October 17, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



631 



stance of the application of the above meth- 

 ods may be given. Certain species of bac- 

 teria during the course of their vital proc- 

 esses are capable of emitting light. If, 

 however, the cells be broken up at the tem- 

 perature of liquid air, and the crushed eon- 

 tents brought to the ordinary temperature, 

 the luminosity function is found to have 

 disappeared. This points to the luminosity 

 not being due to the action of a ferment— 

 a ' Lucif erase '—but as being essentially 

 bound up with the vital processes of the 

 cells, and dependent for its production on 

 the intact organization of the cell. These 

 attempts to study by frigoriflc methods the 

 physiology of the cell have already yielded 

 valuable and encouraging results, and it is 

 to be hoped that this line of investigation 

 will continue to be vigorously prosecuted 

 at the Jenner Institute. 



And now, to conclude an address which 

 must have sorely taxed your patience, I 

 may remind you that I commenced by re- 

 ferring to the plaint of Elizabethan sci- 

 ence, that cold was not a natural available 

 product. In the course of a long struggle 

 with nature, man, by the application of in- 

 telligent and steady industry, has acquired 

 a control over this agency which enables 

 him to produce it at will, and with almost 

 any degree of intensity, short of a limit 

 defined by the very nature of things. But 

 the success in working what appears, at 

 first sight, to be a quarry of research that 

 would soon suffer exhaustion, has only 

 brought him to the threshold of new laby- 

 rinths, the entanglements of which frus- 

 trate, with a seemingly invulnerable com- 

 plexity, the hopes of further progress. In 

 a legitimate sense all genuine scientific 

 workers feel that they are 'the inheritors 

 of unfulfilled renown.' The battlefields of 

 science are the centers of a perpetual war- 

 fare, in which there is no hope of final 

 victory, although partial conquest is ever 



triumphantly encouraging the continuance 

 of the disciplined and strenuous attack on 

 the seemingly impregnable fortress of Na- 

 ture. To serve in the scientific army, to 

 have shown some initiative, and to be re- 

 warded by the consciousness that in the 

 eyes of his comrades he bears the accredited 

 accolade of successful endeavor, is enough 

 to satisfy the legitimate ambition of every 

 earnest student of Nature. The real war- 

 ranty that the march of progress in the 

 future will be as glorious as in the past lies 

 in the perpetual reinforcement of the sci- 

 entific ranks by recruits animated by such 

 a spirit, and proud to obtain such a re- 

 ward. 



James Dewar. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Notes on Naval Progress. July, 1902. Office 

 of Naval Intelligence. Washington, Gov- 

 ernment Printing Office. 1902. 8vo. 

 Paper. Pp. 502; over 100 illustrations, 

 plates, maps, tables, etc. 



This very large and exceedingly valuable 

 document constitutes No. XXI., General In- 

 formation Series, of the Office of Naval In- 

 telligence, a division of the Naval Organiza- 

 tion which has now for many years been 

 jvistifying its existence by great and increasing 

 efficiency. Under the supervision of Captain 

 Sigsbee, the present Chief Intelligence Officer, 

 it is evidently fully maintaining its standing. 

 The contributors to this bulky volume are 

 usually young officers of the navy who exhibit 

 that talent for exact, concise and comprehen- 

 sive composition which is the distinguishing 

 characteristic of a good official report, and that 

 excellence in style which seems so common a 

 talent with military and naval officers. The 

 two probably necessarily go together and are 

 the outcome of familiarity with, often a min- 

 ute study of, the reports and writings of great 

 commanders quite as much as of careful drill 

 at the governmental technical schools. 



The volume in hand contains notes on ships 

 and torpedo-boats, on ordnance and armor, 

 on engineering progress, electricity, wireless 



