i8o 



NATURE 



[April 6, 191 1 



The Use by Men of Science of an Artlflcial 

 Language. 



In Nature of March 30 (p. 155) the remark is made 

 that " if it were {wssiblo to arrive at a general afinrment 

 [as to the use of an artificial language], even in one or 

 two isolated sciences only, a real step in the diffusion of 

 science would be made." ^ _ . . 



I desire to protest strongly against this view. Is U m 

 the least likely that those Italians, Spaniards, Russians, 

 Poles, &c., who will not now write their scientific papers 

 in English, French, or German would write them in an 

 artificial language? If they did so, while making them- 

 selves underst<x)d "by a few esperantists or idoisis, they 

 would render themselves unintelligible to their own 

 countrymen and all the rest of the world. 



Science is sufficiently unattractive to the layman with- 

 out being handicapped by an artificial language. Surely 

 it is not too much to expect Poles and others to learn 

 one of the three great modern languages — English, French, 

 or German. _ u- u n 



What is required is some organisation by which all 

 important papers not published in English, French, or 

 German shall be translated into one of those languages if 

 it is found impracticable to induce the writers originally 

 to publish them in one of the three great languages. 



Bernard Mobson. 



Thornton, Hallamgate Road, Sheffield, March 31. 



A Wave Theory, of Gravitation. 



In the paper by Mr. C. F. Brush on a kinetic theory 

 of gravitation, published in a recent number of Nature, 

 a theory is suggested in which gravitational attraction is 

 attributed to radiation pressure on the outsides of two 

 gravitating bodies, so that " attraction " is rather a push 

 than a pull. In fact, in outline the theory may be com- 

 pared to Le Sage's corpuscular theory, in which the 

 impinging atoms are replaced by a special type of jcther 

 wave exerting a pressure. That view is not altogether 

 new. 



I published an article in The New Ireland Review 

 for August, 1907, in which that view was suggested 

 as a speculation. Mr. Brush's theory differs in some of its 

 details from the view I proposed, as, for example, the 

 origin of the radiations. This view was suggested by Prof. 

 Poynting's experiments on the " pressure of light." In 

 my paper no mention is made of a very similar suggestion 

 made some years earlier by Sir J. J. Thomson in a lecture 

 delivered in Yale University in 1903, and afterwards pub- 

 lished under the title of " Electricity and Matter." At 

 the time of writing the article referred to I had not 

 become acquainted with Prof. Thomson's suggestion. On 

 p. 160 of the work just mentioned we read : — " We have 

 seen in the first chapter that waves of electric and mag- 

 netic force possess momentum in their direction of pro- 

 pagation ; we might therefore replace Le Sage's corpuscles 

 by very penetrating Rontgen rays." The difficulties in 

 the way of such a view are also indicated. 



H. V. Gill. 



Belvedere College, Dublin. 



An occurrence of the Barium-felspar Celsian in 

 North Wales. 



Some finely crystallised mineral specimens from North 

 Wales, kindly sent to me by Mr. G. J. Williams. H.M. 

 Inspector of Mines, have proved on a preliminary examina- 

 tion to be the rare mineral celsian, hitherto recorded onlv 

 from Sweden (by H. J. Sjogren in 1895). The beautifully 

 developed monoclinic crystals are colourless and trans- 

 parent, and extremely rich in faces. They are accom- 

 panied by other crystals of orthorhombic habit, which 

 possibly represent a dimorphous form of barium-felspar. I 

 am at present engaged on a chemical analysis of these 

 crystals, and Mr. L. J. Spencer has undertaken to deter- 

 mine their crystalline form and optical properties. 



Arthur Russell. 



Swallowfield Park, Reading, 

 March 27. 



NO. 2162, VOL. 86] 



A' 



AS INTERNATIONAL VLLCANOLOGICAL 

 INSTITLTE. 

 T the International (ieoloj^ical Congress held last 

 year in .Stockholm, Jsignor Immanuel Frted> 

 laendcr proposed the foundation of an Institute for 

 Vulcanological inquiries. Jhe matter was submitted 

 to a commission which reported on it to a general 

 meeting of the congress in a highly favourable 

 manner. The object of the institute is to carry out 

 continuously and systematically researches connected 

 with volcanic phenomena. It is proposed to build a 

 laboratory furnished with instruments for the measure, 

 ment of the temperature of rocks and of gas at 

 different points of Vesuvius; to analyse the gas from 

 fumaroles, and to note seismic disturbances. 



The existence of the present observatory at Vesuvius 

 is known throughout all the world, but unfortunately 

 at it continuous systematic researches have not been 

 carried out, neither have they been carried out at any 

 other volcano in the world. Thoroughly to accom- 

 plish what is proposed it is necessary to have an in- 

 ternational union, not only for the purpose of collect- 

 ing the necessary monies, but also to furnish the 

 opportunity to men of science of all nations to make 

 investigations at the new institute. The number of 

 vulcanologists in Italy and in other parts of the world 

 is few, a matter that can be easily understood, because 

 there does not exist any permanent positions for 

 specialists in this subject. The scientific importance 

 of the undertaking does not require discussion. It 

 has, however, a practical aspect. The enormous 

 damage and loss of life by the eruptions of Krakatoa, 

 Monte Pel6e, and of Vesuvius in 1906, are fresh in 

 our memory. Our present knowledge of volcanic 

 phenomena is based upon intermittent observations, 

 and therefore it is not sufficient to enable us to predict 

 eruptions. Notwithstanding this, we now know that 

 vulcanicity shows a series of regular phenomena. 

 From this it appears that it is not only possible, 

 but it is highly probable that after conscientious and 

 exact registration of all the phenomena, science will 

 shortly advance so far as to foresee more or less 

 the time of occurrence of a new outburst. There 

 exists another practical reason why we should study 

 vulcanology. By the study of the activity of fumO' 

 roles and the metamorphosis of rocks, we may ex- 

 plain the origin of many minerals. Recent volcanoes 

 are known to contain metalliferous minerals in course 

 of formation, and a profound study of the phenomena 

 of metamorphosis would therefore greatly increase 

 our knowledge of the genesis of metalliferous deposits. 



The organisation of the institute at its commence- 

 ment will be as follows :— Signor Immanuel Fried- 

 laender, who has already contributed 100,000 lire and 

 an annual contribution of 10,000 lire, vmdertakes to 

 collect subscriptions. These will only become payable 

 if up to the first of January, iqi2, the total sum 

 promised for the construction and the plant reaches 

 a minimum of 1,500,000 lire, and at the same time 

 an income is guaranteed of not less than 50,000 lire. 

 The legal position of the institute will at the outset 

 be that of a society in which members with a right 

 to vote have contributed at least 10.000 lire or pay 1,000 

 lire per annum. Members contributing less, so long 

 as it is not under 25 lire per annum, will receive the 

 printed papers and publications of the institute. ^ The 

 idea of an international institute of this description is 

 bv no means new. It has been proposed by Prof. 

 Johnston Lavis, Prof. Mercalli, Prof. G. Platania, 

 and five years ago Mr. Cool, a Dutch engineer, pub- 

 lished a pamphlet on this matter. The project is 

 alreadv supported by sixt>'-two prominent names ; 

 twenty-five of these are Italians, nineteen are Ger- 

 mans, and three are English. 



