Wov, 1 6, 1876] 



NATURE 



59 



If you can afford the space I shall be glad to add a few words 

 the recent communications of Major Lang and Mr. Hughes 

 Nature on the occurrence of Antedon rosacezis in Torbay. 



I do not think Antedon has been more abundant than usual 

 luring the present year in this locality. An entry in an old 

 lotc-book reminds me that a chance haul near the Thatcher Rock 

 .n July II, 1871, brought up •* plenty of feather stars," and 

 ince then during the six years I have dredged in Torbay, An- 

 fdon has been a very ordinary capture whilst dredging for other 

 bjects of interest. 



The haul under Berry Head on July 25, alluded to by Major 

 ^ang, was undoubtedly an unusually prolific one, but had it not 

 leen for the fortunate discovery by Major Lang of the pedun- 

 ulate form, the mere occurrence of an abundance of the adult 

 ather stars would have made no impression on my mind and no 

 otice would have been taken of it. 



Remembering that the Birmingham Natural History Society 

 ad taken the young, I mentioned the fact to Major Lang, add- 

 Qg that I had never seen them myself. Next morning I was 

 [ratified to hear that on examining at his leisure the proceeds of 

 he haul he had found them in quantity. 



This successful result induced me to revisit the spot near the 

 Thatcher after an interval of six years, and there, as I fully 

 xpccted, Antedon^ both adult and immature, was abundant. 

 Vith this experience to guide me, I have since tried a third 

 ocality, when, though the adults were less numerous, the pedun- 

 ulate young, and every stage of growth up to about an inch in 

 liameter, appeared to me 10 be even more numerous than at 

 Jerry Head or the Thatcher. 



In conclusion, I beg to say that it will give me pleasure to 

 fford the fullest information in my power to any naturalist 

 lesirous of dredging in Torbay. It has often been a source of 

 egret to me to see strangers wasting their time in dredging in 

 pots where, as my old boatman used to say, they could not 

 xpect to meet with anything " of any consequence." 



Arthur R«ope Hunt 



Southwood, Torquay, November 6 



j As the localities of Antedon rosaceus seem to be exciting in- 

 srest, I may notice that I dredged the adult state in June, 1875, 

 \ Bressay Sound, sheltered in about 10 fathoms water, and in 

 une, 1876, abundantly between Mount SL Edgecumbe and 

 )uke Island, Plymouth, in about the same depth of water, in 

 ach case on a rocky bottom. Philip B. Mason 



Burton- on-Trent, November 8 



Meteor 



On November 6 I observed a large meteor of a red colour. 

 t commenced near the zenith and took a sinuous course about 

 rest-south- west, dividing into two portions after it had travelled 

 bout 40°, one portion disappearing about 10° above the horizon 

 early due west, the ether taking a north-west direction, and 

 isappearing somewhat higher ; it was not very bright, but 

 :emed to be a large one. I should like to hear if anyone else 

 as seen it ; the time was between 8 and 9 p.m. 



Clithero, Lancashire T. NoSTRO 



THE MUSICAL ASSOCIATION^ 



rHE third annual session of this Society opened on 

 I Monday, November 6, with a paper of considerable 

 iterest from Alexander J. Ellis, Esq., F.R.S., " On the 

 ensitiveness of the Human Ear for Pitch and Change of 

 itch of Notes in Music." 



It appears from the Annual Report, just issued, that 

 le Association numbers 170 members, and is in a sound 

 nancial position. It may therefore be considered to have 

 assed its period of infancy, and should now be perma- 

 ently reckoned among the learned confederations of the 



etropolis. 



it is not altogether uninteresting to look back at its 

 rigin and to point out the fulfilment of the especial 

 bjects for which it was established. 



