390 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1449 



since the incidental expenses of printing and 

 postage are being met independently. 



IsiDOHE Levitt, 

 Cambridge, Mass. Secretary 



QUOTATIONS 

 THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



The meeting of the British Association at 

 Hull ended yesterday. It will be remembered 

 chiefly by Sir Charles Sherrington's presiden- 

 tial address, on which discussion did not cease 

 dui-ing the week, nor is it more likely to die 

 down when science and philosophy have had 

 time to study the full text. So far as it was a 

 positive statement it was definitely on the ma- 

 terialistic as opposed to the vitalistic interpre- 

 tation of Nature. It explained the increasing 

 number of mechanisms in the body of men and 

 animals which are now understood, and def- 

 initely referred these to the order of chemisitry 

 and physics instead of to vague non-material 

 principles. So far, its assault was limited to 

 fashionable docti-ines within the sphere of 

 science, and should disturb only those who trace 

 purpose and consciousness hack to animalculse, 

 or attribute a psyche to the cells of the liver. 

 With regard to the mind itself no positive 

 statement of a materialistic interpretation was 

 made; on the contrary, iSir Charles Sherring- 

 ton, with a deliberateness perhaps in itself sug- 

 gestive, reiterated our complete failure to inter- 

 pret mind in terms of matter. But the presi- 

 dent traced the relations between the evolution 

 of the nervous system and the rise of mind in 

 the animal kingdom with meticulous care, and 

 insisted so coldly but so minutely on the cor- 

 respondences between what he stated to be 

 mechanism and what all regard as mind that it 

 is at least open to read intention into his argu- 

 ment. No one can doubt but that the British 

 Association, through its president, has fulfilled 

 one of its highest functions this year. It has 

 set men thinking and talking on one of the 

 more fundamental problems that excite the 

 human intelligence. 



Otherwise the meeting at Hull was useful 

 rather than distinguished. There were many 

 solid papers, some valuable discussions, and no 

 more than the customary number of attempts 

 to reach the public ear by the methods of exag- 



geration, or of insistence on the dramatic side 

 of a communication. The debate on nitrogen 

 was a sound and instructive contribution to 

 one of the branches of applied science most 

 vital to the safety and the prosperity of na- 

 tions. The coming together of zoologists, gov- 

 ernment officials, fishery experts and members 

 of the fishing industry did much to enlighten 

 both science and industry. We admit with 

 pleasure that since we and others called atten- 

 tion to the diffuse and overloaded nature of the 

 program of meetings of the association, the 

 organization has been notably improved, espe- 

 cially with regard to the arrangement of joint 

 discussions, in which two or more sections take 

 part. Our special correspondents, however, 

 infoiTQ us that there were still at the Hull 

 meeting many cases of several papers or dis- 

 cussions of wide interest set down for the same 

 day and hour. Unfortunately, moreover, not 

 a few of the speakers and readers of papers 

 had rudimentary ideas on public speaking, and 

 attempted to cover far too much ground in the 

 time allotted to them, or overloaded their con- 

 tributions with unnecessary introductory mat- 

 ter. Science should not disdain the art of pre- 

 sentation. — The London Times. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



BespiraUon. By J. S. Haldane^ M. D., 

 LL. D., r. R. S., Fellow of New College, 

 Oxford; Hon. Professor, Birmingham Uni- 

 versity. Yale University Press, 1922. 427 

 pp., 104 figures, and an appendix of ana- 

 lytical methods. 



This volume contains the Silliman Memorial 

 lectures at Yale University for 1915, revised 

 so as to bring the presentation of the material 

 up to the date of publication. It is a mono- 

 graph covering the field of respiration : a field 

 which, largely as the result of the work of 

 Haldane and his collaborators, has assumed 

 outstanding importance in recent years, and 

 pix)mises further important developments in 

 the near future in theoretical knowledge and 

 in practical applications to clinical medicine 

 and industrial hygiene. 



In brief, this book is the carefully revised 

 and coordinated presentation, while the author 

 is at the acme of his productive powers, of 



