July 9, 1908] 



NA TURE 



22 ' 



-Scott Lang); the University of Glasgow (Prof. J. G. 

 Kerr); the University of Aberdeen (Lieut. -Col. Prain); 

 the University of Edinburgh (Prof. L B. Balfour) ; 

 the L'niversity of Durham (Prof. M. C. Potter); the 

 University of London (.Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer) ; 

 the University of Manchester (Prof. Weiss); the Uni- 

 versity of Wales (Prof. Phillips); the University of 

 Birmingham (Sir Oliver Lodge); the L'niversity of 

 Liverpool (Prof. Hcrdman) ; the L'niversity of Leeds 

 (Prof. Blackman); the L'niversity of Sheffield (Prof. 

 Denny); L'niversity College, Nottingham (Prof. 

 Carr) ; University College, I5ristol (Prof. Lloyd Mor- 

 gan); the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Prof. 

 Lonnberg) ; the Royal Society (Sir Archibald Geikie) ; 

 the .Society of Antiquaries (Lord Avebury) ; the Roy; 

 Irish Academy (Dr. Scharff) ; the Manchester Literary 

 and Philosophical Society (Mr. C. Bailey); the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh (Prof. D'Arcy Thompson); the 

 Geological Society of London (Prof. Sollas) ; the Cam- 

 bridge Philosophical Society (Dr. Harmer) ; the Royal 

 Astronomical Society (Mr. Newall) ; the Zoological 

 .Society (Mr. Boulenger) ; the British .'\ssociation (Sir 

 David Gill) ; the Entomological Society of London 

 (Mr. \^'aterhouse) ; the Royal Microscopical .Society 

 (Lord Avebury); the Chemical Society (Dr. Horace 

 Brown); the iMalacological Society (Mr. Byrne); the 

 British .Academy was represented by Sir E. INIaunde 

 Thompson. 



Dr. F. Darwin and .Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer spoke 

 on behalf of the universities and schools, and Prof. 

 Einar Lonnberg and Sir Archibald Geikie on behalf of 

 the academies and societies represented. Prof. Lonn- 

 berg announced that his gracious Sovereign, His 

 Majesty King Gustaf of -Sweden, had ordered him to 

 convey to the Linnean Society his hearty greetings and 

 sincere felicitations on this occasion. He also pre- 

 sented a very beautifully illuminated address from the 

 Royal .Swedish -'\cademv of .Sciences, and a silver copy 

 of the Linnean medal of the -Academy struck in com- 

 memoration of the Linnean celebrations of last year. 

 Several other addresses were also presented by the 

 delegates. 



The concluding speech of the afternoon was de- 

 livered by Lord .Avebury, who described, in an e.K- 

 tremely interesting manner, his own intimacy with 

 Charles Darwin, laying especial emphasis upon his 

 peculiarly amiable personal character and upon the 

 devotion shown by Mrs. Darwin to her husband and 

 children. He referred to the quiet life at Down, and 

 told the delightful story of one of Mr. Darwin's 

 gardeners, who thought it was such a pitv that his 

 master had not got something to occupy him, for he 

 wandered about the garden doing- nothing, and would 

 stand for as much as ten minutes at a time gazing at 

 a flower ! 



-After the afternoon ceremony, ninety of the fellows 

 and their guests dined together at the Princes' Res- 

 taurant, the party including Sir George and Lad\ 

 Darwin, Dr. F. Darwin and Mr. W. E. Darwin, 

 while foreign biologists were represented bv Profs. 

 Hubrecht, Lonnberg, Strasburger and Warming. 

 There were no speeches, and at nine o'clock the 

 company adjourned to the rooms of the Linnean 

 Society at Burlington House, where a reception 

 was held by the president and Mrs. Scott. Two 

 short lantern lectures were delivered during the 

 course of the evening, one by Prof. Seward on "The 

 Jurassic Vegetation of the World : a Study in Plant- 

 migration," and the other by Dr. Smith Woodward, on 

 "The Evolution of Mammals in South -America." 

 Various exhibits especially appropriate to the occasion 

 were also shown in the library. -Amongst these were 

 a beautiful series of insects from the Hope collec- 

 tions in the Oxford L^niversity Museum, exhibited bv 

 Prof. Poulton and Mr. J. C. Moulton, in illustra- 

 NO. 20ig, VOL. 78] 



tion of the phenomena of mimicry and variation. 

 Other collections of insects illustrating special points 

 connected with the theory of evolution were exhibited 

 by Dr. Dixey, Col. Manders, and Dr. Longstaff; 

 while Mr. R. A. Rolfe exhibited some beautiful 

 flowers of natural hybrid odontoglossums with their 

 parents. 



^^'e believe the Linnean .Society intends to publish a 

 full account of the proceedings, together with the 

 addresses and speeches, which should form an ex- 

 tremely interesting record of a very impressive and 

 memorable occasion. 



A. D. 



THE DAYLIGHT SAVING BILL. 



1 F anyone is in search of an object-lesson in the 

 ■'■ necessity for the introduction of some science into 

 general education he will do well to give his attention 

 to the proceedings in connection with the Daylight 

 Saving Bill. He will probably find therein so much 

 confusion of thought that he will feel some training 

 in clear thinking to be imperatively demanded, though 

 there is an off chance that he will be depressed be- 

 yond recovery by the contemplation of the report of 

 the Select Committee on the bill which appeared in 

 the newspapers on July 3. 



To begin with the original short title — the Daylight 

 Saving Bill — it will be conceded that no action of 

 Parliament will produce any effect upon daylight. One 

 may save gas or electric-light, and make more use 

 of daylight, but to talk of " saving daylight " is meta- 

 phor intelligible enough for ordinary purposes, but not 

 suitable for legislation. When a legislative act begins 

 with metaphor it is not matter for wonder if it 

 eventuates in allegory, and sooner or later that must 

 be the end of the bill. 



It would conduce to greater clearness if we knew 

 exactly what is "the principle of the bill." It is 

 designed to make every item in " the trivial round 

 and common task " happen an hour earlier in the 

 summer months than in the winter, but it does not 

 propose that. It proposes the ingenious and appar- 

 ently simple expedient of moving the clocks on an 

 hour in -April and back again in September, and it is 

 assumed that the other will be a natural consequence. 

 Whether the purpose or the proposal of the bill con- 

 stitutes its principle has never been stated. The con- 

 fusion of ideas is most insinuating; a person who ap- 

 proves of earlier hours in summer is quite likely to 

 find himself committed to the " principle of the bill." 

 When the Astronomer Royal was under examination 

 before the Committee the confusion was most evident 

 to the looker-on. The witness was definitely opposed 

 to any alteration of the clocks, and yet seemed to 

 suggest that the proposal of the bill should be re- 

 ferred to working men. The question that he wished 

 referred was whether they desired to be made to get 

 up an hour earlier in the morning than they do now — 

 there is no such proposition in the bill — not whether 

 the designation of a particular hour of the day should 

 be five or six — but that is in the bill and nothing else. 



Cross-examination by members of the Committee 

 turned largely upon this confusion about the principle 

 of the bill, and upon a further confusion of ideas be- 

 tween having different time standards in different geo- 

 graphical localities and different time standards in the 

 same locality at dift'erent times of the year. The 

 reasoning which implies that if the one is found to be 

 practicable objection to the other must be merely 

 indolence or conservatism would be really worth 

 analysis at any time of the year except the dog days. 

 Take an example under the bill. Standard Greenwich 

 time is to be kept for astronomical and for navigation 

 purposes, and standard Irish time is also to be un- 



