Showing papers in "Nature in 1930"
TL;DR: Although it is true that most text-books of genetics open with a chapter on biometry, closer inspection will reveal that this has little connexion with the body of the work, and that more often than not it is merely belated homage to a once fashionable study.
Abstract: PROBABLY most geneticists to-day are some-what sceptical as to the value of the mathematical treatment of their problems. With the deepest respect, and even awe, for that association of complex symbols and human genius that can bring a universe to heel, they are nevertheless content to let it stand at that, believing that in their own particular line it is, after all, plodding that does it. Although it is true that most text-books of genetics open with a chapter on biometry, closer inspection will reveal that this has little connexion with the body of the work, and that more often than not it is merely belated homage to a once fashionable study. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Dr. R. A. Fisher. Pp. xiv + 272 + 2 plates. (Oxford: Clarendon Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1930.) 17s. 6d. net.
7,883 citations
TL;DR: The viscosity of liquids is a subject which, so far as I know, has hitherto been without any general theoretical basis as mentioned in this paper, and the study has hitherto consisted largely of a collection of more or less well established empirical relations, mostly of limited scope.
Abstract: THE viscosity of liquids is a subject which, so far as I know, has hitherto been without any general theoretical basis. No physical mechanism, for example, has ever been brought forward to account even for so simple and general a fact as the decrease of liquid viscosity with temperature, in contrast to the familiar and well explained increase of gaseous viscosity with temperature. As a result, the study has hitherto consisted largely of a collection of more or less well established empirical relations, mostly of limited scope.
401 citations
TL;DR: Goodrich as discussed by the authors pointed out that the method of investigation which in the nine-teenth century was responsible for the greatest revolution ever effected in man's outlook and appreciation of his own place in Nature should at present be despised and rejected by so many biologists.
Abstract: THERE is a peculiar irony in the fact that the method of investigation which in the nine-teenth century was responsible for the greatest revolution ever effected in man's outlook and appreciation of his own place in Nature should at present be despised and rejected by so manybiologists. The publication of a new treatise on morphology is a challenge to the widespreadattitude of depreciation of the value of such studies. Perhaps the question at issue can be best defined by a concrete illustration. Studies on the Structure and Development of Vertebrates. Prof. Edwin S. Goodrich. Pp. xxx + 837. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1930.) 36s. net.
372 citations
TL;DR: The spontaneous subdivision of a ferromagnetic body into elementary magnets can be interpreted both qualitatively and quantitatively in the following manner: as discussed by the authors assumes that a moderate-sized single crystal of a Ferromagnetic core consists of a number of elementary magnets, the resultant magnetic moment of which vanishes.
Abstract: According to Weiss's well-known theory, a ferromagnetic body in the absence of an external magnetic field must be spontaneously magnetised in such a way that the direction of magnetisation varies in an irregular manner in different portions of the body. It was originally assumed by Weiss that these portions coincide with the minute crystals of which the body is built up. That this is not so is clear from the fact that spontaneous magnetisation (as revealed by the existence of a Curie temperature) is present also in single crystals. We are thus forced to assume that a moderate-sized single crystal of a ferromagnetic body consists of a number of ‘elementary magnets’ the resultant magnetic moment of which vanishes. This spontaneous subdivision of a ferromagnetic body into elementary magnets can be interpreted both qualitatively and quantitatively in the following manner.
362 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the volume of Gifford Lectures is examined from a lay point of view, comparing it with other newly published syntheses of similar scope, such as that of Profs. Alexander and Haldane, Pringle Pattison and Hobson, and Sir Arthur Eddington.
Abstract: IT does not fall within our scope to attempt a detailed or technical examination of the volume of Gifford Lectures in which Prof. A. N. Whitehead has expounded at greater length than elsewhere his system of metaphysics. This has been done in many other notices, and we would be understood here only to give a general impression from rather a lay point of view, comparing it with other newly published syntheses of similar scope—for example, that of Profs. Alexander and Haldane, Pringle Pattison and Hobson, and Sir Arthur Eddington. Process and Reality: an Essay in Cosmology. (Gifford Lectures delivered in the University of Edinburgh during the Session 1927–28.) By Prof. Alfred North Whitehead. Pp. xxiii + 509. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1929.) 18s. net.
