114 



NA TURE 



[June 4, 1896 



small-scale maps, the true position is not likely to lie within the 

 thickness of the stroke which marks it, and deviation means 

 change of area. Finally, we have the vast imcertainty of the 

 utterly unknown Antarctic and Arctic rec;ions, which are 

 estnnated by Wagner to amount to 16,000,000 and 5,000,000 

 square kilometres resjiectively, or together 4 per cent, of the 

 whole earth's surface. In the face of all this uncertainty, 

 does It not seem that only the balancing of errors can give 

 an api5ro.\iniation to the truth regarding The areas of land and 

 water; and that from the circumstances of the case, the fact that 

 one set of estimates disagrees with another, independently made, 

 IS of small account ? VVliile every precaution should be taken to 

 exclude errors of computation or of typography, it may be affirmed 

 as a principle, that to subject uncertain data to a too rigorous dis- 

 cu.ssion is waste of labour. Round figures alone can he justified 

 for many a long day in estimating the areas of the earth's 

 surface, and for longer still in estimating the volumes of oceans 

 and continents. 



The contour-Hnes on any ordinary map of a continent are only 

 the roughest generalisation of the height, even when numerous 

 points of altitude are fixed by exact" levelling. Kut where a 

 whole continent, like Africa, is measured for volume by the few 

 barometer and boiling-point altitudes which have been taken by 

 travellers of varying skill and in unknown meteorological con- 

 chtions, the most laborious calculation can only be an elaborate 

 guess. The temerity of the map-draughtsman in laying down 

 the contour-lines of the oceans is justifi'able as the expression of 

 probability, not as any exact delineation. In the Atlantic they 

 may indeed be guessed at with some confidence, but in the 

 Pacific and Southern Oceans the mean depth might easily be 

 hundreds of fathoms greater or less than is supposed from the 

 scattered points which have been measured as yet. 



It is right to guess at mean measurements, and to reason hypo- 

 thetically from them, but there is a risk of men accustomed to 

 critical rather than to practical work being misled against their 

 knowledge by the firm lines of maps and the means of 

 mgemously grouped observations. That Prof. Wagner has 

 obtained the best results pos.sible by means of his calculations 

 we recognise with sincere pleasure, but he has had the good, 

 though naturally imperfect, work of others to start from, and a 

 reader of his criticism might be led to disparage those workers 

 but for whom the ambitious attempt to calibrate the earth's 

 inequalities might have been postponed for another century. 



For myself I gladly accept the new value of the mean-sphere- 

 level as better than tlie avowedly rough guess which I hazarded 

 six years ago. And although Prof. Wagner calls me " a friend 

 of round figures," with a touch of rebuke in his tone, I shall still 

 try to deserve the name in connection with such calculations 

 until the improvement of geographical measurements justifies 

 the use of decimals in percentages, and fifties of fathoms in 

 average oceanic depths. Hugh Robert Mill. 



THE WORK OF LOCAL SOCIETIES. 

 n'HE practical methods of niorlern biological research have 

 been developed to such a high state of perfection since the 

 introduction of the appliances of physics and chemistry, that 

 the system of training in biology has within a comparatively 

 shoit period undergone a complete revolution. As one result of 

 this change the student is tempted from the fields and hedge- 

 rows, from the dow^is, heaths and woodlands, from the banks 

 of streams, and from the sea-shore into the laboratory. He 

 knows the structure of a certain number of " types," but he 

 walks as a stranger among the living animals and plants that 

 surround him. His knowledge is not of that kind attributed to 

 the wise king who " spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is 

 in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the 

 wall : he spake also of beasts and of fowls, and of creeping 

 things, and of fishes." The organism is to the modern student 

 not a living entity having a beautifully adjusted relationship to 

 Its environment, but a complicated collection of tissues capable 

 by appropriate treatment of being spread out into a panorama 

 of thin slices. His acquaintance with the living plant or 

 animal is of about the same kind as that which a chemist 

 ignorant of mechanics would acquire by endeavouring to under- 

 stand the working of a watch by making a chemical analysis of 

 its wheels and springs. In brief, the extreme specialisation of 

 laboratory work begins too early in his curriculum. Since the 

 introduction of the .system of instruction liy " types," there has 

 arisen an estrangement between the old school of field naturalists 



NO. 1388, VOL. 54] 



and the modern biologist— a result which was not anticipated by 

 the founders of this .system, and against which a healthy reaction, 

 led by .Mr. Thiselton-Dyer and others, is beginning to take 

 place. 



