290 
NATURE 
[March 3, 1923 


Thirdly, it is said that meteorologists and astrono- 
mers would welcome months with equal numbers 
of days, and no doubt they would, one and all, if 
they could order everything to perfection. But 
apart from the labour that would be involved in 
preserving the continuity of the climatological 
record, involving the translation of one calendar 
into the other, think of the confusion that would 
arise in making comparisons between two systems 
which both have the same names of months! We 
should be perpetually having to think and specify 
whether it is the old January or the new January 
we are considering, and so forth. It would be just 
as though, when the new barometer unit the millibar 
was instituted to replace the inch, the name “ inch ” 
had been retained for the new division. Far better 
would it be to have an entirely new set of calendar 
names so that the old names would retain their 
habitual meanings. It is always open to astronomers 
and meteorologists to invent a system for any special 
technical purpose for which it may be required ; 
but probably not many of them would take the 
narrow view and wish to disorganise the world on 
that account. 
This country can, when it likes. be very much to 
the fore when issues of real importance are involved ; 
but with a sane respect for tradition it is scarcely 
likely to countenance interference with a system 
of time-measurement the correction of which by 
Pope Gregory XIII. was designed to hold good for 
a very long period ahead. L. C. W. Bonacrina. 
27 Tanza Road, Hampstead, N.W.3. 
January 27. 

Time Relations in a Dream. 
I was much interested by Dr. Atkins’s letter in 
Nature of January 27, p. 117, about time-rate in 
dreams, and more especially by what he says of the | 
metallic nature of the sound as heard in the dream. | 
This fits in with an observation I made a couple of 
years ago when I was in lodgings close to a bell-tower. 
It happened that for other reasons I was not sleeping 
well at the time, and was frequently waked by the 
bell ringing hours and quarters. It always seemed 
then of much higher pitch when I heard it in a dream, 
or even when I was just awake enough to recognise 
the source of sound, than when I was fully awake. 
Several times I could follow the same sound repeated 
during my transition from sleep to waking, and then 
found that I really heard the upper notes of the bell 
in their true pitch, the lower notes being completely 
blocked out. 
Though I have since been able to verify this 
interpretation nearly to my own satisfaction, I should 
be glad if any one else could confirm it in any way, 
as, in the nature of the case, it is difficult to be certain 
of one’s judgment. Can the physiopsychologists help 
towards an explanation, assuming I am right ? 
H. F. Bias. 
The Electrical Laboratory, 
Oxford, January 29. 

The Ascent of Elvers in Egyptian Waters. 
In connexion with Dr. Schmidt’s article on the 
“ Breeding Places and Migrations of the Eel” 
(NATURE, January 13, p. 51), it may be of interest 
to give the results of further observations upon the 
arrival and ascent of elvers in Egyptian waters. 
The records were made at the pumping-station 
mentioned in Dr. Schmidt’s article. The station is 
exceptionally favourable for such observation, since 
skilled observers were (and are) present day and 
NO. 2783, VOL. 111] 



night (in connexion with other fishery work) through- 
out the year. There can be no doubt, therefore, 
that when elvers were reported absent there were in 
fact none to be seen. Since the pumping- station 
ceases to work early in the summer, this fact may 
bring the ascent artificially to an end; but, as a 
rule, there are signs that the main run is over before 
the pumps stop. The numbers transported are 
given as an indication of the extent of the ‘“‘ runs.” 
All the early “runs” consist of transparent 
elvers; from the mjddle of April onwards about 
50 per cent. are pigmented. 
The observations are as follows : 
979-1920 Season: No observations prior to 
January 20, 1920, on which date transparent elvers 
were abundant and remained so until April 15, 
when the pumps stopped working. Reappeared in 
large numbers on the nights of July 2, 3, and 4. 
Total transported, 6,260,000. 
1920-1921 Season: First observed December 15, 
1920 (also on some date in Lake Menzaleh, near Port 
Said) ; remained few till January 30, when they 
appeared in large numbers for two nights only ; 
then disappeared completely until April 7, when they 
were present for three successive nights. Appeared 
again April 19-May 24, when pumps ceased working. 
Total transported, 1,797,000, 
1921-1922 Season: First observed on November 
II, 1921, in small quantity till January 20, 1922; 
remained abundant till February 20, 1922; dis- 
appeared till March 23, continuing in decreasing 
numbers until April 10, when pumps stopped. Total 
transported, 2,484,000. 
1922-1023 Season: First observed October 25 ; 
remained in small numbers until December 4, when 
they were abundant for two nights; remained few 
in number to date, January 24, 1923. 
From the above, it may be observed : 
(1) That elvers may make their first appearance i 
at a given place nearly two months later in 
one year than another. 
(2) That the dates of first appearance in Egypt 
are the same as those recorded for the West of 
Ireland, France, and Spain—say, 1500 miles 
nearer the suggested centre of dispersal in 
the Western Atlantic. 
(3) That the main ‘“‘runs”’ occur in the same 
months (February—April) in rivers as widely 
separated geographically as the Severn, the 
Po, and the Nile, notwithstanding the very 
different climatic conditions obtaining in 
these months in the last-named region. 
G. W. PaGET. 
Coastguards and Fisheries Service, Cairo, 

Transcription of Russian Proper Names. 
In order to conclude the discussion which followed 
my proposal to use letters of the Czech alphabet for 
the above purpose (NATURE, April 29, 1922, p. 552) 
—a proposal which was opposed by Lord Gleichen 
and Mr. J. H. Reynolds and defended by Messrs. 
Druce and Glazunov (NATURE, November 11, p. 635, 
and October 14, p. 512)—I tried to find out the opinion 
of the Academy of Petrograd about this matter. At 
last, only recently, I have succeeded in obtaining from 
one member of the Russian Academy of Sciences a 
copy of a publication: ‘‘ Memorial book of the 
Imperial Academy of Sciences for 1914—published 
March 20.—S.-Petérburg 1914.’ This contains on 
p- 180 a “ Transcription of Russian Proper Names, 
approved by the Imperial Academy of Sciences 
(accepted in the Conference at the meeting of 
December 2/15, 1906).’’ To this table six notes are 
added containing rules concerning the cases in which 

tlie. aay 
———— 
H 
; 
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