299 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an attempt to infer the course of events when a neutral ionised stream of particles from the sun is directed towards the earth has now led to results which indicate how magnetic storms are produced.
Abstract: AN attempt to infer the course of events when a neutral ionised stream of particles from the sun is directed towards the earth has now led to results which we believe indicate how magnetic storms are produced. A full discussion of the phenomena involves the solution of numerous intricate mathematical problems, many of which have not yet been attacked in detail; but it seems possible to outline the main sequence of events.
223 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Andrade et al. presented a formula for the coefficient of viscosity of liquids as a function of the temperature T, which is in excellent agreement with the experimental data.
Abstract: IN a recent issue of NATURE (Mar. 1, p. 309) Prof. Andrade publishes the following formula, η =Aek/T, for the coefficient of viscosity of liquids as a function of the temperature T, which he shows to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data. Now I wish to point out that a practically equivalent formula, namely, η =CTeU/kT was given by me more than four years ago in a paper on the heat motion tff solid and liquid bodies (Zeit. J. Phys., 35, p. 664–667; 1926). Since this has obviously remained unnoticed, it may be well to state briefly the fundamental conception on the heat motion of liquids upon which the above formula is based.
171 citations
TL;DR: Sommerville as mentioned in this paper presents an introduction to the geometry of N dimensions, which is not unduly difficult to those who take an interest in it, but most people have deeply seated prejudices which prevent them from taking it seriously into consideration.
Abstract: IT needs courage to produce a text-book on the geometry of N dimensions. The subject is not unduly difficult to those who take an interest in it, but most people have deeply seated prejudices which prevent them from taking it seriously into consideration. One of the pioneers, Schlafli, in spite of his reputation in other branches of mathematics, failed to secure publication for his valuable memoir on hyperspace, and in fact it did not appear in full until after the author's death and fifty years after it was written. An Introduction to the Geometry of N Dimensions. By Prof. D. M. Y. Sommerville. Pp. xvii + 196. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1929.) 10s. net.
150 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors attempted to find out whether in light scattered in various organic liquids the Raman lines, due to frequencies of the rotation spectrum, are present, and found that these lines should be situated very close (probably within some fraction of an angstrom) to the incident line.
Abstract: SOON after the discovery of the Raman effect, I attempted to find out whether in light scattered in various organic liquids the Raman lines, due to frequencies of the rotation spectrum, are present. These lines should be situated very close (probably within some fraction of an angstrom) to the incident line. In the course of these experiments a very interesting phenomenon was observed.
120 citations
TL;DR: Smith as discussed by the authors presents the most significant passages from the works of the most important contributors to mathematics during the last three or four centuries, with the aim of presenting a very entertaining volume, a surprisingly successful attempt to do what nearly all good judges would have declared to be impossible.
Abstract: THIS is a very entertaining volume, a surprisingly successful attempt to do what nearly all good judges would have declared to be impossible. Its aim is “to present the most significant passages from the works of the most important contributors” to mathematics “during the last three or four centuries”. A Source Book in Mathematics. Prof. David Eugene Smith. (Source Books in the History of the Sciences, Vol. 2.) Pp. xvii + 701 + 8 plates. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.; London: McGrawHill Publishing Co., Ltd., 1929.) 25s.net.
110 citations
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TL;DR: The correspondence in NATURE of Nov. 29 under the heading "Heredity and Predestination" raises a topic of surpassing interest as mentioned in this paper, which is the subject of this paper.
Abstract: THE correspondence in NATURE of Nov. 29 under the heading “Heredity and Predestination” raises a topic of surpassing interest.
