June 28, 1906J 



NATURE 



203 



A most significant feature in this circumstantial 

 .Kcount is that it tallies to some extent with the 

 narrative given by the officers of H.M.S. Daedalus 

 of the appearance of the sea-serpent seen by them in 

 the year 1S48 in the Atlantic. 



In the figures given by Oudemans the (double) 

 back-fin is very low, and the neck seems relatively 

 short and ill-defined. Revised restorations, however, 

 give a longer neck and no back-fin. It is possible, if 

 a fin was present, that its apparent difference in height 

 in (lie two instances was due to the animal swimming 

 faster in one case than the other. Mcgcphias 

 i)u\i;<iphias, it appears, is a name which has been 

 suggested for the creature. In 1903 Prof. Racovitza 

 (Bull. Soc Zool. Paris, xxviii., p. ii) gave an account 

 of a sea-serpent seen by Lieut. Lagresille in iSqS 

 in .Mong Bay, Tonkin, and in 1904 M. Vaillant (Bull. 

 Mus. Paris, x., p. 217) mentioned another apparition 

 of an apparently similar creature in the same locality. 

 In this second account the animal is described as 

 being probably scaled, with a head like that of a 

 turtle or a seal, and as " spouting " from terminally 

 pl.iced nostrils. It was also stated to move in un- 

 dulations — at one time vertical, at another horizontal. 

 Two occurrences in the same locality are very note- 

 worthy. 



In each of these four instances it can scarcely be 

 doubted that the object seen was a living creature 

 (or creatures) of some kind, and that it (or they) was 

 of the same general type. If the object were formed 

 by more than one animal, cadit quaestio. If, on the 

 other hand, it consisted of a single individual, fur- 

 nished with a dorsal fin, a long, snake-like neck, and 

 a head like a turtle, it could scarcely be any known 

 living animal. Neither, it may be suggested, could 

 it be even an unknown type of seal, especially since 

 all the known members of that group come ashore 

 to breed. The next question is. Could it have been 

 a survivor of some Mesozoic reptilian ? Two argu- 

 ments, so far as they go, are against this. Firstly, 

 the one referred to by Mr. True as to the absence 

 of the remains of any such creature in Tertiary de- 

 posits, and secondly (on the hypothesis that it is an 

 air-breathing vertebrate, and if not, why should it 

 come to the surface at all?), the raritv of the sea- 

 serpent's appearance, the latter argument being 

 applicable whether the creature is considered to belong 

 to a supposed extinct group or not. 



With regard to the fossil theory, it might be urged 

 that the creature is an inhabitant of the deep sea, 

 and consequently that its remains should not be ex- 

 pected to occur in Tertiary deposits, which belong 

 for the most part, at any rate, to more or less shallow 

 water. For what it is worth, it mav be mentioned 

 in reply that no traces of the creature have been found 

 on the ocean bottom, where sharks' teeth and cetacean 

 ear-bones are common. .\ more forcible objection is 

 that, if the creature is in the habit of coming to the 

 surface (as on the hypothesis of its existence it must), 

 it cannot be a denizen of the abysses, no animal 

 (despite the old belief in regard to whales) being able 

 to live under such diversities of pressure. Ergo, its 

 remains ought to occur in Tertiary deposits. Its 

 stranded carcase ought also to have been found. If 

 the creature be a "living fossil," the plesiosaurian 

 group has the strongest claim to its ownership, as, 

 although the zeuglodont cetaceans are the latest in 

 time of possible extinct representatives, the smallness 

 of its head prevents the reference of the sea-serpent 

 (as described) to that group. As to the raritv of its 

 appearance, it can scarcely be urged that only two 

 or three (or even half a dozen) examples of the 

 creature are in existence. 



NO. 191 3, VOL. 74] 



Without offering any suggestion as to what the 

 nature of the object seen by Messrs. Nicoll and Meade- 

 Waldo really was, it may be pointed out that the testi- 

 mony of two such trained observers (supplemented by 

 that of the ofilicers of the Daedalus and by the two 

 " apparitions " off Tonkin) cannot possibly be brushed 

 aside in the light-hearted manner with which Prof. 

 Moselev treated the evidence available in his time. 



K. L. 



THE ROVAL SOCIETY CONVERSAZIONE. 



MANY of the exhibits of scientific apparatus and 

 objects at the second, or ladies', conversazione 

 held at the Royal Society on June 20 were the same 

 ,is those shown at the gentlemen's conversazione on 

 .May 9. .\s these have already been described 

 (.May 17, p. 59), it is only necessary to refer now to 

 the new exhibits. During the evening demonstra- 

 tions, with lantern illustrations, were given by Dr. 

 Tempest .Anderson, Sir William Crookes, and Mr. 

 Fred. Knock. Dr. Tempest .Anderson described the 

 recent eruption of Vesuvius, his photographs showing 

 the phenomena during the later stages of the erup- 

 tion, as well as some of the results. In several cases 

 the views afforded a comparison with the conditions 

 of the same places as previously observed. Sir 

 \\'illiam Crookes gave a short address with experi- 

 ments in illustration of some properties of the 

 diamond; and Mr. Fred. Knock described slides show- 

 ing by means of colour photography (Sanger Shep- 

 herd process) the adaptability of lepidopterous insects 

 to their environment. 



In the subjoined summary of the official catalogue, 

 the exhibits are arranged roughly in groups of related 

 subjects. 



Dr. H. Forster Morley on behalf of the International 

 Catalogue Committee : A map of the world was shown 

 upon which thirty-one countries or regions were coloured. 

 Each of these has established a Regional Bureau for index- 

 ing its scientific literature. The literature indexed is that 

 published since January i, 1901. Each annual issue of 

 the catalogue contains seventeen volumes, dealing with 

 seventeen sciences. A copy of the second annual issue was 

 shown. The Regional Bureaus for France, Germany, and 

 that for Polish literature employ the material prepared 

 for the International Catalogue for the compilation of 

 bibliographies of their own scientific literature. Specimens 

 of these bibliographies were shown. — Prof. H. McLeod on 

 behalf of the Committee of the Royal Society's Catalogue 

 of Scientific Papers : An exhibit illustrating the course of 

 operations in the preparation of the catalogue, which was 

 fully described in an appendi.x to the descriptive programme 

 of the conversazione. 



Sir James Dewar, F.R.S. : (i) New charcoal calorimeter 

 and thermoscope. Charcoal at the temperature of liquid 

 hydrogen that has absorbed at atmospheric pressure con- 

 siderable quantities of helium or hydrogen — or alternatively 

 of nitrogen, oxygen, or air at their respective boiling points 

 — is utilised in this instrument as a material that, by 

 reason of changes in the volume of the occluded gas, 

 exhibits great sensibility to heat and light radiation, and 

 can be used in calorimetry at the temperature of solid 

 hydrogen. (2) Charcoal vacua. Electric discharge tubes 

 showing gradual gas absorption bv charcoal cooled in liquid 

 air until, after the Rontgen radiation stage, the electric 

 resistance becomes so great that a discharge will not pass. 

 (3) Spectrum tubes, (a) The less condensable gases of the 

 atmosphere — helium and neon, (b) The more condensable 

 gases of the atmosphere — krypton and .xenon, each set 

 of gases being separated bv the charcoal method. (4) Some 

 scientific uses of liquid air. (a) Electric ice crystals. 

 (6) Rough measures of relative thermal conductivities in 

 metals and alloys, by observing the height of the deposited 

 ice cap when similar wires are placed alongside each other 



