8 



NATURE 



[Nov. 6, 1879 



dissociation of the metals to which the lines are common, 

 —in this case chiefly the metals of the iron group— in the 

 hottest region of the sun, and to my mind the proof is 

 conclusive that at that temperature we have a mixed 

 mass of vapours in which the base is more predominant 

 than the so-called chemical elements to which that base 

 is common. 



But although I hold that this is the most conclusive 

 test to apply, it is not the only one which the sun 

 affords us. 



We have every reason to believe that there is a con- 

 siderable difference in the temperature of the spot- and 

 storm-stratum when it is absolutely quiescent and cut off 

 from all visible action from below, and again when it is 

 riddled with convection currents of the most tremendous 

 character, in other words that its temperature at the sun- 

 spot maxima and minima is not the same. Hence we 

 may imagine that the difference of temperature will affect 

 the basic lines especially, and that they will be stronger 

 at one period of the sun-spot curve than at another. 



I limit myself for the present to the statement that this 

 comparison has also been made to a certain extent, and 

 that the result of it is entirely in harmony with what has 

 gone before, so far as the observations go, but more 

 spots must be observed before a complete discussion is 

 possible. This, however, is certain, that basic lines 

 widened at Sherman in 1872 were not observed widened 

 at Greenwich in 1877, or at Kensington in the spots which 

 appeared last month. 



I for my part, then, am perforce driven by the stern 

 logic of facts to the conclusion that these "basic lines" 

 are not accidental; are not "physical coincidences;" 

 and do not owe their origin to impurities ; but that their 

 appearance in two or more spectra is dependent upon 

 high temperature merely. 



The original statement, then, that the spectrum of each 

 element consists only of lines special to that element, is 

 found to be insufficient when the highest temperatures and 

 the greatest dispersions are employed, and a "higher law" 

 has to be introduced to bring the statements of the text- 

 books into harmony with the facts. 



The dissociation of the elements of the iron group at 

 the highest temperatures we can command and in the 

 sun, is a cause by which this fact can be explained, if we 

 accept the law of continuity, and reason on well based 

 analogies. 



This, of course, constitutes a new departure in spectrum 

 analysis, whatever its bearing may be found to be upon 

 Chemical Philosophy, when that subject is again studied 

 as it once was. 



To those who follow the line of reasoning on such a 

 subject which the spectroscope provides us with, and 

 even to those who admit the cogency of the conclusions, 

 it will be astonishing that such a result has been arrived 

 at in s.xh an indirect way; there are, however, many 

 minds so constituted that they will prefer to endow matter 

 with any number of undreamt of qualities before they 

 will accept such a solution. 



But for all that, when the facts are well considered by 

 competent authorities, it will, I think, be granted that an 

 inorganic evolution is already glimpsed, in the study of 

 which we shall not be baffled by any "breaks in strata." 

 J. Norman Lockyer 



D 1 



MIND IN THE LOWER ANIMALS 

 Mind in the Lower Animals in Health and Disease. By 

 W. Lauder Lindsay, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.L.S., &c. 

 (London : C. Kegan Paul and Co., 1879.) 



R. LAUDER LINDSAY has long been known as 

 a contributor to periodical literature in the province 

 of comparative psychology. The work which he now 

 publishes with the above title clearly represents a great 

 amount of labour. It is in two large octavo volumes 

 which together present somewhat over 1,000 pages, and 

 contain references to the writings of about 200 authors. 

 It is furnished with an excellent index and a bibliography. 

 The latter, we are told, is "confined to works consulted 

 by the author," and "almost exclusively to those pub- 

 lished in Britain and in the English language." The 

 work is also furnished with a long " enumeration of the 

 animals whose character and habits form the basis of the 

 author' s generalisations." The list includes 908 species 

 belonging to 516 genera, both the popular and the scien- 

 tific names being in every case supplied. 



In so extensive a work by so well-known a man there 

 is, as we should expect, a great deal that is both of inte- 

 rest and value. Particularly in this connection may be 

 pointed out his compilation and digestion of facts regard- 

 ing the psychology of savages as contrasted with that of 

 animals, and also many of his observations on the insanity 

 of animals as compared with the insanity of man. His 

 chapters on "General Adaptiveness and "The Use of 

 Instruments" also deserve, on the whole, to be com- 

 mended. 



But while we welcome a book— and especially a popular 

 book— the leading object of which is to prove the kinship 

 of animal intelligence to human, it is impossible not to 

 regret the occurrence of certain faults which the exercise 

 of a little more judgment might have obviated. In the first 

 place the work is painfully diffuse. Whole pages, and 

 even chapters, might with advantage have been omitted, 

 while there are but few chapters which might not, with 

 equal advantage, have been considerably condensed. 

 Those, for instance, on " Faults of Terminology," "Ani- 

 mal Reputation," " Responsibility of Animals," and 

 others, appear utterly useless. Whether or not it is 

 accurate to call the lower animals "dumb," "lower," 

 &c, and whether or not the "reputation " of a dog suffers 

 from the use of such terms as "dogging," " hounding," 

 " cat and dog life," &c, and whether or not any one is so 

 foolish as to suppose that a smuggler's dog is morally 

 responsible for a smuggler' s acts ; whether or not these 

 things are so, they are certainly not of sufficient import- 

 ance to demand lengthy discussion. Again, such state- 

 ments as the following are quite superfluous, at least out 

 of a nursery-book ; — 



" While the dog barks, bites, growls, howls, whines, 

 sniffs, and snarls ; the horse neighs, kicks, stamps, paws, 

 snorts, champs, lashes its tail ; the cat purrs, scratches, 

 hisses, mews ; cattle low, butt, gore, bellow ; the elephant 

 trumpets, roars, screams ; the sheep and goat bleat ; the 

 ass brays, the cock crows, and the hen clucks and 

 cackles." 



This is all quite true, but it is not new ; and the same 

 remark is applicable to pages and pages of both volumes. 

 In short, unlimited diffusiveness is the worst fault of the 

 book. The next worst fault is that of presenting alleged 



