Diversions of a Naturalist

CHAPTER XLI

Chapter 435,893 wordsPublic domain

HOW TO PROMOTE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY BY MONEY

THE fact that five years ago Mr. Otto Beit, the brother of the late Mr. Alfred Beit, not only carried out the latter's intention of giving £50,000 to the promotion of research in connexion with the study of disease and the mastery of its causes, but added £150,000 on his own account to the amount originally proposed, produced great satisfaction among scientific men, and also in that large body of the public which, at the present day, understands something of the importance to the community of the minute and thorough study of disease, of its mode of access to man, and of the possibilities, which every day become brighter and clearer, of getting rid of it altogether. All honour and gratitude are due to Mr. Beit for his generous gift and for his wise appreciation of the good which can be done by proper application of such a fund. I have reason to know and to value the large-minded interest in science which was shown by the late Mr. Alfred Beit, since he gave me £1000, some twelve years ago, towards the expenses of expeditions which I was organizing for the investigation of the natural history of Lake Tanganyika,--expeditions which have yielded important scientific results, and have but recently exhausted the fund then collected.

It has often occurred to me that wealthy men who wish to devote large sums of money to the promotion of scientific research find difficulty in carrying out their intentions, owing to the fact that they do not know enough about the methods and conditions of scientific discovery to enable them to form a definite independent judgment as to how to assign their money, so as to make sure that it shall really be employed in the most effective way towards the end they have in view--namely, the increase of scientific discovery. They naturally have some doubts as to whether the old (or even the new) Universities can help them as trustees of the money when they see the importance attached by the former to antiquated methods of teaching and examination and observe their traditional cultivation of certain favoured studies, with a minimum of activity in research and discovery. They mistrust special societies or individuals as advisers in the matter, and sometimes finally spend the money which they had destined to be the means of furthering scientific discovery upon a costly and ill-considered architectural monstrosity dedicated to science, but of little help to its progress.

In past times various schemes have been adopted by benevolent men for bequeathing or giving their money so as to promote scientific discovery. Very generally there has been a certain amount of confusion between two distinct purposes--namely, that of creating new knowledge (the discovery of previously unknown things and new processes), and that of spreading existing knowledge amongst an increased proportion of the community. An admirable endowment for the latter purpose is that of Mr. Smithson, a member of the family of the present Duke of Northumberland, which was refused by the British Government for peculiar reasons, and conveyed by that gentleman to trustees in the United States of America about a hundred years ago, where the Smithsonian Institution has vastly aided the spread of science. Another valuable endowment which has been administered by special trustees for a still longer period is that of the celebrated physician Radcliffe, to whom we owe the scientific and medical library, an astronomical observatory, and travelling fellowships in the University of Oxford. The greatest sum dedicated to scientific research in England of late years is the noble gift of a quarter of a million sterling made by Lord Iveagh to the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. There have been not a few generous donors of smaller sums for like purposes.

An inquiry was set on foot a few years ago in America in order to obtain the opinions of those who had experience of scientific research and the institutions intended to promote it in different countries, as to the best methods to adopt in order to effect such promotion. I do not know whether any report was published, but I remember that I was consulted on the subject by the late Professor Simon Newcomb, a foreign member of the Royal Society and one of the most distinguished scientific discoverers in the United States. I am quite sure that no general agreement or conclusion on the subject has been arrived at. So far as I can see, whenever any high-minded philanthropist desires to devote in this country a large sum of money to the promotion of scientific discovery, he is liable to come under the influence of highly respectable and eminent persons who, although they have no acquaintance with the nature of scientific discovery and the way in which it actually takes place, do not hesitate to fix up a scheme based on some antiquated and mistaken model, which is accepted with simple faith by the benevolent donor.

Scientific research is a delicate plant, and the secret of the way in which it may be nurtured has not been revealed to dignitaries and officials. It is interesting to note some of the methods which have been tried with the object of nurturing scientific discovery. In every case the donor has chosen or created an electing body or trustees of which I will say more below. He has directed this body to expend his gift with a view to the promotion of scientific discovery in one of the following ways: (1) in awarding prizes for discoveries made; (2) in terminable stipends to junior and senior workers selected by the trustees and called scholars or fellows, the stipends being given on condition of their holders devoting themselves for a few years to the attempt to make discoveries; (3) in permanent salaries to tried men, who are thus paid as professors or directors of laboratories and museums; (4) in providing specially designed buildings and apparatus for research, but no salaries for the workers; (5) in providing, on whatever scale the fund given permits, groups consisting of a professor or director, two or more assistants, attendants, building, apparatus, and the annual income necessary for materials of investigation and maintenance of the establishment. As to the trustees, or boards of electors, chosen by the donor, they are often some established scientific society or some university, or the board may be specially appointed by him. The last is the best sort of body, if properly constituted, but not unfrequently the perplexed promoter of scientific discovery finds himself assenting to the constitution of what is called "a representative body"--say, a bishop, a town councillor, a Secretary of State, a judge, and a university professor, with other members to be nominated by himself or his heirs. Such a board fails from a want of knowledge.

