. He took a great interest- 

 in this society and in its valuable journal. It is said 

 that during his presidency he travelled to attend the 

 meetings a distance equal to about half the circum- 

 ference of the globe, and it was characteristic of his 

 conscientiousness that he usually journeyed back from 

 London to Sheffield by the early mail train so as to 

 be in time for his college duties in the morning. 



Dallinger's scientific work began about 1S70, and 

 in 1S73-6 he published, along with Drvsdale, a series 

 of papers on the life-historv of monads in the Monthtv 

 Microscopical Journal. The ch.iracteristic feature of 

 the patient labours of the two friends was continuity 

 of observation. By means of a delicate mechanical 

 stage and other devices they were able to keep their 

 eye on one particular specimen of Bodo saltans, or 

 whatever the flagellate might be, and follow it 

 from phase to phase. By using a binocular thev 

 were able to change places without losing sight of 

 the particular creature the life-cvcle of which was being 

 traced. On one occasion Dr. Dallinger kept up con- 

 tinuous observation for nine hours. The result was 

 that some complete life-histories were worked out — 

 spore-formation, growth of spores into flagellates,' 

 repeated fission of flagellates, conjugation, encysting, 

 and spore-formation again. This was interesting in 

 itself, it was prophetic of much that has followed in 

 recent years, and it exposed one of the pitfalls in 

 which believers in present-day abiogenesis are apt to 

 come to grief. 



In connection with the spontaneous generation 

 Question — which has had so many fruitful results — 

 Drysdale and Dallinger made some interesting 

 studies, showing, for instance, that although boiling 

 the water killed monads in an active condition, it 

 did not kill the spores. For the spores, indeed, the 

 fatal temperature is very much higher, up to 268° F. 



