822 



NATURE 



[August 25, 192 1 



servatoire des Arts et Metiers, and the inaugural cere- 

 mony, which will take place on October lo, will be 

 presided over by M. Dior, the French Minister of 

 Commerce. The society is also organising, at the 

 Conservatoire, a Chemical Exhibition, which will be 

 open on October 9-16. Two sections only will be 

 represented, those dealing with laboratory equipment 

 and colouring matters, but it is hoped that the ex- 

 hibition, at which most French manufacturers will be 

 represented, will be the germ of a future chemical 

 exhibition embracing all branches of industrial 

 chemistry. 



The latest news from the Mount Everest expedition 

 is contained in Col. Howard Biiry's dispatch to the 

 Times published on August 17. Leaving their base 

 camp at Tingri, the expedition explored the approach 

 to Mount Everest on the nort|i-west. The chief 

 obstacles were great glacier st»-eams Which proved 

 quite unfordable in July, and could be crossed only 

 where frail native bridges existed. The\ expedition 

 crossed the Kyetrak glacier valley on sucH a bridge, 

 and marching by Zambu reached the Rxing^bk glacier, 

 in the valley of which it camped at a height of 

 18,000 ft., some miles from the great Rongbuk Monas- 

 tery, which standi at 16,500 ft. Progress in this 

 direction did nQLJo<ik promising owing to. the sheer 

 precipices of 10,000 ft. which descend to the Rongbuk 

 glacier, and even supposing the ridge summits at 

 26,000 ft. were gained, there still remains difficult 

 rock climbing at greater heights. In the course of 

 their reconnaissance Mr. Mallory and Mr. Bullock 

 climbed a peak of more than 23,000 ft., but their 

 coolies were unable to reach the summit. August 

 was to bo devoted to the eastern and north-eastern 

 faces of Mount Everest, which have more snow and 

 ice on them than the north-western side, and the 

 base camp for this purpose was to be moved in the 

 vicinitv of Kharta, in the Arun Valley. Col. Howard 

 Bury hopes to find a high pass leading from the 

 Rongbuk glacier into the valley of the Kharta 

 Tsangpo, but finds it impossible to get any accurate 

 information from the Tibetans. The weather broke 

 earlv in July, and poor visibility now hampers the 

 work. 



The widespread faith in Australia in water-divining 

 has led Dr. Griffith Taylor to examine its working 

 in the Federal Capital Territory, and he has com- 

 municated his conclusions and some quotations from 

 the literature of the subject to the Proceedings of the 

 Royal Society of Victoria (vol. xxxiii., N.S., 1921, 

 pp. 79-86). He dismisses water-divining as of no 

 practical value and as of interest to the psychologist 

 rather than to the geologist or farmer. His own 

 evidence, however, like some other scientific tests of 

 the question, is inconclusive. He reports two cases. 

 A well was sunk at Ainslie at a point selected by a 

 diviner, who "estimated that water would occur at 

 about 56 ft." Dr. Taylor reports that "at 56 ft. 

 some water came in ; at 64 ft. water was ' bubbling 

 in.' " In this case the well was sunk in an area 

 where drifts lay on a slope of impermeable beds, and 

 water could have been obtained at any site. This 

 success was probably mere coincidence, but the pre- 

 NO. 2704, VOL. 107] 



diction was justified by the result. In the second case 

 another diviner recommended a site on a ridge of 

 shale; naturally, the well was a complete failure. 

 Dr. Taylor quotes records of more extensive inquiries^ 

 including the Guildford case of 1913, an early inves- 

 tigation by the Government of South Australia, and 

 one in 1920 by the New South Wales Water Con- 

 servation Commission. This Commission's inquiry 

 covered fifty-six bores selected by diviners, and of these 

 70 per cent, were successful; of ninety-six bores 

 selected without the diviners' aid 87 per cent, were 

 successful. The accumulation of evidence against the 

 divining-rod is useful, and though it may show that 

 the method is of no practical value, many of the 

 tests are not conclusive against those who consider 

 that certain individuals in suitable circumstances are 

 influenced sub-consciously by underground water. 



Sir Frederic Kenyon's presidential address to the 

 Museums Association, in which he set forth his views 

 as to the future development and arrangement of 

 the British Museum (see Nature. July 28, p. 689), is 

 now published in the August issue of the Museums 

 Journal (Dulau and Co.). 



Referring to recent correspondence in Nature, 

 Mr. A. S. E. Ackermann writes to say that in August 

 of last year at Ypres he saw bumble-bees abstracting 

 nectar from the flowers of white-runner beans through 

 a hole in the side of the corolla instead of in the 

 normal manner. 



The camera is being used increasingly to elucidate 

 the habits -of birds, and striking success has been 

 achieved by Dr. Overton in his observations on the 

 great horned owl, described in Natural History 

 (vol. xxi., No. 2). It has hitherto been supposed 

 that the bird attacks its enemies and prev by means 

 of its wings or bill. The remarkable series of photo- 

 graphs which are used to illustrate Dr. Overton's 

 article clearly demonstrates, however, that the bird 

 attacks solely with its feet. We have seldom seen so 

 conclusive a collection of photographs of birds. 



In the June issue of the Lancashire and Cheshire 

 Naturalist Mr. R. Standen records some interesting 

 observations of his own and other naturalists on 

 the feeding habits of squirrels, with particular re- 

 ference to fungi. He has watched squirrels feeding on 

 that most poisonous of fungi (to man), the Fly Agaric 

 (Amanita muscaria). They were observed to knock 

 off the cap and to eat only the stalk, but so far as 

 is known they were none the worse, and appear to be 

 immune to this particular form of poison. The late 

 Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge has recorded squirrels 

 as eating Boletus edulis, and Mr. Britten has watched 

 them feeding on the Blusher (Amanita rubescens), 

 but both these species are non-poisonous. In America 

 squirrels are known to store fungi with their other 

 food, but British squirrels have not as yet been ob- 

 served to follow this habit. Mr. Standen 's notes raise 

 many interesting points, such as the distribution of 

 the poisonous substance in the tissues of the fungus, 

 and the degree of immunity enjoyed by the squirrels. 

 It is clear that there is much to be learnt about 

 the natural historv of our British mammals. 