The methods of applying the income provided by the donor are not always such as to produce any marked result in the direction desired by him. It is generally agreed among scientific workers and experts that the giving of prizes or rewards for scientific discovery does not tend to increase the output of discoveries, however carefully and justly awarded. Though such an award as the £8000 or £10,000 of the Nobel prizes is a very agreeable compliment to the man so honoured, and often richly deserved, no one would urge a would-be promoter of scientific discovery to devote his gift to the foundation of prizes. And so, too, with regard to scholarships or fellowships, it is very generally and rightly held that they do little or nothing in promoting scientific discovery when they are small in value and are only to be held for two or three years. When a young man has taken his university degree in science or medicine a scholarship or fellowship of £250 a year for three years offers no inducement to him, if he is an able man, to abandon his regular professional career. If he accepts it, he will have had no time to go far on the path of discovery before it comes to an end, and he will find at the end of his three years that he has lost that amount of time so far as his profession is concerned, and that there is no life post or career open to him in the line in which he has spent three years--namely, that of a scientific investigator. As a rule, able men will not be drawn off in this way from their professions, but inferior men may be.

The man, on the other hand, who is specially gifted with the power of scientific discovery will not be affected by such temporary fellowships. He will enter on the career of discovery with or without such inducements. What such a man (and he is the only sort of man who matters) really requires, and should find open to him, is an assured career. This must take the form in the first place of a smaller post as assistant to a great discoverer, tenable for twenty years if need be, and subsequently a life post, with laboratory and assistants, when he has proved his possession of the discoverer's quality. Hence it is that what the benevolent millionaire who wishes to promote scientific discovery should do is to provide life posts, "professorships" or "directorships," for the really great discoverers, who exist often in cramped conditions. They should be of the value of £1500 to £3000 a year--not too large a stipend in view of the incomes earned by successful professional men and assigned by Government to judges, bishops, colonial governors, senior civil servants, and politicians--with two or three assistantships of £150 to £500 a year attached, to be filled up by nominations made by the professor himself as vacancies occur. A sum of £7500 a year, that which Mr. Otto Beit has so generously given, would pay for one professor, with three assistants, attendants, and interest on building and maintenance fund. Of course, if such a sum were offered to an existing institution where buildings and other conveniences are already provided, two research professors and their assistants could be paid for where one only would be possible if building and service had to be provided. There are buildings and laboratories in London and elsewhere provided by beneficent founders without stipends for directors and assistants, and there are already a good many young graduates drawing terminable inadequate stipends in succession to one another from great foundations. The difficulty is to bring about the combination of adequate funds for the chief and for the graduated minor posts, and for a well-equipped laboratory. When that is done, as it sometimes, though rarely, is, the only further difficulty is how to choose a real man, an inspired, inspiring discoverer. There is only one way.

Real discoverers are extremely rare--great ones are recognized about once in fifty years in any one large branch of science. There may be others wandering about--undiscovered discoverers. The only people who can discover them are men like themselves. Hence, in German universities and all wisely managed institutions for the promotion of scientific discovery, they give the power of choosing new discoverers to those discoverers already belonging to the university or institution, and they take care that all the electors are vitally interested for the honour, credit, and pecuniary success of their university. These conditions can be arranged and brought into healthy action by care and understanding. But the whole fabric may go to pieces, and jobbery and jealousy prevail (as has sometimes happened in England) if care is not taken to identify the personal interests of the electors (brother professors) with the honest exercise of their capacity to choose a real discoverer to fill a vacancy when it occurs, or if an ignorant council of "superior persons" is allowed to interfere.

