NATCORE 339 
Feb. 9, 1882] 
de Alwis, who was merely employed to make accurate copies of 
his brother’s drawings, need not be brought forward ; Mr. Moore 
was perfectly aware who made the original drawings from nature. 
It is satisfactory to know that the preface will contain an ac- 
knowledgment of the real artist, but common hone:ty requires 
his name to be printed on every plate that he drew instead of 
“©C, F, Moore.” HENRY TRIMEN 
k. Bot. Gardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon, January 9 
The Collection of Meteoric Dust—A Suggestion 
In the Report of the Committee on Meteoric Dust, given in 
your report of the last meeting of the British Association 
(NaTuRE, vol. xxiv. p. 462), Prot. Schuster refers to the diffi- 
culty ‘found in the determination of the locality in which the 
observations should be conducted,” as there are but few acces- 
sible places sufficiently sheltered ‘‘ against any ordinary dust not 
of meteoric origin. The lonely spots best suited for these obser- 
vations are generally accessible to occasional experiments only, and 
do not lend themselves easily to a regular series of observations.” 
As it is highly important that such a regular series should be ob- 
tained, and that such observations should be made in places 
** sheltered as much as possible” from dust of terrestrial origin, 
I venture to think that these conditions would be complied with 
by employing suitably constructed captive balloons, carrying the 
collecting apparatus at the highest attainable altitude. By this 
means we should have the great advantage of not only making 
the experiments abroad, but the observa'ions might <lso be made 
from some hill-top in the north of Scotland, sufficiently far from 
any manufacturing town to insure the necessary freedom from 
dust of terrestrial origin. B. J. Hopkins 
79, Marlborough Road, Dalston, E. 
Colour and Sound 
SoME weeks ago there appeared an account of a series of 
experiments connecting colour and sound ; the following passage 
from Prof. Max Miiller’s Chips, ii. 104, may interest some of 
your readers :—‘* That Purtiravas is an appropriate name of a 
solar hero requires hardly any procf, Puriiravas meant the 
same as moAvdevx7js, endowed with much light ; for though rava 
is generally used of sound, yet the root ru, which means origin- 
ally to cry, is also applied to colour, in the sense of a loud or 
crying colour, z.e. red (cf. ruber, rufus, Lith, rauda, O.H.G. rét, 
rudhira, épu@pés ; also Sanskrit ravi, sun).” The following foot- 
note occurs :—‘‘ Thus it is said, Kv, vi. 3, 6, the fire cries with 
light, sof#isha rarapiti; the two Spartan Charites are called 
KAnrTa (kAntd, incluta) and aevva, z.e. Clara, clear-shining, In 
the Veda the rising sun is said to cry like a new child (Ry. ix. 
74, 1)—I do not derive ravas from rap, but I only quote rap as 
illustrating the close connection between loudness of sound and 
brightness of light.” 
Both Greeks and Latins seem to have used the same words 
for colour and sound, cf. Aaumpds, Aevkds, méAas, coudds, gaids, 
&c. ; clarus, fuscus, candidus, &c. Probably not only colour 
and sound, but smell, taste, and touch had in early times the 
like words to express degree ; even as we find aspera lingua and 
odor asper; and as we say ‘‘a harsh taste” and ‘fa harsh 
sound.” ‘lastes and smells will be found to suggest colours to 
the mind exactly as scunds do, If this be so, may not this appa- 
rently curious connection be explained as a sort of ‘‘ zconscious 
philological memory ?” KARL PEARSON 
Inner Temple, January 28 
On the Climate of North Northumberland as Regards 
its Fitness for Astronomical Observations 
A LETTER in the last issue of NATURE (p. 317) upon the 
above subject, not altogether agreeing with the published records 
of this station, I should like to ask the reverend gentleman 
whether his observations were taken promiscuously ; at stated 
times, or extending from sunset to sunrise. As the summary 
does not ‘‘tally” with the ‘weather at time” or ‘‘ weather 
since taken” without a break durinz 1881 at 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. 
