142 



NATURE 



[January 12, 191 1 



the director has endeavoured to recover specimens of 

 these instruments and also the register of observa- 

 tions. Unfortunately, he has found no records 

 •and none of the original vases. But he has unearthed 

 three copies of the pluviometer. The illustration re- 

 produced here (Fig. i) shows the instrument with the 

 pedestal on which it stood. This instrument dates 

 back to 1770. The three large Chinese characters 

 declare that it is an instrument to measure rain, and 

 the seven smaller give the date of its construction, in 

 Chinese reckoning. Several pillars have been found 

 without pluviometers attached, and one is particularly 

 interesting, as a long Chinese inscription is engraved 

 upon it, and though some of the characters have been 

 obliterated by time, enough remains to connect it with 

 the original order of King Sejo. 



This same king erected astronomical observatories 

 and fitted them with excellent instruments for the 

 time. He seems to have prided himself on the posses- 

 sion of an automatic clepsydra, in which the hours and 

 quarters were sounded by manikins. The general 

 form of clepsydra seems to have consisted of four 

 vessels at different levels, " and water poured in the 

 highest vessel flows, passing through the intermediate 

 ones. Into the lowest, where an arrow with graduations 

 to indicate the time in its upper part, was floated." 

 Fig. 2 gives the general form of the instrument, but 

 the mechanism is not well shown. Dr. Wada also 

 reproduces a photograph of an ancient observatory, 

 demonstrating the forward state of science of the age, 

 about 64.7 A.D. It is supposed to have been used for 

 the making of observations to correct the calendar, but 

 there is nothing in the picture to suggest that it ever 

 formed part of an observatory. It is simply a tower- 

 like structure. 



THE ADMISSION OF WOMEN TO THE 

 FRENCH ACADEMIES. 



WE learn from the Times of January 5 that at the 

 recent quarterly plenary meeting of the five 

 academies of the French Institute, the question of the 

 eligibility of women candidates for the institute came 

 up for consideration. It arose from the circumstance 

 that Mme. Curie, the discoverer of radium, has been 

 put forward as a candidate for one of the vacant seats 

 in the Academy of Sciences. How her claims are 

 regarded by that body may be inferred from the fact 

 that in the list as finally submitted her name stands 

 at the head. It is stated that at the general meeting 

 more than 150 academicians were present, and that 

 the proceedings, as might have been expected, " were 

 extremely animated." Eventually the motion in favour 

 of the admission of women was rejected by 90 votes 

 to 52. The institute further adopted a motion to the 

 effect that whilst it did not presume to dictate to the 

 separate academies, there was, in its opinion, "an 

 immutable tradition against the election of women, 

 which it seemed eminently wise to respect." 



It remains to be seen what the Academy of Sciences 

 will do in face of such an expression of opinion. 

 Mme. Curie is deservedly popular in French scientific 

 circles. It is everywhere recognised that her work is 

 of transcendent merit, and that it has contributed 

 enormously to the prestige of France as a home of 

 experimental inquiry. Indeed, it is not too much to 

 say that the discovery and isolation of the radio-active 

 elements are among the most striking and most fruit- 

 ful results of a field of investigation pre-eminently 

 French. If any prophet is to have honour in his own 

 country — even if the country be only the land of his 

 adoption — surely that honour ought to belong to Mme. 

 Curie. At the moment, Mme. Curie is without a 

 doubt, in the eyes of the w'orld, the dominant figure 



NO. 2150, VOL. 85] 



in French chemistry. There is no question that any 

 man who had contributed to the sum of human knowj- 

 ledge what she has made known, would, years ago, 

 have gained that recognition at the hands of his 

 colleagues which Mme. Curie's friends are now 

 desirous of securing for her. It is incomprehensible 

 therefore, on any ethical principles of right and jus- 

 tice, that because she happens to be a woman she 

 should be denied the laurels which her pre-eminent 

 scientific achievement has earned for her. 



There may be room for difference of opinion as 

 to the wisdom or expediency of permitting women to 

 embark on the troubled seas of politics, or of allowing 

 them a determinate voice in the settlement of ques» 

 tions which may affect the existence or the destiny 

 of a nation ; but surely there ought to be no question 

 that in the peaceful walks of art, literature, and 

 science, there should be the freest possible scope ex- 

 tended to them, and that, as human beings, every 

 avenue to distinction and success should unreservedly 

 be open to them. 



All academies tend to be conservative and to move 

 slowly ; they are the homes of privilege and of vested 

 interest. Some of them even incline to be reactionary. 

 They were created by men for men, and for the most 

 part at a time when women played little or no part 

 in those occupations which such societies were in- 

 tended to foster and develop. But the times have 

 changed. Women have gradually won for them- 

 selves their rightful position as human beings. We 

 have now to recognise that academies as seats of 

 learning were made for humanity, and that, as mem- 

 bers of the human race, women have the right to look 

 upon them as their heritage and property no less than 

 men. This consummation may not at once be 

 reached, but as it is based upon reason and justice 

 it is certain to be attained eventually. 



NOTES. 



An earthquake of unusual violence occurred in Russian 

 Turkestan at 1.25 a.m. on January 4, or shortly after 

 II p.m. on January 3 (Greenwich mean time). At 

 Vyernyi, the chief town of the district, with more than 

 11,000 inhabitants, the shock lasted for nearly five minutes, 

 and has been succeeded by a large number of after-shocks. 

 Nearly every building in the town is damaged, and all the 

 mud-houses in the neighbourhood have collapsed. The 

 total loss of life, is unknown, but forty bodies have so far 

 been recovered from the ruins. It is reported that the 

 whole of the town of Prjevalsk, which is situated on the 

 shores of lake Issik Kul, has been destroyed by the waters 

 of the lake. The extraordinary violence of the earthquake 

 is attested by its effects on the seismographs of distant 

 observatories. At Pulkova, more than 2200 miles from 

 the epicentre, practically all the instruments were thrown 

 out of order. This was the case even in this countrv. 

 At West Bromwich, the first tremors were recorded at 

 11.35 P-m., and soon attained a range of 15 mm. By 

 11.54 the range was far beyond the capacity of the instru- 

 ment, and at midnight the east-west needle collapsed. 

 The great movement continued until 12.12 a.m., and the 

 disturbance did not end until 3.56 a.m., giving a total 

 duration of 45 hours. At Cardiff the maximum movement 

 was registered at 12.14 a-m-) and was so great that the 

 instrument was deranged. At Limerick all the instru- 

 ments were dismounted. The earthquake, which is one 

 of the greatest of the last quarter of a century, is evidently 

 a successor of that which occurred on June 9, 1887, when 

 V3'ernyi suffered even greater injury than on the recent 

 occasion, owing to the prevalence of stone buildings, which 

 have since been largely replaced by wooden ones. 



