i84 



NATURE 



[April 6, 191 1 



(];,Ji;;!:i. !'ossil)l\' tlic iiili.ibii ■ < '<.rrnv;ill ;ir<- 



K.ilU li.'iM li.!])]!} .111(1 hiii'.lr .iikI »iiiii- 



pric-iii^^;, lli.Ui ill' iiih.iliil.r i .■ Ill , l>nl i - llii~> 



iimIU ;i lacL? 



Nr\l, wlUTL- diH'-- li.i|i|>ini - - I'.iiM in il '.. 

 s|iini^ morning >'t)u Ikuc lo ^ii up i.n. honi 

 W h;il will the will .iml (hildicn >.: ■ wi.uii...- 



iiiciii ■.•' Turninj; nu! i"<' mxih im K.iiiing^, 



gruuing about al -i .im., lo liud .i ./... -. lUiiUlits 

 to iig'ht the fiK , max ;^i\< ii- to cloinc>tic irritation, 

 bronrhial .■•■'-'i< ■ i .iIht illm-'^sfs. 'I'liousaiids 



upon tin 1 in llii- iiiu ih i>l I'aii^laiul, 



ti, 1„. ai \\ lull ii i-- ri-allx 5, a.m. , 



will have to (listml) thcii' lioii-.ilioUis at llif liim- 

 hiK-rilirii. -At the rommiiK'fiiiiiit ol April a man will 

 i^c! iijj ill thr (lark, walk lo hi> lac ior\ in llu- dark. 

 and commence work li\ artificial lii.;lil. Wlialcver 

 li-iil and hicl has l"-eii s.ived on the jjitAion-^ e\eii- 

 iiij^ ill the hoiix' or workshop will be ,spi nl in the 

 dark hoar-, oi the earl\ morniiii;. l'"ur ahoul >ix 

 monllis, or iSj day.s. which I believe is the j)erio(l 

 over which the new-langled time is to extend, men 

 will frequenil\ lia\f to rise before the .'^un ; nature 

 will be aslet |), hilt he must be awnke and run counter 

 to Divine intentions. As ni.iiters now >tand duriiij;' 

 this period workmen get up on 127 days a//<7 sunrise. 

 'Jhe new Hill will reduce the number of these oic.i- 

 sioiis to :;,.'. lie will h.'ive been robbed ol hi.s niorii- 

 iiii.; da\li-iii, ;md ha\-e 75 extra days of morniiii.^- 

 darkness. 



There is not so much daylight sa\iii;4 in the Hill 

 as may popularly be supposed. It gives .m hour in 

 the evening, but cuts olT an hour in tin morning. 

 Will a darkness creating Bill please the British work- 

 man? 



When to give pleasant afternoons to the few who 

 always go to work in daylight, the workmen in this 

 country, in their tr.iins and trams, and on their 

 "bikes" or on their feet, take to blundering about 

 in the morning dark, it suggests an ineicase in the 

 number of accidents, more litigation, more illnesses, 

 and more funerals. Doctors and lawyers will have 

 more employment, and insurance companies may raise 

 their rates. 



Many medical men are supporting this proposed 

 alteration, and have emphasised the benefits that may 

 accrue from the greater amount of sunlight that 

 people will enjoy if these changes are adopted. 

 Obviously, of course, those requiring- more sunlight 

 can, if they will, get up earlier in the morning with- 

 out any dislocation or changes in standard time. But 

 to compel all workers to get up an hour earlier some 

 months of the year may have effects upon the health 

 quite other than seems to be supposed. Man is 

 largely the creature of habit, and the habits 

 acquired by long usage cannot be broken 

 through suddenly without ill results. When early in 

 April the time is suddenly altered, the result will be 

 that ^or some days, possibly weeks, workers, clerks, 

 and all others compelled willy-nilly to accommodate 

 themselves to this incompletely considered scheme will 

 find themselves at work, still half asleep, with serious 

 results to their own einclency, to their own health, 

 and their employers' pockets. 



In addition to all this, as I have before said, Eng- 

 land, by destroying the time standard of the world, 

 will have gone back on her bargain with other 

 nations, and her steamship and other commvmications 

 with other countries will have been di.sturbed. 



