June i, 1882] 



NATURE 



!05 



in the neighbourhood of Hordle huge masses of fallen cliff alter- 

 nate with hollow chines. At Barton also the loss is great, 

 averaging over certain periods one yard per annum, and the 

 whole frontage of Christchurch Bay is similarly affected. 



The shingle immediately westward of Hurst becomes smaller, 

 as is universally the case with these spits. Hurst Beach in effect, 

 with alternating withdrawals and renewals, due to change of 

 wind, represents by its height and the size of its pebbles the 

 general leeward accumulating drift. 



General observation leads to the conclusion that littoral shingle 

 travels mainly along the shore, as in all cases the coarse pebbles 

 are succeeded by fine shingle, and this ultimately, by sand, sill, 

 or clay ; but that spits of shingle grow out into deep water, 

 creating a base for themselves the numerous nesses on our coasts 

 amply show; but before arriving on the shore that shingle does 

 travel at very considerable depths is shown by such cases as the 

 alove-mentioned submarine shingle bank west [of the Needles 

 passage and the "Boulders " off Selsea Bill. 



Here the " Park Anchorage " eastward of the Bill is the tra- 

 ditional site of the bishop's see, and hydrographic authorities 

 cited in the English Channel Pilot describe the gravel bottom as 

 rough and thinly covering a strong clay. J. R. Redman 



6, Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster, S.W., May 18 



Difficult Cases of Mimicry 



In the very interesting communication by Mr. Wallace, in 

 Nature, ante p. S6, on some difficult cases of mimicry, there is 

 one statement « hich apparently challenges comment. 



Mr. Wallace states that although it has been so suggested, it 

 is highly improbable that young birds have a hereditary instinct 

 enabling them to distinguish uneatable butterflies antecedent to 

 experience. Mr. Wallace has not alluded to the very thorough 

 and careful experiments made by the late Mr. Dougl. A. Spalding 

 on this point. It is unnecessary to refer to the results obtained 

 by Mr. Spalding in proving the inherited acquisition of ideas 

 and experience in young chicken--, it will at least suffice to repeat 

 the observations made by him, on the actions of a young turkey 

 which he had adopted — "When chirping within the uncracked 

 shell." Now this young turkey, not only on the tenth day of its 

 life, exhibited the most intense terror at the sound of a hawk's 

 voice which was confined in a cupboard but also proved its in- 

 herited knowledge of uneatable insects. 



" When a week old my turkey came on a bee right in its path 

 — the first, I believe, it had ever seen. It gave the danger chirp, 

 stood for a few seconds with outstretched neck and marked 

 expression of fear, then turned off in another direction. On this 

 hint I made a vast number of experiments with chickens and 

 bees. In the great majority of instances the chickens gave 

 evidence of instinctive fear of these sting-bearing insects, but 

 the results were not uniform, and perhaps the most accurate 

 general statement I can give is, that they were uncertain, shy 

 and suspicious." 



If domesticated fowls and turkeys exhibit such inherited 

 "instinct," may we not postulate a much greater excess of the 

 same in purely insectivorons birds in a state of nature. And if 

 this is so, it will be unnecessary to explain away, what appears to 

 be one of the most philosophical considerations in ihe doctrine 

 of "mimicry." W. L. Distant 



Deaf-Mutes 



J'AprRENDS seulement aujourd'hui par M. Graham Bell que 

 La Nature a bien voulu rnentionner mes communications a 

 1'Academie des Sciences sur l'accent des sourds muets. Je 

 regrette que les Comptes Rendus n'aient pas reproduit mes com- 

 munications in extenso et que M. le Secretaire perpetuel se suit 

 borne a en faire une analyse incomplete. Je prends done la 

 liberie de vous adresser ces quelques lignes afm que vos lecteurs 

 ;-achent au juste la portee de ma communication. 



J'ai dit que nous sornmes frappes de la ressemblance des 

 visages et quelquefois aussi des mains parceque sesont les seules 

 parties du corps, qui ne soient pas couvertes par les vetements, 

 mais qu'evidemment la ressemblance s'etend a toutes les parties 

 du corps. J'ajoute meme que la ressemblance ne s'arrete pas 

 aux traits exterieurs, on doit la retrouver entre les organes. 

 Pourquoi les organes de la voix feraient-ils seuls exception a la 

 regie generate ? 



