27 C. 



DISCOVERY 



Aggni^iilioii aiui i-iow m ^miiis : Judu; liic riionis of an 

 cxpcrimcnlal study of the Micro-structure and 

 Physical Properties of Solids in various states 

 of Aggregation, igoo-1921. By Sir George 

 Beilby. i'.R.S. (Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 20s.) 



The Physical Properties of Colloidal Solutions. By 

 E. F. Burton. B.A., Ph.D. (Longmans, Green & 

 Co. Second Ldition, 12s. 6d.) 



Biological Chemistry. By Prof. H. E. Ko.\i-, ^LD.. 

 D.Sc. etc. (Mcthuen & Co., Ltd., lo.s. hd.) 



Miscellanea 



To the Editor of Discoverv 

 Dear Sir, 



In his letter to yoii last month Mr. Williams asked 

 where the elements coronium and nebulium found in the 

 sun figure in the list of chemical elements. The present 

 arrangement of elements in the periodic system suggests 

 that all light elements heavier than hydrogen have been 

 discovered, and if nebulium and coronium prove to be 

 genuine new elements, not lighter than hydrogen, then 

 this arrangement is less perfect than it appears to be at 

 present. Two things, however, should not be lost sight 

 of : (i) as neither coronium nor nebulium are found on 

 the earth, knowledge of them is scanty ; and (2) one or 

 both of these elements may be lighter than hydrogen or 

 may be " isotopes " of hydrogen, helium, or some light 

 element. If either of the alternatives of {2) proves correct, 

 the difficulty Mr. Williams mentioned is removed. It 

 may be mentioned that " isotopes " both of hydrogen and 

 helium exist. Each has an atomic weight of three. They 

 are, of course, distinctly different gases. 



Oxford, A. S. Russell. 



Septetnher 10, 1921. 



***** 



In our September issue we referred to a note on the 

 " Tudor-Hart Theory of Colour " that had appeared in 

 the July Psyche (the new form of the Psychic Research 

 Quarterly). It touched on ground where the account 

 of " Revolutionary Movements in Modern Painting " 

 in our August issue made a halt, and we quote a portion of 

 it here for its interesting suggestiveness : " The analogy 

 (between Colour and Sound), which has appealed to many 

 students ever since the days of Newton, depends, first, on a 

 precise standardisation of colour . . . and, second, on the 

 correct correlation of the variables which determine sound 

 and colour respectively. Each can vary in three waj^s : 

 Sound in respect to Pitch, Loudness, and Quality, and 

 Colour with regard to Luminosity (brightness). Saturation 

 (purity), and Hue (colour, e.g. red, blue, green, yellow, 

 etc.). 



" Mr. Tudor-Hart finds, as a result of laborious re- 

 searches extending over many years, that if these variables 

 are once rightly related to one another (luminosity to pitch, 

 saturation to loudness, and hue to quality), it is possible 

 to transpose from musical harmony into colour harmony 

 without change. That is to say, the colour analogue of a 

 harmonious musical chord will also be harmonious and 



vice versa. Mureover, which is even more ri-niarkablc 

 perhaps, the emotional effects produced by the colour 

 analogue will be equivalent to those priKluced by the 

 musical chord itself. 



" This discovery, into the ramifications of which it is 

 not possible to enter here, opens the way to a new 

 treatment of colour problems. It makes possible the 

 production (jf a standardised colour notation whereby 

 all who are concerned with the handling of colour may 

 refer unambiguously to just that hue, saturation, and 

 luminosity which they have in mind. The value of such 

 an advance for practical work can hardly be over-em- 

 phasised, for the colourist will at last be as favourably 

 placed as the musician with regard to technique and the 

 manipulation of his medium ; and the vague, even when 

 correct, intuitions of artists will be capable of fixation in 

 determinate form, in the same fashion as are the in- 

 spirations of musical composers. 



" This ideal may still be remote, but Mr. Tudor-Hart's 

 work has unquestionably done more than that of any 

 contemporary student to indicate how it may be attained." 

 ***** 



A novelist of the Jack London type should find a wealth 

 of " copy " at the small port of Tromso, which lies on one 

 of the northerly fiords of Norway. From a description 

 of it that a member of the Oxford University Expedition 

 to Spitsbergen, which has now returned to this country, 

 gave us the other day, it resembles nothing so much as 

 Dawson City during the days of the Klondyke goldrush. 

 Tromso nowadays acts as the base for nearly every " coal " 

 venture in Spitsbergen. Speculators, mining engineers, 

 explorers, and " hangers-on " of every European 

 nationality jostle each other in its streets, Danes and 

 Scotchmen are very prevalent, but most conspicuous are 

 the inevitable Russian Jews. Some of the latter make 

 hundreds of thousands of pounds over buying and selling 

 coal claims, and appear to spend a weird nomadic 

 existence between the wilds of Spitsbergen and the 

 pleasures of Paris. Everyone is suspicious of everyone 

 else and, for the whole of the short period that our friend 

 spent there, he was pestered with questions by people who 

 could not believe that he was proceeding to Spitsbergen 

 merely for scientific research ! Before the end of the 

 year we hope to publish an illustrated summary of the 

 work carried out by the expedition. 



***** 



A\'e regret that news of the Mount Everest Expedition 

 sent recently to The Times by Col. Howard Bury, who is 

 in command, is not hopeful. It has been found that an 

 ascent from the northern or north-western side is not 

 practicable, and the southern side seems equally hopeless 

 because of the high precipices which flank it. The expedi- 

 tion has consequently moved its base to the eastern side, 

 and pitched camp at a spot in the Arun valley 12,300 

 feet high. On .\ugust 2 the exploration of the eastern 

 approaches was begun, but, as the last news was dis- 

 patched two days later, it is not yet known with what 

 success. Nine thousand miles of new country have already 

 been mapped by the party. 



