May 12, 192 1] 



NATURE 



ZIZ 



the foregoing case, except that the body of the vioUn 

 has four or five well-marked free periods instead of 

 only one or two, as in the case of the resonator con- 

 cerned in the production of the human voice. The 

 special character of the vowel sounds really arises 

 from the last-mentioned circumstance, as a result 

 of which most of the energy is concentrated in a 

 small group of partials. It seems to me that there 

 is no justification for supposing that there are any 

 ■ inharmonics " present in the voice tones. 



C. V. Raman. 

 210 Bowbazar Street, Calcutta, March 29. 



In reply to Prof. Raman's interesting letter, I may 

 say that the response of a strongly damped resonator 

 to a series of sharp impulses may be harmonic or 

 inharmonic to the period of the impulses ; the essen- 

 tial fact is that they are independent. If we knew 

 nothing more of the vowels than that the exciting 

 voice tone consists of a series of sharp puffs and that 

 the vocal resonators are strongly damped, we could 

 say nothing of their relations except that they might 

 be anything. The analyses of the vowel curves show, 

 in fact, that the cavity tones may hold any relations 

 to the voice tone, both harmonic and inharmonic. 



With the violin the case is different. The string 

 does not produce sharp puffs, but continuous vibra- 

 tions of alternating phases. During each phase the 

 action on a resonator is constant. The vibration 

 aroused in the resonator has no pause in which to 

 die away. The resonance vibrations are thus forced, 

 and not free, vibrations. They must be harmonic 

 to the fundamental. This is clearly shown in 

 the plot reproduced from Prof. Miller's book in 

 Nature for March 3 last. The fundamental is strong 

 and the overtones are all harmonic. This is in con- 

 trast to Prof. Miller's plot for a vowel. The funda- 

 mental is apparently absent; the overtones form a 

 queer group of discordant tones that can represent 

 only an inharmonic in that region. 



E. W. Scripture. 



Literature for Jerusalem University. 



At the third annual conference of the Inter- 

 University Jewish Federation held at Oriel College, 

 Oxford, on August 3, 1920, it was unanimously re- 

 solved, in response to a request of the Zionist 

 Organisation, to render every possible assistance to 

 all efforts on behalf of the Hebrew University at 

 Jerusalem. The most urgent need at the present 

 juncture is an immediate and abundant supply of 

 books for the Jerusalem University library. We can 

 conceive no cause more precious and commendable 

 than the full development and firm consolidation of 

 the intellectual and spiritual resources of the Jewish 

 national home. To this end books are the first 

 requisite. In a scarcity of books the mind of a people 

 is denied free expansion and healthy growth. To 

 Jews, with their love of learning, the lack of 

 books is most distressing. In Palestine, unfor- 

 tunately, there is a real book famine, and even with 

 help from all over the world it will need a great effort 

 to build up the present University library of about 

 40,000 volumes into an up-to-date library worthy of 

 the Jewish University. 



For various reasons, including the difficulty of ob- 

 taining sufficient funds to establish a complete uni- 

 versity from the start, it is proposed to institute re- 

 search departments as the first foundations of the 

 University. ' These will include institutions for 



NO. 2689, VOL. 107] 



chemical, microbiological, and medical research to 

 deal with the resources of Palestine and its special 

 difficulties. Books on physics and mathematics, sets 

 of scientific journals, and pamphlets of permanent 

 value are especially required ; good text-books of 

 established repute will also be useful. Readers of 

 Nature have it in their power to render great assist- 

 ance in supplying these scientific books and pamphlets. 

 Considering that this is an important step towards 

 a spiritual revival of Palestine, and that our credit as 

 an enlightened people is at stake, we appeal to readers 

 of Nature to send all the books that they can spare as 

 a freewill offering to those who will treasure them in 

 Palestine. A single book will be welcome, but it is 

 hoped that donors will send as many as they can. 

 Gifts of books may be sent either direct to the Uni- 

 versity Library, Jerusalem, or to Miss N. Mandler, 

 75 Great Russell Street, W.C.i, who will, if neces- 

 sary, arrange for the collection of the books. An 

 artistically designed book-plate, the generous work of 

 Mrs. L. Pilichowski, will permanently record the 

 names of the donors. 



S. Alexander, 



Chairman. . 



Israel M. Sieff, 

 Treasurer. 



D. B. Stanhill, 



Hon. Secretary. 

 Jerusalem University Library Committee, 



75 Great Russell Street, W.C.i, April 29. 



Waste Oil from Ships. 



In the Landmark for May Sir Arthur Shipley has 

 a very timely and important article on " The Danger 

 to Fish and Bird Life from Oil-driven Ships." I 

 could add my testimony in support of his argument, 

 but wish now to raise the question whether, as he 

 states, "nothing can prevent the oil getting into the 

 bilge." When I was recently at Funchal, Madeira, 

 I visited H.M.S. Dunedin, of the Light Cruiser 

 Squadron, and was shown the oil-burning engines and 

 manv other wonderful things. I raised the question of 

 the injury caused by the oil, and was assured that 

 there was no loss of oil in the Dunedin, and that 

 leakage, when it occurred, was due to faulty con- 

 struction. If this is true, the remedy is obvious; it 

 is intolerable that so much damage should result from 

 preventable causes, and the public is entitled to pro- 

 tection. In any event, all those interested in the 

 matter should urge the engineers to attack the problem 

 at once, and show us what to do to abate the nuisance. 



T. D. A. Cockerell. 



4 College Road, Isleworth, Middlesex. 



Organism in Flint. 



Is not the organism photographed under the care 

 of Mr. C. Carus-Wilson (Nature, May 5, p. aqg) 

 far more probably a radiolarian than an insect? The. 

 apparent segmentation of the "antennae" may be due 

 to secondary deposits of silica, and the partition may 

 be caused by the nearness of the plane of section to 

 the inward bulge on the meeting-line of the two cham. 

 bers of the test. Without an examination of the 

 slide, any suggestion may be rash; but we know little 

 of the Mesozoic types of Cyrtida, and this organism 

 may represent a previously undescribed member of 

 that group. References, to descriptions of Cretaceous 

 radiolaria are given by W. Hill and A. J. Jukes-Browne 

 in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 

 vol. li., p. 600, 1895. Grenville a. J. Cole. 



