January 27, 1923] 
and thence to a large double-handed sword-like 
weapon. Another case shows a transition from a stick 
to various shapes of knobbed clubs. Two of the 
er from Queensland with teeth in the swollen 
part are suggestive of the “pine-apple” clubs of New 
: ea. 
__ The stone implements in the Museum are of special 
interest. Sir Baldwin Spencer points out that there is 
‘no essential difference in type throughout Australia, 
“neither is there any evidence of distinct stages of culture 
which might be called eolithic, paleolithic, or neolithic. 
Stone implements which, if discovered in Europe, would 
be assigned to these stages are found in use in the same 
camp and district at the present time. The cutting 
_edges of knives and other implements are produced by 
flaking or chipping, or by grinding and polishing suit- 
ably shaped pebbles or cut lumps of stone. Spear- 
heads and knives are hafted with resin. Spear-heads 
made of glass, used since the advent of the white man 
‘instead of quartzite, are shown in one of the cases. 
The finely serrated edges are produced by pressure of a 
kangaroo bone broken and ground into a gouge-like 
































Fire is produced by drill or saw. A piece of hard 
wood is either rapidly rotated or worked up and down 
"THE successful transmission of speech from New York 
a to London, which took place in the early hours 
of the morning of January 15, shows that the difficulties 
of long-distance radio telephony are being overcome. 
The main difficulties are due to absorption of the 
Tadio-waves and the muffling of the sounds produced 
by extraneous noises due to atmospheric disturbances. 
By carrying out the experiment at night, when the 
absorptive effects are a minimum, and during the 
winter months, when the atmospheric disturbances 
are least, the chances were all in favour of a successful 
issue. During the first half-hour of the two hours’ test, 
however, the cracklings due to the atmospheric dis- 
turbances were plainly audible. Since January 1 
ements have been made daily at the New 
South gate Works of the Western Electric Co., Ltd., 
of the intensity of the signals and of the atmospherics 
respectively. The results for the first fortnight show 
that the amplitude of the disturbance due to the 
atmospherics was less than ten per cent. of the average 
amplitude of the signals for fourteen hours out of the 
wenty-four. At this period of the year it is only from 
P.M. to 11 P.M. Greenwich time that transatlantic 
telephony is unsatisfactory. When the measurements 
been carried out systematically for a year, it will 
be possible to estimate with fair accuracy the cost of a 
Tadio transmission system of satisfactory quality. 
Tt has been found that although the Austin formula 
ives the daylight strength of radio signals with high 
accuracy for hundreds of miles over the sea, yet when 
the distances are measured by thousands of miles it 
not be used. The night values of the signals when 
circumstances are favourable can be accurately 
ted, as the damping effects are then negligibly 
NO. 2778, VoL. 111] 
NATURE 
123 

in a groove upon a softer piece, the powder worn away 
being ignited by the heat of the friction. 
Bowls are hollowed from blocks of wood, partly by 
gouging, partly by burning. Baskets are plaited from 
grass-stalks, rushes, thin pliant twigs, or split cane. 
Sometimes they are open, sometimes close enough to 
contain honey or water. The close baskets are often 
decorated, as in those from Northern Territory shown 
in Fig. 3. 
String in some places is made of human hair, but in 
others the possession of the hair of a person gives its 
possessor power to work harm upon the man from 
whom it has been cut. String is also made of vegetable 
fibre, sinew, and fur. Personal ornaments are made of 
fur, feathers, wood, bone, or shell. 
Native art is well represented in the Museum collec- 
tion. It consists of rude drawings of animals and plants 
and geometric designs drawn with yellow or red ochre, 
white pipeclay, and charcoal, or incised drawings with 
the sharp-edged tooth of an opossum or a flake of flint. 
Among the descriptions of the exhibits Sir Baldwin 
Spencer has given many notes on their use. He has 
provided a most instructive and useful guide, which 
cannot fail to interest the student and stimulate the 
study of Australian ethnography. 
Long-Distance Radio Telephony. 
small. In the recent test a small frame aerial was 
used, for the constants of such an aerial can be readily 
calculated. As there were sixty listeners, each with 
a head set, considerable amplification had to be 
employed, and so the test was a specially severe one. 
Amateurs in this country have occasionally picked up 
both speech and music sent out by the American 
broadcasting stations. These, however, are “ freak ” 
receptions due to several favourable conditions occur- 
ring simultaneously. For commercial radio telephony, 
communication must be possible at definite times of 
the day under practically all atmospheric conditions. 
In the test the total distance traversed by the speech 
was first 70 miles by telephone cable from New York 
to Long Island, where there is a radio station with an 
antenna 1} miles long, supported by towers 450 feet 
high. About sixty kilowatts had to be supplied to 
this aerial. A notable economy of power was effected 
by suppressing the carrier wave between the radio- 
transmitting and the radio-receiving station, a distance 
of about 3000 miles. It has to be remembered that the 
speech could have been sent out with practically equal 
clearness from any point on the vast long-distance 
telephone network of the United States. 
There can now be no reasonable doubt that trans- 
atlantic telephony is possible during a large fraction 
of the year, and it is quite probable that the result of 
the tests now being made at New Southgate will 
demonstrate that radio telephony between Europe 
and America will be feasible on a commercial basis. 
This will doubtless have important results on the 
world’s future. It is to be hoped that rapid com- 
munication will prevent many of those misunder- 
standings which too frequently arise between nations. 
