JUNE 12, 1902] 
NATURE 
151 
intensity in their overtones. There may be a difference in 
number, but this does not appear to affect the question of 
whether the tones of the string form an appreciable part of the 
consonant note of the violin.) 
If a vibrating tuning-fork is placed in contact with the wood 
of a violin, the instrument reinforces the tone of the fork ; but 
the vibrations of the wood are here much less powerful than in 
the case of the strinz, and consequently the instrument only 
feebly asserts its own ¢ézbye. A very ordinary violin will 
reinforce the tone of a fork almost as perfectly as a masterpiece 
of Cremona. 
I therefore take it that the reinforcement of the tone of the 
fork is chiefly the result of resonance, and that the intensity of 
the tone of the violin is due to the reinforcement of the tones of 
the string itself by resonance, f/ws the reinforcement contributed 
by the tones of the pine and sycamore, and that the latter 
‘determine the ¢@2yzdve of the instrument. 
The tones of the pine and sycamore are also reinforced by 
resonance, in the same way as those of the string. 
June 2. W. B. CovENTRY. 
The ‘‘ Armorl” Electro-Capillary Relay. 
ON p. 129 of vol. Ixv. of NATURE, a description is given of 
an electro-capillary relay. The writer states that the actual 
apparatus was not seen by him, ‘but only a working model.” 
It would be highly interesting to know the exact meaning of 
this expression. Does it mean a model which we// work, or 
only a model in which the different parts of the apparatus are 
shown, say, in wood or cork or any other substance. In the 
illustration, the mercury when acted on electrically is shown as 
moving the lever of a relay. A well-made capillary electrometer 
is highly sensitive to a small change of potential, but the 
movement of the mercury column is so minute that it is very 
difficult to see how any lever of a relay could possibly be worked 
by means of its movement. Some further information about the 
** Armorl” relay would, I feel sure, be acceptable to many, 
showing the potential difference required to cause the mercury 
to work the lever 4, and also the approximate E.M.F. set up at, 
say, ten miles from the sending station of a wireless telegraphic 
system. : 2 
Prehistoric Pygmies in Silesia. 
UNDER the above heading, Prof. G, Thilenius, of the Uni- 
versity of Breslau, has recently (Globus, Bd. Ixxxi. No. 17) 
made an important contribution to European ethnology. His 
deductions result from an examination of a quantity of osseous 
remains preserved in the Museum of Silesian Antiquities at 
Breslau, consisting of four groups obtained at different sites in 
the region between Breslau and the Zobten. They are, un- 
fortunately, very fragmentary ; but it has been ascertained that 
they are the remains of a number of persons of both sexes, all 
adult and all of very short stature. The mean height of one 
group is about 4 feet 8 inches (1-429 m.), of two others about 
4 feet If inches (1°496 m.; 1°506 m.), and of the fourth about 5 feet 
{°523m.). With these Prof. Thilenius compares the remains 
of the Swiss pygmies described by Prof. Kollmann, of Basel, 
who estimates their height as ranging between 4 feet 55 inches 
{1°355 m.) and 4 feet 11 inches (1°499 m.), and comparison is also 
made with the similar remains found at Egisheim (in Lower 
Alsace, near Colmar), which belonged, according to Herr 
Gutmann,to people whose stature ranged from about 3 feet 11 inches 
(1°200 m.) to something under 5 feet(1°520 m.). Further, the 
museum at Worms furnishes the remains of an individual of the 
estimated height of 4 feet 9 inches (1°445 m.). Inall these cases, 
the bones show no trace of any pathological degeneration, and 
the consequent inference is that they represent a special race of 
low-statured men, or dwarfs. Profs. Kollmann and Thilenius 
seem to prefer the term ‘‘ pygmy” as most appropriate in 
denoting a special race, ‘‘dwaif” (Zwerg) being regarded as 
applicable to abnormal specimens of a race of ordinary size. 
