194 



NATURE 



{June 20, 1878 



" 3, 800 feet " is a map error, and that even the 1,800 feet is 

 merely an estimate, and probably an over estimate ; for we 

 must take into consideration the evidence of other explorers in 

 the same region, and the appalling effects of coming, in a nearly 

 level plateau, to the brink of such a precipitous rocky barrier. 



I am making a similar correction to the above by means of a 

 note in a work I am now engaged upon (on Australian Geo- 

 graphy), but as the error has obtained such wide circulation and 

 seems so hard to kill, it becomes advisable to call attention to 

 it as soon as possible, and in a way that will be likely to attract 

 attention. Alfred R. Wallace 



Opening of Museums on Sundays 



Your last number contains a letter from my friend Prof 

 Corfield, which I confess to having read with some little astonish- 

 ment. He expatiates, and with justice, on the merits of the 

 town of Maidstone, whose citizens do not scorn the grace which 

 " palseontological, conchological, and other collections" must 

 add to life spent in a country "well worth visiting," and who 

 appropriately find their last resting-place in a cemetery " which 

 is one of the most beautiful in the country." I would not demur 

 a moment to such a fascinating picture, were it not that Prof. 

 Corfield, led away by a pardonable enthusiasm, expresses his 

 belief " that this is the first and only scientific museum that has 

 yet been opened on Sunday in the United Kmgdom." Surely 

 the Chairman of the Committee of the Sunday Society need not 

 go to Maidstone for the first victory in the very just cause which 

 he upholds, seeing that for the last quarter of a century the three 

 buildings which contain the Botanical Museum of the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, have been open to the public from two till dusk 

 every Sunday throughout the year. 



Royal Gardens, Kew W. T. Thiselton Dyer 



The Telephone Relay or Repeater 



The WTiters have been at work since the announcement of the 

 invention of the Bell articulating telephone in endeavouring to 

 devise means by which the telephone might be relayed. Quite 

 a number of devices have been tried, but, from the exceedingly 

 feeble amount of the movements]of the diaphragm'of the receiving 

 telephone, they have heretofore' been unsuccessftd in obtaining 

 any practical results. 



The discovery by Prof. Hughes of the inexpressibly delicate 

 microphone has given us the means by which we have finally at 

 last solved this very important problem. We apply the micro- 

 phone as a telephone relay or repeater by attaching it directly to 

 the diaphragm of the receiving telephone. The microphone so 

 attached is a miniature one consisting essentially of three pieces 

 of carbon, arranged as described by Prof. "-Hughes. The two 

 parallel pieces are cemented directly to the telephone diaphragm, 

 and the third piece placed in cavities near their ends. The 

 microphone forms, of course, part of the new circuit in which it 

 is desired to repeat the telephonic message. By the movements 

 of the telephone diaphragm the microphone produces such 

 variations in the electrical current traversing its circuit as to 

 cause the original message to be repeated to any instruments 

 placed therein. 



We have tried our telephone relay or repeater on several tele- 

 phone lines, and find it to work satisfactorily. By attaching a 

 number of miniature microphones to the receiving diaphragm 

 and suitably connecting the battery, increased delicacy will un- 

 doubtedly be obtained. Edwin J. Houston 



Central High School, Philadelphia, Elihu Thomson 

 U.S., June 7 



Socialism in South Africa 



I noticed this morning that along the bottom of the front 

 wall of my house, on the verandah, there lay a quantity of red- 

 dish-brown powder ; there was enough to fill a coffee-cup. On 

 looking closer I saw that it was made up of small and larger frag- 

 ments which glistened, and on inspecting some in my hand they 

 turned out to be the heads, legs, trunks, &c., of countless ants. 

 A number of these animals were still on the wall above, and my 

 attention being now arrested, I watched them, and saw that they 

 were contributing to the carnage beneath. This species of ant is 

 a small, comparatively harmless one, the chief sin of which is 

 that it makes its way to every species of food and swarms on it. 

