372 



NA TURE 



[February 17, 1898 



whether the tube is on the anode or the kathode side of the 

 spark gap. The distinction 'between anode and kathode rays 

 disappears. 



From the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, of which 

 Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch is director, we have received a Bulletin 

 (the first issued from the Observatory), by Mr. S. P. Fergusson, 

 on the highest kite ascensions in 1897. On September 19, 1897, 

 as already described in Nature (vol. Ivi. p. 540), the meteoro- 

 graph was raised to a height of 3013 metres above sea-level. 

 The highest kite was 40 metres above the meteorograph, or 

 3052 metres above sea-level. The kites and meteorograph were 

 sent up from near the summit of the hill, which is 192 metres 

 above sea-level. On October 15, 1897, the meteorograph was 

 j-aised to a height of 3571 metres above sea-level, or 558 metres 

 higher than on September 19. The highest kite was 40 metres 

 above the instrument, or 361 1 metres above sea-level. At the 



KITE METEOROGRAM OF OCT. 15, 1597. 



top of the line were a Lamson ribbed kite with curved surfaces, 

 having an area of 6"6o square metres, and a self-adjusting 

 Hargrave kite, having an area of 3*35 square metres. Two 

 other Hargrave kites, each having an area of 2 "13 square metres, 

 were respectively attached at distances of 2CX30 and 3500 metres 

 from the top of the line. The length of line employed was 

 6300 metres, and the pull, when all the line was in the air, varied 

 between 56 and 68 kilograms. The instrument left the ground 

 at 3.48 p.m., and reached the highest point at 6 p.m. The 

 work of reeling in the line began at 6 p.m., and the instrument 

 reached the ground again at 8.20 p.m. The meteorogram 

 obtained during this flight is one of the best that has been 

 secured, being complete, with very clear and smooth lines. It 

 is here reproduced from the Bulletin. At the highest point 

 reached the temperature was 5 '0° C. , and at the Observatory it 

 was 22 '2°. An interesting feature of this flight was the passing 

 of the meteorograph through the cumulus and alto-cumulus 



NO. 1477, VOL. 57] 



levels of clouds, as shown by the increase followed by a decrease 

 of humidity at heights of 1500 and 2800 metres. At the Observ- 

 atory the wind was from the south-west during the entire 

 flight, and the velocity varied between 5*4 and 8 o metres per 

 second, true velocity. Above the height of 1000 metres the 

 direction of the wind was north-west. 



Prof. George M. Stratton, of the University of Cali- 

 fornia, has made a novel experiment in inverted vision by wear- 

 ing for eight days a mask fitted with lenses which invert the 

 visual image, thus projecting it upon the retina in an erect 

 instead of the normal inverted position. He soon learned to 

 refer all objects to their correct positions, in other words to 

 see them right side up ; but, on removing the apparatus at 

 the expiration of eight days, everything appeared to be upside 

 down at first. He therefore concludes that the seeing of 

 objects right side up is due to a mental rectification of the 

 visual image actually projected upon the retina. 



At the meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences on 

 January 24, Mr. E. L. Thorndike, of Columbia University, 

 gave an account of a long series of interesting experiments on 

 comparative psychology. These experiments were made upon 

 cats, chickens, dogs, monkeys and other animals, and were 

 supplemented by the experience of professional animal trainers. 

 According to a report in Science, cats were placed in boxes with 

 doors so arranged that they could be opened from the inside in 

 various ways, in one set of experiments by pressing a latch, in 

 another by pulling a cord, by pulling a hook attached to a cord, 

 or by turning a button. Again the arrangement was more com- 

 plicated, and two or three separate movements had to be 

 combined in order to release the door and let the animal out to 

 reach the fish placed outside the cage. Curves were given 

 showing the rate at which the kittens learned the various tricks, 

 the time taken to get out becoming gradually shorter. The 

 trick was always learned by accident ; one lucky hit would 

 prepare the way for another. There was no trace of rational 

 inference. Seeing another animal do the trick a hundred times 

 was no help. Nor was it possible to teach the trick by taking 

 the kitten's paw and putting it on the latch, and so opening the 

 door, no matter how often it was repeated. A habit once 

 formed artificially will overpower natural instincts. A chicken 

 that had been compelled to jump from a box to the floor in a 

 roundabout way by a cardboard placed in its way, felt unable to 

 jump down to its food directly when the card was taken away. 



Sir a. Hardinge's report on the East Africa Protectorate, 

 1897 (C.-8683), contains a careful summary of the manners and 

 habits of the native tribes. There are many broken or slave 

 tribes, besides full tribes. One common characteristic appears 

 to be the looseness of the tribal tie and the small amount of 

 direct government, either by chief or council. The Wagiriama 

 of the Malindi district are a vigorous and handsome race of a 

 dark brown, almost black, colour ; and closely allied to them, 

 tliough politically distinct, are the Wakauma, They have a 

 loose republican sort of organisation, based partly on tribal sub- 

 divisions and partly on a kind of freemasonry known as 

 " kambi," which involves several degrees, each attended by its 

 special ceremony of initiation. The Wapokomo of the Tana 

 River district are a fairly handsome and intelligent Bantu race, 

 dwelling in thick clusters of beehive-shaped straw huts all along 

 both sides of the river. The Wakamba occupy the Attri district, 

 and a very useful table is given of the internal subdivisions so far 

 as they are known. Each family occupies its own " boma " or 

 hamlet, and a man on marrying usually forms a boma of his own, 

 consisting at first, perhaps, only of his own hut, but gradually ex- 

 panding into a hamlet and thence into a village, of which its 

 founder is regarded as the chief. Here is Sir Henry Maine's 

 famous patriarchal family in the making ; but we should much 



