NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13287, 20 September 1906, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. Referring to the presidential address of Dr. Ray Lankester at the recent meeting of the British Association at York, the Saturday Review- states: —The most characteristic note in Dr. Lankester's address was a buoyant intellectual vitality. The president explained that he had written to a number of friends who were specialists in different branches of science, and had obtained from them summaries of what they thought were the most important additions to knowledge in their, respective fields. But the address contained no austere repetition of such data. The novel, said Zola, is life seen' through a temperament, and we can imagiue Dr. Lankeatcr, excited and

glowing, as lie turned over the close-written pages from his friends. For here, in the old. tired world, where there is nothing now under the still, the president finds "discoveries of exciting and entrancing interest ;" he accounts it " a supreme privilege that it has fallen to our lot to live in these davs;" he believes that science has, indeed, only as yet given man a "foretaste of what she has in store." This conjunction of the keen intelligence of the specialist with the exuberant delight of the man in the new wonders of knowledge is rare and stimulating. The final words of the address show that Dr. Lankester*s attitude to knowledge is not merely the efflorescence of robust mind and body; it is permeated by, a high seriousness of purpose, a seriousness that rejects the materialistic hedonism of the ordinary man to claim affinity with those who are inspired.by religious faith. "It is not true," said the president, "that there is an essential antagonism between the scientific spirit and what is called the religious sentiment. ' Religion,' said Bishop Creighton, 'means the knowledge of our destiny and of the means of fulfilling it.' We can say no more and no less of science. Men of science seek, in all reverence, to discover the Almighty, the Everlasting. They claim sympathy and friendship with those who, like themselves, have turned away from the more material struggles of human life, and have set their hearts and minds on knowledge of the Eternal."

SURGERY AND CRIME. An interesting experiment has been begun in Philadelphia by the health and charity officials of the city, with a view to depriving children of criminal tendencies by means of surgical operations. Nine eminent physicians met recently to see operations performed upon seven children. There were two operations on the brain, three on tine eyes, aaid two minor operations for nervousness. These seven patients had been picked from a large number a* being children . who appeared to be destined to careers of evil-doing unless something was done to alter their organisation. Their past history and the conditions of their general Jiealth had been made the subject of careful study, and, finally, the consent of the parents was asked and obtained before the knife was used. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is largely responsible for this novel campaign, against* the incipient disposition to crime, and medical men are deeply interested in the experiment. It is intended to perform a great number of operations upon feebleminded and criminal youths if these experiments prove to be successful.