August 6, 1891] 



NATURE 



323 



notes of a low pitch, but the fine was mute. This 

 was, so far as I know, the first time that the Studland 

 sand had been musical off the patch. 



According to my theory, if the number of grains with 

 polished surfaces could be increased in this fine sand, 

 the number of vibrations would increase also, and so 

 intensify the note, and cause it to become audible ; this 

 could only be done, however, by introducing a certain 

 percentage of grains fulfilling the required conditions. 

 To obtain such grains and to introduce them gradually 

 until the necessary number should have been added, 

 would have been a tedious process ; and it occurred to 

 me then that the same result might be obtained if the 

 sand were struck in a vessel with a hard and polished 

 interior. I placed, therefore, this fine sand in a teacup, 

 and on striking it, found that it emitted a high, shrill 

 note (A in altisstmo), which was far more intense than 

 that given when it formed a part of the patch. 



When polished grains of sand are in contact with the 

 sides and bottom of a glazed porcelain vessel, it is obvious 

 that there are numerous points of contact' between two 

 polished surfaces — the sand grains and the vessel — and 

 that on striking the surface of the sand, the friction 

 necessary to produce the vibrations of a musical note is 

 induced between these points. 



This I proved by placing the same sand in various 

 vessels with rough interiors, and by lining these glazed 

 or polished vessels with silk, &c., but in no case would 

 this sand emit notes unless the grains were in direct 

 contact with the glazed or polished surfaces. This pecu- 

 liarity is not in any way dependent upon the sonorous 

 properties of the vessel used, for it may be " deadened " 

 with impunity, and the note will remain unaltered. 



The results of numerous experiments show that musical 

 sand of the Eigg type— z'.i?. sand possessing in great per- 

 fection the physical conditions necessary for the produc- 

 tion of music — will be musical in receptacles of whatever 

 composition or form, though in some of these it emits 

 notes " under protest" only.^ 



Those sands which are of the Studland Bay type — i.e. 

 having the necessary physical conditions less perfectly 

 developed, and are usually mute except in situ — will emit 

 music only in vessels possessing hard and glazed interiors, 

 and, as a rule, of a certain form ; while some of the more 

 " sulky" types of sand not only need a vessel of hard and 

 glazed interior, and definite form, but also require a box, 

 or small pedestal of wood (which I call a "coaxer"), on 

 which this vessel must stand before the notes emitted 

 become audible. A " sulky " sand was rendered far 

 more musical by being sifted, washed, and boiled, giving 

 out, after this treatment, notes without the aid of the 

 " coaxer." ^ 



After discovering what could be done with such simple 

 apparatus, it occurred to me to try, under similar condi- 

 tions, some of my abandoned sands — those unmusical 

 sands that had been, during a period of four or five years, 

 treated unsuccessfully for music. 



One sand (an iron-sand composed of more or less 

 polished grains, quartz, and much dust formed of denser 

 minerals) gave a very hopeful "swish " (explained in my 

 paper of 1888) in a certain porcelain vessel, and from 

 this— by (i) sifting in sieves, to eliminate the fine material, 

 and to insure uniformity in size of grain ; (2) rolling down 

 an inclined plane of frosted glass, to separate the rounded 

 grains from the angular quartz ; and (3) boiling in dilute 

 hydrochloric acid, to cleanse the surfaces — I succeeded in 

 producing a sand that, in certain glazed vessels, emits 

 musical notes as clear as those emitted from any of my 



' When musical rands sound " under protest " they give out high, shrill 

 notes. The small' st quantity of musical sand from which I can obtain a 

 true note is a thimbleful of the Eigg sand. Small quantitie> emit notes of a 

 high pitch. 



. ^ Many musical sands are quickly " killed " by constant striking, bscause 

 the harder minerals present abrade the softer as they rub together, and this 

 forms a fine dust. 



musical sands but that of Eigg. This sand gives F in 

 a/tissimo, hut it very soon becomes "killed" because of 

 the fine dust and loss of polish that is the inevitable 

 result of the attrition of the grains. There remains but 

 one thing to be done, and that is to produce a sand which, 

 like that of Eigg, will be musical in almost any receptacle, 

 and 1 have reason now to think that this will not be very 

 difficult. 



It has not been possible here to record more than the 

 merest outline of what has been done, or to give instances 

 of the interesting capriciousness of these sands ; it should 

 be understood, however, that no ordinary beach or cliff 

 sand has the slightest inclination to " sing" under any of 

 the "coaxing" methods at present known to me. 



Cecil Carus-Wilson. 



NOTES. 



Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, who previously gave a negative 

 answer to the request made by the EKecutive Committee of the 

 British Institute of Preventive Medicine, having reconsidered his 

 decision, has now granted the required license to register the 

 Institution as a Limited Liability Company, with the o;iiission of 

 the word " Limited." The license, however, is not to be con- 

 strued as expressing approval by the President of the Board of 

 Trade of experiments on animals, or in any way affecting the 

 exercise by the Secretary of State of his discretionary powers 

 to grant a vivisection license to the proposed Institute. The 

 articles of association have been signed, and the Institute is 

 now duly registered. The following gentlemen have already 

 expressed their willingness to serve on the Council : Sir Joseph 

 Lister, Chairman, Sir Charles A. Cameron, Mr. Watson 

 Cheyne, Prof. Michael Foster, Prof. Greenfield, Prof. Victor 

 Horsley, Sir William Roberts, Sir Henry Roscoe, Prof. Roy, 

 Prof. Burdon- Sanderson, Dr. Pye-Smith. Dr. Armand Rufifer, 

 of 19 Iddesleigh Mansions, Westminster, S.W., will act as 

 honorary secretary until the first meeting of the Council. 



The graduation ceremony at the close of the summer session 

 of the University of Edinburgh was held on Monday. Principal 

 Sir William Muir, Vice-Chancellor, presided. Prof. Kirk- 

 patrick presented for the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws 

 Colonel Sir Colin Campbell Scott Moncrieff, K. CM. G., C.S.I. , 

 R.E., remarking that, through his work as chief officer of the 

 irrigation works of the Nile, it could be said that Sir Colin had 

 created a greater and an infinitely freer, happier, and more 

 prosperous Egypt than it was before. As a gallant officer, a 

 distinguished man of science, a statesman of high merit, and, 

 above all, as a benefactor of his fellow-creatures, Sir Colin was 

 pre-eminently worthy of the highest of their academic honours. 

 The honorary degree of Doctor of Law was then conferred in 

 absenlid on Prof. Simon Newcomb, Washington. 



Sir Joseph Favrer has been elected a Corresponding Mem- 

 ber of the Royal Italian Society of Hygiene. Sir Joseph has 

 also been promoted from the grade of Foreign Corresponding 

 Member to that of Foreign Associate of the French Academy of 

 Medicine. 



Prof. DU Bois-Reymond, the distinguished physiologist of 

 Berlin, has been awarded the Gold Medal for Science. 



Mr. J. E. Keeler has been elected Professor of Astro- 

 physics in the Western University of Pennsylvania, and Director 

 of the Allegheny Observatory. Mr. F. W. Very is associated 

 with him as Adjunct Professor of Astronomy. It is expected 

 that the Observatory will continue its researches on important 

 problems in the domain of astro-physics. 



It is stated that Siam, following the example of Japan, is 

 commencing to Europeanize her institutions. The founding of 



NO. IT 36, VOL. 44] 