It is true that certain departments of biology have gained 

 enormously by the introduction of modern methods, and it must 

 also be admitted that some branches, such as morphology and 

 l>hysiology, are best dealt with in laboratory and dissecting- 

 room. Kut at the same time it is to be deplored that the 

 department which Prof. Ray Lankesler has happily terme.l 

 "bionomics" should be allowed to .sufter by competition with 

 the new methods. If biology has gained in .some directions, it 

 IS certainly the case that as a subject for the scientific training of 

 the observing faculties, it has suffered deterioration by leaving 

 the field naturalist outside the pale. The latter, finding himself 

 threatened with scientific excommunication, is driven into the 

 pages of popular magazines, or writes books which, althou"h 

 often very plea.sant reading, are painfully sterile from the purcdy 

 scientific point of view, and most disappointing when the capa- 

 bilities of the writers are taken into consideration. Between 

 the cabinet systematist who studies nature in museums, on the 

 one hand, and the laboratory worker, who ignores the animal or 

 plant as a living organism, on the other hand, the student of the 

 old school of natural history is being hard pressed to find a 

 footing. In a country like ours, with its immense colonies and 

 dependencies in every quarter of the globe, it is most regretalile 

 that our educational authorities do not recognise field natural 

 history as a subject worthy of their most serious encouragement'. 

 While the modern development of biological teaching has led 

 to the result above indicated, the local societies of this country 

 hax'e, in an unpretending way, been doing good work by 

 keeping alive the spirit of the old school of naturalists. There 

 are now on the list of Corresponding Societies' of the British 

 Association sixty-three societies distributed over the United 

 Kingdom.' All of these are more or less actively engaged in 

 carrying on local observations in various fields of science, and their 

 very existence is good evidence that there is a store of available 

 energy in this country which is by no means a negligible quantity 

 in estimating the scientific status of the nation. Field natural 

 history forms a large part of the work of the.se societies, and 

 this is certainly one of the directions in which every encourage- 

 ment should be given by all who are interested in their welfare. 

 Under field natural history would be included the collecting and 

 recording of species so as to furnish materials for the compila- 

 tion of local faunas and floras, observations on the habits and 

 life-histories of individual species, the systematic recording ot 

 dates of appearance of species, &c., compiised under the general 

 subject of phenological observations. The local societies have 

 already done much work in these subjects, and much more 

 remains to be accomplished. In connection with the collecting 

 of specimens it might be well to point out that these societies 

 can do an enormous service by discouraging on every occasion 

 the unnecessary destruction of life— by teaching by precept and 

 showing by example that the mere acquisition of specimens is 

 not the end and aim of natural history work, and that when a 

 typical collection has once been formed the needs of science have 

 been met. Most particularly is the assistance of the local 

 .societies wanted in protecting the "lower orders" of the 

 animal kingdom and the rare species of plants from the depre- 

 dations of the "dealer" or the avarice of the collector, fyr 

 while our birds are now likely to flourish under a beneficent Act 

 of Parhamcnt, it is impossible to make a public appeal to the 

 argument from .sympathy with .sentient beings in the ca.se of the 

 invertebrate classes of animals, or in the ca.se of the rare plants 

 which .still linger in unfrequented districts. These are cases fo 

 appeal to scientific reason rather than to sentiment. Is it too much 

 to hope that the societies in each district should approach the 

 landowners on whose estates rare .species are know to occur, 

 and invite them toco-operate in securing the protection of our 

 choicest forms of animal and vegetable life ? 



In many other directions is there scope for useful scientific 

 work on the part of local observers.- In geology, for instance, 



' The total number of member-s registered .-is belonging to these societies 

 IS nearly 24,000. It is of course difficult to arrive at the actual numbers, 

 because the same member may belong to more than one society ; but after 

 making every allowance for such repetitions, it will be seen that the volun- 

 teer army of scientific workers is much stronger than ha.s hitherto been 

 realised. 



- For some valuable suggestions with respect to meteorological work, see 

 the address to the Conference of Delegates at the last (Ipswich) meeting of 

 the British Association, by Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., Chairman of the 

 Conference. 



