NA TURE 



[November 28, 1895 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



\The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return^ or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous comtnunications. ] 



Remarkable Sounds. 

 In a book that was popular about fifty years ago, entitled 

 " Journal of a Naturalist," the author says that the purely 

 rural, little noticed, and, indeed, local occurrence, called by the 

 country people " hummings in the air," was annually to be heard 

 in fields near his dwelling. " About the middle of the day, 

 perhaps from twelve o'clock till two, on a few calm sultry days 

 in ]\\\y, we occasionally hear, when in particular places, the 

 humming of apparently a large swarm of bees. It is generally 

 in some spacious open spot that this murmuring first attracts our 

 attention. As we move onwards the sound becomes fainter, 

 and by degrees is no longer audible." The sound is attributed 

 to insects, although they are invisible. 



A writer in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal objects to 

 this sound being attributed to insects, first because the fact is 

 stated as being local and partial, heard only in one or two fields, 

 at particular times of the year when the air is calm and sultry. 

 He has often heard a similar humming in a thick wood, when 

 the air is calm, and has diligently searched for insects, but in no 

 case was able to detect them in numbers sufficient to account for 

 the sound. 



The same writer refers to remarkable sounds heard in a range 

 of hills in Cheshire. When the wind is easterly, and nearly 

 calm on the flats, a hollow moaning sound is heard, popularly 

 termed the " soughing of the wind," which Sir Walter Scott, in 

 his glossary to " Guy Mannering," interprets as a hollow blast 

 or whisper. The explanation seems to be that a breeze, not 

 perceptible in the flat country, sweeps from the summit of the 

 hills, and acts the part of a blower on the sinuosities or hollows, 

 which thus respond to the draught of air like enormous organ- 

 pipes, and become for the time wind instruments on a gigantic 

 scale. ^ 



The greater intensity of sounds by night is ascribed by Hum- 

 boldt to the presence of the sun acting on their propagation, by 

 opposing them with currents of air of diff"erent density, and 

 partial undulations of the atmosphere, caused by unequally 

 heating dift"erent parts of the earth. In these cases, where the 

 air suddenly changes in density, the vibrations which produce 

 the sounds are divided into two waves, and a sort of acoustic 

 mirage is produced in the same manner as a luminous mirage 

 takes place from a similar cause. But there are, probably, 

 other causes connected with the presence or absence, excess or 

 diminution of solar heat, of moisture, &c., which may operate 

 both in the increase or continuance of sound ; while many 

 peculiarities of place or season may create or modify certain 

 sounds, which being local, admit only of special explanation. 



The distances to which sounds sometimes travel are remark- 

 able. Dr. Clarke, the traveller, states that, while lOO miles 

 irom the Egyptian coast, he heard firing therefrom, the air being j 

 very still at the time. Dr. Arnott mentions a case in which 

 bells were heard at a similar distance by a ship ofi" the coast of 

 Brazil. 



In Madame de Sevigne's gardens at Les Roches, near the 

 town of \'itre, details have been given of an echo of so wonder- 

 fully multiplied a character, that rather than describe them, I 

 prefer to ask for further information. 



In another book, popular half a century ago, namely, " Forest 

 Scenes," by Major Head, there is a description of sounds 

 emitted by a sheet of ice fifteen or sixteen square miles in area, 

 and three feet thick, when acted on by the wind. "A dreary 

 undulating sound wandered from point to point, perplexing the 

 mind to imagine whence it came, or whither it went, and 

 whether aerial or subterranean, sometimes like low moaning, 

 then swelling into a deep-toned note, as produced by some 

 reolian instrument." C. Tomlinson. 



Highgate, N. 



The Story of the " Wandering Jew." 

