July 3, 1913] 



NATURE 



455 



agreement with each other which the results show, 

 and they take this as evidence that the movements 

 of the rod are due to subjective and not to ob- 

 jective causes. These are precisely the opinions 

 formed as a result of my own series of experi- 

 ments ; and it may still be assumed that no 

 adequate evidence has been produced in favour 

 of the existence of something: acting outside the 

 dowser which causes his twig- or other indicator 

 to move when it is over water. 



In La Nature for May 10 (p. 379), M. Gustave 

 Le Bon has published an article recording- the 

 success of certain diviners in discovering- the 

 metals contained in five envelopes (viz., 

 aluminium, copper, silver, lead, and zinc) ; but, 

 as he admits, the method of experiment was not 

 satisfactory, since he thinks he may unintention- 

 ally have given signs of approval while the diviners 

 consulted together as to what metals were con- 

 tained in the envelopes, and since the method of 

 procedure involved the displacement of the 

 envelopes by the diviners, thus giving them an 

 opportunity of forming an opinion based on the 

 different weights, &c, of the metals. He also 

 mentions that M. Coupaux, who performed similar 

 experiments, only had one success out of five, but 

 that the diviners objected to these experiments 

 because the metals were enclosed in glass tubes, 

 and, as they allege, the glass prevents their 

 feeling the influence of the metals. 



On the whole, M. Le Bon is of opinion that 

 there is enough evidence to warrant further ex- 

 amination into the claims of diviners ; he thinks, 

 however, that the commission appointed by the 

 Academie des Sciences to examine into the 

 question so far as it relates to the discovering of 

 springs ought to do more, and he asks that this 

 commission may also undertake experiments 

 similar to those which he has performed. My 

 own experiments in this direction went to show 

 that the experienced diviners with whom they were 

 tried were not able to discover gold or silver by 

 means of their rods ; for though one diviner 

 scored a remarkable success in a single instance, 

 he was absolutely wrong in the other experiments 

 of the same kind which he performed. Never- 

 theless, this single success (fortuitous as I be- 

 lieve) confirmed an intelligent friend who wit- 

 nessed it in his belief that the powers of the 

 diviners are real ! J. Werthejmfr. 



DR. P. L. SCLATER, F.R.S. 

 VOOLOGISTS throughout the world will join 

 *-^ with their English brethren in lamenting the 

 death on June 27 — albeit at the advanced age of 

 eighty-four — of Dr. Phillip Lutley Sclater, F.R.S. 

 The second son of the late Mr. W. L. Sclater, of 

 Hoddington House, Hants, the deceased natural- 

 ist was born in 1829, and received his education 

 first at Winchester and subsequently at Corpus 

 Christi College, Oxford, where he graduated first 

 class in mathematics, and subsequentlv became 

 honorary fellow of his college. In 1855 he was 

 NO. 2279, VOL. qi] 



called to the Bar as a member of Lincoln's Inn, 

 and in 1875 he acted as private secretary to his 

 brother, the Hon. G. Sclater-Booth (afterwards 

 Lord Basing), when President of the Local 

 Government Board. So early as 1850 he had 

 commenced to write on zoology- Soon after his 

 call to the Bar he devoted himself mainly to 

 natural history, and he was elected secretary to 

 the Zoological Society of London in 1859, which 

 important post he retained till 1902, when advan- 

 cing years led to his voluntary resignation. 



During- the greater part of that prolonged period 

 Dr. Sclater was the ruling spirit of the society, 

 and it was to his organising capacity and un- 

 tiring energy that the menagerie in Regent's Park 

 attained the pre-eminent position it occupied, both 

 as a zoological centre and a place of popular resort, 

 at the time of his retirement. He was also editor 

 of the society's numerous publications, to which 

 he communicated an extraordinary number of valu- 

 able papers and memoirs ; and it was during his 

 term of office that the Proceedings became entitled 

 to rank as one of the very foremost zoological 

 journals in the world. 



But the executive and scientific work connected 

 with the Zoological Society by no means sufficed 

 to absorb all the energies of its secretary, for in 

 1859 he became editor of the Ibis, a then newly 

 started ornithological journal, and held that post 

 until 1865, to resume it, in conjunction with the late 

 Mr. Howard Saunders, in 1883, and to hold it, 

 either alone or associated with others, throughout 

 the rest of his working career. Dr. Sclater was 

 also one of the founders of the British Ornitho- 

 logists' Union, of which body he long occupied 

 the presidential chair. Of even more importance, 

 perhaps, was Dr. Sclater's share in the foundation 

 and maintenance of the "Zoological Record," as 

 without that wonderful work of reference zoology 

 at the present day would be an absolute impossi- 

 bility. 



Dr. Sclater was also one of the pioneers — if not 

 the actual founder — of the modern science of 

 geographical distribution ; and it is to him that 

 we owe such now familiar terms as " Palsearctic " 

 and "Nearctic," which are excellent examples of 

 the classic form of scientific nomenclature in which 

 he delighted. 



The prodigious amount of scientific work, more 

 especially in ornithology, produced by Dr. Sclater 

 may be inferred from the fact that a record of his 

 career published some years ago contains entries 

 of something like 1200 different papers and 

 memoirs. From a popular point of view one of 

 the most attractive works with which he was con- 

 nected was Wolf's "Zoological Sketches," while 

 his monographs of various groups of South 

 American birds are models of their kind. 



For the greater part of his long life Sclater 

 was a man of intense activity and energy, and 

 only during the last few years did he show signs 

 of failing health. Injuries received in a carriage 

 accident a few weeks ago hastened the termination 

 of a long life devoted to the advancement of 

 zoological science. R. L. 



