OcruiiEK I, 1896] 



NA TURE 



54- 



terises the Bennettiteoe, as a family perfectly distinct from the 

 Cycacle.v, though probably, as Count Solms-Laubach suggests, 

 having a common origin with them at some remote period. The 

 Bennettite.v, while approaching Angiosperms in the complexity 

 of their fruit, retain a filicinean character in their ramenta, 

 which are quite like those of ferns, and different from any other 

 form of hair found in recent Cycadex. Probably the bennet- 

 titean and cycadean series diverged from each other at a point 

 not far removed from the filicinean stock common to both. 



I hope that the hasty sketch which I have attempted of some 

 of the indications of descent afforded by modern work on fossil 

 plants may have served to illustrate the importance of the ques- 

 lions involved and to bring home to botanists the fact that 

 phylogenetic problems can no longer be adequately dealt with 

 without taking into account the historical evidence which the 

 rocks aftord us. 



Before leaving this subject I desire to express the great regret 

 which all botani.sts must feel at the recent loss of one of the few 

 men in England who have carried on original work in fossil 

 botany. .\t the last meeting of the Association we had to lament 

 the death, at a ripe old age, of a great leader in this branch of 

 science, I'ruf. W. C. Williamson. Only a few weeks ago we 

 heard of the premature decease of Thomas Hick, for many years 

 his demonstrator and colleague. Mr. Hick profited by his 

 association with his distinguished chief, and made many valuable 

 original contributions to paleobotany (not to mention other parts 

 of botanical science), among wliich I may especially recall his 

 work, in conjunction with Mr. Cash, on Astroniyelon (now 

 known to be the root of Calamites), on the leaves and on the 

 primary structure of the stem in Calamites, on the structure of 

 Ctitjinostaihys^ on the root of LygiiiodendroHy and on a new 

 fossil probably allied to Stigiiiaria. His loss will leave a gap in 

 the too thin ranks of fossil-botanists ; but we may hope that the 

 subject, now that its importance is beginning to be appreciated, 

 will be taken up by a new generation of enthusiastic investi- 

 gators. 



CO.N'CI.USION 



To my mind there is a wonderful fascination in the records of 

 the far-distant past in which our own origin, like that of our 

 distant cousins the plants, lies hidden. If any fact is brought 

 home to us by the investigations of modern biology, it is the 

 conviction that all life is one : that, as Niigeli said, the distance 

 from man to the lowest bacterium is less than the distance from 

 the lowest bacterium to non-living matter. 



In all studies which bear on the origin and past history of 

 living things there is an element of human interest — 



•' Hence, in a season of calm weather, 

 Though inland far we be, 

 Our souls have sight of that immortal sea 

 Which brought us hither." 



ThL- problems of descent, though strictly speaking they may 

 often prove insoluble, will never lose their attraction for the 

 scientifically guided imaginaticm. 



THE CONWAY EXPEDITION TO 

 SPITZBERGEN. 

 'PI IK Times oi September iS published an account of a con- 

 versation which .Mr. Trevor-Battye, on his return from his 

 recent journey in Spitzbergen, had with a representative of 

 Renter's Agency. To this report we are indebted for the 

 following particulars. As will be remembered, Mr. Trevor- 

 Battye was a member of .Sir Martin Conway's expedition (an 

 account of the doings of a section of which appeared in Nature 

 of September 10, from the pen of Dr. J- W. Gregory), and, 

 as arrangeel, left Sir .Martin Conway, Dr. Gregory, and Mr. 

 Garwood, in company with .Mr. Conway, the artist, and 

 Pedersen, of Tromsb, near .\dvent Bay for the purpose of ex- 

 ploring some of the northern parts of the island. The first 

 object was to explore Dickson Bay, the most northerly bay 

 in Ice Fjord, the northern part of which had never been 

 mapped. In this work the explorers seem to have met with 

 very considerable difficulties from flowing ice and the remains 

 of the old winter pack. However, they landed at a place on 

 the western shore, and spent the night. In the morning, the 

 ice having opened a little, Mr. Trevor-Battye and Pedersen 

 crossed to the other side, being anxious to find out something 

 of the character of the country which separates Ice Fjord from 

 NO. 1405, VOL. 54] 