To find these great discoverers is, indeed, no light task. They have to be looked for by the State, firstly, in the primary schools; the net has to be drawn and the minor fishes allowed to escape, whilst the strong and promising are sent on to high schools. Then again, after further sifting, some are passed on to the special college, then a selection to the university, and at last one or two a year may be chosen as assistants to an established and inspiring discoverer. Seven, ten, or fifteen years later one out of all his fellows and predecessors is recognized as the incomparable teacher and discoverer--the inspirer of others, the one great man of half a century. He must be chosen by his colleagues, his fellow-workers, not by political wire-pullers nor by any variety of social "Bumble." He is given laboratories and assistants, and men come to consult him, to sit under him, work for him, from all parts of the world. Louis Pasteur was such a man. Huxley pointed out by what a vast public expenditure Pasteur was gradually sifted out from his fellows, and made professor in the Normal School of Paris. Of course, a good many inferior people got a share of the training provided, and did some unimportant things; but if we put them aside it is perfectly true (as a calculation of the expenses of the whole network of State-supported schools and colleges and bursaries through which he passed will show) that the capture or discovery of Pasteur cost the French nation about £25,000,000. He was worth it, not only to France, but to every other nationality--and more, too, more than can be measured by gold. His name, honoured throughout the world on account of the splendid discoveries associated with it, gave self-respect, courage, and healthy pride to France at a time when she had cruelly suffered. Ten years ago the most popular newspaper in France took a "plebiscite" to determine who, in the general estimation of the French people, was the greatest Frenchman of the nineteenth century--the century which included the first Napoleon, Victor Hugo, Gambetta. The vote was given by some millions, and resulted in a majority for Louis Pasteur. Would Englishmen have shown such discernment? Such a man is absolutely necessary as the head of any great institute which exists for the purpose of scientific discovery. Such men, smaller it may be, but of the same inspiring quality, are the only men fit to be university professors. It is because there are still such men at the Institut Pasteur that it remains a great seat of discovery. It is because they have not such men, and that there is no intelligent attempt to get them, that many wealthy institutions in our own country fail to produce scientific fruit.

INDEX

Abies, the genus of the Silver Fir, 317

Acorns, sea-, 100, 110

Actinia mesembryanthemum, a common sea-anemone, 85, 86 living in an aquarium for fifty years, 86

African animals, preservation of, 20

Alchemists and the divining-rod, 385

Aldeburgh, amber to be bought there, 74 the great pebble beach at, 55

Alpine flowers, 161 reason of strong colour of, 167, 168

Amber, 71-76 chemical nature of, 75 insects in, 73 uses of, 73, 74

Amber-routes, 70

Ambleteuse, once a great harbour, 51

Amphioxus, 2

Anchovy, the, 359 sauce, its history and colour, 359

Anemone, the Weymouth, 88

Anemones, sea-, 81, 84, 85, 86 fertilization of, 186

Anthea cereus, a sea-anemone, 86

Ape, the lines on the palm of the, 373 to man, from, 236-291

Apes, mental qualities of, 241, 242

Aquariums, marine, made fashionable by Mr. Gosse, 83

"Arabian Nights," stories as to men turned into fish, 353

Araucaria, the monkey-puzzle, 329

Arbor vitæ, a kind of cypress, 330

Argentière (Switzerland), 164

Aril of the yew tree, 310

Arthropods or jointed-leg owners, 102, 103

Ashtaroth, 352

Astrology, 372

Atargatis, 352

Atlas cedar, 320

Augurs, the Roman corporation of, 371

Aurelia, the common jelly-fish, 95

Australian natives, 29, 30

Automata, animals as, 187

Balancers or dwindled wings of the two-winged flies, 218

Balanus, the sea-acorn or acorn-barnacle, 110

Ballet, Russian Imperial, 169, 177

Barnacle, growth and transformation of, 111-113 the legend of the, and the goose, 118-141 the ship's, figure of, 109

Barnacle-goose, the, 118

Barnacles, 100, 108-141 nauplius young of, discovered by the Army surgeon, Vaughan Thompson, 107 their "complemental males" discovered by Darwin, 115

Barrett, Sir W. F., on water-finders, 389, 390

Beaches, constituents of, 53, 55-63

Bee, the queen, retains the sperm of one drone for four or five years, 405

Beit, M. Otto, 408

Bernacæ and bernak, Celtic word for shell-fish, 121

Berri-berri, a disease due to bad diet, 297

Birds believed to be produced by trees, 118 their courtship, 298-300

Birth-marks, belief in, similar to that in magical power of water-finders, 390 experiment by the patriarch Jacob, 391, 399 Mr. Heape on, 398

