3^6 



NA TURE 



[May. 1 3, 1909 



favour of the view which most cmbryologists previously 

 held mainly as the result of circumstantial evidence. It 

 is not surprising to find that as this and other facts all 

 bearing in the same direction are brought to light, the 

 prevalent idea regarding nerve regeneration after injury 

 follows the same lines. Indeed, the number of those who 

 hold the so-called " autogenetic theory " of nerve re- 

 generation is being reduced nearly to vanishing point. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The .Adams prize for 1909 has been 

 awarded to G. A. Schott, late scholar of Trinity College. 



The Adam Smith prize has been awarded to J. M. 

 Keynes, fellow of King's College, for an essay on the 

 "Method of Index Numbers." 



Liverpool. — On May 8 the following honorary degrees 

 were conferred, among others : — LL.D., Mr. A. J. Balfour, 

 I.iird Charles Beresford, Mr. Birrell, M.P., Sir John 

 Brunncr, M.P., Dr. Richard Caton, Lord Crewe, Sir 

 Donald Macalister, Mr. Marconi, Lord Roberts, and Prof. 

 Paul Vinogradoff; D.Sc, Mr. Francis Darwin and Prof. 

 J. L. Todd; D.Eng., the Hon. C. A. Parsons. At a 

 luncheon after the ceremony Mr. Balfour spoke upon the 

 f;rowth of the university movement. In the course of his 

 remarks he referred to this, growth as one of the most 

 important and fruitful facts which has emerged in the 

 experience of this generation. We live in an age of scien- 

 tific discovery and industrial invention — in an age in 

 which, from the very nature of the case, there is, and 

 must be, a tendency to put into a less prominent position 

 I datively, though not absolutely a less important position, 

 the. ancient studies which for centuries have occupied the 

 educational interest and intellect of Europe. The problem 

 to be decided is how to combine all the cultivation of these 

 ancient studies with their newer sisters which have so 

 much closer relation to the cultivation of the material 

 needs of great industrial communities. There is no way 

 of coordinating except to bring all the highest intellects 

 concerned with both into a single organisation. It is an 

 honour to bo associated with a movement which is going 

 to havo_ a world-wide influence in the direction of not 

 merely increasing industrial dexterity, but also improving 

 and adding to the knowledge of 'nature, which is the 

 greater security that the industrial and scientific move- 

 ment in future shall never be divorced from those 

 humanistic influences which have been the greatest element 

 of intellectual progress in the history of our race. 



Mr. T. H. Labv has been appointed professor of physics 

 in Victoria University College, Wellington, New Zealand. 



Harvard University will lose one of the most dis- 

 tinguished members of its faculty in September by the 

 resignation of Prof. G. L. Goodale, who will by that time 

 have completed his seventieth year. Dr. Goodale has been 

 connected with Harvard since 1S72, when he was appointed 

 instructor in botany and lecturer in vegetable physiology. 

 In 1873 he was promoted to the assistant professorship 

 in the latter subject. Since 1878 he has been Fisher pro- 

 fessor of natural history and director of the botanic garden. 



The Physikalische Zeiischrift for April 15 contains the 

 list of lecture courses to be given in the German universi- 

 ties during the summer semester. We note that at the 

 University of Berlin seven professors and lecturers will 

 deal with mathematics, five with astronomv and geodesy, 

 thirteen with various branches of physics, three with 

 meteorology, two with wireless telegraphy, twenty with 

 the various branches of physical, inorganic, and organic 

 chemistry, and ten with technical, physiological, botanical, 

 and photographical chemistry. 



^ Bv a recent Act of the United States Legislature, pro- 

 vision has been made, says Science, for a biological station 

 to be located on the shores of Devil's Lake, North Dakota. 

