3^8 



NATURE 



[pEliRUARY 6, 1896 



{circa 650-55 A.P.). issued under the reign of the third emperor 

 of the Tang. As these " Laws," however, are nowadays lost,' 

 I had but little hope to investigate further the matter. How- 

 ever, elsewhere a passage has lately been found, giving con- 

 firmation to my view that the Chinese usage of the finger-prints 

 for identification was current in the time of the same dynasty 

 of Tang. 



In the Arabian " Relation des Voyages" (translated by 

 Reinaud, Paris, 1845, pp. 42-43), the merchant Sulaiman, who 

 made several voyages to China and India in the middle of the 

 ninth century a.d. (the time in which the above-mentioned 

 dynasty in China was going to decline), tells us as follows : 

 " Les Chinois respectent la justice dans leurs transactions et 

 dans les actes judiciaires. Si un homme prete une sonime 

 d'argent a quelqu'un, il ecrit une billet a ce sujet ; I'em- 

 prunteur, a son tour, ecrit un billet, qu'il marque avec deux 

 de ses doi'gts r^unis, le doigt du niilieu ei P index.-. On met 

 ensemble les deux billets. On lesplie I'un avec I'autre, on ecrit 

 quelques caracteres sur I'endroit qui les separe, en suite, on les 

 deplie et on remet au preteur le billet par lequel I'emprunteur 

 reconnaissait sa ditte. Si, plus tard, I'emprunteur nie sa dette, 

 on lui dit : ' Apport le billet du preteur.' Si I'emprunteur 

 pretend n'avoir point de billet, qu'il nie avoir ecrit un billet 

 accompages de sa signature et de sa marque, et que son billet 

 ait peri, on dit a I'emprunteur qui nie la ditte ; 'Declare par 

 ecrit que cette ditte ne te concerne pas ; mais, si, de son cote, 

 le creancier vient a prouver ce que tu nies, tu recevras vingt 

 coups de baton sur le dos, et payeras une amende de vingt mille 

 (fakkoudj) de pieces de cuivres.' " 



February 3. Kumagusu Minakata. 



Earthquake of January 22. 



On the morning of January 22 a shock of earthquake was felt 

 throughout Northern Switzerland, and at many places in 

 Southern Germany from Ulm to Strassburg. At Basel the shock 

 was strong enough to awaken many persons, and a crackling 

 noise was heard by almost all observers. The direction of the 

 shock appears to have been from north-east to south-west. The 

 seismometer at the Bernoullianum Observatory indicated 

 46min. i6sec. after midnight (mean European time). Accord- 

 ing to newspaper reports, the shock was more severely felt in 

 the neighbourhood of Freiburg than here. 



A very slight shock occurred also on January i, 6h. 38m. 54s. 

 in the morning. Albert Riggenbach. 



Basel. 



MAGNETIC INFLUENCE OF THE 

 PLANETS.-^ 



A N attempt to discover a direct magnetic influence 

 -^^ emanating from the planets is described in " Mag- 

 netismus der Planeten," by Ernst Leyst. For this pur- 

 pose the author makes use of the observations taken at 

 St. Petersburg and Pawlowsk during the years 1873- 

 1889, and calculates the average magnetic declina- 

 tion for the days at which the planets are at their 

 greatest and least distance from the earth ; also for those 

 days at which the planets are at their greatest eastern 

 and western elongation. The numbers so obtained show 

 certain regularities, which are considered sufficiently 

 marked to indicate a true effect of the planetary con- 

 figurations. According to the tables given, the declination 

 is increased by o'2 minutes of arc when Venus is nearest, 



1 K. Konakamura in " Nipon Rikishi Hyorin," Tokyo, 1893, vol. vi. 

 p. 24. 



2 In a translation by E. Renaudot (Paris, 1718, p. 33), and thence in 

 Pinkerton's " Collection," London, i8ii, vol. vii. p. 192, this sentence is 

 rendered thus : " When any person commences a suit against another, he 

 sets down his claim in writing, and the defendant writes down his defence, 

 which he signs, and holds between his fingers." Here no mention is made 

 of finger-marks ; instead of it a meaningless clause is given. Reinaud says 

 Renaudot committed errors in his version (" Introduction," p. ii.), and the 

 present case is apparently one. 



