August i i, 1923] 



NA TURE 



21 



two electrons are lost as /S-rays. In the oxidation of 

 a uranous salt to a uranic or uranyl salt two electrons 

 are also lost^ 



If these come from the same region of the atom as 

 the /5-particles^ then uranous salts, so long as their 

 valency does not change, should be like uranium X^, 

 chemically non-separable from thorium. Fleck, trying 

 this, found great similarity in chemical properties 

 between uranous salts and thorium, but not identity. 

 He was able to separate them by chemical methods 

 without changing the valency of the uranous salt. 



The great merit of the nuclear atom from the 

 chemist's point of view was that it afforded for the 

 first time a clear picture of the difference between a 

 chemical and a transmutational (or radioactive) 

 change. The latter occur in the nucleus and are 

 irreversible. The external shell accommodates itself 

 instantly to the change of the nucleus. But any 

 change suffered by the external shell (chemical change) 

 has no effect on the nucleus, which always acts so as 



to make the external shell conform to one most stable 

 configuration. 



The atom is an imperium in iniperio, and like most 

 such systems is very conservative and resistant to 

 change. The electrons in the shell, that govern almost 

 all the atomic properties, except mass and radio- 

 activity, are in turn but the bureaucratic instruments 

 of the real government, which is the intensely charged 

 central nucleus. The transmutation of atoms, as of 

 social systems, is alike impossible because the apparent 

 government is not the real government. Rutherford's 

 experiments on the bombardment of atoms by a-particles 

 show that only about one out of a hundred thousand 

 of the latter, in passing through hydrogen, ever hits 

 a hydrogen nucleus, and the proportion of hits to misses 

 is something like one in a thousand miUions. In 

 politics, contrasting the number of missiles hurled with 

 the results achieved, the shooting seems even worse. 

 It is only when the atomic or social systems break 

 up or break down that we learn even of the existence 

 of their real internal constitution. 



Current Topics and Events. 



i 



On July 30 there was read a • third time in the 

 House of Lords the Wild Birds Protection Bill 

 introduced by Viscount Grey of Fallodon. The Bill 

 aims at the repeal of existing enactments on the 

 subject, and at substituting new provisions on lines 

 recommended in 1919 by a Departmental Committee. 

 The measure appears to us to be a wise one which 

 should be welcomed by ornithologists and other 

 bird lovers and also on grounds of economic import- 

 ance. More than this, it is a much stronger measure 

 than any of its predecessors, and if it become law and 

 ^be properly enforced it should give a much more 

 [effective protection than is at present possible. The 

 important new powers are those which are to make 

 it an offence to be in possession of any bird, part of a 

 bird, nest, or egg which may be presumed to have been 

 illegally taken, and those which are to place the onus of 

 proof on the possessor. At present, on the other hand, 

 the onus is on the prosecution, and the act of killing 

 sor taking is the material fact to be proved : as a 

 result, the skins and eggs of protected birds can be 

 offered for sale with impunity by taxidermists and 

 dealers, and " plovers' eggs " are freely sold in shops 

 and restaurants in the close season. The Bill has 

 still to be passed by the House of Commons, but we 

 hope that this may be successfully accomplished 

 next session. 



AuGUSTiN Le Prince has rarely been recognised 

 as one of the pioneers in kinematography. Mr. 

 E. Kilburn Scott, who knew him personally, recently 

 lectured before the Royal Photographic Society on 

 his work in this direction, and a report of the lecture 

 is given in the current number of the Society's 

 Journal. Mr. Scott considers it established that Le 

 Prince was the first to make a successful camera to 

 take photographs at more than 16 in a second, was 

 the first to show moving pictures on a screen (at 

 Leeds in 1889), was the first to appreciate the import- 

 ance of using flexible film (he is stated to have used 



NO. 2806, VOL. I 12] 



celluloid films before September 1890), and was the 

 first to use perforations and sprocket wheels (patents 

 dated 1888). Le Prince's career came to an extra- 

 ordinary end. He was last seen on September 16, 

 1890, at Dijon, entering a train for Paris, but since 

 then nothing whatever seems to be known of him. 

 One suggestion was that he might have been kidnapped 

 by agents of American inventors whom he had fore- 

 stalled. 



The Royal Geographical Society of Australasia 

 (Queensland) is contemplating the investigation of 

 the problems of the Great Barrier Reef, and is invit- 

 ing other scientific societies and the universities of 

 Australia to co-operate. In the Queensland Geo- 

 graphical Journal for 1920-22 Prof. H. C. Richards 

 indicates some of the problems that await solution, 

 and shows by a sketch of previous work on the subject 

 how divergent are the views expressed on some 

 important points. For example, it is apparently not 

 known if the Great Barrier Reef is rising or falling 

 or is in a static condition. The suggested investiga- 

 tions would include complete charting, including 

 making vertical sections, of at least three island 

 points on the reef, one each in the northern, middle, 

 and southern regions, and recharting at intervals of 

 a decade ; charting of several of the more important 

 troughs or valleys in the reef and the lagoon area, and 

 recharting, also, at intervals of a decade; complete 

 survey of the fauna, flora, and economic resources ; 

 and experiments on the growth of corals under 

 varying conditions. 



A COPY of a pamphlet has reached us on " Sugges- 

 tions for the Prevention of the Decay of Building 

 Stone," by Mr. J. E. Marsh (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 

 15. td. net). The author remarks in the preface : 

 " In 1861 the Commission, appointed to stop the 

 decay in the stone of Westminster Palace, decided to 

 wait till a remedy had been discovered, and did not 

 expect to have to wait long. We have waited sixty 



