Science In Switzerland Research Articles

Scientific exports from Switzerland

As an accompaniment to this week's feature on Science in Switzerland, some of the best and most innovative Swiss products are outlined below, from snake venoms to an industrial ball mill.

Science in Switzerland

Science in Switzerland

Briefs

Briefs Get access Social Behavior in Animals, by Tinbergen N., from Methuen's Monographs on Biological Subjects, Science Paperbacks and Methuen & Co., Ltd., London; distributed in the United States by Barnes and Noble, Inc., New York, 1967, 150 pp., illus., $1.50 (paper), $2.75 (cloth). Evolution of the Forebrain, Phylogenesis and Ontogenesis of the Fore-brain, edited by Hassler R. Stephan H., Plenum Press, New York, 1967, 464 pp., illus., $28.00. Fertilization, Comparative Morphology, Biochemistry, and Immunology, Vol. 1, edited by Metz Charles B. Monroy Alberto, Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1967, 489 pp., ilus., $19.00. Nearer to the Dust, Copyright and the Machine, by Gipe George A., foreword by Felix Morley, The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Md., 1967, 290 pp., $4.95. Biosynthesis of Antibiotics, Vol. 1, edited by Snell J. F., Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1967, 234 pp., illus., $10.00. Charles Scott Sherrington, An Appraisal, by Granit Ragnar, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1967, 188 pp., illus., $6.00. Science in Switzerland, by Murray Luck James, Columbia University Press, New York & London, 1967, 419 pp., $10.00. The Living Rocks, An Introduction to Biophilosophy for Technological Age Man, by Walters A. Harry, Classic Publications, Ltd., London, 1967, 183 pp., $3.00 (paper). Regulation of Nucleic Acid and Protein Biosynthesis, BBA Library Vol. 10, edited by Koningsberger V. V. Bosch L., Elsevier Publishing Co., New York, 1976, 412 pp., $23.50. Biometeorology, Vol. 2, Parts 1 & 2 edited by Tromp S. W. Weihe W. H., Pergamon Press, Long Island, N. Y., 1967, Part 1, 520 pp., illus., $25.00, Part 2, 624 pp., illus., $35.00. Light As An Ecological Factor, edited by Bainbridge R. Clifford Evans G. Rackham Oliver, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1967, 452 pp., illus., $13.50. International Symposium on the Nucleolus—Its Structure and Function, edited by Vincent W. S. Miller O. L.Jr., US. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md., 610 pp., illus., $5.00. Endocrine Genetics, Memoirs of the Society for Endocrinology, No. 15, Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Cambridge, on 29, 30 and 31 March 1966, edited by the late Spickett S. G., Cambridge University Press, New York, April 28, 1967, 325 pp., illus., $13.50. Data Acquisition and Processing in Biology and Medicine, Vol. 4, edited by Enslein Kurt Kinslow John F., Pergamon Press, Long Island, N.Y., 1966, 252 pp., illus., $1.55. Transmission of Viruses by the Water Route, edited by Berg Gerald, Interscience Publishers, a division of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1967, 484 pp., illus., $15.00. Control and Innervation of Skeletal Muscle, edited by Andrew B. L., University of St. Andrews, 1966, The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Md., 203 pp., illus., $8.00. Biochemistry of the Chloroplasts, Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held at Aberystwyth, August, 1965, Vols. 1 & 2, edited by Goodwin T. W., Academic Press, Inc., New York, Vol. 1, 1966, 476 pp., illus., $18.00; Vol. 2, 1967, 776 pp., illus., $29.00. An English-Classical Dictionary for the Use of Taxonomists, compiled by Woods Robert S., Pomona College, Claremont, California, 1966, 331 pp., $4.50. Clarification of the Status of the Type Specimens of Diabroticites (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae), by Smith Ray F. Lawrence John F., University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles, Calif., 1967, 174 pp., $4.50 (paper). General Virology, 2nd ed., by Luria S. E. E. Darnell JamesJr., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1967, 512 pp., illus., $12.50. A Dictionary of Zoology, by Leftwich A. W., Constable & Co., Ltd., London, & D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., Princeton, N.J., 1967, 319 pp., $6.50. Invertebrate Nervous Systems, Their Significance for Neurophysiology, edited by Wiersma C. A, G., The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 1967, 370 pp., illus., $10.00. The Littoral Fauna of the British Isles, a Handbook for Collectors, by Bales N. B., with a foreword by the late Stanley Kemp, Cambridge University Press, American Branch, New York, 1967, 306 pp., illus., $10.00. Recent Mammals of the World, A Synopsis of Families, edited by Anderson Sydney Jones J. KnoxJr., The Ronald Press Co., New York, 1967, 453 pp., illus., $12.50. BioScience, Volume 17, Issue 9, September 1967, Pages 663–666, https://doi.org/10.1093/bioscience/17.9.663-b Published: 01 September 1967

Jacques Freymond on the Study and Research of International Relations

Leading representative of political science in Switzerland, director of the Geneva Institute of International Relations and at the same time president of International Association of Political Science prof. Jacques Freymond spoke on March 5. 1967 at the Institute for International Politics and Economics in Prague about basic issues of international relations research studies. He showed himself to be a follower of the traditional approach, characterized by a particularly historical one connections and long-term perspectives of development. As for the theory of international relationship, evaluated the vast majority of attempts to manage this issue so far as not very successful, very positively he only appreciated Raymond Aron's work Peace and War between Nations. He was also wary of new methodological approaches, typical of the United States. He acknowledged that they bring a lot new knowledge that we can, however, increase new and simpler to deduce with traditional approaches. Attempts to generalize and absolutize them often lead to distortions, coz documented for example on the theory of decision-making, group pressure, public mean and generally on the use of quantitative methods.

