October 13, 1921] 



NATURE 



2: 



Lodge gave an interesting exposition of his view of 

 the aether of space as a region of possibilities in con- 

 trast with matter as a region of facts. Following 

 Bergson's theory that memory is a purely spiritual 

 fact which does not depend on the brain for its exist- 

 ence, but requires the intervention of the brain for its 

 expression, and that mind generally, though itself 

 psychical and not physical, needs and uses matter as 

 its instrument, he argued that if mind when dis- 

 sociated from matter continues to exist, it can only 

 be that there is something else which can perform 

 the function of matter and serve as its instrument. 

 For himself he has told us he is convinced that dis- 

 embodied spirit personalities do exist in fact, and 

 therefore for him it would seem the aether is a neces- 

 sary postulate. His acceptance of the principle of 

 relativity does not apparently in the least affect his 

 belief in the real physical existence of the aether ; it 

 seems only to have added a few more negative quali- 

 ties to that exceedingly elusive stuff and made its 

 residual positive reality more than ever diflficult to 

 imagine. Still, perhaps the new society may succeed 

 where Michelson and Morley failed, for psychical 

 research, as Sir Oliver conceives it, is purely and 

 essentially physical research, however suspect to some 

 of us its methods may appear. 



Lord Grey or Fallodon has always been a keen 

 supporter of all legislation for the protection of wild 

 birds. A great believer in "sanctuaries" for birds, 

 he has done much on his own estate to shield all 

 species which have chosen to settle there. His 

 success with various species of wild birds he related 

 in the course of a most delightful address given on 

 October 6 to the Berwickshire Naturalists Associa- 

 tion. From the strictly scientific point of view, there 

 were many items of more than passing interest in 

 this address. Particular attention, for example, was 

 directed to the fact that among the Anatidae, where 

 the males lose their resplendent livery and go into 

 "eclipse," they take no interest in their offspring, 

 which have to be reared by the female alone. But 

 where no ''eclipse " dress is worn they prove devoted 

 parents, taking their full share in the task of tending 

 the young. That the various species of wild ducks, 

 when in a state of Nature, are monogamous seerhs 

 conclusively proved by their behaviour at Fallodon, 

 wherein they contrast with birds of the same species 

 in captivity. 



Sir Frank Dyson, Astronomer Royal, has been 

 elected master of the Clockmakers' Company. 



The G. de Pontecoulant prize of the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences has been awarded to Dr. A. C. D. Crom- 

 melin, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in recognition 

 of his general astronomical work. 



Mr. a. Chaston Chapman has been appointed a 

 member of the Royal Commission on Awards to 

 Inventors in succession to Sir James Dobbie, who has 

 resigned. 



A DINNER will be held at the Hotel Cecil on Tues- 

 day, October 25, to celebrate the purchase of the 

 Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary, and to make known 

 NO. 271 1, VOL. 108] 



the need of funds for its upkeep and endowment. 

 The Right Hon. Viscount Grey of Fallodon, K.G., 

 will preside. Tickets may be obtained from the 

 honorary secretary at the Hermitage, Hanwell, W.7. 



The Royal Society of South Africa proposes to enter- 

 tain the members of the Shackleton Expedition when 

 they arrive in Cape Town. The society has. enter- 

 tained previous expeditions, and at a recent meeting 

 the president expressed the hope that the forthcoming 

 visit would arouse public interest in South Africa in 

 scientific exploration and would lead to additional sup- 

 port for such enterprises. 



In the article on the explosion at the nitrogen fixa- 

 tion works at Oppau, in Nature of September 29, it 

 was pointed out that ammonium nitrate is explosive 

 on the application of an intense initial impulse such 

 as the detonation in its midst of a high explosive. It 

 is, therefore, of interest to read in the Chemical Trade 

 Journal (October i, p. 409) that the directors of the 

 Badische .Anilin und Soda Fabrik have issued a report 

 in which they state that a store of ammonium sulpho- 

 nitrate exploded, and that it had been the custom 

 to break up the stock of this mixture by means of 

 explosive bodies. Until now the directorate had af>- 

 parently considered the ammonium nitrate sufficiently 

 deadened by the presence of the ammonium sulphate. 



A MESSAGE from Col. Howard Bury to the Times 

 states that a practicable route to the summit of Mount 

 Everest has been discovered. A camp was formed at 

 the col at the head of the Kharta Valley at a height 

 of 22,500 ft., and Messrs. Mallory, Bullock, and 

 Wheeler pushed on to the glacier below the north col 

 on the following day. The north col, which connects 

 Mount Everest with the north peak, was ascended to 

 a height of 23,000 ft. At this f>oint the party was 

 stopped by bad weather, but it is believed that an 

 ascent by the north-east arSte will be possible. The 

 reconnaissance of the approaches to Mount Everest 

 from the Tibetan side is now complete, and, a route 

 having been found, there appears to be no reason why 

 a properly organised expedition should not reach the 

 summit next year. 



The ninth meeting of the Indian Science Congress 

 will be held in Madras on January 30-February 3, 

 1922. His Excellency Lord Willingdon, Governor of 

 Madras, has consented to be patron of the meeting, 

 and Mr. C. S. MiddlemiSs will be president. The fol- 

 lowing sectional presidents have been appointed : — 

 Agriculture, Rai Bahadur Ganga Ram ; Physics and 

 Mathematics, Mr. T. P. Bhaskara Shastri ; Chemis- 

 trv, Dr. N. R. Dhar ; Zoology, Mr. S. \V. Kemp; 

 Botany, Dr. W. Dudgeon ; Geology, Mr, G. H. 

 Tipper ; Medical Research, Major Cunningham ; 

 Anthropology, Rai Bahadur Hira Lai. Public lectures 

 will be delivered by Prof. Hemchandra Das Gupta, 

 Dr. de Graaf Hunter, and Prof. J. Matthai. Capt. C. 

 Nevvcomb, Khan Sahib Mohammad Azizullah, and 

 Sahib Bahadur have been appointed honorary local 

 secretaries. Further information can be obtained on 

 application to Dr. J. L. Simonsen, the honorary 

 general secretary. 



