January 12, 1905] 



NA TURE 



249 



I think that we are now justified in assuming that the 

 helium, a product of radio-active change, is present in the 

 minerals in a state of supersaturated solid solution ; that 

 the mineral substance being impermeable to the gas at 

 ordinary temperatures, the velocity with which equilibrium 

 is established between the helium in solution and the helium 

 in the gaseous phase is infinitely small, but increases very 

 rapidly with rise of temperature ; that as the solubility of 

 helium in the mineral substance is probably very small, 

 the mineral cannot be made to re-absorb the gas. Grind- 

 ing even to an impalpable powder, if unaccompanied by 

 local heating, should result in the evolution of minute 

 quantities of helium only. 



I may point out in conclusion that the " deflagration " 

 which takes place when " fergusonite " is heated, and 

 was taken by Si-r Wm. Ramsay and myself to indicate the 

 presence of a chemical compound of helium, also takes place 

 in the case of some minerals which contain no helium. 



University College, Bristol. IMorris W. Travers. 



The Pollination of Exotic Flowers. 



In connection with Prof. Groom's article on the pollin- 

 ation of e.xotic flowers (November lo, 1904, p. 26) the 

 following notes may be of interest. The inflorescence of 

 Marcgravia Umbellata is described in Schimper's " Plant 

 Geography," where Belt's description is quoted from the 

 "Naturalist in Nicaragua." The plant is common here, 

 climbing to the summit of the forest trees, and is frequently 

 visited by humming birds. The bird settles on the top of 

 the flowers and inserts its long curved beak into the pitchers 

 below to suck the sweet juice which they contain. I have 

 not seen insects visiting the flowers, neither have I found 

 them in the pitchers, and conclude that the birds are 

 attracted by the sweet juice itself rather than by insects in 

 search of it as Belt suggests. 



Flowers with strong scent and brush-like stamens are 

 very common, and one of them, the Pois Doux (Inga 

 lanrhia), is surrounded when in blossom by a motley crowd 

 of bees, large beetles, and insects of every description, as 

 well as by humming birds of several species. The latter 

 certainly visit very different plants, but are most familiar 

 hovering round the banana flowers, sucking the drops of 

 sweet liquid continually oozing from them. 



Flowers like the Pois Doux are easily destroyed by heavy 

 rain, and blossom only for a short period. A large number 

 of others are provided with horned stamens, with barren 

 anthers or anther lobes. May not this be a protection 

 against loss of pollen by rain and wind, it being kept in 

 a sheltered situation, and only set free when an alighting 

 insect moves the stamens? It would be interesting to 

 observe how far the abundance of flowers with horned 

 stamens is correlated with heavy rainfall and constant wind. 



Dominica, December 13, 1904. Ell.i M. Bryant. 



Reversal of Charge in Induction Machines. 

 I HAVE tried Mr. G. W. Walker's experiment with a small 

 Wimshurst, with 8" plates, and find that the reversal he 

 mentions generally takes place, but not always. In my 

 case, however, the machine is made so as to excite either 

 way, and the reversal will not take place unless e.xcitation 

 has occurred while the motion is reversed. 



R. Langton Cole. 

 Sutton, Surrey, January 6. 



EVIL SPIRITS AS A CAUSE OF SICKNESS 



IN BABYLONIA.'^ 

 T N a former number of Nature (vol. Ixix., p. 26) the 

 ■•■ attention of our readers was directed to the appear- 

 ance of the first volume of a work which Mr. Campbell 

 Thompson, of the British Museum, was devoting to 

 the consideration of the important function which devils 

 and evil spirits were believed to play in the produc- 

 tion of disease by the early inhabitants of Babylonia. 



> "The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia." By R. Campbell 

 Thompson. Vol. ii. Pp. liv+iig. (London: Luzac and Co., 1004.) 

 Price I2J. 6d. net. • v 1/ 



NO. 1837, VOL. 71] 



It was impossible at that time to state the final con- 

 clusions at which Mr. Thompson had arrived, for the 

 publication of his worl< was not completed ; but now 

 that we have the second volume in our hands our 

 readers are in a position to judge for themselves of the 

 character and importance of the results, which have 

 now been clothed in the dress of a modern language 

 for the first time. The sources of such results, we 

 need hardly say, are the terra-cotta tablets of the 

 royal library at Nineveh, now preserved in the British 

 Museum, and after a careful examination of Mr. 

 Thompson's volumes we are able to say that the trans- 

 lator has done his best to reproduce the meaning of 

 the documents which he places before us without 

 unnecessary comments or theories. 



It must be said at the outset that we do not regard 

 Mr. Thompson's work as final in all particulars, for 

 in respect of many Assyrian texts this work is the 

 editio princeps; but none can fail to be pleased with 

 the manifest honesty of the translations, which quite 

 justifies us in overlooking the baldness and crudity 

 of expression which sometimes characterise them. 

 In studies of this kind we want the texts and the best 

 rendering of them possible, but the most important 

 point of all is that the editor should not read meanings 

 into the words of his texts or twist them to suit pre- 

 conceived notions. It goes without saying that Mr. 

 Thompson's translations will not be accepted by other 

 labourers in his field without reservation. Indeed, we 

 may note in passing that M. Fossey has already 

 animadverted upon them in the Reeved de Travaux, 

 in the Revue Critique, and in the part of the 

 Journal Asiatique just issued. It is no part of our 

 duty here to attempt to vindicate Mr. Thompson s 

 renderings or to belittle M. Fossey's knowledge of the 

 science of ancient magic, but it must in common fair- 

 ness be stated that the latter savant is not skilled in 

 dealing with cuneiform documents except through the 

 medium of the copies of other scholars who have been 

 trained in making transcripts direct from the original 

 tablets, and the mere fact that he condemns Mr. 

 Thompson's derivations from the Syriac proves that he 

 does not comprehend the importance of one northern 

 Semitic dialect in helping to explain another. On the 

 other hand, Mr. Thompson has spent some years in the 

 task of copying the various classes of tablets which 

 he is now editmg and translating, and though some 

 mav admire M. Fossey's tempting renderings, and 

 prefer them to those of Mr. Thompson, it should be 

 remembered that the translations set forth in the volume 

 before us are those of the skilled workman who is 

 working at his trade, whilst those of M. Fossey are the 

 product of a student of magic and religion m general. 

 ^ The groups of tablets published by Mr. Thompson 

 are fivl incumber. The first are inscribed with 

 exorcisms and spells which are directed against the 

 disease of ague or fever; the second contain charms 

 and incantations which were intended to do a^^ J'* 

 headache; the third deal with a series of diseases 

 of an internal character, but it cannot at present 

 be said exactly what those diseases were; the fourth 

 are inscribed with texts written with the view of 

 destroving the " taboo " to which, it seems man was 

 thought to be peculiarly liable; and the f^fth supply 

 descriptions of supernatural beings, aniong whom 

 mav be mentioned a creature who was hal woman 

 and half snake. Mr. Thompson identifies her with 

 the goddess Nin-tu, who was the Babylonian equivalent 

 of the Egyptian goddesses Hathor, Isis, Mer-sekert, 

 &c., and the Virgin Mary among Oriental Christian 

 peoples. Like each of those goddesses she was a form 

 of the World-mother, or chief Mother-goddess who 

 plays such an important part in many mythologies. 

 By way of supplement, Mr. Thompson has added the 