TL;DR: The first English translation of Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" was published in 1781, all but a hundred and fifty years ago, and the English translation did not see the light until 1838 as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: IT is astonishing how long the English-speaking public has had to wait for an adequate translation of Kant's epoch-making work. The “Critique of Pure Reason” was published in 1781, all but a hundred and fifty years ago, and the first English translation did not see the light until 1838. The translator enlarges in his preface on the difficulty of rendering “so entirely novel and original a mode of philosophising”, and almost disarms criticism by the modesty with which he acknowledges “how frequently, with every endeavour to be correct, he may have failed in a right understanding of his author”. Meiklejohn, who next essayed the task, in 1855, produced a version which, in lack of a better, was destined to serve the needs of successive generations of students for three-quarters of a century. It is true that in 1881, the centenary of the original, a fresh translation was given to the public with an authoritative gesture by Max Muller. This was certainly in point of accuracy and general effect distinctly better than Meiklejohn's, but by an unfortunate error of judgment the translation was made from Kant's first edition, whereas the second edition of 1787, in which Kant re-wrote important sections, must be regarded for ordinary purposes as the authoritative text of the work. Unfortunately, too, the translation, at least as originally issued, was encumbered, by way of introduction, with a crudely written historical sketch of all previous philosophy by Prof. L. Noire, extending to no less than 360 pages. For its irrelevance and lack of all proper perspective, this so-called introduction was drastically characterised at the time by the late Prof. Adamson as “comprehended under the well-known definition of dirt: matter in the wrong place”. Under these disadvantages it was no wonder that the centenary translation failed to ‘catch on’, and Meiklejohn continued to be the ordinary student's vade-mecum up to the present day. This was perhaps scarcely to be regretted; for, although of course absolutely competent in his knowledge of German idiom and his mastery of the English language, Prof. Max Muller was, after all, not a professional philosopher, and Adamson in his careful and appreciative review of the book for Mind felt “constrained to add that the ideal translation does not yet seem to have been attained”. After giving examples of his meaning, he concludes in fact that the translation “stands in need of a thorough revision from the philosophical point of view”. Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Prof. Norman Kemp Smith. Pp. xiii + 681. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1929. 25s. net.
TL;DR: In this article, the present position of the electron theory of metals is surveyed, and the standing of the theory, as re-established by quantum mechanics, as well as a survey of the current position of metal theory is given.
Abstract: FROM the point of view of the electron theory, a metal is any solid which is a good conductor of electricity. In attempting to survey roughly the present position of the electron theory of metals, I cannot guarantee that what I say will be everywhere up-to-date, but I shall be satisfied if I can indicate the standing of the theory, as re-established by quantum mechanics.
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TL;DR: Gates and Daran as discussed by the authors proposed a new view on heterothallism in the fungi, such as Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan's conception of nutritive heter-allism, which have come in, as they say, to relieve the tension on the earlier rigid hypothesis of fixed + and − strains corresponding respectively to the female and the male sex.
Abstract: IN their letter in NATURE of Mar. 1, Prof. R. Ruggles Gates and D. V. Daran appear to welcome the new views on heterothallism in the fungi, such as Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan's conception of nutritive heterothallism, which have come in, as they say, “to relieve the tension on the earlier rigid hypothesis of fixed + and − strains corresponding respectively to the female and the male sex”.
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TL;DR: Faraday's "Diary" as mentioned in this paper has been published to mark the centenary of the discovery of electromagnetic induction, and the Managers of the Royal Institution have resolved to publish a document of exceptional scientific interest and importance.
Abstract: IT has now been announced that, to mark the forthcoming centenary of the discovery of electromagnetic induction, the Managers of the Royal Institution have resolved to publish a document of exceptional scientific interest and importance, Faraday's “Diary”. It may therefore be opportune to give some particulars of the manuscript and of how it came to be written. Scientific men have been aware of its existence for upwards of sixty years, and Bence Jones, Silvanus Thompson, and other writers on the life of Faraday have consulted it for material and have quoted passages from it in their writings; but few of the present generation, to whom the name of Faraday has become a household word, can be fully aware of the nature and extent, the scientific and biographical significance, and the extraordinary interest of these hitherto unpublished papers.
