326 



NA TURE 



[August 6, 1908 



on a Study of Myxine," published in the Transactions of 

 the society, regard being also paid to Mr. Cole's other 

 valuable contributions to the anatomy and morphology of 

 fishes. 



At Tavistock on July 20, Colonel G. F. O. Boughey, 

 R.E., and Mr. H. A. Steward, Light Railway Com- 

 missioners, sanctioned a line on a gauge of 4 feet Si inches 

 to be constructed on Dartmoor near the famous Merrivale 

 avenues of stones, provided that the line " be put quite 

 200 feet away from the Menhir." Mr. Hansford Worth, 

 who gave evidence at the inquiry against the line, pointed 

 out that the railway would pass through a remarkable 

 group of prehistoric monuments, and that the embank- 

 ments would interfere with the view. Mr. R. Burnard 

 also strongly protested against the construction of the line, 

 and read a letter from the president of the Society of 

 Antiquaries deprecating any encroachment upon the 

 ancient remains, which are almost unique in character. 

 These protests, however, availed little, for the line may 

 be brought within seventy yards of the avenues, and will 

 in all probability lead to the destruction of the Merrivale 

 antiquities, which are to a great extent unprotected. It 

 is apparently too much to expect that our ancient monu- 

 ments shall be protected by the State from the interference 

 of company promoters. No doubt it is of commercial 

 importance to convey granite from quarries easily, but 

 this is not sufficient reason for carrying a line near ancient 

 monuments which can never be replaced when once 

 destroyed. 



The recently published report (Cd. 4202) of the Royal 

 Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-minded 

 ■will be followed by seven other volumes detailing the 

 evidence taken by the Commission. The Commission was 

 appointed in September, 1904. It appears from the report 

 that the total number of mentally defective persons, in- 

 cluding certified lunatics, in England and Wales, may be 

 ■estimated to be 271,607, or 0'83 per cent, of the popula- 

 tion. Excluding those certified, it is estimated, as a result 

 of medical investigations, that in urban districts 12-7 per 

 cent., and in rural areas 18-75 P^"" cent., of the popula- 

 tion in Poor Law institutions are " mentally defective." 

 The Commissioners consider that from 60 per cent, to 

 70 per cent, of the habitual inebriates dealt with under 

 the Inebriates Acts are mentally defective. They refer to 

 heredity and mental defect, and sum up the effect of the 

 evidence under three heads : — (i) That both on the grounds 

 of fact and of theory there is the highest degree of 

 probability that "feeble-mindedness " is usually spon- 

 taneous in origin — that is, not due to influences acting on 

 the parent — and tends strongly to be inherited. (2) That, 

 especially in view of the evidence concerning fertility, the 

 prevention of mentally defective persons from becoming 

 parents w^ould tend largely to diminish the number of such 

 persons in the population. (3) That the evidence for these 

 conclusions strongly supports measures, which on other 

 grounds are of pressing importance, for placing mentally 

 defective persons, men and women, who are living at 

 large and uncontrolled, in institutions where they will be 

 employed and detained ; and in this, and in other ways, 

 kept under effectual supervision so long as may be 

 necessary. 



Surprise has been expressed that the provisional pro 

 gramme of Section A of the British Association was not 

 published last week with the draft programmes of other 

 sections for the meeting to be held in Dublin next month. 

 We regret that the programme did not reach us with the 

 others, but it has now been received, and is as follows : — 



NO. 2023, VOL. 78] 



The address of the president of the section, Dr. W. N. 

 Shaw, F.R.S., will be delivered on the Thursday morning, 

 September 3. Discussions have been arranged on (i) the 

 isothermal layer of the atmosphere, to be opened by M. 

 Teisserenc de Bort ; (2) the theory of wave motion, to be 

 opened by Prof. H. Lamb, F.R.S. The section will also 

 join with Section G in a discussion on gaseous explosions. 

 Papers: .Sir John Moore, is our chmate changing? Com-- 

 mander Campbell Hcpworth, R.N.R., a comparison of the 

 changes in the temperature of the waters of the North 

 .\tlantic and in the strength of the trade winds ; J. T. Craig, 

 changes of atmospheric density in storms ; E. M. Wedder- 

 burn, seiches and their relation to atmospheric phenomena, 

 also temperature conditions of Scottish lochs ; G. T. 

 Walker, seasonal variations ; Prof. H. H. Turner, on the 

 relation between intensity of light, time of exposure, and 

 photographic action ; Rev. A. L. Cortie, S.J., on the possible 

 existence of steam in the regions of sun-spots ; Prof. 

 F. W. Dyson, the systematic motions of the stars ; Sir 

 R. S. Ball, a generalised instrument; A. P. Trotter, 

 position of the mercury ohm in British legislation ; Sir 

 O. J. Lodge and B. Davies, on the measurement of large 

 inductances containing iron ; Prof. A. M. Worthington, a 

 remarkable feature in the splash of a rough sphere ; Prof. 

 J. A. McClelland, secondary radiation ; G. A. Hemsalech, 

 on new methods of obtaining the spectra of flames ; Sir 

 Wm. Ramsay, K.C.B., do the radio-active gases (emana- 

 tions) belong to the argon series? T. Royds, further ex- 

 periments on the constitution of the electric spark ; 

 H. Stansfield, secondary effects in the echelon spectroscope ; 

 Dr. W. G. Duffield, photographs of the spectra of metals 

 under pressure ; Dr. J. A. Harker and F. P. Seaton, on 

 the effect of pressure upon the boiling point of sulphur ; 

 Prof. F. T. Trouton, analogy between adsorption from 

 solutions and aqueous condensation on surfaces; Dr. S. H. 

 Burbury, on the law of equipartition of energy between 

 correlated variables ; Lieut. -Colonel Allan Cunningham, 

 factorisation of the A.P.F. of N = (y"+i); Dr. J. W. 

 Nicholson, the self-inductance of two parallel wires ; Sir 

 R. S. Ball, physical applications of linear vector functions ; 

 Dr. E. W. Hobson, on Sir W. Hamilton's fluctuating 

 functions ; Prof. F. Purser, on the aether-stress of gravita- 

 tion ; Prof. A. W. Conway (title not received) ; Prof. E. T. 

 Whittaker (title not received) ; Sir Howard Grubb, a par- 

 ticular form of double-image telescope, also the new 

 spectroheliograph for the Madrid Observatory ; F. J. M. 

 .Stratton, the constants of the lunar libration ; Dr. J. W. 

 Nicholson, the asymptotic expansions of Bessel functions. 

 The reports of the various committees connected with the 

 section will also be read. 



Invertebrates from the Upper Cretaceous of Need's 

 Camp, Buffalo River, constitute the subjects of the first 

 part of vol. vii. of the Annals of the South African 

 Museum, Mr. W. Lang, of the British Museum, treating 

 of the polyzoans and corals, while the sea-urchins and 

 their allies, the brachiopods, and the bivalve molluscs are 

 described by Mr. H. Woods, of Cambridge. 



The migrations of flat-fishes and crabs continue, accord- 

 ing to the report for 1907, to engage the attention of the 

 staff of the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee, and 

 it appears to be established in the case of the latter that 

 while the females travel north, the males are more or less 

 stationary. A large portion of the report is occupied by 

 a paper by Miss M. V. Lebour on the trematodes intestmg 

 fishes on the Northumberland coast, in the course of which 

 several species, presumably unrecognised by previous 

 writers, are named and described. 



