Dec. 6, 1877] 



NATURE 



lOl 



to Australia, you "add to the fauna in a greater proportion than 

 you increase the area, and thus make the region seem richer. 

 For a fair comparison continents should be compared with 

 continents, and islands with islands, and these should in every 

 case be brought to an approximate equality of area by lopping 

 off outlying portions with their peculiar species. We shall then 

 get results which will be instructive, and which will afford us a 

 true estimate of the comparative richness of different countries in 

 tlie several classes of animals and plants, 



Alfred R. Wallace 



Mr. Crookes and Eva Fay 



I.\" Dr, Carpenter's eagerness to show that his statements about 

 Mr. Crookes and Eva Fay had some bisis of fact, he seems 

 entirely to have forgotten the real issue which he has himself 

 raised, and which is of great importance to all engaged in the 

 study of these tabooed subjects. The question simply is, 

 whether any investigation of the alleged abnormal powers of 

 individual?, however painstaking and complete it may bp, and 

 however decisive its results, is to be branded with opprobrious 

 epithets, without any proof of error or fallacy, but merely on the 

 dicta of newspaper writers and alleged " exposers," 



In the case before us Mr, Crookes made certain experiments 

 in his own laboratory, in which the greatest refinements of 

 modern electrical science were employed ; and of these he pub- 

 lished a detailed account. That is the sum total of his acts and 

 deeds in regard to Eva Fay. Yet because these experiments 

 have been referred to in America as indorsing Eva Fay's remark- 

 able powers, and because some persons charge her with being an 

 impostor, and go through an alleged imitation of her perform- 

 ances, Dr, Carpenter accuses Mr, Crookes of encouraging "dis- 

 gracefulfrauds " and indorsing a "notorious impostor," Now 

 it is clear that, to support this accusation, Dr, Carpenter must 

 • that Eva Fay was an impostor in respect to what happened 

 'Jr. Crookes's house, and that, to use Dr, Carpenter's own 

 .. .ais, she evaded his "scientific tests" by a " simple dodge," 

 He must prove that Mr, Crookes exhibited culpable careless- 

 ness or incapacity in accepting, as conclusive, tests which were 

 really fallacious ; for, otherwise, how can Mr, Crookes be held 

 responsible for anything which happened afterwards in America ? 

 Dr, Carpenter has promised to do this in the forthcoming new 

 , edition of his lectures ; but as the accusation against Mr, Crookes 

 , has been made in the pages of Nature, and the question is a 

 ; purely scientific one — that of the absolute completeness of the 

 ^ test of "electrical resistance"— I call upon Dr, Carpenter to 



[explain fully to the readers of Nature the exact particulars of 

 that "simole dodge " which is to destroy Mr, Crookes's reputa- 

 tion as a physical experimenter, and to sustain the reputation of 

 'lis accuser. Unless the explanation is so clear and conclusive 

 s to satisfy all the witnesses of the experiments that Eva Fay 

 Hid evade the scientific tests, and that what they saw was simple 

 onjurin?, then Dr. Carpenter is bound to find a conjuror who 

 ivill submit to the same tests as Eva Fay did, and produce the 

 >ame phenomena before the eyes of the witnesses, so as to show 

 'how it is done," Mr, Maskel)me, who professes to have 

 ixposed Eva Fay, will of course be ready to do this lor an ade- 

 }uate remuneration, which I feel sure will be forthcoming if Dr, 

 Carpenter is proved to be right and Eva Fay's " simple dodge " 

 js clearly explained, 



I have already shown (in this month's Fraser) that the sup- 

 posed exposure of Eva Fay in America was no exposure at all, 

 3Ut a clumsy imitation, as will be manifest when it is stated that 

 he exposer, Mr. Bishop, performed all his tricks by stretching 

 'he cord with which his hands were secured to the iron ring 

 behind his back ! There is hardly a greater exhibition of 

 ;redulity on record than Dr. Carpenter's believing that such a 

 'performer proved Eva Fay to be an impostor and Mr. Crookes's 

 bcperiments valueless. But what can we expect when we find a 

 VaUy Telegraph report quoted as an authority ^in a matter of 

 itcientific inquiry ? 



