July b, 1916] 



NATURE 



;8i 



The N^ect of Science. 



The following aphorisms, whicli have a strangeh' 

 modern air, arfe quoted in Flaubert's "Lettres" 

 {Paris, 1884) :— 



Est-il necessaire d 'observer que cette vaste science 

 ^ia chimie] est absolument deplacee dans un enseigne- 

 ment general? A quoi sert-elle pour le ministre, pour 

 le magistral, pour le militaire, pour le marin, pour 

 le negotiant? 



De Maistre, "Lettres et opuscules inWits." 



II appartient aux pr61ats, aux nobles, aux grands 

 officiers de I'Etat, d'etre les d^ositaires et les 

 gardiens des verites conser\'atrices, d'apprendre aux 

 nations ce qui est mal et ce qui est bien, ce qui est 

 vrai et ce qui est faux dans I'ordre moral et spirituel. 

 Les autres n'ont pas le droit de raisonner sur ces 

 sortes de matieres. lis ont les sciences naturelles 

 pour s'amuser. De quoi pourraient-ils se plaindre? 

 De Maistre, "Soirees de Saint-P^tersbourg." 

 8^ Entretien, p. 131. 



Si Ton n'en vient pas aux anciennes maximes, si 

 I'education n'est pas rendue aux pretres et si la 

 science n'est pas mise partout a la seconde place, les 

 maux qui nous attendent sont incalculables : nous 

 serons abrutis par la science, et c'est le dernier degr6 

 de I'abrutissement. 

 De Maistre, "Essai sur les principes gen^rateurs. " 



Glasgow, July i. D. M. 



World-Time. 



■" Summer Time" has come to some of the cities 

 and towns of Canada; while the continental railways 

 and their affiliations keep to their old "hour-belt 

 times." I find I have to make my daily meteoro- 

 logical notes in 60th meridian time, although my 

 watch runs one hour ahead. The confusion when the 

 different time notations of tide tables, astronomical 

 tables, railway time tables, and the town clock have 

 to be observed cannot be obviated. It may train us, 

 however, to be ready to adopt world-time when it is 

 offered. 



Is it not now desirable that with our continental 

 railways and telegraphs, transoceanic cables and omni- 

 present wireless, we should use the same time in even- 

 part of the world? For railway travel, telegraphic 

 contracts, news, and scientific observations it would 

 be exact, simple, and without danger of confusion. 



SupjX)se, when the sun is vertical to the 180th 

 meridian from Greenwich, every clock and watch in 

 the world should point to the hour o at the beginning 

 of " the day." When vertical to the meridian of 

 Greenwich it would be 12 everywhere. A\'hen 

 approaching the i8oth meridian the clocks would be 

 approaching 24. 



Every locality would settle its most convenient 

 :ime for breakfast, etc., at, e.g., 6, 8, 12, 14, or 

 23 o'clock. From May i to October i we could 

 henceforward with comfort adopt the unwritten law 

 of fixing the events one hour earlier. Nothing to 

 puzzle over — not necessary even to change your watch 

 an hour four times in going from Halifax to Victoria. 

 .The telegram dates in the newspapers would give us 

 the true interval of time since the event without a 

 calculation. Even the reductions of the diurnal tem- 

 peratures of the meteorologist would be no more 

 troublesome than they are at present under the so- 

 called " daylight-saving," time-consuming attempt to 

 deceive the public to its advantage. 



Halifax, Nova Scotia, A. H. Mack.ay. 



June 16. 



NO. 2436, VOL. 97] 



Birds' Songs and the Diatonic Scale. 



The records of birds' songs given in the Times of 

 June 14 and following days, imd referred to in the 

 interesting article by Dr. W. Warde Fowler in 

 Nature of June 29, are almost entirely confined 

 to the major triad and its inversions. These three 

 notes, though taking their place in the diatonic scale, 

 are the least artificial part of that scale, being the 

 third, fourth, and fifth harmonics of a fundamental 

 note. The writer has so frequently heard these three 

 notes sung in good tune by the blackbird in rural 

 districts and in different parts of the country that 

 the suggestion that the song is due to imitation seems 

 untenable; neither does it seem necessary to attribute 

 to the bird a mental appreciation of correct intonation. 

 The writer hazards the suggestion that these ele- 

 mentary inter\als are produced without mental or 

 undue muscular effort as harmonics, just as a bugler 

 sounds his calls on these same notes by evoking the 

 different harmonics of his instrument. 



32 Willoughby Road, N.W., C. O. Bartrum. 

 July 2. 



i STATE AFFORESTATION. 



SIR JOHN STIRLING MAXWELL in three 

 recent articles in the Times (June 19, 20, and 

 ! 26) deals with State afforestation, which will prob- 

 ' ably prove to be one of the best means for the 

 '. settlement of soldiers and sailors on the land after 

 . the war, and at the same time be effective in 

 ' utilising- the large tracts of waste land which are 

 unsuitable for tillage and unprofitable for grazing. 

 In spite of the numerous official Commissions and 

 Committees w-hich during the past twenty years 

 i have all agreed on the urgent need of national 

 I afforestation, little progress has been made. The 

 i Development Grant was instituted in 1909 for the 

 express purpose of "the purchase and preparation 

 of land for afforestation and the setting up of a 

 number of experimental forests on a large scale " ; 

 but these objects have not been achieved. Sir 

 John points out the probable reasons for this 

 failure. In the past poor management and 

 irregular sales on the majority of privately owned 

 woodland estates, in conjunction with an un- 

 organised timber trade and heavy and unequal 

 rates of freight by rail on home-grown as com- 

 pared with imported timber, have all combined 

 "to turn profit into loss, and give forestry a bad 

 name." This influenced the Development Com- 

 missioners, who limited their encouragement erf 

 forestry to "certain small but useful grants in 

 aid of education, and in finding money to provide 

 local forestry advisers. Of actual afforestation, 

 a few acres planted in the water catchment areas 

 of Liverpool and Edinburgh are the only instal- 

 ments." 



Conditions have naturally not improved since 

 August, 1914. Owing to the rapidly increasing 

 price and serious diminution in the import of 

 foreign timber, the Government has been forced 

 to draw extensively on home supplies; and an 

 enormous amount of timber is now being felled 

 in all parts of the country. This is necessary 

 as a war measure ; but we do not hear of anv 