M. le senateur Robin et M. Milne Edwards, de l'lnstitut, a qui 

 on ne saurait refuser la competence en ces matieres, nous disaient 

 qu'il ne comprenaient pas qu'on put faire des objections serieuses 



au fait que j'ai signale touchant la transmission heriditaire de 

 l'accent ; que la voix, avec ses diverses proprietes, hauteur, in- 

 tensite, timbre, accent, est une manifestation des organes vocaux 

 au meme titre que toutes le< manifestations dont notre corps est 

 le siege. Rien ne se produit au dehors qui n'ait sa cause ou son 

 siege au dedans ; e'est dans la constitution intime de notre corps 

 qu'il faut chercher la raison de tous les phenomenes externes. 

 Ainsi s'expliquent les transmissions par voie d'here'dite, soit des 

 aptitudes comme celles pour les mathematiques, les arts graphi- 

 ques, etc. ; soit des affections maladives comme la goutte, le 

 cancer, la folie, etc. ; soit des monstruosites comme les doigts 

 surnumeraires, le bec-de lievre, etc. Pourquoi dans les ressem- 

 blances, les organes vocaux seraient-ils exceptes ? 



II faut chercher la ressemblance dans la cellule ; sans doute, il 

 n'est pas facile de la saisir, mais nous n'osons pas dire, que e'est 

 chose impossible. Une longue experience est necessaire pour 

 arriver a saiser des nuances imperceptibles au grand nombre. 

 Ne sait-on-pas qu'un berger reconnait et distingue chaque 

 mouton de son troupeau, tandis que pour nous tous les moutons 

 sont les meines a fort peu pres. 



Ne serait-il pas possible, d'ailleurs, qu'il y cut moins de 

 nuances d'accent chez les sourds-muets et les entendants-parlants 

 americains que chez les Francais du Nord et du Midi, de l'Est et 

 de l'Ouest. La voix de nos chers Alsaciens est teintee de sons 

 germaniques, tandis que celle de nos Provencaux a acquis une 

 sonorite et un timbre particuliers qui lui viennent sans doute du 

 long sejour des Romains dans le Midi. Peut-etre nous est-il 

 plus facile de constater ces nuances dans la voix chez les sourds- 

 muets de notre pays. 



Voici un nouveau fait tres curieux sur lequel j'appelle votre 

 attention. 



Nanterre (Seine) Felix Hement 



Caution to Solar Observers 

 In the interest of solar observers I send you a caution. A 

 first-class sample of black glass was set with a bit of white paper 

 behind it, and exposed for an instant to the focus of a 7-inch 

 lens. The paper was charred where an eye would be placed. 

 A longer exposure of a few seconds made the glass burst asunder. 



J. F. Campbell 

 Niddry Lodge, Kensington, London, W. 



Aurora Borealis 



What was, probably, the termination of the aurora seen at 

 Worce>ter and Dublin on May 14 was observed here, by me, 

 between midnight and I a.m. of the morning of the 18th. At 

 that time, and for some time after, I saw along the north- 

 west horizon a strong, green, auroral glow. The evening of the 

 14th was bitterly cold ; the sunset clouds threatened snow, wind, 

 light north-north-east light, cloudy. At dawn, the sky was cloud- 

 less and wonderfully clear. The 1 5th was warm and pleasant. 



Glasgow, May 24 S. Maitland Baird Glennill 



ON THE MUTUAL RELATIONS OF CARBON 



AND IRON IN STEEL 1 

 TN thi- paper the author sets himself to prove the following 

 -*■ four propositions concerning steel: (r) the carbon of steel 

 is (primarily) in a state of simple absorption in the iron ; (2) the 

 hardening of steel is due to a metamorphic change in the condi- 

 tion of the carbon, which then assumes a crystalline form closely 

 analogous to the diameter ; {3) the varying temper of steel results 

 from the dissociation of this crystalline carbon, at varying but 

 low temperatures ; (4) the real strength of steel does not vary to 

 any material degree with a varying content of carbon — that is, 

 ceteris paribus, steel i- not increased in tensile strength by an 

 increased percentage of carbon. 



With regard to No. 1, the author rejects the idea that carbon 

 in steel can he in chemical combination. The only possible 

 hypothesis would be that it is found as a carbide of iron dissolved 

 in excess of iron ; and this no modern author holds. It may be 

 alleged in its support that hydrocarbon gas is evolved on dis- 

 solving steel in hydrochloric acid ; but the great variation in the 

 results and the fact that more or less carbon is at the same time 

 deposited, forbid us to suppose that we have here a definite 

 chemical decomposition. The Eggerty colour test, again, which 

 was supposed to be founded on the same theory, has been in 

 great measure abandoned on account of its inaccuracy. The 

 1 Abstract of paper by Mr. George Woodcock, read before the Iron and 

 Steel Institute. 