The defenders of the Bill admit that it has its 

 defects, but they do not point out how these are to be 

 remedied. . 



To say that different parts of the United States 

 keep different times, and that Cape Colonv has found 

 the adoption of the 30th meridian a boon, has nothing 



.S.i\ , ,. 



Some \e,ii - 

 Colonial, .11 id 

 into the \;ii il 



s*. I : is-,u • These 



ai, Al d time and 



.idji^ ■■': 'In ir ( lotks t(j the UrecnsMCli standard and 

 noi lo ,1 time that is altered at leai>t twice a year. 

 ■ ircumslances why references to the United 



Cape Colony have been brought forw.nd 



i WW 1,01 undersr ' I'lic unthinking public niigiu 



infer that becau . countries have altered tiieir 



clocks there can .>^ ..-> j;reat harm in altering ourt>. 

 if this was seriously intended, these arg^uments are 

 ,1 lefiiction upon their authors, and indicate that 

 11 tor the adoption of the Daylight 



upon curious foundations. 

 .igo, with the assistance of the Fu: 

 India OlVices, 1 had occasion to ii 

 ■lies (jf lime kept hv all accessible com- 

 munitie.s <d tin world. 'Jhe only people 1 remember 

 thai have a sliifty time are Mahomedans and sa\ 

 and it is now suggested that we should take . 

 downwards and join tlnir ranks. 



.Astronomers .and n.ivi,;;.ilors are, 1. to 



lelt in j.ieace. I ini;iL;iii'- that those who desire to 

 daylight recognise iji.ii a movable time system i 

 lead to shipwreck and lo di'"'" '"' s in the construmon 

 of nautical almanacs, aiv astronomical work. 



If these departments an o. o. need from the new 

 arrangements, win- should not the same freedom be 



given to •"■ ology .uid .-dl other sciences in which 



it is \\> ' I li.ive time observations comparable 



with tlu-..; ... uUier countries? 



The simplest solution to the whole question would 

 be to commence work one hour earlier in the morning 

 and not confuse ourselves and others by altering the 

 clock. In Japan thousands of schools open in the 

 summer time at 7 a.m., Covernrnent offices open at 

 eight and close at two; ,ind wliar is done in Japan 

 is done in other countries. Sunlv it is possible for 

 business houses in this country to do something 

 similar. JOHN MiLNE. 



be 



•/;//•; ni-.si 1,^1 (I i(),\ of loci^is.' 



A REPORT recently received from the South 

 African Central Locust Bureau bears testimony 

 to the strenuous efforts which have been made during 

 the last four years by the various Government ento- 

 mologists and others in the systematic collection and 

 tabulation of data regarding the more important phases 

 in connection with the destruction of crops by migra- 

 tory and other locusts. We congratulate the editor 

 and his colleagues on the n;ost excellent results which 

 they have achieved, and the thanks of the country are 

 also due to them for the valuable assistance which 

 they have rendered to the agriculturists in Cape 

 Coloii\- and elsew here by the successful methods which 

 thev have adopted in checking tlie ravages of these 

 destructive insects. 



In the introduction of the report we are informed 

 that the South African Central Locust Bureau was 

 formed in 1906 through the instrumentality of the 

 Earl of Selborne, then" lii.s Maiesiv's High Commis- 

 sioner in South Africa. His Excellency saw clearly 

 that several colonies and territories under his super- 

 vision would benefit mutually if each were kept in- 

 formed in regard to locust occurrences and to locust 

 destruction, and measures in the territory of its neigh- 

 bours, and that it was highly desirable in order that 

 the pest might be intelligently combated, that the 

 origin and movement of invading swarms be eluci- 

 dated. The 1909 campaign cost the Government a 



i Fourth Annual Report of the Committee of Control of the South 

 African Central Ixjcust Bureau. Respectfully submitted by the committee 

 to the several Gos-emments supporting the Bureau. Edited by Chas. P. 

 Louusbury, Government Entomologist, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. 

 Pp- 59 + 15 maps. (Cape Town : Cape Times, Ltd., Government Priuters, 

 1910.) 



NO. 2162, VOL. 86] 



