May 30, 1 901] 



NA TURE 



103 



Prehistoric Implements in the Transvaal and 

 Orange River Colony. 



The reason for writing these short notes is the desire to 

 point out to those with the requisite knowledge the places where 

 what are probably pateolithic remains can be found in South 

 Africa. I am not able to dilate on the technical side of the 

 ■question, having only a smattering of the subject. 



Being a volunteer in the British Army, the immense distances 

 covered by us gave one an opportunity of seeing a larger tract 

 of country than would be possible as a civilian. Unfortunately, 

 in South Africa the amount of systematic research into the 

 subject of prehistoric weapons has been but small, and I think 

 the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal would be found very 

 rich in all such remains. The heavy rains and nature of the 

 country allow many glimpses of the geological formations, and 

 the dongas and dry river banks will nearly always reveal some 

 old " drift." The nature of our marching did not allow us to go 

 far from the beaten road, but a few worked stones could be 

 picked up in every day's march. 



Starting at Sterkstroom, with the 3rd Division, such speci- 

 mens can be found all round the town of about 2 inches in 

 length in a fair state of preservation, some few showing the 

 elTect of being water-worn. At a coal mine named Wallsend, 

 the hill where we camped is simply covered with scrapers and 

 chips ; in fact I collected quite a dozen in the small circle 

 covered by our bell tent. Further north, at Bethulie Bridge, 

 they are lying in the subsoil of the river bank, as well as in 

 the stony reaches of the river. Springfontein, Smithfield, 

 Dewetsdorp, in fact right up to Bloemfontein, the country is 

 covered with stones all about the same size, roughly chipped 

 and, in all probability, of paL-eolithic origin. They are of the 

 leaf form and vary from I to 2| inches in length. 



At the Vaal River they were more water-worn and larger, 

 about 5 by 2 inches. Better specimens could probably be 

 obtained by examining the drift, which I myself had no oppor- 

 tunity of doing. I found only two or three specimens round 

 about Pretoria. Middleburg and Belfast were the last two 

 places I was in, and in the former an immense quantity of irn- 

 plements can be picked up in the river bed and in the subsoil 

 adjoining. They are of the large size, as those in the Vaal 

 River, some which I found being about 5 by 5 inches and quite 

 I inch thick. 



Unfortunately, Army regulations as to the weight of kit had 

 to be carried out, and I had three separate times to throw my 

 collection away. I had kept the best specimens and ticketed 

 them, but in the end I found myself discharged from the .-Vrmy 

 as a time-expired volunteer in Cape Town, with only three or 

 four dilapidated specimens from lielfast. 



If regulars and volunteers would write about their observa- 

 tions of other parts of the country covered by them it would 

 indicate at a gl.ance the richest places where a systematic re- 

 search could be undertaken with the best possible results. 



Sunderland. Stanley B. Hutt. 



The Age of the Woburn Abbey Musk-Ox. 



In the notice of the young musk-ox at Woburn Abbey which 

 appeared in Nature of May 16 it was stated that the animal 

 ■was considerably more than two years of age when the photograph 

 was taken. This age was assigned on account of a statement 

 made by Dr. Allen in his recent memoir on the Greenland and 

 American musk-oxen that the Woburn specimens must have been 

 yearlings when they were first photographed in 1899. His 

 reason for making that statement were that a young calf captured 

 at Fort Conder in May, 1S99, had a black face, instead of the 

 white-spotted faces of the Woburn animals : and that the latter 

 had consequently changed their coats. Now the Woburn 

 specimens were captured on Clavering Island on August 16 of 

 that year, and from information that has recently been supplied 

 to me it seems almost certain that they were'calves of that year, 

 probalily born the preceding April or May. If this be so, and 

 if calves have black faces when first born, it would seem that 

 the Woburn specimens had already'changed their first coats when 

 shipped for England during the late summer, a photograph of 

 them having been taken on board ship showing the white faces. 