Bivalve and univalve shells, 143

Bleeding of the nose, Latin hymn to arrest, 343

Blood, amount of, in man's body, 348 coloured blue in scorpions, crustaceans, and molluscs, 346 colourless corpuscles of, 349 colourless, of lower animals, 346 duties of the, 349, 350 emotion and excitement caused by sight of, 345 fascination of, distinguished from cruelty, 344 of the grub of the midge and of the coiled pond-snail, coloured red by hæmoglobin, 346 red corpuscles of, 347 superstitions about, 342, 343 the, and its circulation, 343 _et seq._ the only case of an insect with red, 223, 346 used as an adhesive by Australians, 343

Blood-stream, its pace in man, 348

Blood-vessels, swollen, of molluscs, crustacea, and insects, 340

Bournemouth, various pine trees at, 324

Bower-bird, its play-run, 196

Brain of apes and man, 253 _et seq._ increase of its size means increase of educability, 268 significance of its greater size in man than apes, 257-261 small brains of extinct animals, 259

Brent-geese and tree-geese, 122

Bristle-worms, 79

Browne, Sir Thomas, and the spontaneous generation of mice, 125

Bruno, St., his lily, 165

Bummaloh, or Bombay duck, 359

Bunodes crassicornis, a sea-anemone, 85, 86

Bustard, the courting of the, 199

Buttercup, the white, 165

Cable, author of "Old Creole Days," 55

Canard and cock-and-bull stories, 119

Canine tooth of the Piltdown jaw, discovery of the, 287

Capercailzie, the, 44

Carnelians on the Felixstowe beach, 58

Cedars, 319

Cement stones, 58

Charles II and the globe of fish, 406

Chartreuse, the Grande, 163

Chesil beach, the, 61

Chin, the bony, of man, peculiar to him, 250

Christmas trees, 302

Chyle, the, 333

Circulation, the, of the blood, 348

Cirripedes, the order comprising barnacles, 114

Click-beetles, the adults of wire-worms, 225

Cockle, the common, 146 jumping powers of the, 150

Cœlom, the lymph-holding body cavity, 338

Colours of marine animals, 93

Cone of the Douglas fir (figure), 327 of the Larch (figure), 319 of the Monterey Pine, or Pinus insignis (figure), 325 of the Pinaster (figure), 323 of the Prickly pine, Pinus muricata (figure), 326 (male and female) of the Scots fir (figure), 305 (female) of the Silver fir (figure), 316 (female) of the Spruce or Christmas tree (figure), 318 (modified) of the Yew tree (figure), 310

Cones, globular, of cypress, 330 of juniper, 308, 331 of firs and pine trees, 303

Coniferæ, survey of, 313 tabular statement of their families, sections, and genera, 331

Conifers, the three commonest in England, 308

Conjugation in lower forms of life, 183

Conjurers still believed by some to conjure spirits and deal in the black art, 365

Connective tissue, 335

Conscious and unconscious minds, 262-263

Consciousness, arrival of, 213

Contagious magic and fish-eating, 354

Copal gum, similar to amber, 73

Copalite found at Highgate, 76

Coprolite on the Suffolk shore, 59

Coral, white, 3, 9

Corals related to sea-anemones, 89

Corethra, the plume fly, its transparent larva, 27, 224

Corpus Christi, festival of, and dancing, 174

Corpuscles, colourless, of the blood, 349 red, of the blood, 347

Correvon, M., his garden, 163

Corundum pebbles give flame-flash when rubbed together, 67

Courting dress of water-fleas, 205

Courtship, 180-215 methods of, in man not inherited or instinctive, 211

Crabs, 98, 104, 105

Crane-fly, 216 _et seq._

Crawfish and crayfish, 99

Crustaceans, use of the word, 98

Cucujos, the, a phosphorescent beetle of South America, 234

Cupressus sempervirens, the common cypress, 330

Cyancæa, the stinging jelly-fish of our coast, 95

Cycads, an order allied to conifers, 309

Cypress tree, the, 330

Cyprus and coffers, 330 and Crete, ancient vases from, with pictures of transition from barnacle to goose, 130, 133

Daddy-Long-Legs, 216 _et seq._ sometimes used as a name for the spider-like Opilio, 220

Dagon, the fish-god, 352

Dancing and science, 169 _et seq._ of birds and spiders, 171 various kinds of, 172, 173, 177, 178

