July 20, 19 16] 



NATURE 



421 



give two instances : The practical guidance upon 

 -the diet of the school child is very scant ; and the 

 subject of the disinfection of school books and 

 papers demands something more than the state- 

 ment (p. 345) that "any practical results of treat- 

 ment of books or papers require so much care 

 that destruction is probably the best treatment for 

 such infected things." If this pronouncement is 

 warranted by Dr. Kerr's experience, it stands in 

 need of some amplification, if only in view of his 

 subsequent statement (p. 346) with reference to 

 scarlet fever and diphtheria that "no case is on 

 record where school material has been demon- 

 strated as the cause of spread." Part ii. of the 

 book stands much in need of more and better 

 illustrations. 



The Daubeny Laboratory Register, 1904-1915. 

 With Notes on the Teaching of Natural Philo- 

 sophy, and ivith Lists of Scientific Researches 

 Carried Out bv Members of Magdalen College, 

 Oxford. By R. T. Gunther. Pp. x+139 to 

 295. (Oxford : Printed for the Subscribers 

 at the University Press, 19 16.) Price 75. 6d. 

 net. 

 In this volume Mr. R. T. Gunther, fellow and 

 tutor of Magdalen College, has furnished a sup- 

 plement to the register of workers in the college 

 laboratory already published as an appendix to 

 his "History of the Daubeny Laboratory." It is, 

 as the compiler states, a record of quiet achieve- 

 ment by men who have been trained in the science 

 schools of Oxford, and it may well be commended 

 to the notice of those critics who are accus- 

 tomed to speak as if the neglect of science 

 were characteristic of Oxford at the present 

 day. 



The lists, though naturally of chief interest to 

 Magdalen men, contain many names of members 

 of other colleges who have laid the foundation of 

 future distinction in the historic buildings by the 

 Cherwell. Among the records here given are 

 those of R. T. Reid (Lord Loreburn), F. Jeffrey 

 Bell, G. T. Prior, J. B. Farmer, G. A. Buck- 

 master, A. F. S. Kent, F. C. R. Jourdain, J. A. 

 Gardner, W. A. F. Balfour-Browne, C. G. 

 Douglas, C. H. G. Martin (all members of Mag- 

 dalen), Lazarus Fletcher (as Millard lecturer), and 

 F. Soddy. The book also contains a list of 

 apparatus bequeathed by Daubeny, of much 

 historic interest. 



Mr. Gunther's labours have not been confined 

 to the mere preparation of lists and enumeration 

 of alterations and enlargements. He has given 

 incidental expression to views on the position of 

 science in Oxford, which, as coming from a 

 teacher of experience and success, deserve serious 

 consideration. Many would agree with him that 

 the ultimate success of students is not to be esti- 

 mated by the awards of examiners. More ques- 

 tionable, perhaps, is his opinion that the establish- 

 ment of the final honour schools early in the last 

 century, engineered by a party in favour of one 

 form of learning, exerted a sinister influence on 

 other studies, including natural science. 

 NQ. 2438, VOL. 97] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 



Gravitation and Temperature. 



As one had anticipated, Dr. P. E. Shaw has been 

 well aware (Nature, July 13, p. 401J of the surprising 

 character of the conclusions to which his very refined 

 and searching experimental investigation on the rela- 

 tion of gravitation to temperature had led him, and 

 has recognised the possibility of other obscure causes 

 being in operation. 



He steers clear of collision with awkward facts, 

 ivith much success, by the hypothesis that the gravita- 

 tion between two masses depends, not on their indi- 

 vidual temperatures, but on a mean temperature of the 

 pair, the mean being reckoned in any way that makes 

 the larger mass preponderant. 



This hypothesis does, of course, set aside the New- 

 tonian principle of mutual forces. For example, that 

 principle postulates independent mutual attraction be- 

 tween ever}- two elements of mass, unchanged by the 

 nature or temperature of any material obstacle that 

 may intervene between them : every delicate opera- 

 tion of weighing invokes this principle. Yet here the 

 total amount of heat in the attracting pair, or some- 

 thing of that sort, is held to affect their attraction, 

 while intervening obstacles are of no account. 



Theoretical considerations are, of course, rarely 

 competent absolutely to rule out a new phenomenon, 

 however strange, provided it is on a small enough 

 scale ; their function is to make an analysis into its 

 essential elements, and to formulate the points to be 

 tested in order to arrive at rejection, or incorporation 

 with existing theory. The main surprise in the pre- 

 sent case is the very high value for an influence of 

 temperature on gravitation that is obtained. 



Cambridge, July 5. J. L. 



The Great Aurora of June 17, 1915. 



Regarding the magnetic storm and the auroral 

 display of June 17, 1915, referred to by Prof. Barnard 

 and Father A. L. Cortie (see Nature, vol. xcv., pp. 

 450, 536, etc.), it may be of interest to place on 

 record the following facts. Independent reports pre- 

 sented by Mr. Tulloch, the meteorological observer, 

 and Mr. Henderson, the wireless operator, at Mac- 

 quarie Island, lat. 55° S., each mention the Aurora 

 Australis of that date as the most brilliant noted in 

 periods of one year and two years respectively. It 

 was also the only occasion in two years when it was 

 absolutely impossible to receive signals from any 

 other station — even the high-power plant at Awanui, 

 near Auckland (New Zealand), which seldom failed 

 to make itself heard. 



Mr. Tulloch 's reports for three days were as 

 follows : — 



June 16, 9 p.m. — Barometer (corrected) 28460 in., 

 temperature 37-4° F., wind N.N.W., force 5 (Beau- 

 fort scale). Fierce gales in morning ; fine clear night ; 

 slight auroral glow in the south. 



June 17, 9 p.m. — Barometer 29-361 in., tempera- 

 ture 27-0° F., wind S.W., 7. Snowstorms continued 

 throughout the day ; three inches of snow on the 

 ground. Squally S.W. winds and high seas. Baro- 

 meter rising rapidly. 



Brilliant red aurora. Looked something like a 

 Japanese fan opening and closing. Its centre or base 

 was a little north of the zenith and spread out from 



