AvGuST 31, 1899] 
antiquarians and lovers of natural history, The collections owe 
much to the care and interest of Dr. E. F. Astley, the hon. 
curator. The assistant curator will be glad to afford visitors 
every assistance. The anthropological collection, though small, 
is interesting, and contains a valuable feathered cloak from the 
Sandwich Islands, a Maori’s head, and many war trophies from 
New Zealand. The “ Plomley ” collection of British birds, pre- 
sented by the late Dr. Plomley, is specially rich in local speci- 
mens. The collections have been enriched by many gifts from 
the Hon. Walter Rothschild, who takes considerable interest in 
the Dover Museum. There is a good collection of British birds’ 
eggs, including those of the peregrine falcon, once common on 
the Dover cliffs, but now becoming exceedingly rare. Pre- 
historic and local antiquities are well represented. The collec- 
tions of shells, insects and fossils are also noticeable. 
VISIT OF THE FRENCH ASSOCIATION TO DOVER. 
On Saturday, September 16, the members of the Association 
Frangaise pour l’Avancement des Sciences will visit Dover. 
On their arrival, about 9.30 a.m., they will partake of a light 
repast at the Lord Warden Hotel. At eleven o’clock there will 
be a reception at the Town Hall, when addresses of welcome 
will be delivered. Afterwards various Sectional Meetings will 
be visited. At 1.30 there will be luncheon in the marquee in 
the College Grounds. Tickets for the luncheon (price 15s., 
including wine) will be on sale at the Reception Room. In 
the afternoon the members of the French Association will visit 
the Castle and other objects of interest in Dover. 
VISIT OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION TO BOULOGNE, 
On Thursday, September 21, the members of the British 
Association will visit Boulogne. A special boat will leave 
Dover about 8.30 a.m., arriving at Boulogne about ten o’clock. 
After a reception, the various sections will be visited, and sub- 
jects mutually interesting to the two Associations will be dis- 
cussed. At 12.30 the Municipality of Boulogne will entertain 
the Associations to lunch. The luncheon will be followed by a 
Reunion with addresses. In the afternoon a plaque to the 
English poet Campbell will be unveiled, and a statue to the 
French man of science, Duchenne, will be inaugurated. The 
afternoon will be spent in visiting the town of Boulogne. In 
the evening those members of the British Association who do 
not intend to take part in the five days’ excursion will leave for 
Dover. Sleeping accommodation will be provided in Boulogne 
for those who intend to visit the towns of Northern France and 
Belgium on the excursion commencing the following morning 
(Friday). 
HANDBOOK. 
The Local Committee have prepared a special handbook to 
Dover and the neighbourhood, containing articles on the history 
and antiquities, the geology, the entomology, the vertebrate 
fauna, the botany, the climate, the river and tides, the docks 
and other engineering works, the trade, commerce, and in- 
dustries. This book is illustrated with maps and plans, some 
of which contain new work. The information given in the 
maps and plans and the articles, written by specialists on the 
subjects they deal with, will, it is hoped, render the work not 
only useful on the occasion of the British Association’s 
visit, but also of some permanent value. 
EXCURSIONS. 
Wednesday, September 20.—Excursion to Canterbury. The 
Mayor of Canterbury and the Corporation invite the members, 
associates and holders of ladies’ tickets to Canterbury in the 
afternoon, to meet the President and one hundred members of 
the French Association, Special facilities will be given for visit- 
ing the various places of industry in the city. The Dean and 
Chapter will receive the guests at the Cathedral after the Mayor’s 
reception at the Royal Museum. 
Thursday, September 21.—(1) Visit of members, associates, 
and holders of ladies’ tickets to the Association Francaise 
pour l’Avancement des Sciences at Boulogne. A special 
steamer will leave Dover at 8.30 a.m. (2) Excursion to Chat- 
-ham Dockyard and Rochester Cathedral. Limited to 200, 
(3) Excursion to Wye Agricultural College, to inspect experi- 
mental farm. Luncheon will be provided by the Principal, Mr. 
A. D. Hall. Guests limited to eighty. (4) A circular tour 
through the Weald of Kent, including stoppage at about five 
NO. 1557, VOL. 60] 
NATURE 
421 
towns between Dover and Tunbridge Wells, and extending over 
two days. Limited to fifty persons. 
friday, September 22.—There will be a five days’ excursion 
in France and Belgium, to Abbeville, Amiens, Arras, Brussels, 
Antwerp, Ghent, and Ostend, at the conclusion of meeting. 
The excursion will start from Boulogne on Friday morning, 
September 22, when sleeping accommodation will be provided 
for those not returning to Dover after the visit to the French 
Association, 
CHURCH SERVICES, 
There will be special services at most of the churches on 
Sunday, September 17. At St. Mary’s there will be a special 
service for members of the Association at 11 a.m., when the 
Rey. Archdeacon Wilson, D.D. (late Headmaster of Clifton) 
will preach. 
The railway companies will afford facilities for those wishing 
to visit Canterbury on Sunday. The Very Rev. Dean Farrar 
(Vice-President of the Association) has arranged the following 
special services :-— 
10.30 a.m.—The sermon will be preached by the Lord Arch- 
bishop of Armagh. 
3 o'clock p.m.—The sermon will be preached by the Rev. 
Canon Mason, D.D. The sermon will be followed by an organ 
recital. 
6.30 p.m.—The sermon will be preached by the Very Rev. 
the Dean. W. H. PENDLEBURY. 
THE NEW PHILHARMONIC MUSICAL PITCH. 
p= question of musical pitch has, through the action 
of some of the leading pianoforte makers, been 
again introduced into public discussion. That it should 
end in the general adoption of the French diapason 
normal hardly admits of a doubt, especially as it is in 
the United Kingdom only there remain any advocates 
for the high pitch formerly general. France introduced 
by law the diapason normal in 1859, and has been 
gradually followed by Belgium and Italy, Germany and 
Austria, Russia and the United States of America, 
leaving this country in musical isolation from which a 
great effort has yet to be made to bring it into uniformity 
with other musical countries, so that the note A will be 
approximately the same here as anywhere else, and not 
give the impression of a transposition. The difference 
of vibration number is not so very much; if it were a 
semitone, it might be easier rectified—at least in concert 
organs—it may be stated at 3/5, or at most 2/3 of an equal 
semitone. It is measurement and the important con- 
sideration of temperature that justify the admission of 
a subject, at the first aspect merely artistic, into the 
columns of NATURE. Temperature has as yet met with 
insufficient consideration. It is hardly alluded to in the 
“Sensations of Tone” by Helmholtz; it meets with a 
bare mention only, although somewhat extended in the 
footnotes of the English translator, the late Dr. A. J. Ellis, 
who refers (p. 90, second edition) to the experimental 
work in that direction of Mr. Blaikley. 
It is well known that the Paris diapason normal is 
stated as A=87o0 vibrations a second at 15°C. As we 
reckon by complete vibrations, we take this number at 
one-half (435), with the temperature by the Fahrenheit 
thermometer (59°). Although this is a very geod tem- 
perature for open-air music, as military bands, &c., it is 
not high enough for operas and concerts taking place in 
confined spaces with audiences and artificial lighting. 
The opera and concert orchestras have, therefore, eve.y- 
where to find their own pitch evolved from the Paris 
standard to suit an average increase of temperature. If 
the French Commission had décided upon 20° C. (68° F.), 
the necessity for an empiric proceeding would have 
been avoided. They might very well have adopted 
Scheibler’s suggestion, made in 1834 at Stuttgart, of 
A=44o. It is known that he worked at a temper- 
ature of about 70° F. To him we owe the only facile 