Daphne, the Alpine, 166

Darwin and Lord Morton's mare, 400

Dawson, Mr. Charles, discovers the missing link, 284

Deodar, the Himalayan cedar, 320

Destruction of native animals in England, 15

Dewar, Sir James, on suspended animation of luminous bacteria, 158

Diet, certain substances necessary to be healthy, 294

Diptera or two-winged flies, divisions of, 222

Disharmonies in animal structure and habit, 227 in man's structure, 228

Display in courtship, 197 _et seq._

Divination, 371 by the forked twig, 384 by throwing a rod into the air, 383 varieties of methods in, 371

Divining-rod, the, 383

Dormouse, easily loses the skin of its tail, 219

Dousers and dousing, 385 dishonest variety of, 388 or water-finders tested by a committee, 392 some honest, 387

Dragon, the heraldic, and the parachute lizard, 382

Dredge, the naturalist's, 1

Duclaux, Professor, his advice as to diet, 299

Dunwich, a submerged city, 50

Earth-worm, cœlom of the, 338

Educability, 213, 268-269

Elaterids, a family of beetles, 225 phosphorescent species of, 234

Emperor moth, attractive smell of female, 209

Eoanthropus Dawsoni, the Piltdown Hominid, 283

Erosion of the coast, 51

Euphausia, a phosphorescent shrimp, picture of, 154

Evergreens, our native, list of, 312

Ewart, Prof. Cossar, his experiments on telegony, 400

Experience, learning by individual, 212

Expression by the face, greater in man than apes, 273

Eyes of deep-sea animals, 93

Fabre, his opinion of animal intelligence, 197, 198

Fainting, men, at sight of blood, 345

Fast days, 351, 352

Felixstowe beach, 56 erosion of the coast at, 50 large piece of amber found at, 70

Fertilization, 180

Fir, Scots, 305, 321 Silver, or Abies pectinata, 315 used to build the Trojan horse, 306

Fire-flies of Southern Europe, 233

Firestones, 65

Fish, a young, saves Manu from the Deluge, 353 and Christian ornament, 356, 357 and fast days, 351 _et seq._ as the symbol of Christ, 354 certain, poisonous to every one, 358 modelled in gold, life size, dug up near the Black Sea, 353 poisons, 357, 358 some, poisonous only to certain individuals, 358 worship of, and the fish-god, 352

Fish-worship of the ancient Greek Orpheists, 355

Flame, flash of, produced under water, 66 produced by rubbing two quartz pebbles together, 65

Flame-seeking insects, 229, 230

Flies, two-winged, or Diptera which are phosphorescent, 234 various kinds of, 222, 223

Fly as dirt carrier, 300

Food, constituents of, 292

Foot of man and his upright carriage, 243

Foot-jaws of crab and lobster, 104

Forbes, Edward, a sketch by, 159

Fowl, the common, 43

France gained courage and self-respect through Pasteur, 415

French cookery, sham, in Switzerland, 165

Fresh water jelly-fish, 91, 92

Fridays and fish-eating, by Jews as well as Christians, 352

Frog, blue variety of the edible, 163

Futurists, 23

Galliformes, an order of birds, 43

Geese, drawings of, by ancient Mykenæan artists, modified to resemble barnacles, 133, 134

Gelinotte, 46

Geology and living toads in rocks, 379

Geomancy, 372

Gerard the herbalist on the transformation of ship's barnacles into geese, 121

Giard, Professor; discovery of a phosphorescent disease in sand-hoppers, by him, 156

Gingko tree of Japan, 309

Giraldus Cambrensis and the production of geese from timber, 120

Glass-like marine animals, 92

Glow-worms, 233

Goose-tree, the, as drawn by Gerard in 1597, 123

Gopher tree of the Bible, 330

Gosse, Mr. Philip Henry, 83

Greek dancing, 175, 176 name-gods or totems, 356

Grouse, black, red, and others, 45 the, and allied birds, 41

Gummi-horn, the, 160

Hæma, the red part of blood, 339, 347

Hæmoglobin, or blood-red, 347 in the blood of the larva of thebig black midge (Chironomus), 223 in Bonellia, 11 in the coiled pond-snail, 346