TL;DR: Evidence suggest-ing that some intramolecular readjustment does, as a matter of fact, occur will be mentioned immediately.
Abstract: Abstract‘DENATUBATION’, though a phenomenon familiar objectively to all who handle proteins, involves a change of state of which the precise nature is yet obscure. The term itself is scarcely capable of adequate definition. It is only certain that native proteins dispersed in water as lyophil colloids suffer, as the result of diverse alterations in their environ-ment, a change which is accompanied by complete loss of solubility in pure water or dilute salt solutions. If under any influence (such as that of dilute acids or alkalis) a protein denatured in this sense is retained in solution, or redispersed after separation, it is then found no longer in the lyophil but in the lyophobe condition. Denaturation thus understood is always antecedent to coagulation or flocculation, these being secondary processes dependent upon conditions which make for instability in suspensoid systems. We are quite ignorant of the nature of any molecular change which may be responsible for, or accompany, this change in the type of dispersion. Evidence suggest-ing that some intramolecular readjustment does, as a matter of fact, occur will be mentioned immediately.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a method for registering simultaneous impulses of two Geiger's counters, which depends principally on the working of a two-grid thermionic valve, which can be extended also to the registering of triple simultaneous impulses.
Abstract: PROF. W. BOTHE in the Zeitschrift fur Physik (vol. 59, p. 1) describes a method for registering simultaneous impulses of two Geiger's counters, which depends principally on the working of a two-grid thermionic valve. Lately, I have had the opportunity of experimenting with a circuit which perhaps is simpler and at the same time has the advantage that it can be extended also to the registering of triple simultaneous impulses or even more. The circuit adopted (for triple coinciding impulses) is shown in the accompanying diagram (Fig. 1).
TL;DR: In the last few years a number of silicate structures have been analysed by means of X-rays in the Physical Laboratories of the University of Manchester as discussed by the authors, and the atomic arrangement in the olivine, chondrodite, phenacite, pyroxene, and amphibole groups amongst the silicates of divalent metals, and in a many aluminium silicates such as the forms of Al2SiO3, staurolite, topaz, beryl, and the zeolite analcite.
Abstract: DURING the last few years a number of silicate structures have been analysed by means of X-rays in the Physical Laboratories of the University of Manchester. In the course of these investigations, we have found the atomic arrangement in the olivine, chondrodite, phenacite, pyroxene, and amphibole groups amongst the silicates of divalent metals, and in a number of aluminium silicates such as the forms of Al2SiO3, staurolite, topaz (analysed also by Pauling), beryl, and the zeolite analcite. Other silicates analysed are titanite, and benitoite containing titanium, danburite containing boron, zircon (analysed also by Vegard) and thortveitite. A group of workers has carried out these analyses, important contributions being made by Warren (pyroxenes and amphiboles), Zachariasen (titanite, thortveitite, benitoite), Naray (staurolite, cyanite), Taylor (forms of Al2SiO5 and analcite), and West (chondrodite group). Warren has just reported an analysis of the melitite group. In addition, Menzer has analysed the garnet group, and Jaeger the family of compounds to which ultramarine belongs. Preliminary observations have been published by Schiebold on the felspars, and by Mauguin on the composition of the micas. So much ground has been covered that it is possible to review the silicates as a class of compounds, though of course such a survey must be of a very preliminary character.
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that animal hairs can give rise to two X-ray "fibre photographs" according as the hairs are unstretched or stretched, and that the change from one photograph to the other corresponds to a reversible transformation between two forms of the keratin complex.
