264 



NA TURE 



[August 26, 1909 



The daily papers announce that the Select Committee 

 on the Daylight Saving Bill has adopted a report approving 

 the principle of the proposals made, but adverse to legis- 

 lation which would make the seasonal change of time 

 obligatory. The committee has arrived at the conclusion 

 that the principle, if applied compulsorily, would tend to 

 cause serious dislocations in certain industries, such as 

 agriculture and railways, where an alteration in the hours 

 of labour would cause great confusion. The hope is ex- 

 pressed, however, that the principle of daylight saving 

 will be adopted voluntarily in cases where it is found to 

 be practicable and desirable. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times reports that the 

 fifth International Dental Congress opened its proceedings 

 there on Monday, August 23, under the presidency of Prof. 

 O. Walkhoff, of Munich. In his opening address Prof. 

 Walkhoff referred to the increasing recognition of the 

 public importance of dental surgery, which no longer holds 

 a subordinate place in the field of science. Prof. 

 Waldeyer, director of the anatomical institute of the Uni- 

 versity of Berlin, referred to the important problems which 

 dental surgery embraces in anatomy, physiologv, pathologv, 

 and paleontology. 



An " .American colony " of a very interesting character 

 has recently been installed near Guildford, in Surrey, 

 where an attempt is being made to acclimatise the .American 

 robin (Mertila niigratoria) in England. Seventeen birds — 

 nine cocks and eight hens — were imported last spring, and 

 after being kept for a short time in a large open-air aviary, 

 all, with the exception of two or three pairs, were liberated 

 about the middle of June. They mated immediately, and 

 began nest-building almost at once. The nests — coarse, 

 bulky constructions — were placed in trees, with little 

 attempt at concealment, and clutches of from four to five 

 blue eggs, about the size of those of the thrush, were laid. 

 Old and voung, the birds now number between forty and 

 fifty. Fears are entertained that at the approach of winter 

 these robins, impelled by their strong migratory instinct, 

 will leave England and become hopelessly dispersed ; but 

 those who know the nature of the birds are confident that 

 by feeding them abundantly as cold weather draws on thev 

 can be induced to remain as permanent residents. They 

 are cheery birds, their " Kill 'em, cure 'em, give 'em 

 physic " being the climax of optimism. 



It is matter of just reproach against our statesmen and 

 administrators that, in devising and carrying out measures 

 intended for the amelioration of social conditions, thev are 

 very commonly blind to the teachings of science. This 

 point is well brought out in a striking article by Mr. E. B. 

 Iwan-Miiller in the August number of the Fortnightly 

 Review. In the course of his article, which is entitled 

 " The Cult of the Unfit," the writer argues with great 

 effect that, judged by the standard of biological principles, 

 much recent legislation must be condemned as ill-adapted 

 for its purpose and likely to be harmful in its results. 

 Socialism, he maintains, and any legislation tending in that 

 direction, runs directly counter to all the lessons that can 

 be derived from the contemplation of evolution bv struggle 

 and survival. " The new Trades Unionism aims at the 

 establishment and endowment of mediocrity bv the elimina- 

 tion of competition." The facts of parasitism and other 

 causes of degeneration are dwelt upon, and stress is laid 

 on the warning they convey against the policy of making 

 the conditions of life too easy — a warning still needed, 

 though not now delivered for the first time. -Apposite 

 quotations are given from Sir E. Ray Lankester's Romanes 

 lecture at Oxford. While opinions may differ as to Mr. 

 XO. 2078, VOL. 81I 



Iwan-Muller's applications, there can be no doubt that his- 

 plea for a recognition of scientific principle on the part of 

 our public men is both reasonable and necessary. 



The Pasteur Institute of Paris will receive in a few- 

 days the sum of 1,200,000?. which was bequeathed to it by 

 the late M. Osiris. The Paris correspondent of the Daily 

 News describes the following interesting circumstances re- 

 lating to this generous gift. M. Osiris founded in 1903 

 a triennial prize of 4000Z. to be bestowed on " the person 

 who had rendered the greatest service to the human race 

 during the three preceding years." The prize was awarded' 

 to Dr. Roux, the head of the Pasteur Institute, for the 

 discovery of the anti-diphtheria serum, which has been 

 the means of saving the lives of many thousand children, 

 and the whole of the money was made over by him to 

 the institute. M. Osiris "was struck by the unselfish con- 

 duct of the man of science, and asked him one day why 

 -he had given the money to the institute. " All that I 

 am," replied Dr. Roux, "I owe to the Pasteur Institute, 

 for all my experiments and discoveries have been made 

 there. Besides, the institute is very poor, for we have- 

 no income except what we make by the sale of serum, ancJ 

 though that brings in enough to keep the establishment 

 going, some fresh remedy may any day be discovered, in 

 which case I fear the institute would have to close its 

 doors for want of funds." M. Osiris said nothing at the 

 time, adds the Daily News correspondent ; but at his death, 

 which occurred a year or two afterwards, it was found 

 that he had left the bulk of his wealth to the Pasteur 

 Institute as a token of admiration for the scientific attain- 

 ments and self-abnegation of Dr. Roux. 



No. 4 of vol. i. of the ornithological publications of the- 

 Field Museum of Natural History is devoted to a catalogue 

 of birds from British East Africa, by Mr. N. Dearborn. 



In vol. vi.. No. 4, of the University of Colorado Studies- 

 Prof. T. D. H. Cockerell describes and figures a skull of a 

 ground-sloth from Colorado provisionally referred to the 

 genus Mylodon. It differs from Paramylodon, of the 

 Nebraskan Pliocene, by having the normal five in place of 

 four pairs of upper cheek-teeth. 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of vols. xxx. (1907) 

 and xxxi. (1908) of Memoires de la Societi des Naturalistes 

 dc la Nouvellc-Russic, Odessa. In the former. Dr. A. 

 Brauner poh.ts out that while naturalists regard the green- 

 headed starling of Western Europe as the true Sliirnus 

 vulgaris of Linnaeus, and class the purple-headed bird as 

 distinct, under the name of 5. intermedins , the latter, as 

 occurring in Sweden, should properly be called S. vulgaris. 

 Hence the English starling requires another designation. 



The articles in the July number of the National 

 Geographic Magazine are mostly devoted to Alaska and its 

 products. General Greely opening the subject with ar» 

 account of the economic evolution of .-Maska, while Mr. T. 

 Riggs follows with the story of marking the Alaskart 

 boundary, and Messrs. R. H. Sargent and W. H. Osgood 

 respectively discuss the mountains and the big game of the 

 country. In the last of the articles referred to special 

 attention is directed to the uncertainty still existing with 

 regard to the number of forms of Alaskan brown bears. 



We have received the monthly journals of the Meteoro- 

 logical Society of Japan for the first half of this year. 

 These contain notices of recent conspicuous meteorological 

 occurrences, and articles on climatological and other in- 

 teresting subjects, among which is a discussion of the winds 

 on the east coast of .Asia, by Mr. M. Ishida, which runs 

 through several numbers. The practice of summarising 