Hæmolymph, the proper name for vertebrate blood, 339, 346

Hallucination and self-hypnotism, 372

Hamingia, a green worm, 10-11

Hamlet and superstition, 361

Hampstead Heath, 16

Hands and feet, size and shape of, as indicating character, 375

Hardanger Fiord, 3

Haruscipation, 372

Heart-urchin, 80

Henslow, of Cambridge, 59

Hierapolis, where Atargatis was worshipped, 352

Hopkins, Mr. Gowland, his experiments on diet, 294

Hôtel du Planet, good food at, 164

House sparrow trained to be a songster, 207

Houssay, M. Frederic, his discovery of the origin of the goose and barnacle story in paintings on Mykenæan vases, 131 _et seq._

Huxley and Cuvier on the distinctive quality of man, 272 and Owen, their controversy, 236

Hybridization, infection of plants by, 403

Hydra tuba breaks up into jelly-fish, 97

Idiosyncrasy as to poisonous quality of fish, 358

Infant, crying of the human, a speciality, 272

Infantile diarrhœa, 300

Inflammation, nature of, 349

Insects, many guided by the sense of smell, 209

Instinct and reason in courtship, 205

Instincts, 267

Intestine, the large, a disharmony, 228

Japan, the umbrella pine of, 330

Javanese story of a bird produced by a shell-fish, 138

Jaw, lower surface of the Piltdown, compared with that of man and of chimpanzee, 282 from Moulin-Quignon, 289 Heidelberg, compared with Piltdown, 286 Piltdown, 283

Jelly-fish, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97

Jelly-fishes which sting, 95

Juniper, the, 308, 330

Junipers, 330

Kauri resin, similar to amber, 73

Kowalewsky, the Russian zoologist, 11

Labouchere, Mr. Henry, his view on food, 293

Lacteals, or milky lymphatic vessels, 333

Lampyris noctiluca, the common glow-worm, 233

Lancelet, the, 2

Langouste, 99

Larch tree, the common, 307, 319

Laughter in apes, 241

Leather-jackets, the grubs of the Crane-fly, 221

Lebanon, cedar of, 320

Lepas anatifera, the ship's barnacle, 109

Leprosy and fish-diet, 357 favoured by same conditions as scurvy, 296

Lervik (Norway), 3

Lights, nocturnal, attract insects and birds, 230, 232

Lily of St. Bruno, 166

Limpet and cockle compared, 146, 148

Lizard, the parachute, is the model upon which the heraldic dragon is founded, 382

Lobsters, 99, 100

Loch Fyne herrings, their food, 155

Longevity of a sea-anemone, 86

Lophohelia, 9

Luciola italica, the fire-fly of South Europe, 233

Luges, or mountain sledges, 167

Lug-worm, 79

Luminous bacteria, 158 grub of Paraguay called the railway-beetle, 234 or luminescent insects, 232

Lyell, Mr., his Bill for the preservation of the Great Grey Seal, 32, 34 Sir Charles, used the term "missing link," 276

Lymph, amount of, in man's body, 333, 348 and lymphatic system, 332 _et seq._

Lymphatic vessels of the human arm (figure), 334

Lymph-hearts, 337

Magi, the priests of Zoroaster, 368

Magic, history of, 369, 370 sympathetic, 369

Male, the seeker and wooer, 185, 190

Man, his conscious memory, 187 primitive, courtship of, 195

Mandrill, beautiful colours of the, 205

Man's modern method of courtship, 215 structure compared with that of the gorilla and chimpanzee, 239, 240, 241

Manu, the Indian Noah, 353

Mare, Lord Morton's, 400

Mares not infected by sire, 399-400, 401

Mastodon, fragments of teeth of, found with the Piltdown jaw, 289

Mate-hunger, Mr. Pycraft on, 191, 192

Maternal impressions, 396 _et seq._

May-flies or Ephemerids, 230 some are phosphorescent or luminescent, like glow-worms, 231

Mechanisms of instinct, inherited, 268, 269 of the mind, distinguished, 211, 212

Medicines, quack, and credulity, 366

Memory essential to consciousness, 264 unconscious, 266 unconscious and conscious, distinguished, 212, 214

Mendés, Catulle, the French poet, and jelly-fish, 97

Metchnikoff on disharmonies, 367

Midge (Chironomus), its grub has red blood, 346

Midges, large kind of, 223

Milk and infantile scurvy, 296 Pasteurized, 300 supply of pure, 292 _et seq._

Millais, Sir Everett, on telegony, 400

Millionaire and sodium in the sun, 378

Milton the poet, his belief in spontaneous generation, 126

Mind, the, of apes and of man, 262 _et seq._ of man differs from that of animals, 213