the .sea lying to the north. At the north end they found the 

 tide was out, and great stretches of mud of a very tenacious 

 character were to be seen. In the distance, running north-west, 

 appeared what seemed to be a valley ; but, at a nearer view, 

 it proved not to be a valley at all, but an enormous glacier, 

 the front of which was masked by an immense and intricate 

 moraine. The glacier, in striking contrast to the majority of 

 glaciers, is a retreating one, and is slowly dying back. On 

 reaching it, the explorers found it a mile and a half wide, and 

 many miles in length. Pedersen, being anxious about his boat, 

 returned to her at this stage, and Mr. Trevor-Battye went on 

 alone, and presently climbed the snout of a rounded glacier, 

 by which he hoped to be able to effect a crossing. It was, 

 however, badly crevassed, the crevasses becoming wider and 

 more formidable at every step. In his own words: "I had 

 not expected to find ice, and so was not prepared, not even 

 having a stick or a gun with me. I wanted to push on, how- 

 ever, although aware of the fact that the undertaking was rash, 

 and one which, under the circumstances, no Alpine guide 

 would have attempted. I went some distance further, but, 

 sinking to my knees on a snow-bridge half-spanning a crevasse, 

 I had to reach the other side by flinging myself forward. Later, 

 while standing at the edge of another crevasse, a large body of 

 solid ice, which was jammed between its walls, fell with a roar 

 as I was going to walk across it. .■V little ahead I could see 

 the col, from which I knew I should have sight of the sea ; but 

 I found it impossible to proceed without proper ice tools, for 

 the crevasses between me and that point were masked by deep 

 snow, and I felt any further attempts to be quite unjustifiable. 

 I had now reached a height of 1800 feet — not of mountain, but 

 a gradual rise of ice-river from the sea. The return journey I 

 found more difficult, as the crevasses had to be met down hill, 

 and a slip upon their rounded edges would have been fatal. 

 Finally, I rejoined Pedersen after a walk of twenty-two hours. 

 We then returned to Cape Warn, and explored the western bay 

 of Ice Fjord. According to Nordenskiold's map, on which our 

 Admiralty chart is based, a large island occupies the centre of 

 this bay ; but, after cruising about for two days, we found to 

 our surprise that it no longer existed as an island. The glacier 

 — which, by the way, we named 'Splendid Glacier' — had en- 

 croached to such an extent, and so rapidly, that it had entirely 

 filled up one neck of the bay, and had also covered two-thirds 

 of the island. In a few years' time the head of the bay will be 

 completely obliterated." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Dr. Carl von Kui'Ffer, Professor of Anatomy in the 

 University of Munich, has been elected Rector of that University 

 for the coming year. 



Mr. J. AiREY, of the Leeds Organised Science School, 

 has been appointed science master of the Rhondda Intermediate 

 School at Forth. 



Mr. F. T. Howard, Professor of Geology in Cardiff Uni- 

 versity College, has been appointed one of her Majesty's in- 

 spectors of schools. 



Mr. H. J. Mackinder will deliver, at Gresham College, 

 under the auspices of the University Extension Society, a course 

 of twenty-five lectures on " The Geography of Europe, Asia, 

 and Northern Africa," beginning on October 5, at six o'clock. 



Dr. E. Symes Tho.mi'.son, Gresham Professor of Medicine, 

 will deliver lectures on " Vaccination," on October 6 and 7, and 

 on " The New Photography," on October S and 9. The lectures, 

 for which no charge for admission is made, will be given at six 

 o'clock each evening in Gresham College, Basinghall Street, E.C. 



The Councils of University College and of King's College, 

 London, have, in conjunction with the Technical Education 

 Board of the London County Council, arranged a number 

 of courses to be held in the evenings for those students who 

 are engaged in the day-time. The courses are to be of the 

 same standard as the day classes, and admission will be con- 

 fined to students who have already made some advance in the 

 knowledge of the subjects. At University College there will 

 be lectures on mechanical engineering, by Prof. Hudson Beare, 

 commencing October 12 ; electrical engineering, by Prof. 

 Fleming, commencing October 13 ; and practical chemistry, by 

 Mr. C. F. Cross, commencing November i. At King's College 

 the special evening classes for advanced students are : Civil 



