3i6 



NA TURE 



[March 9, 1922 



Hughes, whose widow, who died recently in America, 

 has bequeathed some of his notebooks to the British 

 Museum. These have been examined by Mr. Swinton. 

 They prove that Hughes undoubtedly noted some 

 of the effects now known to be due to high-frequency 

 waves. He used a small spark coil as a generator, 

 and a Bell telephone and a battery generally con- 

 nected in series with a microphone as a receiver. 

 The microphone apparently acted sometimes as a 

 coherer and possibly sometimes as a thermocouple 

 rectifier. He leceived signals up to distances of 

 about a hundred yards. He noted that the effects 

 produced were very uncertain at the distance of 

 half a mile. When he earthed one or both ends of 

 his transmitting and receiving circuits he got enhanced 

 results. It has to be remembered that all this was 

 done about nine years before Hertz's memorable 

 discoveries. Hughes, however, seems to have had 

 no conception that he was dealing with electro- 

 magnetic waves. He thought that the effects were 

 due to electric conduction through the air. In a 

 letter to The Elecirician on May 5, 1899 (vol. xliii. 

 p. 40), Hughes himself describes his experiments. 

 It appears that he showed his experiments to a 

 number of leading men of science in 1879 and was 

 profoundly discouraged by their comments on them. 

 In particular Sir George Stokes stated that the effects 

 were due to ordinary electro-magnetic induction. It 

 would be interesting to speculate what might have 

 happened had they encouraged him to proceed with 

 his researches. But in any case a great deal of 

 further experimental work would have had to be 

 done before the art of radio-telegraphy was achieved. 



Sir Robert Horne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 in the House of Commons on March i, surveyed the 

 proposals put forward by the Geddes Committee on 

 National Expenditure, and indicated the general 

 views of the Government concerning some of them. 

 The two items which in the main make up the " cut " 

 of ;^i8,ooo,ooo recommended by the Committee as 

 regards education are the reduction of teachers' 

 salaries and the exclusion from school of children 

 below the age of six years. The Government has 

 decided that neither of these proposals can be put 

 into operation. The reductions adopted amount to 

 ;^6,500,ooo instead of the ;^i8,ooo,ooo recommended by 

 the Geddes Committee. It is proposed that teachers 

 should contribute five per cent, of their salaries towards 

 their superannuation fund, and this will bring in a 

 sum of more than ;^2,ooo,ooo. The Department of 

 Mines is to become an integral part of the Board of 

 Trade, and the Minister who at present acts as 

 secretary of the Department is to be one of the under- 

 secretaries of the Board. The. Forestry Department 

 is to be carried on and will not be abolished as re- 

 commended by the Geddes Committee. As to agri- 

 culture, the Government has decided that the grant 

 made available by the Corn Production Appeal Act 

 cannot be used to make up the reduction upon 

 education and research recommended by the Geddes 

 Committee, but has to be additional to the amount 

 already devoted to these purposes. 



The first Scientific Reunion of the Natural History 

 Museum Staff Association for the current year, 

 which took place on March i, attracted an exception- 

 ally large attendance. Many interesting exhibits 

 were on view, among which may be mentioned the 

 following: Fine group of Alaskan Bighorn Sheep, 

 consisting of a male, female, and young, recently 

 presented to the Museum by Mr. T. R. Hubbock ; 

 selection of the mammals, birds, and insects collected 

 by the Mt. Everest Expedition in 1921 ; original 

 plaster cast prepared by Mr. F. O. Barlow of the 

 brain cavity of the Rhodesian Skull ; model made 

 by Mr. G. C. Robson of the curious triplicate re- 

 spiratory mechanism in the Ampullariidae ; specimens 

 and model of the gigantic frogs which swallow crabs 

 and even small mammals whole ; the flower-mimick- 

 ing mantid from East Africa ; Cichid fishes from 

 Lake Victoria and certain Crustacea illustrating 

 mutation ; ^samples of wool treated with Hchen dyes 

 with or without mordants ; specimen of Orites 

 excelsa from Australia showing deposit of aluminium 

 succinate in the cavities of the wood ; a meteoric 

 stone, weighing 4 J lbs., one of the hundred that fell 

 on October 16, 1919, at Bur-Gheluai, Bur-Hagala 

 District, Itahan Somaliland ; and a series of minerals 

 from Zermatt. Messrs. Watson & Sons gave a 

 demonstration of their most recent microscopes and 

 ancillary apparatus. 



The Air Ministry announces that the Civil Aviation 

 Advisory Board, the creation of which was announced 

 by the Under-Secretary of State for Air at the recent 

 Air Conference, has now been set up with the following 

 terms of reference : — " To advise generally on the 

 development of Civil Aviation and to report upon 

 any specific point which may, from time to time, be 

 referred to the Board by the Secretary of State for 

 Air." The constitution of the Board is, as follows : — 

 The Under-Secretary of State for Air (Lord Gorell), 

 chairman ; The Controller-General of Civil Aviation* 

 Air Ministry (Major-General Sir Frederick H. Sykes) ; 

 The Director-General of Supply and Research, Air 

 Ministry (Air Vice-Marshal Sir W. G. H. Salmond) ; 

 representatives of General Post Office (Brigadier- 

 General F. H. Williamson), Air League of the British 

 Empire (Major-General Sir W. Sefton Brancker), 

 Association of British Chambers of Commerce (Mr. 

 Edward Manville), Federation of British Industries 

 (Mr. H. James Yates), Lloyds (Lieut. -Colonel Sir 

 Frederick Hall), Royal Aero Club (Brigadier-General 

 Sir Capel Holden), Royal Aeronautical Society 

 (Lieut. -Colonel Mervyn O'Gorman), Society of British 

 Aircraft Constructors, Limited (Sir Henry White 

 Smith). The secretary of the Board is Mr. F. G. L. 

 Bertram, Air Ministry-. 



We learn from Science that Dr. I. C. White — who 

 has been State Geologist of West Virginia since 

 1897, and is distinguished for his contributions to 

 the geology of coal and petroleum — and Mrs. White 

 have given to the University of West Virginia and 

 the city of Morgantown 191 1 acres of Sewickley coal, 

 situated in Marion County. It is estimated that 



NO. 2732, VOL. 109 



