September 19, 1907] 



NA TURE 



523 



wall of solid chalk, a western chamber measuring about 

 30 feet by 24 feet, and an eastern one about 24 feet by 

 20 feet. The excavation consequently presented the excep- 

 tional character of a twin chamber. The roof showed 

 numerous holes, apparently made by picks of horn used 

 in excavating the chalk, whilst the walls had been 

 smoothed, perhaps by means of flints. A curious smooth- 

 ness on part of the roof of the eastern chamber, clearly 

 due to long-continued but gentle friction, led to the sug- 

 gestion that some substance like corn in the ear had been 

 pitched into the chambers from the top of the wall, which 

 formed a platform under the shaft, thus apparently lend- 

 ing some support to the view that the dene-hole may have 

 been used as a subterranean store-house for grain. 



Owing to the development of wireless telegraphy in the 

 Navy, the Admiralty has decided to establish a separate 

 branch of the Service for this work, and this branch will 

 be kept quite distinct from the ordinary signalling branch. 

 In order to place the new section on a proper basis, about 

 three hundred men will be turned over to it as volunteers, 

 taken from the leading signalmen as well as able seamen 

 and marines. Ultimately the telegraphists will be recruited 

 from boys entered in the training ships in the usual way. 

 The Admiralty has also decided to erect a wireless tele- 

 graph station for the use of the Royal Naval Service at 

 Corkbeg, near the mouth of Cork Harbour. This station 

 is to supersede Roche Point station, the situation of which 

 is not considered safe. 



The President of the Local Government Board has 

 authorised the following researches under the grant voted 

 by Parliament in aid of scientific investigation concerning 

 the causes and processes of disease : — (i) Further study by 

 Dr. Sidney Martin, F.R.S., of the chemical products of 

 pathogenic bacteria. (2) Bacteriological investigation by 

 Dr. F. W. Andrewes of the air of sewers and drains. 

 (3) Observation by Dr. W. G. Savage of the bacteriology 

 of " garget " and maladies of the udder or teats of milch 

 cows, and of possible relation of sore throat in the human 

 subject to pathological conditions of the udder and teats 

 of these animals ; also investigation by him of para- 

 typhoid fever and its piicrobic cause. (4) Joint investi- 

 gation by Drs. M. H. Gordon and T. J. Horder of the 

 life-processes of the Meningococcus, with a view to means 

 of combating cerebro-spinal fever. 



The Permanent International Commission of Aeronauts 

 and the International Federation of Aeronauts held con- 

 ferences at Brussels last week, under the presidency of 

 Prince Roland Bonaparte. An address on the advantages 

 of the universal adoption of the metric system in aero- 

 nautics was read by Dr. Guillaume, and a resolution in 

 favour of its adoption by all affiliated aero clubs was 

 carried unanimously. Papers wjere also read on air 

 currents, dynamics of the atmosphere, wind velocity, 

 temperatures at high altitudes, aeronautic observatories 

 for practical meteorology, the history of dirigible balloons, 

 progress of the problem of flying and aerial navigation, 

 and the economical manufacture of hydrogen for balloons. 

 On Sunday, thirty-four balloons started from the Pare 

 Cinquantenaire in competition for the valuable cup to be 

 presented to the aero club of the country the balloon of 

 which covers the greatest distance. The contest was won 

 by a German balloon, which descended at Bayonne, having 

 covered a distance of 1000 kilometres. The second place 

 is shared by a Swiss balloon, which covered 900 kilo- 

 metres, and a British balloon, which travelled 890 kilo- 

 metres. The international conference will be held next 

 j'ear in London. 



NO. 1977, VOL. 76] 



The Frithjof, with the Wellman expedition on board, 

 arrived at Tromsb on September 13, the attempt to reach 

 the North Pole by airship having been abandoned for this 

 year. On September 2 Mr. Wellman 's balloon, the 

 America, was towed about two miles in a northerly direc- 

 tion to Vogel Bay Island. Off this island the airship was 

 set free, but the wind, coupled with a driving snowstorm, 

 finally beat it back over the mainland of Spitsbergen. 

 The gas being allowed to escape, the airship descended 

 and landed on a glacier about half a mile inland. No 

 damage was sustained, except that a few tubes and wires 

 were broken and bent. The scientific instruments on board 

 were uninjured. The America was in the air three hours. 

 In the one hour and a quarter during which she was 

 travelling by her own power she made about fifteen miles, 

 including some beats to windward, demonstrating the 

 power of the motor and the dirigibility of the airship. In 

 three days the entire ship, including even part of the gaso- 

 line, was conveyed back to camp in good order. The 

 balloon-house and the entire plant were put into condition 

 for the winter. Three men were left to guard it until 

 next summer. 



On September 13 the Lusilania, the world's greatest 

 and fastest ship, reached New York, having covered the 

 distance between Queenstown and Sandy Hook, 2782 miles, 

 in five days fifty-four minutes, at an average speed of 

 23.01 knots. Although the Lusitania has not lowered the 

 Atlantic record, she has crossed at a greater pace than 

 any boat on a maiden voyage ever did before her. The 

 slight difference existing between the Lusitania' s average 

 and the Deiitschland's record of 23-15 knots in 1903 is 

 attributed to fog. The progress marked in steamship 

 construction since the advent of the Umbria twenty-three 

 years ago is instructive. The length has been increased 

 50 per cent., and the displacement is more than three 

 times what it was. The power of the machinery has been 

 multiplied by five, but so great is the difficulty of in- 

 creasing the speed that the Lusitania, notwithstanding its 

 enormous advance in size and power, has not added more 

 than 25 per cent, to the speed. The Lusitania has a 

 length of 760 feet, a breadth of 88 feet, and a depth of 

 60 feet 43 inches. Its draught is 33 feet 6 inches, its dis- 

 placement 38,000 tons, and its gross tonnage 32,500. It 

 requires about 5000 tons of coal to steam to New York, 

 and carries a cargo of 1500 tons and 2198 passengers. 

 The indicated horse-power of the steam turbines is 68,000, 

 and the steam pressure 200 lb. The full complement of 

 the ship is 827 persons, the navigating staff numbering 

 sixty-nine, the engineering staff 369, and the personal 389. 



Two papers read at a conference of the Catholic Truth 

 Society on September 11 dealt with the question of the 

 bearing of scientific progress upon religious belief. The 

 Rev. J. Gerard, S.J., in a paper entitled " Science and 

 her Counterfeit,'* pointed out that the true man of science, 

 that is, the investigator actively engaged in scientific re- 

 search, must be distinguished from purely popular writers 

 and lecturers on scientific subjects. " It is the first prin- 

 ciple of science," he remarked, " that nothing should be 

 taken on faith, that we should prove all things, and take 

 no step forward until we have made quite sure of our 

 ground." Many writers, however, who undertake to 

 supply the demand for popular scientific instruction, con- 

 tradict in their practice the principles which men of science 

 insist upon as necessary for the attainment of real knovif- 

 ledge, and encourage the habit of hasty conclusion instead 

 of the spirit of scientific caution. Hypothesis is an 

 essential part of scientific progress, but, as Dr. B. C. A. 

 Windle explained in a subsequent paper on scientific facts 



