310 



NATURE 



[November 4, 1920 



Letters to the Editor. 



nhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to\eturn. Ir to correspond with the """f^//' '^'"'t' 

 manuscripts ir,tanded for this or any other part of Naturk. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communtcations.] 



Light Produced by Rubbing Quartz Pebbles Together. 



1 HOPE that the letter from Lieut.-Comdr. Daniant 

 in Nature of October 21 may induce some chemist 

 to endeavour to ascertain the cause of the peculiar 

 -empvreumatic" odour which accompanies the 

 flashes of light produced by rubbing two quartz 

 pebbles one against the other My attention was 

 ^rst directed to the fact that the flashing could be 

 obtained, as well when the pebbles are rubbed together 

 submerged in a basin of water as in air, by the Kev. 



^1^ have asc'ertained that careful chemical cleaning 

 of the surface of the pebbles does not prevent the 

 production of the peculiar smell-which might iwve 

 been due to a deposit of organic matter from the s<-a 

 —on pebbles picked up on the seashore 1 also hf.ve 

 ascertained that bits of quartz from inland quarries 

 give out the peculiar smell when they are rubbed 

 together so as to produce flashes of light, and the 

 same smell accompanies the light production when 

 large crystals of rock-crystal are used, further 1 

 found that the light flashes can be produced when 

 the quartz or crystal is submerged in alcohol. 

 Probably other liquids would not arrest it. Con- 

 sequentiv it should be possible to obtain the volatile 

 odoriferous matter in solution when produced and 

 to subject it to chemical examination. It would 

 not be difficult to devise a little mechanism for 

 producing flashes of light by grinding two quartzite 

 pebbles together beneath a small quantity of liquid 

 for some minutes, or even hours, and so to obtain 

 in the liquid such emanations from the trituratoa 

 quartz as are soluble in suitable liquid reagents. 

 fSee pp 60-61 of mv " Diversions of a Naturalist, 

 Methuen, 19:5.) E. Ray Lankester. 



October 31. 



Chemical Warfare, the Universities, and Scientific 

 Workers. 



I have just received an invitation from the War 

 Office "to become an associate member of the Com- 

 mittee now being constituted as part of the new peace 

 organisation for chemical warfare research and experi- 

 ment " The invitation was accompanied by what is 

 stated to be the present list of associate members, 

 containing more than sixty names well known in 

 science. .'Vs it stands, this list is certainly a very 

 powerful inducement to accept the invitation in the 

 case of anyone content in this important matter to 

 follow the lead of his more influential colleagues, for 

 it comprises a very large proportion of the best know'n 

 workers in the branch of science mainly involved. 

 Unfortunately, however, it includes my own name, 

 and I take it, therefore, that, in part at least, it is in 

 reality a list of those to whom invitations are being 

 issued rather than of those who have accepted the 

 invitation. . , 



The function of the Committee is stated to be the 

 development to the utmost extent of both the offen- 

 sive and defensive aspects of chemical warfare." Its 

 work is £?overned, as regards disclosures, by the terms 

 of the Official Secrets .^ct. and every member of the 

 Committee will be required to sign a statement that 

 he has read th*- Act and is prepared to abide by its 

 provisions. It is the intention to allocate, so far as 

 practicable, research of a purely scientific nature in ' 



NO. 2662, VOL. 106] 



chemical warfare to universities and similar outside 

 institutions. 



Now, for my part, 1 think this is a very important 

 matter .which ought not to be left entirely to the 

 personal choice of individuals, but should be most 

 carefully considered by the universities and by 

 scientific workers as corporate bodies. It was one 

 thing for scientific men and the universities to 

 be called upon in the stress of actual conflict to 

 assist the fighting Services when they were forced 

 by enemy action to protect themselves against, and 

 in turn to develop, a mode of warfare until then pro- 

 scribed by civiliswl nations, but it is surely quite 

 another matter for them, in consequence, to be called 

 upon without consultation to become a normal part of 

 the peace organisation for developing it in secret, 

 both in its offensive and defensive aspects, to the 

 utmost possible extent. 



I do not think there is any precedent for this 

 departure. Universities train medical men indis- 

 criminately for civil and military .services, but the 

 .\rmy Medical Service is non-combatant, and is in- 

 tended to ameliorate the horrors of war. Universities 

 of late have recognised military subjects in their 

 curricula for their diplomas, and lent their organisa- 

 tions for the purposes of what \vere in origin defen- 

 sive military services, such as the Volunteer and 

 Officers Training Corps. 



Personally, I feel that universities and scientific 

 men stand for something in the vi'orld higher than 

 anything which has as yet found expression and 

 representation in Governments, particularly in their 

 international relations. In consequence, I fear that 

 they will find themselves in a false position if thev 

 allow themselves by default to be depressed to the 

 position of mere agents to develop this new and, as yet, 

 still unlegalised mode of warfare. The uses likely 

 to be made of their work are. in the present unsettled 

 condition of the world, highly uncertain, except in so 

 far as it is quite certain that the effective control 

 over these uses is not the part in which they are 

 invited to co-operate. No one can pretend' that 

 scientific organisations are strong enough to dictate, 

 as in the case of the professional medical organisa- 

 tion, the purposes for which science shall be u.sed in 

 the community. My own indivickial view is against 

 accepting this invitation until the question of the 

 position of the universities and scientific men as cor- 

 porate bodies, in the part of the organisation which 

 thev are not invited to join, has first been satisfac- 

 torily settled. I think the properly constituted unions 

 of scientific workers should give the matter their con- 

 sideration and lav down for the guidance of their 

 members the conditions under which they should, if 

 at all, accept the invitation. It would be most helpful 

 to have the views of my colleagues, particularly of 

 some of the sixty-four who are stated already to 

 have joined the organisation as associate members, 

 publicly expressed upon this very important matter. 



Frederick Soddv. 



British Laboratory and Scientific Glassware. 



The British glass industry is undoubtedly to be con- 

 gratulated on attaining the excellent results described 

 in Mr. Jenkinson's letter in Nature of October 28, 

 but 1 may venture to point out that it is little comfort 

 to the user to know that good glass is made if no 

 guidance is given him as to the particular brand 

 referred to. Of the five samples tested it is true that 

 the best was British, but the worst was also British. 

 I gather from inquiries made that the faults com- 

 plained of by laboratory workers are not so much 

 defective resistance to alkalis, etc., but insufficient 