Abstract: RECENT experiments,1 carried out for the most part on human hair and various types of sheep's wool, have shown that animal hairs can give rise to two X-ray ‘fibre photographs’ according as the hairs are unstretched or stretched, and that the change from one photograph to the other corresponds to a reversible transformation between two forms of the keratin complex. Hair rapidly recovers its original length on wetting after removal of the stretching force, and either of the two possible photographs may be produced at will an indefinite number of times. Both are typical ‘fibre photographs’ in the sense that they arise from crystallites or pseudo-crystallites of which the average length along the fibre axis is much larger than the average thickness, and which are almost certainly built up in a rather imperfect manner of molecular chains—what Meyer and Mark2 have called Hauptvalenzketten—running roughly parallel to the fibre axis.
TL;DR: Some experiments which I have recently performed on young chicken and duck embryos in vitro using the ‘watch-glass technique’ employed at the Strangeways Laboratory for the cultivation of embryonic organs, although the rates both of differentiation and of growth are slower in vitro than in vivo.
Abstract: IT has recently proved possible to cultivate young chicken and duck embryos in vitro, using the ‘watch-glass technique’ employed at the Strangeways Laboratory for the cultivation of embryonic organs. Experiments using a somewhat similar technique were made in this laboratory two or three years ago by T. S. P. Strangeways and D. H. Strangeways, but the work was given up after a few trials and the results never published. The embryos can easily be kept alive for two or three days and differentiate nearly normally, although the rates both of differentiation and of growth are slower in vitro than in vivo. I wish here to summarise some experiments which I have recently performed on this material: full reports will be published in the near future.
TL;DR: Steward as mentioned in this paper described a large number of drawings which occur throughout California, being mostly executed on vertical rock-surfaces, consisting for the most part of highly conventionalised figures of men and animals as well as what can only be classified as geometric patterns.
Abstract: THIS publication is issued by the Department of Anthropology of the University of California. It contains much that is of great interest to the student of primitive art, for it is concerned with a quantity of drawings which occur throughout California, being mostly executed on vertical rock-surfaces. There are both carvings and paintings, consisting for the most part of highly conventionalised figures of men and animals as well as what can only be classed as geometric patterns, and the whole forms a most interesting art group. University of California Publications in American Archœology and Ethnology. Vol. 24, No. 2: Petroglyphs of California and adjoining States. By Julian H. Steward. Pp. 47 - 238 + plates 22–94. (Berkeley: University of California Press; London: Cambridge University Press, 1929.) 2.50 dollars.
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TL;DR: In this paper, it was pointed out that the muscular sense has an existence, but the affirmation of Fraser-Harris or the denial of William James has no particular weight, as neither is based on any analysis of a searching character.
Abstract: In reference to the note by Prof. Fraser-Harris on the “Subjective Demonstration of the Existence of the Muscular Sense”, in Nature of Nov. 23, I beg to point out that so far from the existence of this sense being demonstrated by the simple experiment he describes, he has really got no further than the indication of the nature of the problem. William James was well acquainted with such evidences, yet he decided that the muscular sense was a “needless encumbrance”. My own position is different from both; the muscular sense, or as I call it, the sense of effort, has an existence, but the affirmation of Prof. Fraser-Harris or the denial of William James has no particular weight, as neither is based on any analysis of a searching character.
TL;DR: A new phenomenon in the change of resistance in a Magnetic Field of Single Crystals of Bismuth is described in this paper, where it is shown that single crystals of bismuth behave differently in different magnetic fields.
Abstract: A New Phenomenon in the Change of Resistance in a Magnetic Field of Single Crystals of Bismuth
TL;DR: Stages in conjugate nuclear division in Coprinus lagopus, based on the work of Mile, are shown in Fig. 7.
Abstract: The Biological Significance of Conjugate Nuclei in Coprinus lagopus and other Hymenomycetes *
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that quite a small diamond (half carat size) suffices to photograph the Raman spectrum of crystalline carbon, and the wave-number shifts are 1331 cm.