• 3 "Uberden Magnetismus der Planeten," von Ernst Leyst. (" Reper- 

 torium fiir Meteorologie," vol. xvii. No. i. St. Petersburg, 189+.) 



and is diminished by o''32 when it is furthest away. 

 Mercury acts in the opposite direction, diminishing the 

 declination by o'"29 when it is nearest, and increasing it by 

 o'"2o when it is furthest. The backbone of an inquiry 

 like this ought necessarily to be found in a careful 

 discussion as to how far an accidental combination of 

 figures could account for the apparent effect. The 

 magnetic declination is subject to so many changes which 

 to us seem accidental, that if we take a certain num- 

 ber out of the whole series of daily averages, they must 

 necessarily show deviations. The whole question then 

 turns on the discussion whether the effects found by Mr. 

 Leyst are sufficiently large and regular to be considered 

 as real. This part of the subject is, unfortunately, treated 

 in an insufficient manner, and, for this reason, the author 

 has not in my opinion made out his case. 



We may, however, from Mr. Leyst's numbers, draw the 

 conclusion that even if the effect is a real one, it cannot, 

 as the author considers, be due to an ordinary magnetic 

 force depending in its magnitude on the distance of the 

 planets. Within a few days of conjunction that distance 

 does not vary appreciably, and Mr. Leyst should therefore 

 get more trustworthy results by taking account not only 

 of the days of conjunction, but of a group of days imme- 

 diately surrounding the configurations. The necessary data 

 are supplied by Mr. Leyst, and it appears that taking Mer- 

 cury, for instance, the diminution of declination is reduced 

 from o'"29 to o'"2o when the preceding and following days 

 are taken into account ; while when five days altogether are 

 considered, there is a further reduction of the effect to o''i 5, 

 and when a month is taken, in the middle of which the 

 inferior conjunction lies, there is only a deviation of o''o8 

 from the average declination. The other planets show 

 the same fact. The average effect of all the planets 

 amounts too'*33, which is reduced to o'"26, o''i7, and o'"o8 

 when the three days, five days, and the month nearest to 

 conjunction are taken into calculation. If the effect is a 

 real one, it must be due to some other cause than an 

 ordinary magnetic action, for it practically vanishes two 

 days before or after conjunctions, when there is very little 

 change in the relative positions of sun, planet, and earth. 

 Mr. Leyst himself draws attention to the rapid dimi- 

 nution of the supposed planetary influence within a few- 

 days of conjunction, but considers it to be an argument 

 in favour of his view. 



The amplitude of the diurnal variation is discussed ; 

 and here, of course, also a planetary effect is found, 

 which, curiously enough, is greater for Neptune and 

 Uranus than for Venus and Mercury. The "probable 

 error" of the result is considered, and is calculated to 

 exceed the supposed effect in the case of Mercury, Mars 

 and Saturn, and to amount to about two-thirds of the 

 effect in the case of Venus, Uranus and Neptune. 

 The author draws the conclusion that the planetary 

 influence is " certain " for the three latter planets and 

 Jupiter. 



It is hardly necessary to follow the author further in 

 the complicated results he deduces, by separating what 

 he calls the "primary" and "secondary" extremes, the 

 primary and secondary amplitudes, and the irregular and 

 periodic part of the diurnal variation ; the primary and 

 secondary quantities being affected in opposite directions 

 by the mischievous Mercury. In fairness to the author, 

 it must be stated that some of the effects of that planet 

 are found to be in the same direction when the whole period 

 ■of fifty synodic revolutions is divided into two, which 

 are separately considered. Nevertheless, a careful perusal 

 of Mr. Leyst's work leads to the conclusion that he has 

 not proved his case. Among the many improbabili-' 

 ties of magnetic influences which are hanging over 

 us, that of a planetary effect may for the present be' 

 set aside. 



Arthur Schuster. 



NO. 137 I, VOL. 53] 



