August 30, 191 7] 



NATURE 



529 



part of which was reprinted in our last issue (p. 513). 

 The recent letters deal with the transmission of the 

 sound-waves by the earth, thoagh the inferences are not 

 always correct, as, for instance, when it is argued that 

 the sound must travel through the ground because it 

 is heard more plainly when the wind is contrary. At 

 Rusthall (near Tunbridge Wells), a gravedigger, who 

 was digging a deep grave, stated that the sound of the 

 firing at the bottom was much louder than on the sur- 

 face. A lady, lying on the top of Blackdown Hill, in 

 Sussex, heard the heavy bombardment of June 24, but, 

 when sitting up, heard nothing. Another writer re- 

 calls an incident of the battle of Waterloo. Marshal 

 Grouchy and several of his staff were at Sart-les- 

 Walhain when an officer reported that firing was heard 

 to the west. "Some of them placed their ears to the 

 ground and thus detected plainly the mufiSed boom of 

 distant guns." 



An account of a remarkable lightning display was 

 given in the Morning Post of August 24, the occur- 

 rence happening between sunset and midnight of 

 August 22. The phenomenon was witnessed in Lon- 

 don. On the afternoon of August 22 heavy clouds had 

 gathered, and these were dissipated by sundown, when 

 the sky became clear, except that there was a narrow 

 belt of cloud low down on the horizon from north-east 

 through east to south. Near the belt of cloud on the 

 horizon there were at short intervals what are described 

 as vast bursts of flame thrown up into the atmosphere, 

 and at times a flash of ramified, or zigzag, lightning 

 would shoot up far above the cloud. The whole sur- 

 rounding countrv- seemed illuminated. The source of 

 the flares appeared to be in the vicinity of the east and 

 south-east coasts, and was erroneously attributed by 

 many to war operations. No thunder accompanied the 

 .lightning, but thunder cannot be heard for more than 

 ten miles, although lightning is visible ten times that 

 distance and more. Recent weather has been very 

 disturbed, frequent storm areas* have traversed Eng- 

 land, and thunderstorms have occurred very commonly 

 in many parts of the countr}-, accompanied by strong 

 •winds and rain. 



Reference was made in our issue of June 21 to the 

 systematic collection of horse-chestnuts for war pur- 

 poses. A scheme for such collection and utilisation 

 for munition purposes has now been approved, 

 and a circular upon the subject is being sent 

 to local education authorities and secondary- schools 

 saying that the Board of Education has been requested 

 by the Minister of Munitions and the Food Controller 

 to bring the scheme to the notice of school authorities, 

 governing bodies, and teachers, and to request their 

 assistance in giving effect to it. It is felt that school 

 children could give most valuable assistance in collect- 

 ing the chestnuts, and by so doing make a definite 

 contribution to national efficiency. It is suggested, 

 therefore, that the governing bodies, managers, and 

 teachers of schools should organise the efforts of the 

 children for the purpose. To effect this a small com- 

 mittee might be formed in connection with each school 

 or convenient group of schools to undertake the organ- 

 ising work in connection with the scheme in the district 

 concerned, and to answer inquiries. It is understood 

 that in many districts the scheme has already been 

 taken up by private individuals, and it is obviously 

 desirable that all persons undertaking work in connec- 

 tion with the scheme should co-operate with one 

 another. A limited number of sacks and baskets are 

 available for the collection of the nuts, and where there 

 is any difficulty in obtaining bags or baskets locally 

 application should be made to the Director of Pro- 

 Ipellant Supplies, Ministry of Munitions, 32 Old Queen 

 [Street, London, S.W.i. When the collection is^^com- 



plete the committee should inform the Director of 

 j Propellant Supplies, as above, stating the estimated 



quantity of the collection, and the Ministr}' of Muni- 

 i tions will arrange to remove the nuts and forward them 



to the factories in the course of the winter. 

 1 



The autumn meeting of the Institute of Metals will 

 be held on Wednesday, September 19, in the rooms 

 of the Chemical Society, Burlington House. The fol- 

 , lowing communications are expected : — Experiments 

 I on the fatigue of brasses, Dr. B. P. Haigh; Hardness 

 j and hardening, Prof. T. Turner; The effects of heat 

 ' at various temperatures on the rate of softening of 

 ! cold-rolled aluminium sheet. Prof. H. C. H. Car- 

 : penter and L. Taverner; .\ comparison screen for 

 I brass, O. W. Ellis; Further notes on a high-tempera- 

 i ture thermostat, J. L. Haughton and D. Hanson; 

 : Principles and methods of a new system of gas-firing, 

 I A. C. lonides; Fuel economy in brass-melting furnaces, 

 • L. C. Harvey, with additional notes by H. J. Yates; 

 I The effect of great hydrostatic pressure on the physical 

 I properties of metals. Prof. Z. Jeffries; The use of 

 I chromic acid and hvdrogeji peroxide as an etching 

 . agent, S. W. Mil'en 



The autumn meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute 

 I will be held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great 

 George Street, Westminster, on September 20 and 21, 

 j when the following papers will be read : — " Present 

 I Practice in Briquetting of Iron Ores," G. Barrett and 

 ! T. B. Rogerson ; "' Microstructure of Commercially 

 j Pure Iron between Ar^ and Atj," W. J. Brooke and 

 F. F. Hunting; 'The Influence of Heat Treatment on 

 t the Electrical and Thermal Resistivity" and Thermo- 

 j electric Potential of some Steels," E. D. Campbell and 

 i W. C. Dowd; "New Impact Testing Experiments," G. 

 j Charpy and A. Cornu-Thenard ; "Heat Treatment of 

 I Grey Cast Iron" J. E. Hurst; "Effect of Mass on 

 j Heat Treatment," E. F. Law ; " Investigation upon a 

 I Cast of Acid Open-hearth Steel," T. D. Morgans and 

 j F. Rogers; "The Acid Open-hearth Process," F. 

 I Rogers; "The Eggertz Test for Combined Carbon in 

 I Steel," J. H. Whiteley; "Failure of Boiler Plates in 

 Service and Investigation of Stresses occurring in 

 I Riveted Joints," E. B. Wolfl. 

 I 



The University of Pennsylvania has issued as vol. 

 vii., No. I, of the series of anthropological publications 

 I an account of the excavation of the cemetery of Pachy- 

 amnos, Crete, by Mr. R. B. Seager. This place lies 

 on the isthmus of Hierapetra, in the eastern part of 

 the island, and apparently owed its importance to the 

 use of the isthmus as a trade route. The cemeterj' 

 was accidentally disclosed after a torrential rainstorm 

 in October, 1913. I*" seems to have continued in use 

 from very early times down to the Late Minoan period. 

 A notable feature in the interments is the utter dis- 

 regard shown by the Minoans to the graves of their 

 ancestors, the older graves being constantly disturbed 

 by later burials. The corpse usually lies in the jar 

 in a sitting position ; there is evidence to show that 

 the body was deposited in the jar with the head down- 

 wards, and the jar was then fixed in the ground 

 bottom up, so that it occupied a sitting or crouching 

 I position. The jars are usually of small dimensions, 

 I and in some cases it would seem that the hip- and 

 I collar-bones were broken in order to force the bodr 

 I into the jar; in other cases it is suspected that the 

 I bodies were trussed up immediately after death, or 

 even before death had actually takeri place. The lack 

 of reverence for the dead is also shown by the fact 

 that the best jars were not given for use in burial, 

 and if a household happened to possess a damaged 

 specimen it was considered good enough to serve as 

 a coffin. 



