336 



NATURE 



{Aug. 27, 1874 



that concerning the origin of species, as any two problems can 

 well be ; and it does not devolve upon a writer to speculate upon 

 the one, merely because he has solved the oOier. Those who 

 have taken the greatest interest in Mr. Darwin's illustrious career 

 cannot have failed to appreciate the admirable forbearance he 

 has always displayed in not allowing himself to digress into col- 

 lateral topics, however great the temptation to digress may be. 

 All his vast and numerous conquests of thought have been 

 achieved by a rigid adherence to the pliilosophy of fact ; there 

 is a grand consistency in the maintaining of a method, according 

 to which pure speculation is nowhere permitted to assert itself, 

 excepting in so far as it is absolutely necessary. Surely it would 

 be a deplorable thing were " the epoch-making book " allowed 

 to present a gratuitous deviation from this method, merely in 

 order to plunge into a sea of h priori conceptions where inductive 

 verification is as yet impossible. The passage quoted by Prof. 

 Tyndall is adduced by Mr. Darwin only in order to show that 

 so far as the doctrine of the transmutation of species is concerned, 

 the evolution theory supplies us with "just as noble a conception 

 of the Deity " as does the theory of special creation. Regarding 

 the more ultimate question, everyone must siy with Dr. Tyndall, 

 " What Mr. Darwin thinks of the introduction of life I do not 

 know ;" and this, I take it, is just the condition in which tlie 

 author of the " Origin of Species" should allow his opinions to 

 take their place in history. In short, those who censure Mr. 

 Darwin for his praiseworthy reticence regarding " the far higher 

 problem of the essence or origin of life, upon which science as 

 yet throws no light," * would do well to consider the beautiful 

 example of scientific caution that is afforded by the manner in 

 which this very subject is treated of in the concluding pages ol 

 the last edition of the "Origin ;" and I am sure that I am only 

 expressing the opinion of the majority of Mr. Darwin's admirers 

 when I say, that whatever our ontological views may happen to 

 be, we all unite in sincerely hoping that, in subsequent editions, 

 he will not spoil the splendour of his finished work by indulging 

 in speculations as foreign to his subject as they must be unpro- 

 fitable in themselves. 

 Aug. 21 A Disciple of Darwin 



Meteors 



On referring to my record of meteors for the 8th inst., I find 

 two meteors nearly at the times mentioned by Prof. Tait (vol. 

 X. p. 305), viz., 10.33 and 10.53. That at 10.33 ^^s, from its 

 position as seen here, unquestionably not identical with the one 

 he saw. That at 10.53 ™^y possibly be the same, if by 

 Monoceros Prof. Tait means the constellation commonly marked 

 at Equuleus. If such is the case, a calculation, rough as the 

 data necessitates, would give for the meteor's height at the be- 

 ginning 144 miles ; at the end, S7 miles. 



I have of course liad to assume a path for the northern station, 

 but as the radiant point was indicated, and one point of the 

 meteor's course, I had not much choice in the matter. 



Birmingham, Aug. 24 Thos. II. Waller 



ANOTHER NEW COMET 



THE following communication, dated Mr. Bishop's 

 Observatory, Twickenham, Aug. 20, has been sent 

 to the Times by Mr. J. R. Hind, F.R.S. :— 



" We have received to-day from M. Stephan, director 

 of the Obser\'atory at Marseilles, telegraphic notice of the 

 discovery of a comet this morning by M. Coggia, in the 

 constellation Taurus, the position of which is thus 

 given : — 



"August 19, at i4h. 33min. mean time at Marseilles. — 

 Right ascension, 59' 29' ; Polar distance, 62" 55'. Motion 

 towards the south-east. The comet is faint. 



" The comet discovered at the same observatory by M. 

 Borrelly, on the 25th of July, I observed here last night 

 as follows ; — 



" August 19, at 9h. 27min. 3Ssec. mean time at Twicken- 

 ham.— Right ascension, i3h. 32min. 7"s8sec. ; Polar dis- 

 tance, 17" 21' 42'3"- 



" It does not appear, as yet, to have materially decreased 

 in brightness." 



