568 



NA TURE 



[October 3, 1907 



graphic Diirilmiustorung.' " This revision was chiefly an 

 examination of all cases in which stars found in other 

 catalogues are missing from the C.P.D. Sometimes they 

 were hidden by photographic defects ; sometimes they were 

 variable or had large proper motion ; in a great many 

 cases they were red, and photographically faint. Hence 

 attention was concentrated upon a particular class of 

 stars, near the limit of the C.P.D., which had escaped 

 registration owing to some abnormality, generally red- 

 ness. This specially selected material has been further 

 specialised, for at the top of the list we read : — Very few 

 stars of a lighter shade than deep yellom have been re- 

 corded because of their frequency. And this is the 

 material from which Prof. Pearson and Miss Gibson 

 extract their conclusions about the stars in general. 



1 think that an astronomer may be allowed to express 

 his dissent from these applications of modern statistical 

 methods. 



I should like, in conclusion, to refer briefly to the 

 theoretical point : — Should not the correlation ratio be used 

 in preference to the coefficient of correlation? The former 

 expresses the degree of approximation to a smooth curve, 

 the latter the approximation to a straight line. It will 

 rarely happen that the curve of regression for two abso- 

 lutely correlated astronomical quantities is a straight line, 

 and the range of the quantities is generally so large that 

 we are concerned with much more than an elementary 

 portion of the curve. It appears to me, therefore, that it 

 would be better in all treatment of astronomical statistics 

 to use the correlation ratio. Artmur R. Hinks. 



Cambridge Observatory, September 23. 



The Relation of Man to the Animal World. 



In the short notice given of my " booklet " in Nature 

 of September 12 on the " Relation of Man to Animals," 

 the writer seems guite to have misunderstood the object 

 of my writing it. I am aware that an author has no 

 right to discuss a fair criticism with a reviewer, but in 

 the present case, when the latter says that he is at a 

 loss to discover the object and aim of my pamphlet, I 

 trust you will allow me to give its true explanation to your 

 readers. 



I may state in a few words that if we read the report 

 of the Vivisection Committee which has been lately 

 sitting, we shall .see that there are witnesses who confess 

 their ignorance of the many kinds of cruelty being in- 

 flicted on animals in their very midst. This ignorance has 

 always been considered a very important point with the 

 advocates of experimentation as showing that the anti- 

 vivisectionists shut their eyes to everything connected with 

 the use of animals except that which is for the attain- 

 ment of knowledge. This knowledge some of their 

 leading advocates declare is no value. 



When I was chosen by my college to give an address 

 on the subject before the Church Congress, I made the 

 present position of the animal world my basis of argu- 

 ment for experimentation. This feature of the question 

 is considered most important at the present time, and 

 therefore I have very willingly re-published and expanded 

 it in my pamphlet. This is my sole object of writing 

 it. It would be quite out of place to give my own opinion 

 as to our treatment of animals generally; in fact, it would 

 be of no value considering the difference of opinion on the 

 subject, and especiallv at the present time, when 

 vegetarianism seems largely increasing. 



Hampstead, September 27. Saml'el Wilks. 



Meteoric Shower, from near $ Aurigse. 



On September 27 at oh. 54m. I saw a very swift meteor 

 of about 1^ niag. shooting through Cygnus, ;tnd leaving a 

 streak of about 10° near a and 7 Cygni. The sky was 

 clouding over at the time, and a portion of the luminous 

 cour.se of the meteor must have been hidden, but the 

 observed path was from .306:1° -I- 45° to 2()0° 4-325°. 



The lino of flight traced far backwards carries us to 

 the point RR°4-43°, and this, I believe, formed the radiant 

 position of the object. There are showers from near 

 j8 Aurig.x in .August, September, and October, and later 



NO. 1979, VOL. 76] 



months also supply indications of activity in the same 

 centre. This particular system of Aurigids appears to be 

 unusually rich from about September 21 to 27. On 1879 

 September 21 I recorded eight meteors from a radiant at 

 87° 4- 43°, and on 1S78 September 25 the radiant near 

 3 .\urigae was re-determined from five meteors. The 

 members of this stream are exceedingly swift, and they 

 usually leave streaks, their appearance being very similar 

 to that of the Leonids. W. F. Denning. 



Bishopston, Bristol, September 28. 



A New Stratigraphical Fact in the Thames Basin. 



It will interest geologists to learn of the occurrence in 

 this neighbourhood, below the Tertiary plateau gravels, 

 of a bed (not a boulder) of marly, lignitiferous, glauconiti- 

 ferous limestone, full of fossils, about the Upper Eocenfe 

 or Oligocene age, of which there can scarcely be a doubt. 

 Fuller particulars are reserved for a later communication 

 cither to Nature or the Geoloflical Magazine, when the 

 fossils have been exactly identified and the Investigation 

 completed. 



This is, I believe, the first definite record in the Thames 

 basin of pre-Miocene strata younger than the Upper Bag- 

 shot Sands. A. Irving. 



Bishop's Stortford, September 25. 



Bees' Stings and Rheumatism. 



It appears to be a familiar and widespread belief in 

 many countries that the stings of bees act both protectively 

 and as a cure for " rheumatism." I have recently been 

 able to collect some definite evidence in support of the 

 belief in question. 



This is of interest and importance, not only on general 

 grounds, but also on account of the connection which I 

 believe to exist between rheumatic fever and an abnormal 

 production of formic acid (the acid of bee poison) in the 

 human body (British Medical Journal, September 19, 1903, 

 and May 25, 1907). 



May I, therefore, be permitted to request any of your 

 re;iders who possess information on the subject, and are 

 willing to assist the present inquiry, to favour me with 

 answers to the following questions? — 



(i) Are you acquainted with the belief that bees' stings 

 cure and prevent rheumatism? 



(2) Do you know of any case in which rheumatism is 

 believed to have been cured by this means? 



(3) Do you know of any person who suffers from 

 rheumatism although frequently exposed to the stings of 

 bees? E. W. Aini.ey Walker. 



University College, Oxford, September 27. 



The Country Child in Education. 



In your interesting resume of the educational meetings 

 at the British Association in Nature of September 12 

 (P' 505) Of® could not help being struck by the absence 

 of any allusion, near or distant, to the country child. 



I suppose it is correct to say that, physically, country 

 children are, or will be, the backbone of the nation. If 

 half as much were done educationally for them as is 

 lavished on the town — and particularly the London — child, 

 they would speedily become the nation's brain. 



Manual training in all its branches, cookery lessons, 

 swimming baths — what effect would these not have on our 

 slow but sturdy village youngsters? With them nature- 

 study is coming along — but even gardening lessons on 

 scientific principles are all too rare. 



Our school buildings and furniture in country districts 

 slowly improve, but our playgrounds are still mostly loose 

 beach, utterly useless for physical exercises or organised 

 games. 



It is time for enlightened educationists to urge the needs 

 and claims of the country child. H. J. Glover. 



Council School, Westham, Sussex, September 18. 



[We hope this matter will not be lost sight of in arrang- 

 ing the agenda for next year's meeting of the Educational 

 Science Section of the British .Association. — Ed. Nature] 



