290 



NATURE 



\_7an. 30, 1879 



has been fully discussed elsewhere without my knowledge of it. 

 Is the fact that the sting of the worktr-bee is an imperfect 

 weapon of defence, a result of its having nothing to do with 

 the propagation of its species, this being left to the sting- 

 less queen and drones ? Consequently any tendency to develop a 

 more effective sting in one generation of worker-bees has no 

 hereditary effect on succeeding generations, nor apparently have 

 the worker-bees any influence whatever on the worker-bees that 

 succeed them, except by the way in which they feed and educate 

 them, unless, indeed, they can impress their tendencies on the 

 drones or on the future queen before she leaves the hive. If 

 they have no such power, it seems likely that they will always 

 have to lament the use of a weapon which nature might have 

 made as effective as the sting of a wasp. Finally, are there any 

 other insects in the same predicament as worker-bees, i.e., 

 unable to use their weapons of defence without doing themselves 

 more injury than they inflict on their adversary, and unable to 

 help their successors by the transmission of a continually accu- 

 mulating instinct ? R. A. 

 Manningtree, January 22 



these objects in the list of nebulx not found with Lord Rosse's 

 6-foot reflector {Phil. Trans., 1861, p. 745). 



With regard to the first object, G. C. 132, it has only been 

 looked for once at Birr Castle, and in the N.P.D. in° 30' it is 

 possible to account for its non-appearance either by a tilting of 

 the speculum or by the haziness of the sky in this low altitude. 

 G. C. 4570 has been seen three times, and only twice searched 

 for in vain, both times in twilight. G. C. 5051 was set for twice 

 and not found, but 15° north of the zenith the tilting of the 

 speculum almost always changes the index-error of the setting- 

 circle considerably, as expressly stated by the observer on one of 

 the two occasions alluded to. The Merope nebula was last 

 winter seen very distinctly, and roughly sketched with a low 

 power and large field. J. L. E. Dreyer 



The Observatory, Dunsink, Co. Dublin, January 13 



Molecular Vibrations 



Mr. Chappell is certainly right in stating that "the noises 

 in a belfry are most discordant." He might have said (what no 

 doubt he meant) that the sounds emitted by each single bell are 

 most discordant. Every bell which is at all tolerable, possesses, 

 it is true, one predominating note due to the thick part of the 

 bow, where the clapper strikes, but there are also innumerable 

 other notes, some of which tnayh^ harmonics, while the majority 

 are not so at all. This is presumably often owing to flaws and 

 other defects in casting, but there is another cause common to 

 every case, which is due to the following fact : — 



All bells are cast of a conventional shape, with varying 

 diameters from bow to crown. Now every part of a bell, taken 

 vertically, comes into vibration when struck, and in order to 

 give a true note, each horizontal section ought to have a certain 

 exact thickness of metal proportional to its diameter. This is 

 easily verified to the ear by tapping the bell gently at all parts 

 from the bow upwards. Every inch gives a different rate of 

 vibration, and, consequently, a different pitch. 



About the time when the second " Big Ben" was cast, which 

 is a long time ago, I tried experimentally to ascertain what the 

 law was M'hich regulated the thickness of the metal in relation 

 to the diameter of the bell, so that every section might be of 

 identical pitch. This was done by casting a series of bell metal 

 rings of varying diameters, and tuning them, by turning in a 

 lathe, to exact unison. So far as my recollection now^ serves 

 me, the following was the result : — 



Measuring all the rings by their outside diameters, no un- 

 deviating rule was apparent, and the same was the case 

 when the inside diameters were compared. When, however, a 

 circle was taken whose circumference was, as nearly as possible, 

 one-third from the outside of the thickness and two-thirds from 

 the inside, then the law came out distinctly that the thickness of 

 the metal must be proportionate to the square of the diameter of 

 such circle. It occurred at once that this circle must, in fact, 

 constitute the neutral axis of vibration. Working on this prin- 

 ciple, it seemed worth while to try whether a bell could not be 

 constructed free from discordant sounds. I may shortly say that 

 this proved to be possible, but only by turning the actual casting 

 with great care and accuracy in a lathe. It became evident that 

 the slightest variation in the true thickness vitiated the unisonal 

 character of the tone. A "miss was as good (or as bad) as a 

 mile," and consequently the process of casting itself was too 

 rough for obtaining the desired end. 



