1^,6 



NATURE 



[December 2, 1909 



to make the subsequent investigation by Prof. Pearson 

 wortli while. The society appeals to members of learned 

 societies and to professional men and women to assist the 

 •scheme by applying for a copy of the schedule and filling in 

 the particulars. Copies can be obtained from the secretary 

 •of the Child-study .Society, London, go Buckingham Palace 

 Road, London, S.W. 



Prof. Sorley, in his paper on " The Interpretation of 

 Evolution " communicated to a meeting of the British 

 Academy on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of 

 the " Origin of Species," drew a distinction between in- 

 organic and organic evolution which appears to belong 

 rather to the material forming the subject of the process 

 than to the process itself. It is perhaps true that, as he 

 says, physiologists are on the whole less satisfied now 

 than formerly with the adequacy of the physico-chemical 

 explanation of vital activities ; but they have not all 

 abandoned the idea of gaining a more profound insight 

 than at present into the nature of life, nor do they antici- 

 pate that any increase of knowledge will tend to exclude 

 vital phenomena from the domain of natural law. That 

 the history of vital activity is in a true sense teleological 

 may be readily conceded, and it is possible that Prof. Sorley 

 is right in holding that the whole course of evolution can 

 only be interpreted " by means of the conception of 

 conscious purpose." Such contentions, however, belong to 

 a domain which is outside that of science. 



Mr. B.alfour's Romanes lecture, delivered at Oxford on 

 November 24, was couched in his happiest vein of genial 

 scepticism. The chief function of literary and artistic 

 critics in all ages has been, he said, to sweep away the 

 rubbish of their critical predecessors. No standard of 

 aesthetic excellence has been found to be permanent ; 

 attempts to find an ethical or religious end to art, though 

 not valueless, are independent of the critical question. It 

 is true that in the present age there is a superficial appear- 

 ance of unanimity as to what is and what is not a 

 successful work of art, though a man of genius like 

 Matthew Arnold or Ruskin will occasionally kick over the 

 traces ; but in the history of artistic criticism this unanimity 

 is not to be found. The great Gothic builders were only 

 restrained by considerations of time and money from 

 demolishing the work of their predecessors. Training and 

 •study are undoubtedly sources of subsidiary aesthetic 

 pleasure, but the increase of powers of discrimination may 

 be accompanied by a waning of aesthetic sensibility. Are 

 we not, then, obliged to regard aesthetic emotion as a mere 

 accidental by-product of evolutionary process? No assist- 

 ance is afforded by the instinctive efforts of the popular 

 philosophy to press morals, religion, utility, or progress into 

 the service, nor can satisfaction be obtained out of the 

 metaphysical treatment of the subject ; but there remains 

 the consideration that, besides the class of emotions to 

 which the a;sthetic sense belongs, there is another class, 

 practical rather than contemplative, at the head of which 

 are the loftiest feelings — love and devotion — of which 

 human nature is capable. These practical emotions, Mr. 

 Balfour thinks, are recalcitrant at present to any logical 

 or philosophical treatment. Why, then, should we quarrel 

 because we can at present find no adequate philosophy of 

 the aesthetic emotions? 



The eighth International Zoological Congress is to be 

 held at Graz (Austria) on August 15-20, 1910, under the 

 presidency of Prof. Ludwig von Graff. The first general 

 meeting of the congress will be held in the afternoon of 

 August 15 in the great Stephaniensaal of the Steiermarkische 

 Sparkasse, and further similar meetings the next and every 

 NO. 2092, VOL, 82] 



morning up to and including August ig. Sectional meet- 

 ings will be held on each of the four afternoons from 

 August 16-19 '" t'''^ Natural History Institute of the 

 LMiversity. A meeting of the norr.enclature committee 

 and the committee for the Concilium Bibliographicum 

 has been arranged for August 16 in the Zoological Insti- 

 tute, and the permanent committee of the congress will 

 meet at the same place on August 17 to consider the 

 place of meeting for iqii. Two lantern lectures will be 

 given during the evenings of Auji'st 16 and 17 on " Die 

 Stelermark " (Styria), and " The Austrian Riviera, Bosnia, 

 Herzegovina." In addition to short t-'ti'ursions during the 

 late afternoon of the earlier days of the congress, longer 

 journeys have also been arranged. An.v^ng the more 

 ambitious excursions may be mentioned : — to the Erzberg 

 and the Leopold=tei.. See on August 20, to Triest on 

 .•\ugust 2- and to Dalmatia by special steamer from 

 .August 22-27. A banquet will be given by the congress 

 on August 19 to the honorary members, members, and 

 participants. Not only professional Zoologists, but all 

 persons interested in zoology, may take part in the con- 

 gress, which covers the whole field of biology in the widest 

 sense, including, for instance, paUcozoology, hydro- 

 graphy, and marine biology. All inquiries relative to the 

 congress should be sent to the Prasidium des VIII. Inter- 

 nationalen Zoologen-Kongresses, Universitiitsplatz 2, Graz 

 (Osterreich). 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of No. 62 

 of the Hull Museum Publications, in which various 

 additions to that museum are recorded; also of vol. v., 

 No. 2, of the Museum News, the first article in which is 

 devoted to an account of an exhibition of mcdia'val archi- 

 tecture in the Brooklyn Museum. 



According to the October number of the Victorian 

 Naturalist, it is proposed to erect in Sydney a statue or 

 some other appropriate memorial to Sir Joseph Banks, 

 who has been called the " father of Australia." In order 

 tn awaken interest in the matter, Mr. J. H. Maiden, the 

 Government botanist of New South Wales, has written a 

 full and elaborate life of Banks, and has generously 

 promised to hand over the profits on the sale of the volume 

 to the memorial fund. 



In discussing a new digger-toad from Manchuria in the 

 September issue of the Proceedings of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Mr. T. Barbour takes 

 exception to the emendation of the barbarous generic 

 name Kaloula to the more classical Callula. Seeing that 

 the emendation was made by Dr. GCinther and accepted 

 by the late Prof. Cope, and subsequently by Mr. Boulenger 

 (in the official British Museum. Catalogue), it is surely a 

 little strong to write that " Callula, a more recent emenda- 

 tion, has no standing in nomenclature." Giinther, Blan- 

 ford, and Boulenger have all seen fit to amend (or accept 

 amendments of) ill-spelt or ill-formed zoological names, and 

 it scarcely becomes their juniors to say they were not 

 justified in so doing. 



In the first portion of an article on the nuptial habits 

 of the black-cock in Scandinavia and England, published 

 in the November number of the Zoologist, Mr. Edmund 

 Selous alludes to certain very definite statements made 

 by a Swedish forester to the effect that these birds are in 

 the habit of making burrows for themselves beneath the 

 snow, in which they remain for considerable periods during 

 severe weather. Although each bird makes its own tunnel, 

 it seems probable that the tunnels may often open into a 

 common chamber, where several black-cock may remain 

 in company for the sake of warmth. The capercaillie, on 