 So far as my scanty reading goes, I have never met with 

 a book on the subject of the "Wandering Jew" making 

 mention of an Indian tale in this connection, and I 



1 In the Annates dc Chiinie ci de Physique for 1840 is a valuable paper, by 

 RI. Fournet, on " Hill and Valley Breezes." 



therefore deem it more or less useful to call attention of the 

 folk-lorists to the following Buddhist narrative, for which I 

 have to thank Mr. Seisaku Murayama, an assiduous Pali scholar 

 in Japan, who was kind enough to make a journey in my behalf 

 with the sole intention of personal examination of the Chinese 

 text. The passage occurs in "Tsah-ohan-King" (Sawyuktagama- 

 sutra, translated by Ckiwabhadra, circa a.d 435-443), printed 

 in P"uh-chau, 1609, torn, xxiii. fol. 30, and may be translated 

 thus : — [This is a portion of an answer of Pin-tau-lu ( = Piwdola 

 Bharadva^ ?) to the question of the King .\s'6ka.] " And further^ 

 when the Buddha was staying in the kingdom of S'ravasti with 

 the five hundred arhats, the daughter of the .Sresh///in 

 Anathapi;/dada happened to live in the kingdom of Fu-lau-na- 

 poh-to-na (= Pundara-varddhana?), and invited thither the 

 Buddha and the monks. All other monks then, went gliding 

 through the air ; but I, exerting my supernatural energy, held 

 up a huge mount and there went. Then the Buddha accused me 

 with these words : ' Wherefore do you play such a miracle ? 

 for which offence I now punish you with eternal existence in 

 this world, incapable of the reach to Nirva«a, thus to guard my 

 doctrine against its destruction.' " KuMAraisu Minakata. 

 15 Blithfield Street, Kensington, W., November 22. 



Dr, Baur and the Galapagos. 



In my article on Dr. Baur's botanical collections from the 

 Galapagos (Nature, vol. Hi. p. 623), I stated that he was attached 

 to the U.S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross. This was an 

 error. Dr. Baur's trip was quite independent of Government 

 aid, and was accomplished mainly through the liberality of two 

 or three private gentlemen. So far as I can learn, there are 

 no botanical results worth mentioning of the United States 

 Government expedition. 



I may add that Dr. Baur informs me that he is planning 

 another visit to the Galapagos group, when he hopes to explore 

 the Revilla Gigedos, Clipperton, Cocos, and Malpelo Islands j 

 but that it cannot be carried out for two or three years to come. 

 The natural history of all these islands is still very imperfectly 

 known. The naturalist of the expedition of H.M.S. Sulphur 

 brought home specimens from Cocos Island, about fifty years 

 ago, of a dozen or more flowering plants, indicating no special 

 insular differentiation from common tropical American types. 



W. BOTTING HeMSLEY. 



A Bright Meteor. 



We have received the following letter through Mr. R. H 

 Scott, F.R.S., Secretary of the Meteorological Council : — 



On returning home from sending you my sunshine telegram, 

 this evening (about 7 p.m.) I witnessed the most superb meteor 

 of my lifetime. The best conception I can give of it is to ask 

 you to imagine a gigantic iron bar stretching over, I should say, 

 one-eighth of the whole sky, and glowing as the wire glows in 

 the incandescent lamp. It was almost at the zenith, and came 

 from the east-north-east to the west-south-west. The glow 

 remained for certainly one second, if not more time, and then 

 slowly changed through all the colours of the spectrum, before 

 finally disappearing. I should imagine it was seen over a large 

 extent, and more must be heard of it. I assure you I esteem 

 myself most fortunate to have witnessed a spectacle more 

 magnificent than any before observed by me, although I wit- 

 nessed the display of November meteors in 1866. 



Eastbourne, November 22. R. She\vari>. 



A Long Drought. 



In connection with Briickner's prediction of a dry period cijl- 

 minating at this time, and the letter of Prof. J. P. O'Reilly in 

 Nature of October 17, the following account of a general 

 drought from a Boston newspaper of November 11, may prove 

 of interest. H. Helm Clayton. 



Blue Hill Observatory, November 12. 



" The long drought, which has caused so much inconvenience 

 and damage this fall, seems to have prevailed all round the world, 

 if not in every part of it. Europe has experienced it almost 

 equally with this country, and in Australia it has been more 

 severe than here. So great was the distress in New South 

 Wales, that the Government appointed a Sunday in September as 

 a day of prayer for rain, and special services in accord with the 

 proclamation were held in all the churches of every denomination 

 in Sydney and throughout the province. The drought occurred 

 in the Antipodean spring, and greatly retarded planting opera- 

 tions, as well as doing great general damage. In many district? 



NO. I 36 1, VOL. 53] 



