NATURE 



2^7 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1874 



PHYSIOLOGY AT CAMBRIDGE 



WE are not of those who believe that the giiality of 

 the scientific work produced by any country as a 

 whole, is dependent to any great extent on the facilities 

 afforded for special study, though the anioiint yielded in 

 any special direction varies directly as the opportunities 

 and encouragement which are offered. All experience 

 goes to show that the ability of the individual is a con- 

 stant quantity, and that whatever direction his mind 

 takes, as the result of the circumstances in which he is 

 situated, he is sure to rise to a certain standard of ex. 

 cellcnce in the quality of his productions, and no higher . 

 in other words, the same facts put before two men oj" 

 different mental poivers will be employed in producing 

 results of different quality, dependent on those powers. 

 The backward state of physiology, and it may be said, of 

 biology generally in comparison with the more exact 

 sciences, has recently become so conspicuous, that at- 

 tempts arc being made by many of the leading scientific 

 men to attract into these comparatively untrodden paths 

 some of those able minds which would otherwise have 

 devoted their best energies to the mastery and furthej- 

 elucidation of points in a subject such as mathematics 

 which may be almost said to have reached the limit 

 of human mental power, as far as the methods at 

 present at its disposal are concerned. In biology 

 and physiology, however, the case is very different ; 

 their students may be said to be suffering from 

 a glut of facts and disconnected minor theories, which 

 want the assistance of some master minds to weed and 

 connect them, so that the road may be made more easy 

 for other less gifted workers. That such is the case is 

 rendered evident by the undecided and tentative way in 

 which most biological problems are on all sides discussed. 

 Opinions the most opposite are held on fundamental 

 points by partisans of different schools, and discussion 

 becomes more a question of which side can be most subtle 

 in its language or most dogmatic in its statements, rather 

 than which is the true exponent of the subject under con- 

 sideration. In such cases the precise statement of the 

 problem by a master-mind would set the question at rest 

 once and for all. 



There are, however, many difficulties in the way of 

 getting men suitable for this higher work, and for more 

 than one reason. One of these is that there are very few 

 who can be made to undertake the thorough training in 

 more than a single subject, that is necessary for it. A 

 student of ability at the University of Cambridge, for 

 instance, takes up mathematics, and too soon finds that 

 he has every reason to expect considerable pecuniary 

 reward if he devotes the whole of his period of 

 studentship to working for his tripos ; he cannot but 

 devote the whole of his time to the single subject, 

 for otherwise those of equal powers who did so would 

 beat him in the race and prevent his appearing in the 

 tripos list in that position which insures him a fellowship, 

 and therefore a competency. He keeps to his subject 

 and reaps the reward ; but by that time other duties, 

 generally of a social nature, together with the narrowing 

 effect of his one-sided education, have removed all his 

 Vol. IX. — No 225 



inclination to strike out a fresh line of thought, and he 

 commences the routine of life, acquiring by every-day 

 experience those facts which so many others of equal 

 ability have learned before, and which he cannot therefore 

 turn to any good account. The great defect of the 

 Cambridge mathematical tripos is that it is too ultimate, 

 and too complete in itself. The day on which the list 

 comes out is that on which most think that mathematics 

 has done as much good to them as it can do, and on that 

 day most throw over for ever that genuine method of 

 working which has occupied so much of their time and 

 thought during the three or more previous years, never to 

 return to it. 



Things being so, all must have felt intense satisfaction at 

 the establishment at last of laboratories in Cambridge, such 

 as that for Practical Physiology by Trinity College, under 

 the able superintendence of Dr. Michael Foster, and that 

 for Praciical Physics by the Chancellor, under Prof. Clerk- 

 iMaxwell, whose return to Cambridge has itself been a 

 great stimulus to the advance of the subject in which he 

 so greatly and so justly shines. 



The first instalment of original papers from the former 

 of these newly- founded institutions has recently been 

 published. From the manner in which the researches 

 have been conducted, from the thoroughly scientific and 

 careful method of work adopted, the great discretion and 

 experience of the, Professors, as well as the excellent 

 quality of the minds, with the assistance of which he 

 has to deal, are evident. No teacher can help having 

 a feehng of satisfaction at such work as that of Mr. 

 Balfour and Mr. Liversidge, which shows signs of ex- 

 cellent mental training as well as a thorough love of 

 the subject. Dr. Foster's standard is evidently a high 

 one, and from the papers before us it is certain that on 

 future occasions only thorough work, based on well-verified 

 facts, arrived at by the most approved modern methods, 

 and checked by the researches of previous authors, are 

 to be expected from his laboratory. 



Besides the papers on the development of the blasto- 

 derm and blood-vessels of the chick, and on the amyloid 

 ferment of the pancreas, by the two above-mentioned 

 authors. Dr. Martin gives some short notes on the struc- 

 ture of the olfactory mucous membrane in connection with 

 the observations of Max Schultzo and Exner. Mr. Dew- 

 Smith records the results of observations — made with the 

 assistance of that beautiful instrument the pendulum 

 myographion — on double nerve stimulation, or the simul- 

 taneous stimulation, by two pairs of electrodes, of a single 

 nerve, with well-marked and very instructive results. 

 Mr. Yule also has a paper on the mechanism of opening 

 and closing the Eustachian tube, in which, besides clearing 

 up some points connected with their physiological func- 

 tion, he throws fresh light on the correct anatomy of their 

 pharyngeal orifices. 



In cne of the papers, that by Dr. Foster himself, 

 whicli is referred to by Mr. Lewes in this Journal 

 (Natui^E, vol. ix. p. 83), Mr. T. O. Harding, senior 

 wrang' r in 1872, is mentioned as one of those who 

 have b.en working in the laboratory. This is a most 

 promising sign ; for, as previously remarked, nothing 

 is more wanted than the assistance of such men, in 

 order to show the bearing and v.alue of the various 

 facts laid stress on by pure physiologists. We hope that 