Missing link, the, 275 _et seq._

Molluscs, alternate swelling of and shrinking of parts of the body, 149 and their shells, 142 _et seq._

Monboddo, Lord, his views on man and apes, 276

Monkey-puzzle or Araucarian pine, 329

Moray, Sir Robert, on the transformation of the ship's barnacle into a goose, 115, 127

Moth, the, and the candle, 226 _et seq._ vapourer, male pursues female living in water and is drowned, 210

Mules, 399

Müller, Iwan, and the microscope, 28

Müller, Professor Max, his suggestion as to the origin of the belief that barnacles give rise to geese, 139-141

Murray, Sir John, at Millport, 155

Muscles of apes and men, 247

Music a late acquisition of man, 208

Mussel, the edible, 145

Name-gods or totems of ancient Greeks, 356

Naples, 2, 52, 203

Naturalist on the seashore, 25

Nature reserves, 13

Nature-worship, the ancient, 352

Nauplius, the young form or larva of crustaceans, 105, 106, 107

Neander or Moustierian man, 280

Necromancy, or communication with the dead, 371

Needles of firs and pine trees, 303, 315 of pine-trees in tufts of one to five, 321

Nero, the Roman Emperor, and amber, 71

"Nigromantia" and the black at, 371

Nobel prizes, 412

Normand, Rev. Canon, 3

Norway, 1

Noverre, "the Shakespeare of the dance," 176

"Nullius in verba," the motto of the Royal Society, 128, 362, 407

Nutrition, not so simple a matter as supposed, 293

Occultism, modern, 363

Octopus, courtship of the, 203

Odours as attractions and guides in courtship, 209

Opal, 57

Orchestia, a sand-hopper, 153

Orpheus, the fish-god, substituted for Dionysus, the wine-god, 355 the warden of the fishes, a fish-god, 355

Ovules and sperms, 181

Oxygen carried by the red corpuscles of blood, 347

Oysters growing on trees, 145

Palmistry or chiromancy, 372, 373

Paradisia liliastrum, 166

Pasteur, the Institut, a great seat of discovery, 416 what he cost to France, 415

Pavlova, Madame Anna, 169, 178

Pebbles of the seashore, 55-63

Penguins, method of courtship of, 196

Pentargon Cove and a young Grey Seal, 35, 40

Perfumes produced by male butterflies, 210 use of, by man, 209

Phagocytes, 336, 349

Phonograph and chants of Australian natives, 31

Phosphorescence of the sea, 153

Phosphorescent insects, 232 sand-hoppers, 156 shrimps, 154, 155

Photo-taxis or light guidance, 235

Picea, the genus of the Spruce or Christmas tree, 317

Pierre-à-voir, 167

Piltdown jaw, age of the, 289 jaw and Heidelberg jaw compared, 286 jaw, as reconstructed by Dr. Smith Woodward, 288 skull and jaw, 289

Pine, origin of the word, 304 Aleppo, 322 Arolla (Pinus cembra), 328 Bhotan (Pinus excelsa), 329 Californian prickly, 320 cluster, or Pinaster, 322 Corsican or Austrian, 322 Monterey, or Pinus insignis, at Bournemouth, 324 Montezuma of Mexico, 329 Pyrenæan or Calabrian, 322 stone, or parasol pine, 323 trees and other conifers, 302 _et seq._ umbrella, of Japan, 330 Weymouth (Pinus strobus), 328

Pipe-fish, 75

Pollen of pine trees carried by wind, 304

Ponds as nature-reserves, 27

Prawns, 99

Primates, apes and bats, 238

Proteids, special, necessary in food, 297

Pseudotsuga, the Douglas fir, 327

Ptarmigan, 45

Ptomaines of putrid fish, 357

Puteoli, near Naples, 52

Quartz, 57 crystals, rubbed together produce flame, 67

Raised beaches, 52

Rats, experiments on feeding young, 294

Razor-fish, 80

Reasoning, the origin of false as well as of true beliefs, 367

Record, the Great, the peculiar possession of humanity, 271

Redi, Italian naturalist, on the generation of maggots by eggs laid by flies, 126

Regeneration of legs and tails, 218, 219

Religion and magic, one in origin, 369.