 It thus appears that when the photograph reproduced in Nature 

 was taken, the animal was not more than two years old, and 

 possibly rather less. R. Lydekker. 



NO. 1648, VOL. 64] 



The Subjective Lowering of Pitch. 



As a general rule, the pitch of a musical note does not in any 

 way depend upon its intensity, but solely upon the wave-length. 

 It appears probable, however, that any wave motion of very 

 great intensity produces distorted effects. Thus we find that a 

 very loud sound may so affect the ear of the observer as to 

 appear flatter than it really is. This is a purely subjective 

 effect. 



Dr. Burton was, I believe, the first to investigate the phe- 

 nomenon, and some of his results (together with his explanation 

 of them) will be found in vol. xiii. of the Proceedings of the 

 Physical Society. My own attention was first drawn to the 

 matter by observing what appeared to be the false intonation 

 of certain singers upon loud notes, either when I was conduct- 

 ing near those singers or when I was rehearsing in a small room. 

 Reading then of Dr. Burton's researches, I was led to investigate 

 them for myself. 



The subjective lowering of pitch is an undoubted fact, i.e. 

 a very loud note does appear flatter than it really is. 



II a C tuning-fork (middle C, 256 vibrations per second) be 

 strongly bowed, and then be quickly brought near the ear, before 

 its loud note has had time to die away, the sound will appear 

 flattened to about B|>,, or even Ai, the amount of the effect 

 being different to different ears. 



It is more difficult to obtain the effect with higher forks; 

 indeed, a C fork (512) must be bowed very strongly indeed to 

 give the effect at all. .\n E fork (320) appears to give a flat 

 D|f, and a G fork (384) gives F|. 



The effect is a subjective one, caused by great intensity, for 

 it vanishes as the sound gets softer, and can then be restored 

 by bringing the fork nearer the ear, thus again increasing the 

 intensity. In this last case the restoration of effect is sudden, 

 and is not due to any gradual movement of the fork (Doppler's 

 principle). 



If the position of the source of sound be fixed, the subjective 

 note gets sharper as the intensity of the vibrations gets less ; 

 for instance, an E fork (320), when very strongly bowed, gave 

 C| as its subjective note ; but, as the vibrations died down, 

 this Cjt varied to D, then became Erj, and finally and suddenly 

 stopped altogether. 



The amount of the subjective effect differs with different in- 

 dividuals, both in pitch and in intensity. What to one person 

 appears a flattening of a minor 3rd, to another auditor appears 

 a flattening of only a major 2nd, but in every case it appears 

 to be a flattening and not a sharpening. Also the loudness of 

 the subjective note appears different, even to the different ears 

 of the same person. 



In the case of some organ-pipes tested, the following results 

 were obtained : — 



C pipe (open, 256) gave A, as subjective. 

 E pipe (open, 320) gave D as subjective. 

 G pipe (open, 384) gave Fjf as subjective. 

 C pipe (open, 512) gave B as subjective. 



If an ear-trumpet be used, a very loud source of sound is not 

 necessary in order to obtain subjective effects. If the source 

 of sound be placed at a distance just great enough to prevent 

 subjective flattening, and then an ear-trumpet be used, the sub- 

 jective note at once appears. 



Much of my own musical work has been done amongst male 

 voices, and I have frequently noticed that a singer of good 

 concert-room power may, if practising in a smal 1 room, seemingly 

 sing with flat intonation. I should be glad to have further ex- 

 perience concerning this from your contributors, who will also, 

 I hope, have noticed the effect in the case of brass instruments. 

 E. HuRREN Harding. 



Normal College, Bangor, May 15. 



RECENT STUDIES OF OLD ITALIAN 

 VOLCANOES. 



THE abundant and well-preserved extinct volcanoes of 

 Italy have long had a great fascination for students 

 of geology. So many allusions to them are scattered 

 through the literature of the science, and so many ac- 

 counts of them, more or less brief, have been furnished 

 by those who have visited them, that their general 

 characters and the more important varieties of their 

 rocks are now tolerably familiar. But until lately hardly 