 An appropriation has been made for building laboratories 

 and providing annual maintenance. This laboratory vvi'l 



NO. 2063, VOL. So] 



be well situated tor the stuuy ot many.inlere;,ting ecological 

 and physiological problems, . inasmuch as Devil's' Lake 's 

 a large body of brackish water with no outlet, and repre- 

 sents the collected water supply of a large interior drainage 

 basin. The direction of the laboratory will be under th.^ 

 charge of the biological department of the State University, 

 of which Prof. Melvin A. Brannon is head. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society, M-y 6.— Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 president, followed by Mr. A. B. Kempe, vice-president 

 and treasurer, in the chair. — Reciprocal innervation of 

 antagonistic muscles. Note xiv. Double reciprocal inner- 

 vation : Prof. C. S. Sherring^ton. This communication 

 establishes that the algebraic summation of excitation and 

 inhibition pointed out in a previous note in regard to 

 extensor muscles holds good also for fle.xor muscles. In 

 regard to the mutual action of antagonistic muscles, it 

 shows that three types of result have to be distinguished, 

 and that in each of these reciprocal innervation is the 

 controlling factor. The importance of refle.x inhibition for 

 the grading of intensity of reflex actions is illustrated by 

 various examples, in some of which the excitatory stimulus 

 remains of constant int(ii.,iiv whilf the inhibitory is varied, 

 and in others the inhiliitory stimulus is kept constant in 

 intensity while the excitalur)" is \aried ; in both cases '.a 

 very delicate grading can be obtained even with artificial 

 stimulation, electric and so on. The action of strychnine 

 on the flexor inhibition is shown to be, as in the case of 

 extensor inhibition, a conversion of the inhibition into 

 excitation. These effects, namely, grading, algebraic 

 summation, and conversion of inhibition into excitation, 

 are all found readily both in the decapitated and spinal 

 animal .and in decerebrate rigidity. — Note on a curious 

 property of neon : Prof. J. Norman Collie. During sorse 

 work with specially pure neon, it was noticed that, j-as 

 the gas escaped at ordinary pressure from a Topler pump 

 up through the mercury in an inverted test-tube, each 

 bubble glowed with a fine red glow. This property is 

 very apparent if the neon is sealed up in a glass tube 

 with mercury, and the tube shaken violently. It was 

 expected that the glow would always be produced when 

 the tube containing the neon and mercury was shaken. 

 This was found not to be the case, for it was noticed in 

 many instances that, after shaking for some time, the 

 glow became verv feeble. These tubes could at once be 

 brought back to their original condition by allowing a 

 discharge to pass through them from an induction coil. 

 Sometimes, however, when a powerful discharge was 

 passed through them, exactly the opposite effect was pro- 

 duced, and further sparking did . not improve them. 

 Platinum wires scaled through the ends of the tubes did 

 not interfere with the property of glowing when shaken. 

 Another tube was strongly etched inside with hydrofluoric 

 acid, also without effect on the glow. Heating the tubes 

 strongly did not destroy the effect, but, on the contrary, 

 restored those tubes that had been spoilt by passing heavy 

 electric discharges through them. It was found possible 

 to produce in this way tubes that possessed the property 

 of glowing only at one end, or glowing at both ends and 

 not in the middle. The slightest trace of moisture entirely 

 stops the glow. The tubes were filled at differerit 

 .])ressures, varying from 120 mm. to 200 mm. pressure, 

 as it was found that the glow was as bright at these. as 

 at ordinary pressures, and a saving in neon was thiis 

 made. — The properties of colloidal systems. I. The 

 osmotic pressure of Congo-red and of some other dyes : 

 Dr. W. M. Bayliss. Congo-red, although a colloid in 

 the sense of not being diffusible through parchment-paper 

 and exhibiting other colloidal properties, such as those 

 dependent on surface effects, has an osmotic pressure equal 

 to that which would be given if it were present in true 

 solution in single molecules. The solutions are not re- 

 solvable into particles under the ultra-microscope. The 

 theoretical osmotic pressure is only to be obtained in the 

 complete absence of extraneous electrolytes. Even the 

 carbonic acid present in ordinary distilled water is sufficient 

 to cause a marked fall in the pressure recorded. The 



