NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11203, 25 October 1899, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Presidental Address at the meeting of the British Association this year was delivered by Sir Michael Foster. Sir Michael is among the most eminent of living biologists, but lie resisted the temptation of glorifying himself in his own department, and, after referring to the losses sustained during the year, especially by the death of Sir Douglas Gallon, who was chiefly responsible for the establishment of the National Physical Laboratory, gave a review of the progress of science during the nineteenth century. The quest after the knowledge of the nature of living beings was one of the earliest on which man set out, but its fulfilment was oven now far off. To-day. however, our treatises on physiology were largely made up of precise and exact exposition, where our predecessors were compelled to use such vague terms as "vital force," or " vital principle." Some of the problems of the living body, said the president, had to be solved, neither by physical nor by chemical methods, but by methods of their own. The very beginning of this analysis was unknown in 1799. Our present knowledge of the nervous system was to a large extent only an exemplification and expansion of Charles Bell's new idea published in 1811. The middle years of the present century marked an epoch in biological thought, for it was then that Charles Darwin gave to the world his " Origin of Species," a work which would have been impossible had not the earlier half of the century been in travail for its coming. All, or nearly all, of the exact knowledge of the laboured way in which each living creature puts on its proper shape and structure was a heritage of the present century. Summing up, the president insisted that the difference in respect of natural knowledge, whatever might be the case with other differences between a hundred years ago and now, was a difference which meant progress. In a few eloquent words the president dwelt on the international brotherhood of science, of which he gave many interesting illustrations. In conclusion, the president pleaded on behalf of two great scientific projects— being the forthcoming Antarctic expedition (for which the association at another meeting voted £1000). The other was a proposal for carrying out by international co-operation a complete current index of the scientific literature of the world.

Dr. Peter Stiens, a Russian electrician, announces that he has applied an electrical apparatus of his invention to several blind persons, and has made them to see light and the shape of objects around them. At an interview with a member of the staff of the London Central News, Dr. Stiens said: "I have been working on this invention for some years, and have every confidence now that I shall soon bring it to snch a state of utility that blind persons by its aid will be able to se<s with their brains, just as ordinary people see through their normal eyes. In a word, my invention acts in plate of the eye." Di. Stiens then suggested that the interviewer should judge for himself, and the latter describes what happened as follows: —Dr. Stiens took me into a small room and blindfolded me. He did this so effectually that not a ray of light reached my vision; all was absolute darkness. Then he lighted l matches in. front of my face; so close were some of them that I could smell the burning sulphur and could feel the heat' of the flame..

But I could see nothing, fie connected m I with his apparatus. The blindfolding sut I stance was rot touched or altered in any war. But in place of the darkness ther appeared a white light before me—aligh that looked very much like tho ordinar light of day. Than Dr. Btiens held up ai object before ine. "What is this?" h asked. " A pair •of pincers," I replied " Quite right," answered the electrician "And what is this—what shape is it?" H now held up another object. "It is l'OUlld. "Exactly. Now, what can you sec? ""Only tho white light." " Exactly. H next "switched oft something, and all wa utter darkness again. "I have taken ol the apparatus, and now you can see nothing. " Exactly," I answered. He removed m; bandage, and I found myself in dayligh again. "I will show you something else, he said. " Stand before this wooden par tition." I did so, staring at a blank ex pause of wood, my eyes about Gin from it Dr. St;ens blindfolded me again, bidding in stand still in ( lie same position before th wooden partition. He again applied th electrical apparatus, and I could see th white light as before. " There," observe! the inventor, when he had unbandaged in; eyes, and once more revealed the wooden 'par tition in front of me, " you did not see tlia light through the wood with your eyes— saw it directly with your brain." Dr Stiens states that he has a number of elec tricnl patents running on the Continent Ho feels certain that when this sight-for-th blind invention becomes the success whiel he confidently anticipates, it will prove on of the most astounding as well as one of th most beneficent of all the applications o electrical science. In an article in Harper's Magazine fo; September, Mark Twain discusses the posi tion of the Jews in Europe, and endeavour! to explain, in a semi-serious vein all his own in answer to questions put to him by ai American Jew, why the Hebrew race is si largely disliked on the Continent. Neithei religion, nor race, he believes, is the ex planation, The religious belief of the Jeff: offends few, if any, present day Christians Mark Twain puts the feeling down to thi hard and successful way in which Jews of i certain kind do business money-lending Jews. They are numbered by hundreds a thousands in some Continental countries, and they come on the scene wherever till peasant and farming classes are unsuccess ful or thriftless. Mark Twain traces th< feeling back to the time when Josepl showed Pharaoh how to form the biggesl " corner in wheat" ever known in the his tory of the world. When the seven years famine was over all the land of Egypt be longed to Pharaoh. The humourist believe: that the name of" Joseph" must have beer a by-word and reproach in Egypt for gene rations afterwards. At the time of th< opening of the Christian era Romans chased Christians along the streets becausi they supposed them to be Jew's, and lei them off as soon as they discovered theii mistake. Mark Twain next shows that it bygone years, in the western States of th< Union, the Yankee (or down-easter) usee to be as much disliked as the Jew is now and for a similar reason, viz., that the Yankees were too cute. He ascribes a great 'deal of the feeling against Jews to envy of their success and cleverness. They come off best in bargains. Mark Twain deals with the problem in a fair and goodnatured spirit, writing without offence, and he winds up with a sigh that implies that he is not quite satisfied with the solution ho has offered. The Jew may be looked on from the point of view of the natural scientist as the product of long training. All that he has learned is the result of the persecution— religious, and legislativethat the race has been subjected to for centuries. forbiiklen by stringent laws to hold property, or to carry on trade and business like other people, taught by the rapacity of Governments and tax-gatherers the wisdom of concealing his means, the Jew was long driven to follow special callings, and to live by his wits. The practices enjoined by his religion kept him healthy and free from diseases that killed off unabstemious or uncleanly people. All that he has learned— that has been ingrained into him— witness to the rigorous teaching that has been inflicted on him. In these times, where every field is open, there are many Jews who win distinctions in the learned professions. If there be any persona in Australia, (says the Australasian) that rail against the Jews, they are often men, or the friends of men, who have borrowed extravagantly from money-lenders, with no intention of paying anything back, if they could escape from the bond, which, for such borrowers, has ever been extremely hard, if not also extremely heartless. The At-torney-General, who should know his own race well, is going to cure money-lending Jews of their sordidness, by depriving them of interest above the rate of 10 per cent.

Our latest despatches from the seat of war show that though no further fighting has occurred, another engagement is imminent, as the Boers, who are numerically superior to our forces, are advancing in large numbers. Colonel Yule, who holds Dundee, lias, in consequence, deemed it expedient to retire to Glencoe Junction. This change of front is not, as military critics point out, a retreat, but merely a strategic movement. Further details of the recent fighting show that the British losses at Elands Laagte were 42 killed and 205 wounded, while the Gordon Highlanders, in storming the heights, which they say was more difficult than their exploit at Darghai, lost 118, filled and wounded, among the dead being four officers. Their kilts made them conspicuous objects for the Boer marksmen. The notorious Boer commandant Viljoen was killed, and Commandant Pretorius was taken prisoner. General Joubert attributes the reverse to Commandant Erasmus. Two hundred Boer prisoners have arrived at Ladysmith. News has been received from Kimberley, stating the town was safe up to Sunday last. No further news, apparently, has come to hand from Mafeking.