io8 



NATUfE 



[June 4, 1908 



On May 31, in Rome, M. Delagrange made successful 

 experiments with his aeroplane. According to the Times 

 correspondent, at the request of M. Delagrange the Italian 

 Society of Aviation prepared the ground in the Piazza 

 d'Armi for an officially authenticated trial. The Piazza 

 was marked with flags, the four sides measuring in all 

 1300 metres. At 5.40 a.m. M. Delagrange set his machine 

 going. The aeroplane ran for fourteen seconds, and then 

 rose easily, remaining in the air for the whole of the 

 rest of the flight, and keeping a distance from the ground 

 varying between three and five metres. The actual flight 

 lasted for ism. 26s., and during that time the aeroplane 

 made the circuit of the marked course Qj times. The 

 actual distance travelled, measured by the milometer of an 

 automobile, which naturally took closer curves than the 

 aeroplane, was more than 15 kilometres, or there was a 

 Bight through the air without touching ground of 15 kilo- 

 metres in something more than 15 minutes. M. Delagrange 

 steered and controlled the aeroplane with ease, and could 

 have continued the flight if the power of the engine had 

 permitted. The problem of stability has still to be solved ; 

 M. Voisin, who made the aeroplane, hopes to overcome in- 

 stability by increasing the number of planes. Other trials 

 were made in the evening, in one of which M. Delagrange 

 travelled five times round the Piazza in six minutes at a 

 height of between five and six metres. On June i a final 

 trial was made in the presence of the Queen-Mother. In 

 preventing a possible collision with the Royal stands, M. 

 Delagrange stopped the aeroplane too suddenly, and it fell 

 from a height of about four metres to the ground. The 

 aeronaut was unhurt, but the aeroplane sustained slight 

 damage. 



Just now, when consideration is being given to a pro- 

 posal to effect an arrangement which shall ensure the 

 utilisation of a larger number of hours of daylight in the 

 summer time, it is not without interest to direct attention 

 to a paper, which Mr. G. V. Hudson read before the New 

 Zealand Institute in 1898, a copy of which the author has 

 forwarded to us. The scheme differs from that now before 

 a committee of the House of Commons in being of a more 

 drastic character, and being free from the frequent 

 irritating interferences with the regular record of time, 

 which is one of the most objectionable features of the pre- 

 sent Bill. Writing for the southern hemisphere, it was 

 proposed to put the clock forward two hours on the first of 

 October, and to put it back the same amount in the 

 following March. Here the scheme has the merit of bold- 

 ness, and if any breach in continuous time reckoning is 

 to be tolerated, it may be excused on the ground that a 

 considerable advantage is promised. In the paper are dis- 

 cussed the advantages and many of the objections with 

 which we have become familiar from the evidence that has 

 been given before the Parliamentary Committee, and 

 sufficiently reported in the daily Press. There is no 

 necessity to discuss these either as they appear in the 

 original pamphlet or in a more modern dress. To substi- 

 tute mid-European time as some of the witnesses have 

 suggested is a noticeable improvement on the original plan, 

 and one that would meet many objections. But, notwith- 

 standing the amendment, it may be pointed out that, since 

 the Bill does not contemplate any alteration of time as 

 employed in navigation and nautical matters, one can con- 

 ceive that in seaport towns, where the influence of shipping 

 makes itself felt in the general conduct of business, very 

 considerable confusion can arise. For instance, in most 

 seaport towns a time signal is used for the convenience of 

 vessels in port. That signal is also valuable to the public, 

 and serves to regulate time. It seems that under the Bill 



NO. 2014, VOL. 78] 



the interests of one party must be sacrificed. Either the 

 seaman or the public loses the time signal. It is easy to 

 say that is a mere detail, but the whole objection to the 

 scheme turns on details, and the final acceptance or rejec- 

 tion of the Bill will depend on the importance that details 

 may acquire by accumulation. 



The .Alliance Franco-Britannique, Litt^raire, Scientifique, 

 et Artistique, held a conversazione at the Grafton Galleries, 

 Grafton Street, London, on May 28, in the course of 

 which M. Yves Guyot delivered a lecture on " Les Rap- 

 ports Intellectucis de la France et de I'Angleterre." Sir 

 Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., F.R.S., chairman of the 

 council, introduced the lecturer. Referring to French and 

 English science, M. Yves Guyot said, from the point of 

 view of pure science, the English have changed the French 

 system of natural science completely. In France the theo- 

 eratical conceptions of Cuvier's " Revolutions du Globe '* 

 were still held when in 1830-3 Charles Lyell substituted 

 for them the real and conclusive theory of " actual 

 causes." The Frenchmen Lamarck and St. Hilaire had 

 anticipated evolution, but when in 1858 Darwin expounded 

 the theory of the struggle of life he brought about a total 

 transformation in the study of biology. Herbert Spencer 

 boasted of having given a systematic explanation of the 

 universe, and of having propounded the conditions of 

 evolution. Almost all his works have been translated into 

 French, and they have continued to exercise upon French 

 thought the beneficent influence which all English thinkers 

 since Locke have had over it. Almost all Frenchmen are 

 sons of Plato, who are apt to take words for deeds. 

 University literary teaching in France has encouraged this 

 tendency. This method of procedure allows scope, on one 

 hand, for all the subtleties of scholasticism, and on the 

 other for all the literary and oratorical explanations which 

 hide the emptiness of the idea under assertions and 

 metaphors. The English mistrust generalisations, and 

 make a constant appeal to facts. They have the primaiy 

 qualification for all scientific research — honesty. They do 

 not try to dazzle by sophistry; their objective is truth, 

 and by their example they force the men of research in alt 

 countries to subordinate all other considerations to this 

 end. Not only have they enriched the world with the 

 experimental method, but they make everyone practise it 

 conscientiously. Hence it is easy to recognise in France 

 those authors, professors, publicists, and savants who have 

 come under English influence. Later, M. Yves Guyot re- 

 marked that among the useful forms under which English 

 influence has been exerted upon the French intellect, the 

 first is scientific. Bacon against Plato, Newton against 

 Descartes, Lyell against Cuvier ; the movement was con- 

 tinued through Darwin and Herbert Spencer. It was 

 confirmed also by Adam Smith. It is the inductive method 

 as opposed to intuitive conceptions. It is reality opposed 

 to the assertions and subtleties taught by the Greek 

 sophists. 



From the East Kent Scientific and Natural History 

 Society we have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of 

 the report and transactions for 1907. 



Fishes of the Rocky Mountain region form the subject 

 of the only zoological paper — by Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell — 

 in No. 3 of the fifth volume of the University of Colorado 

 Studies. Extinct as well as living species are discussed, 

 and it is pointed out that the contrast between the generic 

 types respectively characteristic of the Gila and the Rio 

 Grande basins suggests re-consideration of the theory of a 

 recent depression of the continent in the region of southern 

 New Mexico and Arizona. 