The first conception appears to have emanated from 



r. William Spottiswoode, Dr. Stainer, and a few other 



I Report and Proceedings of the Musical Association for 1874.5 and 1873-6. 



gentlemen, representing about equally the scientific and 

 artistic sides of music, who circulated a letter among 

 their friends, and in a private meeting held at the 

 house of the Treasurer of the Royal Society, laid the 

 foundations of its future organisation. The original title 

 chosen for the new society explained at more length its 

 peculiar objects than that which it now bears ; it was 

 " Society for the Investigation and Discussion of Subjects 

 connected with the Art and Science of Music." 



The double function herein indicated has hitherto been 

 steadily and rigorously carried out. Indeed the Council 

 for 1876-7, numbering among its members eminent 

 musicians such as the two professors of Oxford and 

 Cambridge, Messrs. HuUah, Osborne, Goldschmidt, and 

 Dr. Stainer, is supplemented on the side of Science and 

 Literature by the familiar names of Mr. Spottiswoode, 

 Prof. Tyndall. Dr. Pole, Mr. W. Chappell, and Mr. George 

 Grove. 



The contributions recorded in the two annual volumes 

 of " Proceedings " are strictly in concordance with the 

 initial programme ; they cannot be better summed up 

 than in the words of Mr. Spottiswoode's letter above- 

 named, advocating " the formation of a society similar in 

 the main features of its organisation to existing learned 

 societies. Its periodical meetings might be devoted 

 partly to the reading of papers upon the history, the 

 principles, and the criticism of music, partly to the illus- 

 tration of such papers by actual performance, and partly 

 to the exhibition and discussion of experiments relating 

 to theory and construction of musical instruments, or to 

 the principles and combination of musical sounds." 



In the first year Mr. HuUah, Dr. Stainer, and Mr. 

 Sedley Taylor, spoke on musical notation and nomen- 

 clature ; Mr. Bosanquet and Mr. Ellis furnished valuable 

 illustrations of true and tempered intonation ; Mr. Charles 

 E. Stephens criticised Dr. Day's theory of harmony ; Mr. 

 Baillie Hamilton and the writer described their respec- 

 tive improvements in musical instruments. 



During the second session there were two papers of 

 great value, mainly historical, from Sir F. Ouseley, " On 

 the History of Ecclesiastical Music in Western Europe ; " 

 and from Prof. W. G. Adams "On Wheatstone's Musical 

 Inventions," two " On Notation," by Dr. Pole and Prof. 

 Monk ; two mathematical and physiological, by Lord 

 Rayleigh, ''On Our Perception of the Direction of a 

 Source of Sound," and Mr. Lennox Browne " On the 

 Management of the Voice ; " two mechanical and instru- 

 mental, by Mr. de Pontigny, "On Kettledrums," and 

 by the writer "On Standards of Musical Pitch;" one 

 critical, perhaps even polemical, by the active secretary 

 of the Association, Mr. C. K. Salaman, " On Musical 

 Criticism." 



Several of the above communications, especially Mr. 

 Bosanquet's two exhaustive papers " On Temperament," 

 call for full analysis ; but the general status and purpose 

 of the Association itself are so far novel as to deserve 

 preliminary attention. Music, of all nssthetical subjects, 

 is that which is most deeply marked by its bisection into 

 art and science ; much of the art, little of the science 

 is ancient ; for Euclid, Pythagoras, and even Galileo carry 

 us only a short distance into the laws of harmony. But 

 it is peculiar to music that instruments accidentally in- 

 vented, slowly improved, fabricated simply for performance, 

 and intended solely to charm the ear, have at a later 

 period furnished the tools and apparatus of scientific 

 analysis. The vioHns of Caspar di Salo and Straduiarius, 

 have for centuries illustrated the laws of harmonic sounds, 

 and even as early as the time of Tartini, furnished the 

 Terzo Siwno, vthxch. figures so boldly in modern acoustics. 

 As the instruments themselves fulfil a double purpose, 

 so are their votaries divided into two very distinct classes, 

 those namely of artists and theorists. The essential value 

 of Mr. Spottiswoode's proposal lay in the appreciation of 

 this schism, and of the means towards healing it. The 



