Jan. 3, 1878] 



NA TV RE 



183 



" even more than casually alluded to in works on geographical 

 distiibution," and is ** ignored in the principal ones ;" when I 

 have dtvoted no less than six pages of my book on " The Geo- 

 graphic d Distribution of Animals" (vol. ii. pp. 42-48) to a 

 discussi( n of the main facts — quite as much as could be pro- 

 perly given to it in a general work. It is, however, well worthy 

 of a detailed study, which I am very glad is being undertaken 

 by so competent an entomologist. I hope Mr. McLachlan will 

 endeavour to obtain collections of coleoptera and other orders 

 of insects from the higher tropical Andes, where, I feel con- 

 fident, some northern forms will also be found. 



Alfred R. Wallace 



Mr. Crookes and Eva Fay 



A FEW words from myself seem to be called for by the recent 

 letter of Mr. Crookes in reply to Prof. Carpenter, published in 

 your journal. As far as I am concerned, the breach of etiquette 

 complained of can only apply to my obtaining the publication of 

 the letter Mr. Crookes addressed to me in the Banner of Light. 

 The subsequent facsimile that appeared I am not in any way 

 responsible for. 



The part I took in the matter is very simple, and may be briefly 

 explained as follows : — On Mrs. Fay's return from England to 

 this country the genuineness of her mediumship was very much 

 doubted, and was the subject of controversy not only in the 

 spiritual journals, but in other papers as well. Having, whilst 

 in England, satisfied myself that the manifestations were real, I 

 defended her to the best of my ability, and on seeing it stated in 

 the Boston Herald that Mr. Crookes had withdrawn his confidence 

 in her, 1 thought it prudent to write to that gentleman, mentioning 

 my reason for so doing. In due time I received a courteous 

 reply, which I at once took to the Banner office, never dreaming 

 that Mr. Crookes could have any possible objection to its publi- 

 cation after the articles he had himself published on the subject 

 in the English journals. Months elapsed, when one day to my 

 surprise I met with the facsimile letter in the A^ew York Daily 

 Graphic. On mentioning the subject to the editor of the Bannir 

 he also expressed surprise, and stated his inability to account for 

 the publication ol ^& facsimile. He at first was of opinion that 

 I had taken the letter away and mislaid it ; but on searching, 

 the document was subsequently found in the office. Hereupon 

 both Mr. Colby and myself wrote to the editor of the Graphic, 

 requesting him to state how he obtained possession of the original 

 letter, so as to get the facsimile prepared ; but neither of us 

 received a reply. I then got a gentleman residing in New York 

 to call on the Graphic editor on the subject, and was informed 

 that the said editor declined to say how he obtained possession 

 of the letter. Thus the matter stands, and is as inexplicable to- 

 day as it was at the time it happened. 



I entirely exonerate the editor of the Banner and his associates 

 from any complicity in the matter, and I trust Mr. Crookes, after 

 this explanation, will see that his imputation against American 

 honour is wholly unfounded. 



The publication of the letter in the Banner I alone am answer- 

 able for ; and as I explained in my letter to Mr. Crookes that 

 my object was to meet a statement in a public journal, I of course 

 thought that he must have felt that the reply he forwarded would 

 in all probability be made public use of. 



Boston, U.S.A., December 7, 1877 Robert Cooper 



P.S. — Mr. Crookes errs in speaking of me as "a Boston 

 gentleman." I am an Englishman temporarily located here. — 

 R. C. 



Philadelphia Diploma 



In Nature, vol. fxvii. p. 153, it is stated that "A 'Dr.' 

 Harmutli, in Berlin, who received his diploma from Philadelphia, 

 was lately sentenced to pay 300 marks for using the prefix pub- 

 licly." It is but just to so old and respectable a university as 

 that of Philadelphia to point out that " Dr." Harmuth's diploma 

 could not have been genuine. So-called "Philadelphia degrees" 

 of all sorts are sold by agents, but they have no connection with 

 the University of Philadelphia, nor have they, at present, any 

 connection with the city, though the author of this scandalous 

 imposition once lived there and carried on a disreputable practice 

 as a quack doctor. The public should still be on their guard 

 against Bogus degrees, for diplomas purporting to issue from 

 several American and German universities are still to be had, in 



some cases on examination in absentia and payment of the fee, 

 in others by a money payment only. C. M. INGLEBY 



Valentines, December 26, 1877 



Royal Dublin Society 



In justice to myself I beg to state that my function as editor 

 of the Natural Science papers in the " Scientific Proceedings of 

 the Royal Dublin Society " begins only with Part 2 of that 

 journal, and that I had no knowledge whatever of the material 

 contained in Part i until it had been printed and,circulated. By 

 publishing this I shall be greatly obliged. 



Alex. Macalister 



Anatomical Museum, Trinity College, Dublin 



The Meteor of November 23 



I have just seen Capt. Tupman's letter in Nature (vol. xvii. 

 p. 1 14). I can give a fairly accurate estimate of the direction of 

 the meteor from Llandudno at the time it burst. Sitting in a 

 lighted room my eye was attracted by a bright bar of light 

 across the hearth-rug similar in shape to a gap in the Venetian 

 blind caused by a broken tape. The light slowly faded out in 

 about the same place, which was easily remembered. I listened 

 intently for a report for perhaps about a minute, gave it up, and 

 then heard what was somewhat like the report of a ship's gun at 

 a short distance. 



It was easy afterwards to estimate the direction of the light as 

 two points west of (true) north, and thirty-five degrees above the 

 horizon. 



I regret that the time between the fading of the light and the 

 report I can only guess very roughly. It may have been about 

 two minutes. T. S. PETTY 



51, Boundary Road, N.W, 



THE SUN'S MAGNETIC ACTION AT THE 

 PRESENT TIME 



PERHAPS no result in magnetism has excited so much 

 interest as that which has connected the varying 

 diurnal oscillation of the magnetic needle, and the fre- 

 quency of the aurora polaris, with the spotted area of the 

 sun's surface, in a common cycle of ten and a half years. 

 Various investigations have been undertaken in order to 

 determine whether other phenomena could not be found 

 which would take a place in this chain. 



That the movements of the magnets and the corrusca- 

 tions of the aurora are due to the cause which produces 

 the immense chasms in the sun's envelopes there can be 

 little doubt ; but we know nothing of the mode in which 

 the sun acts on our earth to produce these effects, and we 

 have reason to believe that this ignorance has prevented 

 us hitherto from tracing to the same cause atmospheric 

 variations which have been attributed altogether to the 

 solar heating action. 



Any facts, then, as to what the sun is doing at the 

 present time with the earth's magnetism will not be with- 

 out value, whether we regard the facts alone, or as con- 

 nected with their hypothetical relations to atmospheric 

 phenomena. It should always be remembered, however, 

 that the variations of magnetic oscillations in the 

 decennial period, shown at any one station on the earth's 

 surface, agree generally with those shown over the whole 

 globe, while the meteorological phenomena are so much 

 affected by conditions of position that it is difficult to 

 distinguish what is due to local and what to cosmic 

 causes. 



It is well known to those who have studied this subject, 

 that the interval from the time when the sun has fewest, 

 till that when he has most, spots has been less than that 

 from the maximum to the minimum ; and that the same 

 fact has been observed in the case of the magnetic oscil- 

 lations. The way in which the changes of the latter 

 occur near the times of successive minima has not, how- 