 As is usual with ants, the general body of insects is accompanied 

 by larger individuals, which are provided with heads and jaws 

 quite disproportionate to their bodies, and with these jaws they 

 do all the cutting up. Among the ants on the wall there was a 

 large sprinkling of these "soldier ants," and the whole commu- 

 nity seemed to be bent on destroying them. The proportion of 

 heavy-jawed to ordinary ants was about one to ten. I saw a 

 group of little ones fastening on to a big one, which made despe- 

 rate efforts to release itself. At first the big one bit several little 

 ones in two, and the parts dropped down from the wall ; but 

 after a while the little ones severed all the legs of the big one, 

 and finally got on his back and cut him in two. The group then 

 dropped down to swell the mass below. Similar scenes were 

 enacted elsewhere on the wall. The commencement of one 

 combat was as follows : — A big ant walked along till it met 

 another big one, and the two shook antennae. Just then a little 

 one seized hold of a hind leg of one of these big ones. Neither 

 took any notice, but continued a rapid conversation. Su Idenly 

 other small ones came up, when the big one whose leg was 

 grabbed turned furiously on the little one and seized him by the 

 middle. This could not be done until the big one had doubled 

 himself up ; as soon as he had hold of his small antagonist he 

 lifted him in the air and snipped him in two. Meanwhile all 

 the big one's legs had been seized by little ones, and the party 

 seemed to turn over and over, little bits tumbling down, now a 

 leg, now half an ant, till the big one was vanquished. 



The ant is most assuredly subject to passions. The way in 

 which the big ant turned on the little one was singularly indica- 

 tive of rage. The determined manner in which he laid hold of 

 the little one was quite human. If I had had a magnifying 

 glass, the scene would have been really exciting. 



Maritzburg, Natal, May 12 F. E. CoLENSO 



New Form of Microphone Receiving-Instrument 



Having been experimenting with the microphone, and study- 

 ing the effect of the passage of the current on a galvanometer, it 

 occurred to me that if the needles were fixed, strains would be 

 produced in it by the action of the current. To test this, T 

 passed a few yards of copper wire (about No. 30) on a small 

 bar magnet lengthwise, and found, on placing it to the ear, that 

 sounds were heard on interrupting the current ; these sounds 

 were much intensified by placing the magnet inside the lid of a 

 pasteboard box. 



Having a six-inch horse-shoe magnet beside 'me, I passed 

 along one of its limbs from two to three yards of the same wire, 

 and on placing the lid of a tin box on the flat sides of the ends 

 of the magnet, an excellent receiving-instrument was obtained. 

 With this tuning-fork, sounds, singing, whistling, speaking, and 

 violin miisic were heard distinctly. A single Leclanche coil 

 was used, the transmitter consisting of two small pieces of carbon 

 pencil touching slightly, and connected with an open pasteboard 

 box. W. J. Millar 



Glasgow, June 17 



A Waterspout 



Among the meteoric phenomena of which we have heard 

 recently, not the least interesting occurred on Thursday the 

 14th near the Kelston Round Hill, about three miles to the west 

 of Bath. Shortly after five o'clock in the evening the inhabi- 

 tants of the village of Weston, which lies between Kelston Hill 

 and Bath, were startled by a volume of water advancing like a 

 tidal wave along the Kelston Road ; in a minute the water was 

 upon them, flooding the houses and laying the main street four 

 feet deep under water ; with such force did it come that a stone 

 weighing five hundred-weight was carried several yards, while 

 smaller ones were taken a much greater distance. 



It was not known in the village from where the water had 

 come, but it so happened that about five o'clock I was proceed- 

 ing to Weston Station by the Midland Railway from Bristol to 

 Bath, and when in sight of the Round Hill I was struck by the 

 blackness and lowness of the clouds in its vicinity. Suddenly 

 there was a flash of lightning, and immediately after the Hill 

 was enveloped in what appeared to be a storm of rain of unusual 

 density. 



On arriving home I was not altogether surprised to find the 

 commotion in the village, and I at once attributed the source of 

 the water to the cloud which I had seen ; I therefore made my 

 way in the direction of Kelston Hill. 



On arriving under the brow of the Hill it was very clear that 

 something more than an ordinary storm had occurred. Near the 



