THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 58

THE NATURALIST.

Members of the Medical Profession as Katiaalists.

It is, perhaps, not surprising that so many naturalists of repute have been rcciuited from the ranks of ihe medical profession. Their special training in animal and vegetable physiology, their gradually acquired skill in dissection and the constant use of the micrasec^e would naturally tend to sharpen the faculty of observation and stimulate original research in the wide domain of nature. Linnaeus himself was a doctor, so also was the great Cuvier ; Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood ; Jenner, to whom we owe the blessings of vaccination; John Hunter, the ioundei of the incomparable museum of the Boyal Gollege of Surgeon s ; Richard -' Owen , William Kitchen Parker, and the late Professor Huxley all made their mark as skilled anatomists and profound zoologists ; whilst Charles Darwin, whose . reputation as a naturalist was world-wide, only abandoned the -profession of medicine when he found that his. private means sufficed to render him independent of it. The late Sir James Paget, so many years one of the leading surgeons of London (who died in London on December 30, at the age of 85), was no exception in this respect, and, although he has left behind him 110 monumental work on zoology or botany, we have evidence that in early life he was an enthusiastic student of Nature, a keen outdoor observer, and a diligent collector of biological facts. So long ago as 1834, while still a young man, he published, in conjunction with his brother Charles, who predeceased him, a thin octavo volume of barely 100 page? entitled ''A Sketch of the Natural Histozy of Yarmouth and its Neighbourhood, Containing Catalogues of the Species of Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Wishes, Insects', and Plants at Present 'Cnown.' 1 Ln this he was. assisted by several local naturalists and collectors, who Supplied him with lisi» and specimens that enabled him to compile a very useful little work, which at the time gave gieat ' en- . <ouragement to the study of natural history in the county in which he then. i-e-and paved the \\\>.y lor more impoitant volumes by later historian:-. We have beer led to these reflections on observing that in none of the obituary memoirs of the deceased surgeon which have come under our notice has any mention been made of his acquirements as a naturalist. Darwin, as we li<\ve said, gave up medicine for natural history ; Paget, "from force of cirOumetancee, was impelled to do the con-

verrje. Having left Norfolk to devote himself to his profession in London, he lost the opportunity of prosecuting his early taste for natural history, ond thereby deprived posterity of what might have been an invaluable legacy.

The Anablcps. — Ths anableps, or stargazer, and the gyrinus, of whirligig beetle, have each of their eyes divided into an upper and lower portion by an opaque horizontal line. This gives them two pupils ir each eye, one of which, the upper, is suited for seeing in the air, and the other, the lower, for seeing in the water. This provision is evidently arranged to meet the requirements of these marine animals, which are in ths habit of swimming at the surface with the eyes half in and half out of the water. The body of the anableps is cylincliical and covered with strong scales, and it is only found in the rivers of Guiana and Brazil. The whirligig beetle spends its time circling round and round on the surface of the water.

The History of Hybridisation. — Dr Maxwell Masters, writing on this subject, says that to appreciate the importance of cressbreeding and hybridisation, wo have only to look round our gardens and exhibition tents, or scan the catalogues of nurserymen. Selection has clone, ar.£ is doing, much for the improvement of our plants, but it is cross-breeding which has furnished us with the materials for selection. A few years ago, b} r the expression of " new plants '* was meant plants newly introduced from other countries, but, with the possible exception of orchids, the number of new plants of this description is now relatively few. The '' new plants " of the present day, like the roses, the chrysanthemums, the fuchsias, and so many others, are the products of the gardenrs' skill. From peaches to potatoes, from peas to plums, from strawberries to savoys, the work of the cross-breedei is seen improving the quality and quantity of our products, adapting them to different climates and conditions, listening .their production in spring, prolonging their duration in axitumn. Surely in these matters we have out-dis-tanced our ancestois. But let us not forget that they showed us the way. After referring to the scientists and gardeners who took an important part in introducing the system of hybridisation, J)v Masters concludes : Darwin's researches and experiments on cross-fertilisation came as a revelation to many practical experimenters, aud Aye recall with something akin to humiliation the fact that we had been for years exercising ourselves about the relative merits of " pin eyes " and " thrum eyes " in primroses, without evei perceiving the vast significance of these apparently trifling details of structure. I will not dilate upon the labours of Gaertner, of Goclron, of Naudin, of Naegeli, of Millardet, of Lord Penzancc, of Engleheart, and many others. Nor need I do more than mike a passing reference to the wonderful morphological results obtained by the successive crossings and intercrossings of the tuberous begonias, changes so remarkable that a French botanist was even constrained to found a new genus, lemoinea, so widely have they deviated from the typical begonias. For scientific reasons, then, no less than for practical purposes, the study of cross-breeding is most important.

-We never hear the^same story twice alike, oven when we tell it ourselves.

- An Irifhman, on being told that a certain kind of stove >would save half the coal, said : ' Then, ihure, I'll take two of 'em, and save it all."

Wal&onia O'Brienii, a Novelty of recsnl introduction, is a pure white .Flower of great Beauty, and admirably adapted for cuttint?. Nimio and J3lair are now booking Orders for Bulbs to be delivered in the end of March.