204 



NATURE 



[May 4, 191 6 



history than many of his contemporaries. An article 

 in the Times of May 2 shows that he was familiar 

 with the characteristics and habits of many birds, and 

 the accuracy of his references to them would do credit 

 to a modern field naturalist. The greatness of Shake- 

 speare, however, lies not so much in the fact that he 

 reflected in his works the best knowledge of his time, 

 which is more than can be said of most writers to-day, 

 but that he enriched and defined with thought what 

 most people feel, and perceived in Nature resemblances 

 and meanings which are hidden to the ordinary mind. 

 In these respects, poetry is independent of knowledge, 

 which does not, how-ever, destroy the magic and the 

 mystery upon which the imaginative mind can play, but 

 transfers them to higher planes. For Shakespeare's 

 knowledge and his power to set in vibration every 

 chord of the human spirit, we join this week in 

 reverent admiration with lovers of good literature 

 throughout the Empire. 



The special correspondent of the Times at Amster- 

 dam reports that the change of the legal time-standard 

 in conformity with the daylight saving scheme came 

 into force in Holland on May i without any appre- 

 ciable disturbance of the daily life of the community. 

 All clocks w'ere put forward one hour at midnight on 

 Sunday; therefore, instead of i o'clock, 2 o'clock was 

 struck one hour after midnight. This " summer 

 time" will be used until October i. It is stated that 

 there has been little opposition to the change except 

 among Frisian farmers and dairymen, who, for prac- 

 tical reasons connected with haymaking and milking, 

 desire exemption from observance of the new time. 

 The Times correspondent adds that calendars giving 

 the times of the rising and setting of the sun neces- 

 sarily require readjustment to the altered time. He 

 does not indicate, however, how this change is to be 

 effected ; that is to say, whether the calendars are to 

 show. astronomical occurrences, such as times of sun- 

 rise, sunset, moonrise, tides, and so on, according to 

 one time-standard in summer and another in winter. 

 In legalising the daylight saving system, Holland has 

 followed. Germany and Austria, which introduced it 

 by administrative decree on May i. A Bill with the 

 same object has been passed by the French Chamber 

 of Deputies with the support of the Government, and 

 is now before the Senate ; and Sir Henry Norman has 

 handed in the following notice of motion at the House 

 of Commons: — "That, in view especially of the 

 economy in fuel and its transport that would be- 

 effected by shortening the hours of artificial lighting, 

 this House would welcome a measure for the advance- 

 ment of clock time by one hour during the summer 

 months of this year." 



A LETTER of Sir Lauder Brunton to the Lancet of 

 April 3, 1915, anticipates to some extent the recom- 

 mendations contained in the memorandum on " Indus- 

 trial Fatigue and its Causes," issued by the Health of 

 Munition Workers' Committee, and described in our 

 issue of April 20 last (p. 162). Sir Lauder Brunton 

 refers to an experiment made many years ago by the 

 late Mr. Lindsay Russell, Surveyor-General of 

 Canada, and Prof. Pearce when surveying the 

 boundary-line between the United States and Canada. 

 From the force of circumstances it was sometimes 

 necessary to work the men for seven days a week, and 

 several weeks at a time. On other occasions, when 

 there was no necessity for such extreme exertion, the 

 men were only worked six days a week, and allowed 

 to rest completely on the seventh day. It was possible 

 to calculate exactly the amount of every man's daily 

 work in foot-pounds. On reckoning it up it was 

 found that the number of foot-pounds done by the 

 men working six days a week was almost the same 



NO. 2427, VOL. 97] 



as when they worked seven days a week. Sir Lauder 

 Brunton expresses the opinion that in all probability 

 if munition workers work at their full capacity for six 

 days it will be better both for them and the work 

 they turn out that they should rest on the seventh. 



We are glad to note that the Reale Accademia 

 dei Lincei of Rome is taking up the question of the 

 maintenance of the zoological stations at Naples and 

 Messina, and that the Italian Government is being 

 asked to provide the means for continuing the work 

 of these institutions. 



At the ordinary scientific meeting of the Chemical 

 Society, to be held at Burlington House on Thursday, 

 May 18, at 8 p.m., thp last of the three lectures 

 arranged for this session will be delivered by Prof. F. 

 Gowland Hopkins, F.R.S., who has chosen as his sub- 

 ject, " Newer Standpoints in the Chemical Study of 

 Nutrition." 



Mr. Clifford C. Paterson, a principal assistant 

 in the physics department of the National Physical 

 Laboratorj', is to join the Osram-Robertson Lamp 

 Works, Ltd., as director of laboratories for research 

 and technical manufacturing purposes. The arrange- 

 ment will commence at the conclusion of the war or 

 before that date if possible. 



A SHORT account of the career of the late Mr. Eras- 

 mus Darwin Leavitt, who died on March 11, appears 

 in Engineering for April 28. Mr. Leavitt was a 

 well-known American engineer, and was one of the 

 pioneers who developed the use of high steam pres- 

 sures in stationary engines in the United States. He 

 was one of the founders of the American Society of 

 Mechanical Engineers, and was elected president in 

 1883. 



The death of Mr. John Tweedy is announced in 

 Engineering for April 28. As vice-chairman of Messrs. 

 Swan and Hunter, the well-known Tyne shipbuilders, 

 he was one of the leaders in the design of high-speed 

 merchant craft. One of the notable services which he 

 rendered w^as connected with the balancing of the 

 engines, and his name will be remembered in connec- 

 tion with the Yarro\v-Schlick-Tweed\- system of 

 balancing. He was elected president of the North-East 

 Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in j 

 igo2, and for some time served on Lloyd's technical 

 committee. I 



The report for the year ending June 30, 1915, of 

 the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution contains 

 some interesting facts as to the amount of money tht 

 institution has at its disposal for the assistance ot 

 scientific research and exploration and for general 

 administration. Its total permanent fund amounts to 

 205,920!. The income of the institution during the 

 year dealt with was 22,408?. With the balance of 

 6112Z. on July I, 1914, the total resources for the year 

 amounted to 28,520/. The disbursements for the year 

 amounted to 2o,o86I. The institution was charged 

 by Congress also with the disbursement of grants 

 for scientific work amounting to 121,200!. 



The late Dr. P. Wharton-Hood, who died at the 

 advanced age of eighty-two, on April 27, rendered an 

 important service to surgery early in his career. His 

 father, Dr. Peter Hood, a well-known physician in 

 London, had attended Mr. Hutton, the famous "bone- 

 setter," through a long and severe illness. In acknow- 

 ledgment of the father's services, Mr. Hutton imparted 

 to the son all that pertained to the practice of "bone- 

 setting," and what was found to be good in that prac- 

 tice was given by the son to the medical profession ir 

 a series of articles contributed to the Lancet in 187 1. 

 The late Dr. Wharton-Hood and his father, Dr. Petei' 

 Hood, were pioneers in the introduction of massag<' 