Most writers, however, make no such distinction ; and, indeed, 
** pygmy” is far from being strictly accurate when applied to 
people of 4 or 5 feet in height. Prof. Windle states that a 
people may be described as ‘‘ pygmy” in which the average 
male stature does not exceed 1°450 m. (4 feet 9 inches). 
Prof. Thilenius gives a wide range for the period in which 
those little people lived. While those of the Rhine valley are 
placed far back in time, some of the Silesian dwarfs are 
NO. 1702, VOL. 66] 
assumed to have been contemporaneous with the Romans and 
the Slavs, the most recent being placed at about a thousand years 
ago. But, before arriving at anything like a final conclusion on 
any of the questions relating to the mid-European pygmies, 
Prof. Thilenius desires a much greater acccumulation of evi- 
dence in the shape of skeletal remains, and there is good reason 
to hope that this will be forthcoming in due time. Most of our 
information on the subject has been obtained within recent 
years, and fresh evidence can hardly fail. to present itself to 
investigators in the future. DaviD MacRITcHIE. 
Flames from Mud on a Sea-Shore. 
WE should like to draw your attention to the following 
spectacle which some of us witnessed on the sea-shore at 
Blundellsands on Thursday evening, June 5, at about eight 
o'clock. 
The evening was dull and grey, a strong north-westerly wind 
was blowing in from the sea and the tide was flowing in. In 
the distance we first saw smoke with frequent jets of fire 
bursting forth from the mud of a shallow channel. Drawing 
near, we perceived a strong sulphurous odour, and saw little 
flames of fire and heard a hissing sound as though a large 
quantity of phosphorus was being ignited. It was impossible to 
detect anything which caused the fire, only the water where the 
flames appeared had particles of a bluish hue floating on the 
surface. The area over which the tiny flames kept bursting 
forth was about: 40 yards. 
A gentleman present stirred up the mud with his walking- 
stick, and immediately large yellow flames nearly 2 feet in 
length and breadth burst forth. The phenomenon lasted some 
time, until the tide covered the part and quenched the fire. As 
we returned from our walk the atmosphere was impregnated 
with a strong odour of sulphur. An old resident of Blundell- 
sands, who also witnessed the sight, said he had never before 
seen anything of a similar nature. H..T. Dixon. 
9 Agnes Road, Blundellsands, near Liverpool, June 8. 
Cuckoo’s Egg Thrown out of Bunting’s Nest. 
ON the morning of May 25 I found a nest of the reed bunting 
(Emberiza schoeniclus) with a cuckoo’s egg in it besides three 
eggs of the bunting itself. When I took some friends to see it 
two or three hours later, the hen bird was sitting on the three 
eggs, but the cuckoo’s egg was lying smashed outside the nest. 
It is impossible that any person could have broken it, for there 
were no traces of bootmarks in the soft mud on the side of the 
dyke where the nest was, besides it being very unlikely for any- 
one to have passed the spot during the short time I was away. 
It would interest me to know if any of your readers are 
acquainted with cases of small birds pitching the cuckoo’s egg 
out of the nest instead of hatching it in the orthodox style. 
Higham, May 27. 
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN THE WEST 
INDIES. 
N the notes already published relating to the disasters 
which so recently overwhelmed Martinique and St. 
Vincent, reference has twice been made to the possible 
connection between seismic efforts and displays of 
volcanic activity. In connection with this, it has been 
suggested that had the sudden movements which on 
April 19 shattered cities in Guatemala been postponed, 
Mont Pelée and La Soufriére might still have been 
quiescent. By this it is not intended to convey the idea 
that if we take earthquakes generally and compare the 
registers of the same with the registers of volcanic 
eruptions we shall recognise any direct connection 
between the two. In Japan there are annually at least 
tooo distinct earth shakings, but years may pass with- 
out the record of a volcanic eruption. Mount Fuji in 
that country has remained quiescent for the last 195 
years, during which period it has been shaken at least 
15,000 times, but in spite of this repeated aggravation 
the mons excelsus et singularts of Dai Nippon still 
watches peacefully over thirteen provinces round its base. 
