4 82 



NATURE 



[March 26, 1885 



"cloud-glow apparatus," by which somewhat similar results 

 have been obtained with steam and sal-ammoniac fumes, induces 

 me to publish my own observations, in the hope that some 

 more competent physicist and mathematician may furnish a 

 satisfactory theoretical elucidation. Lord Rayleigh, I find, 

 has carefully examined the properties of the light reflected from 

 an acidified solution of thiosulphate ; but its action upon trans- 

 mitted light appears to have escaped his attention. While Prof. 

 Kiessling's method affords an independent confirmation of the 

 phenomena in question, the thiosulphate solution lends itself 

 much more readily to a study of the successive phases owing to 

 the slow and steady nature of the action and the ease with 

 which, by altering the strength of solution and the depth of the 

 layer interposed, the circumstances can be adapted to the most 

 favourable observation of any portion of the series. 



J. Spear Parker 



Fall of Autumnal Foliage 



That the causes of the fall ol autumnal foliage have been for 

 some time removed from tjieterm incognita of the natural history 

 (if plants is clear from the fact that the threefold reason is given 

 by Sir J. D. Hooker in so elementary a botanical work as his 

 " Primer of Botany " (Macmillan). The cause assigned by Mr. 

 Henslow in Nature (vol. xxxi. p. 434) will be seen, on refer- 

 ence to the little work mentioned, to be only one of the causes 

 which operate in nature. I may add that I have more than once 

 verified the third reason assigned by Sir J. D. Hooker by experi- 

 ments on young and old rhododendron leaves, and on leaves of 

 other plants, for my botany classes, and have been surprised at 

 the great difference in the weight of mineral-ash left by equal 

 weights of calcined leaves from the same plant, according as they 

 were culled at the beginning or the end of the season. 



Alexander Irving 



■Wellington College, Wokingham, March 14 



[We do not think that either our correspondent or the Rev. 

 G. Henslow has seized the point of Mr. Fraser's letter. This 

 was not an inquiry as to the modus operandi by which leaves fall 

 from the plant — a phenomenon which, as Mr. Fraser points out, 

 occurs in India as in Europe. The process is in fact as well 

 understood as am thing in the life of the plant. What, however, 

 Mr. Fraser drew attention to was the cause of the autumn 

 periodicity of the fall in the higher latitudes as contrasted with 

 what takes place for example in India, where the leaves, as he 

 states, "drop off gradually in batches." Neither Mr. Henslow 

 nor Mr. Irving explain why when a traveller from the south 

 reaches Alexandria he finds that "here trees first become 

 deciduous." Leaves fall everywhere, but why north of Alex- 

 andria en masse in the autumn and south of it in continuous 

 driblets ?— Ed.] 



Human Hibernation 



My letter on the Hibernation of the Siberian mammoth has 

 been followed by two others, extremely interesting, but dealing, I 

 may say exclusively, with the question of human hibernation, 

 and the evidence offered in support of it ; this raises a very 

 important consideration, concerning which I ask leave to offer a 

 few remarks: — The "fact," as stated by Mr. Braid, is that 

 credible persons witnessed the burial of a man in a state of sleep 

 or torpor, and that the same man was dug up alive some months 

 afterwards. Why should we not believe this? The answer is 

 not an easy one, nor can it be given in few words, but is in great 

 measure that the same kind of almost unimpeachable testimony is 

 to be had for any number of astounding occurrences, and that 

 if the testimony is to be believed in one case, why should it not 

 be accepted in all others? why are we driven to be so mistrust- 

 ful ? On this I will only say a few words, as your space is so 

 limited. We know that some 5000 or 6000 years ago there 

 existed a people — the Accadians — who, in their cuneiform 

 writings, have left the most complete account of their daily 

 lives and doings. We learn that these men regulated almost 

 every act by the predictions of magicians, astrologers, or one 

 form or another of impostors. We see, therefore, that the 

 world was even then divided into knaves and dupes. Now this 

 has been clearly going on ever since, and probably for indefinite 

 ages before. The knaves having begun as such, have, for the 

 most part, but by no means exclusively, developed into honest, or 

 partially honest, fanatics ; the dupes have greatly developed their 

 credulity; and the stage had been reached that an individual 



with a sane and healthy mind was, if he escaped death, held in 

 such disfavour as to stand a very poor chance in the struggle for 

 existence. The scientific and critical revival of late years has 

 arisen, I believe, partly because life is more secure, and tolera- 

 tion more prevalent, the virtually diseased mental condition is 

 allowed to recover itself. To apply these views to the explana- 

 tion of the particular case in point above referred to, we must 

 remember that the burial was performed by men, descendants 

 of others wholly unscrupulous, magicians, tricksters, who had 

 probably followed the same calling for ages, and acquired an 

 hereditary skill in such deceptions. Those who have witnessed, 

 as I have done, their marvellous feats — for instance, of the 

 native Indian jugglers — cannot doubt but that the case described 

 was at all events within their power. 



Messrs. Maskelyne and Cook similarly can bewilder and 

 defeat the closest "scientific" examination; and is it not 

 obvious but that even here, in the [centre of the civilised modern 

 world, the most clumsy impostors are daily bewildering and 

 befooling people who believe themselves to be the possessors of 

 highly cultivated and healthy intellects. C. K. Bushe 



Athenaeum Club 



Bos Primigenius 



In Nature, March 12 (p. 451), a specimen of the jaw of this 

 animal is referred to as having been exhibited at a meeting of the 

 Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, followed by the remark : 

 "It is apparently the only specimen that had been seen in 

 Britain." Its size is given as l8J inches in extreme length." I 

 possess a perfect ramus of a jaw of this species, excavated near 

 Ilford, Surrey, a few years ago, which is fully 2t inches in 

 length in a straight line, and 28 inches measured along the outer 

 curve. There are, I am informed, many specimens of the jaws 

 of Bos primigenius in the national collection (presented by the 

 late Sir Antonio Brady), from the same district as my specimen. 



West Bank, York Jas. Backhouse 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AND LOCAL 

 SOCIETIES 



ON behalf of the recently-appointed Corresponding 

 Societies Committee of the British Association, the 

 President and Secretaries are now calling the attention of 

 Local Scientific Societies to certain Rules of the Associa- 

 tion adopted at the meeting of the General Committee in 

 November last. It will be remembered that during the 

 last few years the subject of the relation of Local Scientific 

 Societies to the British Association has received con- 

 siderable attention, and that an opinion has been strongly 

 expressed that the Local Scientific Societies and the 

 British Association might, without any considerable 

 sacrifice of independence, usefully cooperate in facili- 

 tating the conduct of investigations into local phenomena 

 such as are frequently undertaken by Committees of the 

 Association. 



With this purpose in view the Rules, of which we print 

 a copy, have been prepared, and have now been finally 

 adopted by the General Committee of the Association ; 

 and under these provisions a Corresponding Societies 

 Committee has been appointed. To these Rules we 

 would ask the earnest attention of the many local socie- 

 ties throughout the kingdom : — 



" Corresponding Societies 



"(1) Any Society is eligible to be placed on the List ot 

 Corresponding Societies of the Association which under- 

 takes local scientific investigations, and publishes notices 

 of the results. 



" (2) Applications may be made by any Society to be 

 placed on the List of Corresponding Societies. Applica- 

 tion must be addressed to the Secretary on or before 

 June I, preceding the annual meeting, at which it is 

 intended they should be considered, and must be accom- 

 panied by specimens of the publications of the results of 

 the local scientific investigations recently undertaken by 

 the Society. 



" (3) A Corresponding Societies Committee shall be 



