SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



T 45 



The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of 

 Entomology, has issued Part VII. of a bibliography 

 of the more important contributions to American 

 entomology, occupying 113 pages, including a very 

 useful index. 



Two useful papers by Messrs. J. A. Wheldon, 

 F.L.S., and Albert Wilson, F.L.S., have been re- 

 printed from the " Journal of Botany." They are 

 upon the additions to the flora of West Lancashire. 

 They contain numerous Phanerogams and ex- 

 ceptional forms of these plants. 



Professor Karl Pearson, of University College, 

 London, has prepared a revised edition of his " On 

 Ethics," which discusses the problems of the day — 

 religion, labour, and sex. The aim of the book is 

 to show how the enthusiasm of study is a real factor 

 of human development, and how the slow and 

 gradual educational work of the thinker is, after 

 all, more permanent than the emotional influence 

 of the market-place. It will be published by Adam 

 & Charles Black. 



Mr. Douglas Hall and Lord Albert 

 Osborne have collaborated in a volume to be 

 entitled " Sunshine and Surf," which will be 

 published immediately by Adam and Charles Black. 

 It will contain their impressions of a year's 

 wanderings in the South Sea Islands, from which 

 they have recently retnrned, and of the amuse- 

 ment they derived from the quaint manners and 

 ■customs of the natives. The volume will be pro- 

 fusely illustrated, and will contain a map of the 

 route. 



The appointment of the Koyal Commission on 

 Tuberculosis has been recently announced. Its 

 •object is to inquire and report, with regard to 

 tuberculosis in man and other animals, as to 

 whether it is one and the same form, and if animals 

 and man can be reciprocally infected. Further, to 

 investigate under what conditions, if any, the 

 disease is transferred from animals to man, and 

 what are the circumstances favourable or unfavour- 

 able to such transmission, Sir Michael Foster, 

 F.R.S., Professors G. S. Woodhead, S. H. C. Martin, 

 J. McFaclyean, and R. W. Boyce are the members 

 of the Commission. 



At Malmo, Sweden, Professor Otto Nordenskjold 

 is making ready for his South Polar Expedition. 

 He intends, as soon as the "Antarctic" returns 

 from Spitzbergen, where that vessel has been taking 

 meridian measurements, to start from Goteborg not 

 later than October 1st. From Goteborg he will 

 proceed to England, and then on to Buenos Ayres 

 .and Tierra del Fuego. In the winter a small hut 

 will be built on shore for the purpose of meteoro- 

 logical, magnetic, hydrographic, and other scientific 

 •observations. Professor Ohlin, of Lund, and 

 Mr. K. A. Andersson will act as zoologists. Dr. 

 Rodman will go as hydrographer and magnetician, 

 M. Skottoberg as botanist, and Dr. E. E. Rolof as 

 medical officer. Captain Larsin will be in charge 

 •of the " Antarctic." He has already made several 

 voyages to the South Polar regions. 



This year's meeting of the British Association 

 was held at Glasgow, commencing on September 

 12th. The inaugural meeting took place in St. 

 Andrew's Hall, when the President-elect, Professor 

 Riicker, delivered his address. The first part was 

 devoted to a memorial to the memory of our late 

 ■Queen, Professor Viriamu Jones, and other scientific 

 workers who have passed away since the last 



meeting of the British Association. Professor 

 Riicker then reviewed the work which has been 

 done in the investigation and analysis of matter, 

 including the phenomena of life from the point of 

 view of the physicists. He pointed out that the 

 atomic theory unifies so many facts, and simplifies 

 so much that is complicated, that its supporters 

 have a right, at all events until an equally intel- 

 ligible rival hypothesis is produced, to maintain 

 that atoms are not merely helps to mathematicians, 

 but physical realities. 



The presidential address for the section of Zoo- 

 logy was by Professor J. Cossar Ewart, F.R.S., on 

 "The Experimental Study of Variation." He 

 pointed out that the systematic study of variation 

 is of very recent date, though differences in flocks 

 and herds had long been observed by breeders ; 

 but while the belief in the immutability of species 

 prevailed there was little or no inducement to 

 collect facts or inquire into causes of variation. 

 The speaker shortly passed in review the different 

 reasons for variation, such as age, inter-crossing, 

 and inter-breeding. Amongst doubtful causes 

 Professor Ewart ranked the widespread opinion 

 that offspring could be influenced in form, colour, 

 and temperament by maternal impressions. His 

 own experience, after six years' experimental work 

 in this direction, during which he had bred 

 hundreds of animals, was that there was no evi- 

 dence in support of the maternal -impression 

 doctrine. He further discredited the theory of 

 telegony, to which subject he has also devoted 

 much time and research. 



The presidential address in the department of 

 Physiology was given by Professor McKendrick, 

 who briefly reviewed the advance that had been 

 made in our knowledge of this subject since the 

 last meeting of the British Association at Glasgow 

 in 1876, when it was only a sub-section of Zoology. 

 He then discussed some of the problems of molecular 

 physiology, with especial reference to the question 

 of how many organic molecules can be contained 

 in the smallest particle of living matter, and 

 whether there are a sufficient number of molecules 

 in the ovum to account for hereditary transmission 

 of characters. 



The Chemical section was addressed by Professor 

 Percy Frankland, the President of this section. He 

 devoted his speech to a consideration of the posi- 

 tion of this science at the commencement of the 

 twentieth century. The history of British chemistry, 

 he said, was remarkable, as was that of all British 

 science, in that it was largely the result of private 

 initiative. Twenty-five years ago there were 

 practically but few public laboratories, those being 

 chiefly attached to educational establishments 

 where the study of higher chemistry could be 

 followed. The enthusiasm among British chemists 

 was largely due to the custom that prevailed for 

 some time of sending students to Germany for their 

 chemical training, thus acquiring more exact 

 methods and aims. Reports of papers of interest 

 read in this section will probably be found in our 

 chemical department next month. 



Mr. John Horne, F.R.S., gave an interesting 

 account of recent advance in Scottish Geology in 

 his presidential address for that section. He stated 

 that in the three great divisions of geological 

 investigation — namely, stratigraphical geology, 

 palaeontology, and petrology— the progress that 



