March i8, 1909] 



NA TURE 



67 



must be prepared to do a certain amount of search- 

 ing, unless he happens to remember the name of the 

 discoverer. Still, the work will be found to be a very 

 useful compilation, and it merits a place in the library 

 of every technologist and man of science. 



British Butterflies and other Insects. Edited by 

 Edward Thomas. Pp. vii+127; illustrated. (Lon- 

 don : Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.) Price 6s. 



This is a pretty book, apparently intended rather as 

 a gift-book or for the drawing-room table than for 

 ontomologists. .Still, entomologists who wish for a 

 little relaxation from their more arduous labours may 

 take it up and find a series of chatty dissertations 

 on various popular aspects of insect life by well- 

 known writers. Anthony CoUett writes on " Some 

 English Butterflies," and G. A. B. Dewar on "The 

 Bee Mind," "Ghost Moth Evenings," "The Rail- 

 way Embankment," " Butterflies in Bed," " Pearl 

 Skippers," " Anax imperator," and "The Sphinx 

 Moth," while Richard South contributes " Field 

 Notes on some English Butterflies," " Day-flying 

 Moths," and " The Entomologist's Methods," and 

 Alfred W. Rees and F. P. Smith, respectively, talk 

 about " Humours of Insect Life in October " and 

 "' The Makers of Gossamer." There are about half 

 a dozen coloured illustrations, each representing one 

 or more insects on a flower ; perhaps the best is the 

 frontispiece, with two white admiral butterflies 

 perched on honeysuckle, showing the upper and 

 under surfaces of their wings; but why should the 

 chapter on .Anax imperator be illustrated by a rather 

 clumsy figure of the female of Libellida depressa, 

 which is not even mentioned? 



.\ more serious discrepancy is the mention by dif- 

 ferent authors of two different butterflies under the 

 name of the Large Heath, owing to some entomolo- 

 gists having been sufficiently ill-advised to transfer 

 the name from Epir.eplicle titlioiiKS to Cociwnyinpha 

 iiphon. 



The Oil and Bromoil Processes. By F. J. Mortimer 

 and S. L. Coulthurst. Pp. 96. (London : Hazell, 

 Watson and Viney, Ltd., 1909.) Price i^. net. 



The " oil " process here referred to is a method of 

 making photographic prints that has recently been 

 much appreciated by those who desire to have the 

 opportunity of altering the print during its production 

 to suit their taste. It consists in exposing a bi- 

 chromated gelatin film under the negative, washing 

 it, and inking it up with a greasy ink. The applica- 

 tion of the ink was originally done with a roller, 

 but brushes are now generally used, as these permit 

 of more control over the result. The " bromoil " 

 process is exactly the same in its final stages, but 

 starts with a bromide print, and as this may be an 

 enlargement, there is no need for a full-sized nega- 

 tive. The authors are expert workers in these 

 processv.s, and here give the results of their expe- 

 rience, with the most detailed instructions for every 

 stage. The volume is issued as a practical guide, and 

 as such is all that can be desired. We might, perhaps, 

 point out the advantage of a little more knowledge 

 of a fundamental or scientific kind to many of even 

 the most able and experienced workers of plioto- 

 graphic processes. The statement that dilute 

 sulphuric acid should be freshly mixed, but cool, 

 conveys the notion that the dilute acid changes to 

 its detriment when kept for a few days. But a useless 

 precaution such as this does no harm, and it is better 

 for authors of practical instructions to include one 

 meaningless precaution than to omit one that is 

 essential. 



NO. 2055, VOL. 80] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Suggested Effect of High-tension Mains. 



I SEE in certain American papers a statement that the 

 high-tension mains which convey 14,000 horse-power from 

 the Grand Rapids to Michigan are worked at a voltage of 

 110,000 over a distance of fifty miles, and it is suggested 

 that both agricultural and other effects may be anticipated 

 from the visible brush discharge from these elevated mains. 



I suspect that the brush discharge is most marked in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of the metallic poles or 

 towers which support the insulators, and is weak in 

 between. Nevertheless, some effect might be anticipated 

 if the potential were continuous, or of one sign ; but 

 inasmuch as it is sure to be alternating, any expectation 

 of an influence on crops or on fog is almost bound to be 

 disappointed. A negative result is to be expected before 

 hand. Oliver Lodge. 



March 12. 



Scientific Societies and the Admission of Women 

 Fellows. 



Mr. Atkinson's letter under this heading in Nature of 

 February 25 reveals the fact that the majority of the fellows 

 of the Geological Society, like the majority of the fellows 

 of the Chemical Society, are desirous of following the 

 example of the Linnean Society in admitting women to the 

 fellowship of their respective societies. It is difficult to 

 understand what valid reason the executives of these socie- 

 ties can urge for their continued opposition to the wishes 

 of the greater number of their members. This is surely 

 a matter in which the opinion of the majority should 

 prevail, especially when that opinion in each case has been 

 deliberately invited, presumably with a view to the settle- 

 ment of the question. 



In this connection I desire to direct attention to an 

 utterance by the president of the Society of Public Analysts. 

 In the course of his recent presidential address, Mr. Tatlock 

 said : — " A little commotion has taken place lately on 

 the question of the rights and privileges of women chemists, 

 particularly as regards their admission to the membership 

 of our societies, and a considerable variety of opinion has 

 been expressed — one, I think, to the effect that if women 

 were accorded all these, they might become formidable 

 rivals in an already overcrowded profession. It appears to 

 me that this amounts not only to a confession of weakness 

 on the part of the ' party in power,' but that it is an 

 unconscious admission that the claims of the ladies rest on a 

 firm and solid foundation. It is not the first time, how- 

 ever, that men have been frightened by women. It appears 

 to me that, having granted women the right to join our 

 imiversities and educational institutions, to pay their fees, 

 to compete with us, and, perchance, to beat us at examina- 

 tions for diplomas, they are entitled to all the advantages 

 which are, or ought to be, the natural consequences of their 

 application and industry." 



Mr. Tatlock thus voices, I believe, not only the general 

 sentiment of the society which he represents, but of the 

 Institute of Chemistry and of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry in this country, and of a number of foreign 

 chemical societies where no difficulty has been raised as to 

 the admission of women. For the council of the London 

 Chemical Society to continue to resist all attempts to admit 

 women as fellows, in face of the declared opinion of the 

 majority of the members that the time has arrived when 

 they should be admitted, cannot, in my judgment, be justi- 

 fied on the ground either of justice or expediency. 



I believe this question would be settled once and for all 

 were tlje council to allow the society to exercise its dis- 

 cretion. They have only to permit the certificate of a 

 woman chemist to go to the ballot in the usual way, and I, 

 for one, would trust to the right feeling and good sense of 

 the fellows to bring about her admission, if, as would be 

 the case, her attainments justified" her election. Any objec- 



