OcToBER 5, 1916 |* "aa 
impossible to say more than that the results, if con- 
firmed, resent a very remarkable- discovery,’ which 
may be of ‘immense advantage in delineating the soft 
internal structures of the body. So many inventions 
at first received with incredulity have turned out to be 
truly useful that we hesitate to speak of this’ present | 
one as incredible. But with the-imperfect details and 
explanation which are as yet forthcoming, we may be 
excused if we adopt the attitude of scientific expect- 
ancy. e trust it will not be long before the new 
method is examined by proper experts, and its ‘scien- 
tific soundness properly investigated. ° 
4 
ee 
- Ar 3 a.m. (Summer Time) on Sunday last, October 1, 
Greenwich lime again became the standard time ot 
Great Britain. By .an. order, issued. by the Home 
Office, “the hour 2-3 a.m. Summer Time” was fol- 
lowed by “the hour 2-3 a.m. Greenwich Time.” All 
railway clocks and clocks in post offices and Govern- 
ment establishments were put back one hour, and the 
Government requested the public to put back the time 
of all clocks and watches by one hour during the night 
of Saturday-Sunday, September 30-October 1. From 
October 1 onwards Greenwich Time will be used for 
all purposes instead of being limited to the needs of 
Navigation, astronomy, and meteorology, as it has 
been since May 21. It is announced that the Home 
Secretary, while satisfied with the results of the 
Summer Time Act, has appointed a committee to 
consider the question in all its aspects. A Daylight 
ghey Bill will probably be reintroduced next year, 
but Mr. Samuel thinks that certain objections, coming 
chiefly from northern manufacturing districts, and a 
number of suggestions and recommendations should be 
inquired into first. The late experience has shown 
that the State need not hesitate to introduce any 
changes which are believed to be for the good of the 
community. In Nature of September 28 a correspon- 
dent suggested certain modifications of the customary 
use of a.m, and p.m., so as to avoid the designation 
of half an hour after midday by 12.30 p.m., while 
11.30 p-m. occurs eleven hours later. Mr. C. T. Whit- 
mell writes to say that he made the same suggestion 
in the Yorkshire Post of August 4, and remarks that 
“some definite agreement as to the way of represent- 
ing the times between noon and 1 p.m. and between 
midnight and 1 a.m. is certainly desirable.” The Home 
Secretary’s committee might consider this matter, and 
also the question of designating hours from o to 24, so 
as to avoid the use of a.m. and p.m. altogether. 
Mr. Benjamin Kipp, the author of important books 
and articles in which a system of social philosophy 
is developed from an original point of view, died on 
October 2, at fifty-eight years of age. His first work, 
* Social Evolution,” is the best known, and when it 
was published in 1894 its originality and force were 
recognised immediately. The keynote of the work 
was the declaration that religion is not the enemy of 
science and enlightenment, but, on the contrary, 
through the ethical principles of its teaching, has been 
one of the most important agencies in social develop- 
ment, and is closely bound up with that portion of 
our nature to which all modern social advance is due, 
and by which the course of future progress will be 
decided. Mr. Kidd thus found the causes of the 
evolution of society and of modern civilisation, not in 
the growth of intellect and of science, but in the 
continuous action of religious beliefs. In 1898 was 
published his book, ‘‘The Control of the Tropics,” 
which directed attention to the importance of the 
tropics in the development of civilisation; and in 1002 
appeared his ‘Principles of Western Civilisation,” 
which made “efficiency in the future”’ the determining 
quality of social development. This ~“ projected 
NO. 2449, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
95 
efficiency,”” when ** society, with‘all its interests ‘in’ the 
present, is subordinated to its own future,” was re- 
garded as the secret of success and of progress, and 
its absence was the cause of stagnation. Mr. Kidd 
was also the author of other notable works. To the 
tenth edition of the ‘Encyclopedia Britannica” he 
| contributed a prefatory- article on “The ‘Application of 
the Doctrine of Evolution to Sociological Theory,” and 
for the eleventh edition he wrote the article on socio- 
logy. In 1908 he delivered the Herbert Spencer lecture 
at Oxford upon the subject of ‘Individualism and 
After:,” 
A SKIEN newspaper announces the discovery in Tele- 
mark, Norway, of a rich mineral field covering several 
kilometres. Bismuth and silver have been found 
there, and it is said that there are traces of gold. 
Tue Faraday Society will hold a general discussion 
on “Refractories” at its first autumn meeting, the 
date of which is provisionally fixed for Wednesday, 
November 8. The discussion will be presided over 
by Sir Robert Hadfield, president of the society, and 
the opening paper will be read by Dr.. J. W. Mellor. 
A LECTURE on“‘Stresses in Transparent Materials 
as Revealed by Polarised Light” will be delivered by 
Prof. E. G. Coker before the Optical Society on 
Thursday next, October 12, at the rooms of the 
Chemical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W. 
A€coRDING to the Times a ‘* meteorite (commonly 
known as a ‘ thunderbolt ’).” fell at Dinas Powis, near 
Cardiff, on the night of September 26-27, and did some 
damage. The cause of the damage was, however, ‘not 
a meteorite, but a lightning-flash. There had been 
thunderstorms on or about the same day of ‘the month 
in the previous May, June, and July, whilst it was on 
March 27 that the famous storm occurred. 
Mr. Lioyp Georce’s allusion to the absence of the 
nightingale from Wales has caused a long and sharp 
discussion in the local Press. It is authoritatively 
stated that during the last thirty years the nightingale 
has been steadily moving westward in the Principality. 
In East Glamorgan it 1s a regular visitor, but has 
also been reported from Carmarthen, and was heard 
as far west as Aberystwyth in 1911. 
A WIRELESS station has been established on Dickson 
Island, at the mouth of the Yenisei, by an expedition 
under the leadership of Dr. Kuchakoy, for the purpose 
of sending meteorological telegrams to the physical 
observatory in Petrograd. The -value of these tele- 
grams will be felt chiefly in Siberia. 
DurinG. the past summer a. party of forty men, in- 
cluding. five. engineers, has. been .working the large 
coalfield. on ;Bear Island, between Spitsbergen and 
Norway. The field has. proved of greater extent than 
was anticipated, and ;the coal seams ‘crop: out on the 
north side of the. island... A cargo has. already been 
dispatched, and it is: possible. to-continue the export 
throughout. the year. - The. Norwegian Government 
proposes to establish wireless and meteorological sta- 
tions there. 
At Leonardsberg, four kilometres from Norrképing, 
Sweden, there have recently been discovered and 
cleaned from the surrounding earth a number of rock- 
carvings, both large’and small. One’ of them shows 
a row of human figures, among others women with 
children, men’ bearing shields, horses, and two other 
quadrupeds with curious head ornaments. Another 
interesting rock-carving -has been discovered in Bis- 
kopskulla parish*in Upland. Six previous carvings 
