_NATURE 
419 
THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1912. 
JOHN VIRIAMU JONES AND OXFORD 
MEMORIES. 
John Viriamu Jones, and Other Oxford Memories. 
By Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S. Pp. xili+ 339. 
(London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1911.) 
Price 8s. 6d. net. , 
T first glance this beautiful book, in Welsh 
“white and green” and “true paper,” is 
but an interesting miscellany, and such a super- 
ficial impression blunts the edge of about the only 
criticism which a careful perusal of the book sug- 
gests, namely, that as a biography of Viriamu it 
is sketchy and incomplete. But then the title 
prepares the reader for such an impression. In 
chapters i.—y. a “burning and a shining light” is 
faithfully portrayed; in chapters vi.—x. we have 
memories of the Oxford Union, of George Rolles- 
ton, ‘‘ Many Memories,” and “Oxford Reform and 
the British Examination System”; and there are 
five appendices, one of which, “John Viriamu 
Jones and the University of Wales,” by Sir Isam- 
bard Owen, is, in Prof. Poulton’s words, “an 
admirable account of the absolutely essential part 
taken by Viriamu in the foundation, and in guid- 
ance during the critical earliest years, of the 
University of Wales” (p.  viii.). 
. The present writer understands that materials 
for a fuller biography of Viriamu are being 
collected. Apart from his scientific achievements, 
the story of his strenuous life in Cardiff should by 
all means be recorded in full, but that could not 
imply the slightest reflection on Prof. Poulton’s 
work. So far as it extends, he has given us a 
scientific biography, which, in every respect, ful- 
fils the requirements of a scientific production. It 
is, as every good work must be, a labour of love 
(“the dearest of all the dear friends.given to me 
by Oxford”); the materials were carefully sifted 
and facts verified by every available means; “the 
impressions and memories of many men” were 
combined and compared; and the whole was sub- 
mitted to “the searching and critical inspection of 
many eyes.” “If only the representation be true, 
I have gained the beginning and the end of my 
desire” (p. vii.). 
The first chapter is an important study in here- 
dity. Viriamu is remembered to have once ob- 
served: “Can acquired characteristics be trans- 
mitted? Given a child from birth, transplant it 
from a cottage to a palace—will the peasant child 
be absolutely the creature of his environment, ex- 
cept for some physical resemblance to the 
parents?” The author adds: “The problem as 
thus stated omits an essential thought. That 
‘physical resemblance to the parents’ would in- 
NO. 2226, vot. 89] 
| the 
clude hereditary faculty and power of every kind” 
(p. 12). In spite of the disjunction of the phrases, 
the correction seems to be of the highest import- 
ance. We are further given the author’s own 
position in such a discussion. “I wish to guard 
against misconception. I have tried to weigh 
against each other the two mighty sets of causes 
which together control the destiny of every human 
life. I have concluded that the hereditary material 
is weightier than the influence of surroundings, 
‘inherent’ equipment than the ‘ acquired” 
training which is bestowed upon it. But this con- 
clusion is no justification for the criminal folly 
of neglecting the environment of the developing 
individual” (p. 13). “The most complete results 
will ever be attained when there is harmony and 
co-operation between the two great sets of forces 
by which life is moulded—when inherent tendency 
is fostered by special and carefully chosen educa- 
tion’ (p. 16). 
The author has earned the gratitude of men of 
science by writing a monograph (chapter viii.) on 
George Rolleston, Linacre Professor of Human 
and Comparative Anatomy at Oxford, 1860-1881. 
He has supplied a deficiency which the late Sir 
John Burdon Sanderson indicated to the author 
in his words to him shortly before his death: “It 
is a pity that none of Rolleston’s pupils have 
written their impressions of him.” The reader is 
given ample proofs of the author’s characterisation 
of Rolleston as “the most stirring personality it 
was my lot to know.” 
The apparently disconnected contents of the 
book have their point of unity in the author him- 
self. He deals throughout with. influences that 
have been brought to bear upon his own life, and 
the autobiographical details are most welcome. 
On the delicate subject of co-partnership or part- 
ownership in scientific discovery, a truly beauti- 
ful object lesson is given in the author’s account 
of his relations with the late Dr. W. K. Parker, 
when the former first observed the “true teeth” 
of the Ornithorhynchus (pp. 237-241). 
The book is replete with gems of wit and anec- 
The story enshrines a_ gifted 
German’s view of an examining university as a 
place where students are first examined, and after- 
wards taught, is exquisite, and should be read in 
the original. J. G. 
dote. which 
THE HAIR OF MAMMALS. 
Tierhaaratlas. By Dr. Hans Friedenthal. Pp. 
19+xxxv plates. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 
1g1t.) Price 4o marks. 
N account has already been given in NATURE 
of the important monograph on human hair 
by Dr. Hans Friedenthal, which was published in 
Ss 