* "Urigiaof Species," p. 421, 1874. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT BELFAST 

 Belfast, Tuesday Night. 



"DELFAST is quite the centre of Irish industry, and 

 -'-' one of the most progressive towns in the kingdom. 

 People are living who remember it with less than 20,000 

 inhabitants ; now it has near 200,000. As a proof of 

 industry and thrift, it offers a good example to the rest of 

 Ireland. The Association has not met under very favour- 

 able circumstances, for unfortunately at this moment no 

 less than 20,000 men in the town are on strike, and some- 

 what less than 1 5,000/. a week is withdrawn from circu- 

 lation. A smaller town with a less elastic population 

 would be paralysed, and the influence of the strike is 

 sufficiently felt as it is. The population of the town is 

 very mi.xed ; it is not true Irish. Belfast is less Irish 

 either than Dublin, Cork, Gabvay, Derry, or Limerick. 

 There is a large leaven of Scotch and Scoto-Irish, who 

 have indeed the merit of a thrifty nature, b.it who lack 

 many of the good qualities of the Irish ; among others, 

 their hospitality. The thrilt of these people has caused 

 the hotel and lodging arrangements to be carried out in 

 an abominable manner. We have been shamefully fleeced. 

 One hotel charges a sovereign a night for a bedroom, 

 others half as much ; in any case, members of the Asso- 

 ciation are charged at least double the ordinary prices. 

 In final despair we were driven to inquire at a small 

 coffee-shop whether they had a room ; the people replied 

 that they had ; but that if we were a member of the Associa- 

 tion we must pay ten shillings a night, the ordinary price 

 in that house being about two shillings. When people 

 travel from a distance, and sacrifice time, money, and 

 rest, to do the work of the Association, and not as 

 pleasure seekers, it is rather hard to be swindled because 

 you happen to be a member of the Association. 



The Sections have been well filled, and have had plenty 

 of pabulum in the form of papers and verbal communi- 

 cations. Section A has been divided into two Depart- 

 ments, and it is probable that one or two of the Sections 

 will have to sit on Wednesday. The addresses were quite 

 up to the average. Among the more interesting papers 

 were those of I\ir. Huggins, On the .Spectrum of Coggia's 

 Comet ; Prof. Wiedemann, On the Magnetisation of 

 Chemical Compounds ; Dr. Carpenter, On the Challenger 

 Dee])-sea Dredgings ; and Mr. E. J. Harland, On a 

 Screw-lowering Apparatus for Ships. The expected fight 

 about the Eozo'on Canadense did not come off. The 

 specimen and apparatus room is well filled. Among the 

 more interesting objects we observe Prof. Barrett's appa- 

 ratus for showing the elongation of iron, cobalt, and 

 nickel by magnetisation, Mr. Braham's heliostat and 

 ruled glass used in experiments on light, and Mr. Roberts' 

 illustrations of columnar structure, artificially produced. 

 The Thursday soiree, on the other hand, was singularly 

 devoid of exhibitions of any kind, and the Ulster Hall 

 was extremely crowded, both causes tending to make the 

 evening drag rather heavily. There were several excur- 

 sions on Saturday, and there arc many prepared for 

 Thursday, the principal being to the Giants' Causeway. 

 The Mayor, who has throughout been very active in for- 

 warding the interests of the Association, has issued invi- 

 tations for a trip round the coast on Thursday, for which 

 purpose he has engaged one of the fine Fleetwood mail 

 steamers. 



The Association meets next year at Bristol, Sir 

 John Hawkshaw, C.E., F.R.S. , being President-elect ; 

 Glasgow is to be the place of meeting in 1S76, an in- 

 fluential deputation having attended the Association to 

 urge upon it the claims of that city to the honour of 

 its presence. Plymouth will probably be the rendezvous 

 for 1877. 



The following is the financial statement of the Associa- 

 tion for the past year : — 