Abstract: FROM many points of view diamond is a crystal of supreme interest, and it is remarkable that, though more than two years have elapsed since the discovery of the Raman effect, no attempt appears to have been made so far to study the scattering of light in this substance. I have found that quite a small diamond (half carat size) suffices to photograph the Raman spectrum of crystalline carbon. Each of the mercury lines 4046.6 A. and 4358.3 A. excites a single Raman line of remarkable sharpness and intensity (Fig. 1, marked with arrows); the wave-number shifts are 1331 cm.−1 and 1333 cm.−1 respectively, in pleasing agreement with the wave-number 1333 cm.−1 of the Rest-strahlen frequency of diamond (Nernst and Lindemann; Z. Electro-Chemie, 17, 822; 1911). The sharpness of the line is to be expected in view of the known perfection of the crystal, according to the ideas of Sir C. V. Raman (Faraday Society's Discussion, Bristol meeting). The brightness of the line is also not surprising in view of the ease with which organic substances generally give the Raman effect. Experiment shows that the line is strongly polarised.
TL;DR: A quantitative study of the carrion insect populations, from the beginning of putrefaction to the disappearance of all consumable parts, shows the importance of parasites and predators in regulating numbers of the sheep ‘blow-fly’.
Abstract: SINCE the spring of 1929 I have been engaged at Toulouse on a study of the biological agencies which play a part in regulating numbers of the sheep ‘blow-fly’, Lucilia sericata Meign. The effect of parasites and predators was first sought by a quantitative study of the puparia derived from carrion in which the flies had bred. However, it soon became evident that the only way by which a reasonable understanding could be obtained of the inter-relations of the various biological forms in the carrion and the magnitude of their action was by a quantitative study of the carrion insect populations, from the beginning of putrefaction to the disappearance of all consumable parts.
TL;DR: Percys as mentioned in this paper showed unusual signs of wanting to see things for himself and of both forming opinions of his own and expressing them, in an arresting manner, and with such an unusual avoidance of the customary rotund qualifying phrases of a cabinet-haunted Minister that there was on the part of some much fear that he might end in some first-class indiscretion.
Abstract: LORD EUSTACE PERCY'S appointment as Minister of Education in the last government no doubt seemed to most people to have no particular significance. The new Minister, however, soon evinced unusual signs of wanting to see things for himself and of both forming opinions of his own and expressing them. This he did in an arresting manner, and with such an unusual avoidance of the customary rotund qualifying phrases of a cabinet-haunted Minister that there was on the part of some much fear, and on the part of others a good deal of hope, that he might end in some first-class indiscretion. Now Lord Eustace has written a book; yet his adversaries (if he still has any) can scarcely rejoice, for if it is coloured by any political cast of thought, the candour, the large-mindedness, and the courage exhibited in the book must surely disarm them. Education at the Crossroads. By Lord Eustace Percy. Pp. iv + 104. (London: Evans Bros., Ltd., n.d.) 5s. net.
TL;DR: Jeans as discussed by the authors argued that the interpreta tion given appears more fantastic than that which is interpreted, and that perhaps the only true mystery is one which is not destroyed by solution.
Abstract: WHY do we call the universe mysterious? Is it because we know so much about it or so little? The impression left by Sir James Jeans's fascinating book is that it is because the interpreta tion given appears more fantastic than that which is interpreted. Perhaps the only true mystery is one which is not destroyed by solution. The Mysterious Universe. Sir. James Jeans. Pp. ix + 154 + 2 plates. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1930). 3s. 6d. net.
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TL;DR: In this paper, Adams brings together the work of former investigators in Ceylon, savouring his account with important conclusions derived from observations of his own, and provides an admirable geological map of the whole island.
Abstract: IN the little pamphlet referred to below1 Dr. Adams brings together the work of former investigators in Ceylon, savouring his account with important conclusions derived from observations of his own. The geological structure of the island is outlined for the first time, analyses of rocks are given and, above all, there is an admirable geological map, the first of the whole island to be produced. A list comprising seventy references is provided.