Reproduction, mechanism of, 181

Research, scientific, a delicate plant, 411 how to help it by money, 413 various attempts at promoting, 411

Reserves for native fauna in various countries, 19

Rhabdopleura, 4, 5, 6, 7

Rice, polished, and berri-berri, 297

Rings of the body of crab, lobster, and prawn, 104

Rock-pools, 25, 81

Roman road, submerged, near Naples, 52

Royal Society, its influence on superstition, 361 its motto, 128, 362, 407 the method of its founders, 362

Ruff, the display in courtship of the, 198

St. Swithin's Day, belief about, exploded, 406

Sagartia troglodytes, a beautiful sea-anemone, 85, 88

Samland, where amber is mined, 70

Sand, dry, shrinks when wetted, 64 of the seashore, 65 size and shape of its grains, 62

Sand-eels, 79

Sand-hoppers, 152 disease of, 156, 157

Sardines, 360

Savin, a kind of juniper, 308

Scavengers, phagocytes as, 349

Schliemann's great experiment, 406

Schynige Platte, view from the, 160

Sciadopitys, the Japanese umbrella pine, 330

Science and the unknown, 361 _et seq._

Scientific discovery aided by money, 408 _et seq._

Scorpions, cannibalism of, 202

Scots fir, 305, 312

Scurvy, infantile, described by Sir Thomas Barlow, 296 nature of that disease, 295

Sea-anemones, 81, 84, 85, 86

Seal, the Great Grey, 32 _et seq._ the northern fur-seal, courtship of, 192, 193

Sea shells, 142

Seashore as nature-reserve, 24 constituents of, 48, 55

Sea-worms, 78, 79

Seeds, winged, of fir trees, 317

Sequoia, the Big-tree and the Red-wood, 329

Shakespear and barnacles, 120

Shells of molluscs, 142

Singing competitions of male birds, 207

Skeleton of apes and man, 245 _et seq._

Skull and jaw found at Piltdown, 277, 290

Smell, the sense of, in man and animals, 208, 209

Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian Institute, 409

Snail, pond-, with red blood, 346

Soap-wort, 167

Soho, old house in, 14

Song, the beginnings of, in man, 208

Sounds as attractions in courtship, 206

Space, extreme cold of, not fatal to life, 159

Spencer, Professor Baldwin, shows bioscope pictures of Australian natives, 30

Sperms and ovules, 181

Spider's courtship and dance, 201

Sprats fraudulently sold as Anchovies and as Sardines, 360

Spruce introduced to Britain by man, 307 or Norway pine, 306, 317

Stickleback's nest and courtship, 200, 201

Stordö (Lervik), 3

Stricker of Vienna, the microscopist, 336

Succinite, correct name for amber, 75

Survival value of colour in flowers, 168

Switzerland, 160 _et seq._

Synapta, and anchors in its skin, 80

Tail of man, a disharmony, 228

Talitrus, a sand-hopper, 153

Taxodinæ, a group of fir trees, 329

Teeth of apes and of man, 248, 249 of extinct animals on the seashore, 59 wisdom, as disharmonies, 228

Telegony described, 399

Tetraonidæ, the grouse family, 44

Thoracic duct, the, 334

Thumb of apes and of man compared, 243

Thuya, the Arbor vitæ, 330

Tipula oleracea, the Crane-fly or Daddy-Long-Legs, 216 _et seq._

Toads found living in stone, 376 _et seq._

Topiary and yew trees, 312

Troy, discovery of ancient, 406

Tsetse fly, 22

Tyndal, the late Professor, 67

Vitamine from outer coat of rice-grain, 298

Volvox animalcule, 183, 184

Water-finder, impostor exposed, 392, 393

Water-finders, 387, 390

Water-finding, theories of, 388, 389

Weald of Sussex, 289

Wellingtonia, the American Big-tree, 329

Whittington and his cat, origin of the legend, 139

Wickham Fen, 18

Willey, Dr., on the lancelet, 3

Winter-green, 167

Wire-worms, true and false, 221

Woman in civilized races, not man, seeks to captivate by display, 211

Yew, the Irish, 311, 312 trees, 310, 311, 312

_Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_

Transcribers notes:

Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling is retained.

Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.

Bold is shown thus: =strong=.

Small capitals have been capitalised.

In the Index for Piltdown, skull and jaw, 289 was added as it was missing in the original.

In the Index the entry for Max Müller, Professor, has been altered to Müller, Professor Max, and placed accordingly.

End of Project Gutenberg's Diversions of a Naturalist, by Edwin Ray Lankester