daily, I am afraid that a mixconception will be formed as to the 
weather here by the readers of NATURE, and as this station is 
about 300 yards from Mr. Perry’s observatory, there must te a 
mistake upon one side or the other, or probably the astronomical 
and meteorological definitions of ‘‘completely overca:t” are 
different. JosEPH LINGWoop 
Meteorological Society’s Station, Alnwick, February 4 
FParhelia in the Mediterranean 
ON the morning of the 27th inst. a curious sight was wit- 
nessed at this place. I was sailing on the Mediterranean, and 
the day was hot and sunny. A slight haze came on, and about 
noon a large halo with an orange tint surrounded the sun. 
Shortly afterwards two mock suns appeared, one on each side 
of the ring round the central sun, They were also tinged with 
an orange colour, and appeared to have comet-like tails. Re- 
flected in the still blue water they were even more distinct than 
when looked at direct, as the water cut off the sun’s rays. This 
singular spectacle lasted more than an kour, and was seen by 
many. ‘The boatmen predicted bad weather, but it has not yet 
come, All throuzh January we have had brilliant summer days, 
with cold starlight nights—the minimum thermometer descend- 
ing to 38° and 36° almost every night. I send you a very rough 
sketch of the mock suns. Cuas. H. ALLEN 
Mentone, Alpes Maritimes, January 
STR ROBERT CHRISTISON 
OTWITHSTANDING bis advanced age, the an- 
nouncement of the death of Sir Robert Christison 
will be received with universal regret. He died on 
January 27, from the effects of a cold caught a month 
previously. Sir Robert’s father was for many years Pro- 
fessor of Humanity in the University of Edinburgh, 
where the son was born on July 18,1797. He attended 
first the High School, and subsequently the Arts Classes 
at tte University. Having been well grounded in 
literature and general science, he turned his attention 
to medical studies, and graduated as Doctor of Medicine 
in 1819. Proceeding to the schools of London and Paris, 
in the latter city he became a pupil of Robiquet, the 
eminent chemist and fharmacien, in whose laboratory 
he worked assiduously, and, as he used often to say in 
after life, with signal advantage. Here, too, he is under- 
stood to have prosecuted, under the celebrated Orfila, that 
study of toxicology to which he had all along shown a 
special bent, and in which he was destined to achieve so 
important results. Shortly after his return to Edinburgh 
the young physician was, in 1822, appointed to the Uni- 
versity Chair of Medical Jurisprudence, in succession to 
Dr. Alison. This post he occupied till 1832, when he 
relinquished it to assume the Chair of Materia Medica, 
rendered vacant by the death of Dr. A. Duncan, and for 
the clinical duties of which he was well qualified by hos- 
pital practice; while for its general work he had been 
thoroughly equipped by those old studies under Robiquet, 
followed up, in the interval, by diligent examination of 
every fresh pharmaceutical discovery. 
Dr. Christison was able to give to the science of Medi- 
cal Jurisprudence a precision it had formerly lacked, and 
thus contributed in no small degree to its practical deve- 
lopment. Very important in this connection was the 
publication, in 1829, of his “ Treatise on Poisons,” which 
was received at the time by physicians, jurists, and men 
of science generally, as the most philosophical exposition 
of the subject that had ever appeared, and is even now 
regarded as a work of great value. From his position as 
Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, Dr. Christison was 
naturally called upon to act as an expert in criminal 
trials ; and it was not long before his appearances in that 
capacity secured for him the reputation of a highly im- 
portant witness. 
In exchanging the Chair of Medical Jurisprudence for 
that of Materia Medica, Dr. Christison was, so to speak, 
confimed in that line of chemical research for which he 
had all along shown special predilection. In the labora- 
tory he was noted as a peculiarly neat and clean worker 
—a qualification of the utmost importance in prosecuting, 
for example, delicate toxological experiments. Nor was 
his exactitude greater than the earnestness and enthu- 
siasm with which he followed out any inquiry to its ulti- 
mate issues. The well-known case of the Calabar bean, 