It may fairly be gathered from Mr. Chappell's letter that he is 

 not enamoured of a " triple bob major," and that he does not 

 class bells generally as musical instruments. I am much afraid 

 he never will. If the present shape and mode of construction 

 (and let me add, the present mode of change ringing) is adhered 

 to, a peal of bells which will quite satisfy a musical ear may be 

 regarded as a practical impossibility. R. H. 



Missing Nebulae 



In the note on missing nebulae in Nature, vol. xix. p. 221, I 

 find the nebulae G. C. 132, 4570, and 5051 mentioned together 

 with the Merope nebula as being diffused objects which are 

 " overlooked in very large telescopes, though obvious in much 

 smaller ones." This allude?, no doubt, to the occurrence of 



Time and Longitude 



Now that mankind begin to have settlements, even conti 

 nental, as appears from Mr. Latimer Clarke's account of Sitka, 

 subject to the inconvenience that he and Mr. Layard point out, 

 is it not time that we agreed to make the line dividing " yester- 

 day from to-morrow " avoid all continents, by taking advantage 

 of two very convenient, if not providential, facts, which are 

 certain, though each was h priori highly improbable? First, 

 there were great chances against a globe with our existing pro- 

 portion of land to water, of coast-lines to area, and of large 

 and small lands to each other, having any Behring Strait, admit- 

 ting one degree of longitude, or thereabouts, to enjoy the above 

 property. But next, there was still greater chance, perhaps, 

 against the exact opposite degree to the strait covering several 

 national observatories ; not only more of them, I think, than 

 any equally narrow meridional band, but the only one that, on 

 historical grounds, we can conceive distant civilised nations ac- 

 cepting without jealousy as a common centre. The antimeri- 

 dians of Copenhagen, Uranibur?, Leipzic, Munich, Padua, 

 Venice, and Florence, seem to avoid both continents ; possibly 

 also those of Christiania, Gotha, Verona, and Modena. Those of 

 Berlin, Prague, Naples, and Palermo, seem a very few miles too 

 far east. Europe proper, and its present railways, are very closely 

 bisected by this street of observatories ; the local time of the 

 furthest points each way varying but an hour and a half from it. 

 But the chief coincidence is yet unnamed. Would the pride of 

 any existing land, except China, refuse to make a standard 

 meridian of Rome ? 



The very Chinese must allow Europe a sort of scientific pre- 

 cedence, not as the metropolitan, but the learned continent — 

 earth's university. Europe alone is the adult continent, if there 

 be one ; and no other has in a strict sense a metropolis. The 

 history of no other has so turned upon one pivot city as that of 

 Europe has on Rome, nor is likely ever to do so. Some one says 

 that " what a church is to a city, Palestine--is (or may some day 

 be) to the world ; " but it is less disputable that what the market- 

 place is to a city, Europe is to the world — perhaps permanently. 

 And what the tribunal is to the market-place, Rome has been to 

 Europe, as long as Europe was growing. Observe, too, that in 

 this special connection both our civilised time-reckonings, "Old 

 Style " and New, have come from Rome. Might we not also 

 supersede the distinction of E. and W. longitude, by calling 

 Rome 180°, and reckoning all round, from Behring to Behring, 

 leaving the 0° as yet unmarked ? E. L. G. 



[E, L. G.'s proposal has been already made by M. de Beau- 

 mont. See Nature, vol. xix, p. 247. — Ed.] 



Shakespeare's Colour Names 



I FEAR you will think that the correspondence on this subjec 

 is becoming a mere criticism on Shakespeare's text, and there- 

 fore out of place in your columns, but I trust you will afford 

 me space for a short rejoinder to Mr. Ingleby's letter (Nature, 

 vol. xix. p. 244). 



I am obliged to him for pointing out that Sir T. Hanmer had 

 already suggested the substitution of "keen" for "green" in 

 the passage from " Romeo and Juliet," Act iii. Sc. 5. This had 

 escaped me, but I cannot agree with him that the alteration has 

 been rightly rejected by subsequent commentators. I have not 

 at present any opportunity of examining the eyes of any living 

 eagles, but in opposition to Mr. Craig-Christie's evidence 

 (Nature, vol. xix. p. 221) I must point out that all our best 



