August 13, 1903] 



NATURE 



349 



hedron forms a kind of keel. No details as to the 

 heights attainable are given. The most convenient 

 place for the attachment of the flying end is said to 

 be the extreme point of the bow. If the cord is attached 

 to points successively further back on the keel, the fly- 

 ing end makes a greater and greater angle with the 

 horizon, and the kite flies more nearly overhead; but 

 it is not advisable to carry the point of attachment as 

 far back as the middle of the keel. A good place for 

 high flights is a point half way between the bow and 

 the middle of the keel. 



" Tetrahedral kites combine in a marked degree the 

 qualities of strength, lightness, and steady flight; but 

 further experiments are required before deciding that 

 this form is the best for a kite or that winged cells 

 without horizontal aeroplanes constitute the best 

 arrangement of aero-surfaces. 



"The tetrahedral principle enables us to construct 

 out of light materials solid frameworks of almost any 

 desired form, and the resulting structures are admir- 

 ably adapted for the support of aero-surfaces of any 

 desired kind, size, or shape." 



The diagrams illustrating the article show various 

 examples of the formation of complex kites from tetra- 

 hedral cells. One form suggested by Prof. Langley's 

 aerodrome, but different in construction and appear- 

 ance, is shown in Fig. 4, reproduced from an illustra- 

 tion in the article. That some of these complex kites 

 are on a very large scale is evident from a case cited, 

 in which an aerodrome kite, which was struck by a 

 squall before it was let go, lifted two men off their 

 feet, and subsequently broke its flying cord, a Manila 

 rope of three-eighths inch diameter. 



The simplicity of the construction of the cells, and 

 the obvious possibilities of their combination, lend an 

 additional fascination to a subject which is already full 

 of interest. 



BIBLE AND BABEL. 



IN the number of the Johns Hopkins University 

 Circulars for June (vol. xxii. No. 163), Prof. 

 Paul Haupt has published an article entitled " Bible 

 and Babel," referring to the somewhat heated con- 

 troversy on Babel and the Bible which has raged 

 recently in Germany, with which our readers are prob- 

 ably familiar. The line which he takes up is briefly 

 that all the heterodox views which were expressed by 

 Prof. F. Delitzsch in his famous lecture delivered in the 

 august presence of the German Emperor had already 

 been promulgated by himself. Prof. Haupt, at various 

 periods during the last twenty-four years. Prof. 

 Haupt claims to have made correct deductions in re- 

 spect of the origins of the Biblical accounts of the Crea- 

 tion, the Deluge, &c., long before Prof. Delitzsch 's 

 lecture was delivered, but it must be clearly pointed 

 out that, although such may be the case, he was not 

 the first, even twenty-four years ago, to prove that the 

 narratives usually accredited to Moses are merely 

 modified recensions which we owe to the prophets of 

 the captivity in Babylon. Whatever credit is due either 

 to Paul Haupt or 'Prof. Delitzsch in this matter, it 

 must never be forgotten that all important statements 

 made by them with regard to the Creation and Deluge 

 tablets are derived from the works, writings, and oral 

 remarks which were made by the late General Sir 

 Henry Rawlinson, G.C.B., and the late Mr. George 

 Smith, of the British Museum. Both Profs. Delitzsch 

 and Haupt are skilled elaborators, but in our opinion 

 they are not discoverers, and certainly neither of 

 them can be placed side by side with such publishers 

 and translators of text as the two famous Englishmen 

 we have already mentioned. Still less can either be 

 regarded as the author of the heterodox views and 

 statements which so thoroughly shocked His Majesty 

 the German Emperor. 



NO. 1763, VOL. 68] 



notes: 



In connection with the tenth meeting of the Australasian 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, to be held at 

 Dunedin next January, particulars of which we gave in 

 our issue for May 28 (p. 85), we learn from the Otago 

 Daily Times that the colonial Government is rendering the 

 Association material assistance. The New Zealand 

 honorary secretary, Mr. G. M. Thomson, has received from 

 Sir J. G. Ward, Colonial Secretary, a letter which states 

 that the Government will assist the association in the 

 following respects: — (i) A sum of 500/. will be placed on 

 th-j Estimates of the present year towards the expenses 

 of the January meeting; (2) the Government printer will 

 be instructed to do all printing required by the association 

 free of cost to the association; (3) railway passes will be 

 issued to visiting members of the association ; and (4) any 

 assistance that it may be in the power of the permanent 

 departments of the Government service to render to the 

 association will be readily afforded on application being 

 made. 



An entire skull (partially restored) of the remarkable 

 Egyptian Eocene mammal Arsinotherium zitteli is now 

 exhibited in the central hall of the Natural History Museum. 

 This magnificent specimen was obtained by Dr. C. W. 

 Andrews during his last trip to the Fayum district, and has 

 been cleaned and restored in the museum. Behind the 

 enormous nasal horns are placed a pair of quite small horns, 

 recalling the rudimentary back-horns of the giraffe. The 

 dentition, although including a full series of incisors and 

 canines, recalls that of the Proboscidea. It is hoped that 

 the skull of the Siberian rhinoceros {Rhinoceros antiqui- 

 tatis) recently dug up in Salisbury Square, B.C., may 

 ultimately find a home in the museum, since it is by far the 

 finest example hitherto discovered in this country. 



At an extraordinary general meeting of the members 

 of the Jenner Institute of Preventive Medicine, held on 

 Friday last, the resolution recently passed on July 22 to 

 alter the name of the institute to " The Lister Institute 

 of Preventive Medicine " was unanimously confirmed. 



The fourteenth annual general meeting of the Institution 

 of Mining Engineers will be held on Wednesday, September 

 2, in the University College, Nottingham. 



The Amsterdam Academy of Sciences has awarded its 

 Buis-Ballot medal, given once in ten years, to Prof. Richard 

 Assmann and Dr. Arthur Berson, of the Aeronautic Insti- 

 tute at Tegel, near Berlin. 



Reuter states that a scientific expedition, to explore the 

 northern parts of the Pacific Ocean, will leave Stockholm 

 next April by railway for Port Arthur by way of Siberia. 

 .\t Port Arthur the expedition will embark on a ship under 

 the leadership of M. Kolthoff, who will be accompanied 

 by five or six other Swedish naturalists. 



Sir Trevor Lawrence, president of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, has announced that Sir Thomas Hanbury, 

 K.C.V.O., has purchased for presentation to the society 

 the estate and garden of the late Mr. G. F. Wilson, F.R.S., 

 at Wisley, near Woking. The total area of the estate is 

 60 acres. 



At the meeting of the Wilts County Council on August 4, 

 a letter was read from Sir Edmund Antrobus, the owner of 

 Stonehenge, to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, M.P. (chairman 

 of the council), in which Sir E. Antrobus said he was willing 

 to sell Stonehenge, and eight acres of land surrounding it, to 

 the nation for the sum of 50,000/. The council decided to 

 send the letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 