I venture to think that, whatever may be their opinions as to 

 he amount oi/act in the phenomena called "spiritualistic " (by 

 )r. Carpenter, but never by Mr. Crookes), all men of science 

 nil agree with me that Dr, Carpenter is bound to prove by 

 'Urect experiment \\\-3ii Mr. Crookes and his coadjutors were the 

 ■ictims of imposture on the particular occasion referred to ; or if 

 ae fails to do this, that he should in common fairness publicly 

 withdraw the injurious accusations he has made against Mr, 

 !^rookes and all who are engaged in similar investigations. If 

 his is not done it is equivalent to deciding that no possible proof 



of such phenomena is admissible — a position which is not that ot 

 Dr. Carpenter, or, as far as I am aware, of the scientific world 

 generally, 



I beg to take this opportunity of apologising for my involun< 

 tary appearance under false colours in this month's Fraser. The 

 letters "F.R.S. " were added to my name after the corrected 

 proofs left my hands and wholly without my knowledge. I have 

 desired the editor to make a statement to this effect in his next 

 issue, but in the meantime wish to set myself right with the 

 readers of Nature. Alfred R. Wallace 



Nocturnal Increase of Temperature with Elevation 



With reference to the article in Nature, vol. xvi, p. 450, on 

 the above subject, allow me to place on record the following 

 facts. On the night of January 7, 1874, in Lucknow, the tem- 

 perature fell considerably below the usual. The minimum 

 thermometer on the grass at the observatory registered 5° below 

 freezing point. The destruction of plants in the Horticultural 

 Gardens was great. Plantains, pine apples, sugar-cane, mango 

 trees, casuarinas, pomsettias, colvilleas, bugainvilleas, &c., &c,, 

 were all injured ; some killed outright. The remarkable fact 

 which I observed on that occasion was, that the destruction of 

 vegetation was only up to a certain height, viz., up to between 

 seven and eight feet from the ground. Above that, not a leaf 

 was touched by the frost. On the mango trees especially, which 

 were planted close to each other, it was very remarkable to see a 

 distinct line of destruction along the trees, of seven or eight feet 

 from the ground. This, I think, distinctly showed that the 

 temperature on that night, above eight feet from the ground, 

 was decidedly warmer, and thus protected all vegetation, 

 while all below it was more or less injured, or killed by frost. 

 Other observations, I made lately, corroborate the result of 

 the direct observations made by Mr. Glaisher. During 

 the commencement of October there were several rainy days, 

 with an easterly wind ; the total rainfall was under 2^ inches. 

 When it ceased, and the clouds cleared away, I observed the 

 following : — Before seven o'clock in the morning there were only 

 a few low-lying clouds to be seen. As the sun rose, the wind 

 still in the east and almost a calm, clouds began to form 

 in all directions; about noon, and till about 3 P.M., the 

 sky was thickly studded with cumuli of "various sizes. After 

 that hour, wider and wider gaps began to form between the 

 clouds, and the dissolving cf the cloud-masses continued as the 

 sun approached setting. About two hours after sunset there 

 was scarcely a cloud to be seen, and the twinkling stars came 

 out in their full brilliancy. This melting of the clouds after a 

 certain hour, and completely so after sunset, would, I think, 

 indicate that the cloud region after sunset became decidedly 

 warmer than it had been^during the day. E. BONAVIA 



Lucknow, October 22 



Expected High Tides 



Mr, Edward Roberts in his letter has, I think, missed the 

 chief object I had in addressing you, I did not complain that 

 the authorities had not taken pains to calculate the heights of the 

 tides, but that while one could take up almost any paper on the 

 coast and find the heights of the tides of the place for the coming 

 week, not one of the London papers, so far as I could find, 

 supplied this information for its readers. What I felt to be a 

 desirable thing was that the Meteorological Office, or some other 

 constituted authority, should send to the daily papers warnings, 

 when necessary, that on such a day a dangerous tide might be 

 expected with a wind from such a quarter and with such a 

 barometer, as the tide would be unusually high under even favour- 

 able w^eather — in fact, give a forecast of the tide. 



It is almost useless to ask the public or vestries to put two or 

 three facts together and think out the matter for themselves ; they 

 require some authoritative announcement to prepare for danger. 

 And this is the more necessary as an overflow of the Thames at 

 above-average spring tides is, as Mr, Roberts says, now a matter 

 of meteorological circumstances only, and on account of the 

 increased range of the tide in the river, 



I was not aware that Captain Saxby had predicted high tides so 

 far back as 1869, If, as Mr, Roberts says, the Astronomer- Royal 

 wrote re-assuring the public that there was nothing extraordinary 

 in the November 3 tide, and as, on the contrary, that tide rose 

 3 feet 3 inches above Trinity high- water mark, this incident may 

 possibly have had something to do with the establishing of 

 Captain Saxby's reputation with the public as a predictor of tides, 