Jacques Freymond on the Study and Research of International Relations

Leading representative of political science in Switzerland, director of the Geneva Institute of International Relations and at the same time president of the International Association of Political Science prof. Jacques Freymond on March 5, 1967, spoke at the Institute for International Politics and Economics in Prague about the basic issues of the study of international relations research. It manifested itself as an increased tradition of approach, emphasizing particularly historical connections and long-term perspectives of development. As far as the theory of international relations is concerned, he assessed the vast majority of attempts to deal with this issue so far as not very successful, he only very positively appreciated the work of Raymond Aron Mir and the war between nations. He was also cautious about various new methodological approaches, typical of the United States. He acknowledged that I bring a lot of new knowledge, which we can, however, mostly and simply derive using traditional approaches. Attempts to generalize and absolutize them often lead to distortions, which he documented, for example, in the theory of decision-making, group pressure, public authority, and in general the use of quantitative methods.

Anniversaries of other academies and societies

The Royal Society of London sends most cordial greetings to the Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich on the completion of two centuries of activity which has contributed in rich measure to the advancement of knowledge in many fields of scientific research. It is with pride that the Royal Society recalls that, when men of science met together to discuss the formation of a scientific society in Switzerland, they were encouraged in their endeavours by colleagues in Britain. We remember that of the first three Foreign Secretaries of the Royal Society, two were of Swiss nationality, namely, Philip Henry Zollman and Johann Gaspar Scheuchzer; and upon them lay the task of creating the mechanism whereby the Royal Society of London has maintained intimate relationship with scientific endeavour in other lands. Many have been the contacts between the Royal Society and men of science in Switzerland. Johann von Muralt was among the earliest of the foreign contributors to the Philosophical Transactions . The de Duilliers were correspondents of Sir Isaac Newton. The brothers Bernouilli were numbered among our Foreign Members; so were Albrecht von Haller, Abraham Trembley, Charles Bonnet, Leonhard Euler, Jean André De Luc, Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz and Rudolph Albert von Kölliker.

The Swiss Society of Natural Sciences

THE recent issue of the Verhandlungeti der Schweiz-erischen Naturforschenden Gesellscha contains an account of the annual meeting of the Society held at Solothurn in August 1936 and also reports of the work of the previous year. The object of the Society is to promote the study of all branches of natural science in Switzerland. Between the annual meetings for the presentation and discussion of papers, the work of the Society is carried on by a number of commissions. Some of these are concerned with the administration of endowments, while others undertake field work in various sciences. The latter are financed partly from members' subscriptions, but mainly from Government grants. Among the commissions performing work of national importance is the Geological Commission, which is engaged in the publication of a geological survey of Switzerland on scales of 1: 25,000 and 1: 200,000. In addition to the purely scientific commissions, there is a Commission for the Preservation of Nature, which is doing valuable work in preserving sites of scientific interest or scenic beauty, as well as in promoting legislation for the protection of forms of wild life which are in danger of extermination. Besides administering Government research grants, the Society also acts as the official representative of Switzerland on international scientific unions, and the volume under notice contains the reports of the Swiss delegations to a number of such unions.

Agassiz and Forbes

MR. GEORGE FORBES has, in NATURE of May 22, given his version of the controversy between Agassiz and Forbes. I had no intention, in a former note, of reviving, for the benefit of the readers of NATURE, this unpleasant subject; but simply wished to protest against the ex cathedra statements of the reviewer of Tyndall. The materials for an impartial discussion of the history of glacier work are accessible to all investigators, and when it comes to be written, Agassiz and Forbes will obtain due credit for their share of the work. One of the points at issue between Forbes and Agassiz is not a matter “of facts to be proved or disproved by facts.” The conversation between Agassiz and Forbes (Heath as witness for Forbes) held on the first day of their sojourn on the Aar Glacier, refers simply to a difference of opinion on the explanation of certain bands (observed previously by several persons, and well known to Agassiz). The nature of these bands has to this day remained problematical and why Agassiz, when writing to Humboldt that he had observed these bands at a depth of 120ft. in the body of the glacier, should give any credit to Forbes passes all understanding. This observation was made after Forbes's departure, and Agassiz certainly needed no “reconciliation with his conscience” to describe this as “le fait le plus nouveau que j'ai observé.” The testimony of Mr. Heath is of no value, for it certainly would be the height of presumption, in a man without any previous acquaintance with glaciers to undertake to decide in a few lines, a point to this day a subject of controversy among investigators of glaciers; his endorsement of the claims of Forbes is as ridiculous as the attempt made by a prominent Swiss geologist (who gives his testimony in favour of Forbes), to ignore the claims of Agassiz, by passing his name over in silence when writing the history of geological science in Switzerland.