July 5, 1906J 



NA TURE 



this time the bird went to work promptly, " as if he knuw 

 the worms were there." 



I had suggested, amongst other experiments, that he 

 should rub a living worm over some substance that the 

 kiwi does not usually cat, such as bread, so t'.at it should 

 be flavoured and scented by the earthworm juice, and then 

 conceal it ; but he has not yet, apparently, carried out the 

 experiment. 



Previously to my request Mr. Henry had experimented 

 with a roa that he had trained to eat meat. He " planted " 

 pieces of meat in drills three or four inches deep, and next 

 day found them gone, " though the ground was not raked 

 over by the bird, but probed where the meat had been 

 hidden. This was in an enclosure whither other creatures 

 had no access. If, when the bird was at rest, though 

 hungry, he threw a piece of meat or an earthworm near 

 it, it seemed at once aware of the presence of food, would 

 wake up and reach in the right direction, touching the 

 ground from lime to time with the lip of its beak until it 

 came in contact with the meat. 



."Mthough other and more crucial experiments are needed 

 — and these could more readily be made in England (at 

 Tring, for instance) under careful supervision — yet I ihink 

 the above affords a certain amount of evidence for the 

 existence in Apteryx of a keen sense of smell. 



I may add that Resolution Island is quite an un- 

 gel-at-able place; it is visited about three tr four times a 

 year, twice by the Government steamer on its round-trips 

 to supply lighthouses, &c., and occasionally by other vessels 

 at irregular times, so that four or five months may inter- 

 vene before a replv is received to a letter. For instance, 

 in reply to my letter dated April 30 I only received an 

 answer in October. I once tried to arrange to visit the 

 island, but the uncertainty of getting back to the main- 

 land in any reasonable time was so great that I had to 

 give up the idea. I hope someone in England will under- 

 take further experiments in this direction. 



\V. B. Bf.nham. 



Otago University Museum, Dunedin. N'.Z., May 6 



Molecular Changes in Nickel Steel 

 Mr. Milne, chronometer maker in Manchester, has 

 kindly given me permission to send you the following 

 interesting information. About two years ago he made a 

 clock having a rod pendulum of Dr. Guillaume's invar 

 steel (iron nickel alloy). It was carefully adjusted, and 

 was recording time in a most satisfactory manner. 

 Recently the gut of the driving weight tore, and the clock 

 received a shock whereby the rate was altered a .few 

 seconds per day. This might be due to some mechanical 

 movement. After re-adjustment had been effected, it was 

 found that the pendulum was undercompensated for 

 changes of temperature, and it appears as if the coefficient 

 of expansion, which was said to be 00000008 per 1° C, 

 had increased. 



The second case is a watch the balance wheel of which 

 was made of invar steel and brass. In March, iqo4, it 

 was rated by the National Physical Laboratory, when it 

 was found that there was no middle temperature error. 

 Now, after two years' working, this error is -(-i-oS seconds 

 per day, ordinary steel and brass balances having a middle 

 temperature error of about 25 seconds per day. The details 

 are as follows : — 



C. E. Stromever. 

 " Lancefield," West Didsbury, June 2S. 



NO. 1 9 14, VOL. 74.1 



a//1jva- archaeology and natural 



HISTOR Y. 



IN the year 18S6 the House of Keys passed an Act 

 entitled "The Museum and Ancient Monuments 

 Act." 1 well remember hearing of it, because in 

 the course of that year I visited the Isle of Man for 

 the first time, in order to see some newly discovered 

 Ogam in.scriptions. It proved for me the first of a 

 series of visits to the island with the view chiefly 

 of studying Manx Gaelic and Manx folklore. I got 

 to know the island and its people, and noticed among 

 other things the efforts made by two or three men 

 with tas.e and zeal for archa-'ology and history to 

 interest the Manx people in the relics of antiquity 

 for which the Isle of Man is famous. On one of 

 my rambles, which led me to a public school, I 

 remember being much struck by finding hung on 

 the walls drawings of hatchets, hammers, and other 

 instruments of the ages of Stone and of Bronze, ac- 

 companied with letterpress descriptions of them. 

 They were intended to interest the more intelligent 

 of the children in such objects, and especially to help 

 them to recognise tliem when accidents exposed such 

 treasures to view. It struck riie how desirable it 

 was that the same thing should be done in the public 

 schools of this country, but I am not aware that it 

 has e%-er been done. This example of the Isle of 

 Man is well worth following, but I fear that the 

 present is not a fav'ourable moment for recommend- 

 ing anything so far removed from the burning ques- 

 tion of the day. But the present v^'ar of creeds and 

 dogmas will, it is to be hoped, be followed by a 

 period of peace when the promoters of education may 

 hi' allowed to devote more attention to some of the 

 historical aspects of its more secular side. 



The first Manx archaeologists I came in contact 

 with w^ere Canon Savage and Mr. A. W. Moore, who 

 has since not only become Speaker of the House of 

 Keys, but established the right to be con.sidered the 

 historian of the island. I found them inspired and 

 led by the experienced hand of Prof. Boyd Dawkins. 

 They have been since joined by other and younger 

 men, such as Mr. Kermode, who has made the study 

 of the runic crosses of the island his own. He pub- 

 lished a valuable book on them in 1S92, but he chose 

 to call it a catalogue of them and of the inscrip- 

 tions, and now a larger work of his on the same 

 subject is passing through the press, and will con- 

 tain as illustrations numerous plates and a great 

 number of outline figures. The list of the trustees 

 of the Manx Museum and ancient monuments in- 

 cludes other men of light and leading in the island, ' 

 such as Mr. Ring, the Attornev-General, not to 

 mention that they have always had the Bishop on 

 that body, and enjoyed the support of successive 

 Governors of the island, including among them the 

 well-known historian, Sir Spencer Walpole. These 

 men have alwavs endeavoured to interest the Manx 

 people in their ancient monuments, and they have 

 succeeded to a great extent, but a great deal stilt 

 remains to be done in the same direction. The pride 

 of ownership is verv strong in a Manxman : perhaps 

 it is in all small nationalities — at any rate, I have 

 noticed it not onlv in Man, but also in my own 

 country, the Principality of Wales. What may be 

 the explanation I do not know, but a member of a 

 small nationality is a more considerable portion of 

 that nationality than if he belonged to_ a larger 

 nationality, and perhaps that has something to do 

 with the greater difficulty which he finds in rising to 

 the idea of civing up to the nation anything of 

 which he is the exclusive owner. That is, however, 

 not what I was coming to, but to the fact that, in 



