July 29, 1909] 



NA TURE 



127 



to keep one's balance, and as we both had heard that 

 this sand had swept over an old silver mine, there was a 

 clear impression on the minds of both that the vibration 

 might break in the roof of the old workings. I write 

 of this experience for what it is worth. I do not know 

 whether the ground under the sand was hollow or solid, 

 and although I have ventured to theorise on the subject, as 

 jet I have found no satisfactory solution of this, to me, 

 quite unique experience. M. H. Gray. 



Lessness Park, Abbey Wood, Kent. 



The iEther of Space. 



As one who has read with the greatest appreciation the 

 work recently written by Sir Oliver Lodge on this subject, 

 I take it that the following statements represent fairly 

 well the condition of scientific opinion at the present 

 time : — 



(i) The fundamental units of which matter is composed 

 are probably individualised regions of the universal tether, 

 neither condensations nor rarefactions, but distinguislied 

 by some kinetic structure from the unmodified iether 

 surrounding them. 



(2) The aether, as a whole, is stationary, there being 

 nothing of the nature of asthcr currents, but it possesses 

 an exceedingly fine-grained circulation in closed curves, 

 its elasticity being of kinetic origin. 



(3) So far as the motion of a mass of matter is con- 

 cerned, there is no setherial viscosity, and, consequently, 

 the earth carries no Ecthcr with it in its motion. We 

 therefore live in an sther stream due solely to the earth's 

 motion in space, and having the full value due to its 

 velocity, the iailure of Prof. Michelson's delicate experi- 

 ment being due to a lessened cohesion (of electromagnetic 

 origin) in any length of matter carried at right angles to 

 the ajther stream. 



The question arises as to whether the sether which forms 

 any mass of moving matter remains the same. Assuming 

 the above statements, there appear to be two alternatives. 

 Either the a;ther, distinguished by special structure, which 

 composes the ultimate units of which matter is built up, 

 has a bodily transfer through space, or the aether in the 

 line of approach must be rapidly caught up in the 

 advancing vortices (or whatever the structure may be), 

 fused into their being, and as rapidly liberated along the 

 line of recessfon. 



If the former supposition be correct, there must be a 

 region of slip in the tether surrounding the ultimate units 

 (electrons) ; if the latter, we have the very interesting 

 conception of matter being incessantly made and unmade 

 as regards its fundamental units with a speed proportional 

 to the velocity of motion. .All the physical properties of a 

 given mass of matter would remain constant, while the 

 a'ther, the substratum of its existence, was changing. 



If this reasoning be not in error, I shall be glad if Sir 

 Oliver Lodge or any other physicist will indicate which 

 of these views obtains acceptance. 



Charles W. Raffetv. 



Wynnstay, Woodcote Valley Road, Purley, Surrey, 

 July 15- 



Botanical Surveys. 



Referring to the review, in N.ature of July 15, of Mr. 

 F. Morey's " Guide to the Natural History of the Isle of 

 Wight," in which it is suggested that the Isle of Wight 

 affords wide scope for a botanical survey on the lines 

 followed by Dr. W. G. Smith and his school of plant- 

 ecologists, it may be of interest to the reviewer and others 

 to state that already the primary survey of the district 

 has been completed and maps made by the writer, in 

 association with the Central Committee for the Study of 

 British Vegetation. 



As suggested by " F. C," a bare species list, even if 

 complete, can do but scant justice to the variety of the 

 vegetation of the Isle. Though in some types it is second 

 in interest to the opposite mainland of South Hampshire, 

 as, for example, in the calcareous grasslands and dry and 

 wet heathlands, yet the almost full development of mari- 

 time associations and the diversity of the woodland forma- 

 tions do much to restore the balance. 



NO. 2074, VOL. 81] 



The island has been under a long-continued civilisation, 

 yet there still remain, almost untouched by man, several 

 station-associations which, according to the plan of Prof. 

 Conwentz, would be among the first to be scheduled as 

 " natural monuments." In this last respect the island is 

 but typical of much of Britain, and the regret expressed by 

 your reviewer that the makers of county floras are not 

 animated even by the spirit of Baker's " North York- 

 shire " is shared by all who know the standing of British 

 plant-ecology. To such it is sad that the period which 

 saw the publication of Wheldon and Wilson's " West 

 Lancashire " saw also the publication of the arid lists of 

 many of the Victoria county histories, as of Lancashire 

 itself. W. MuNN Rankin. 



Storey Institute, Lancaster, July ig. 



The A cams Crossii. 



Some months ago (Nature, February 4) a correspondent 

 directed attention to the account of Crosse's remarkable 

 experiences when experimenting with electric currents, and 

 the apfwarance of quantities of an acarus in the solutions 

 treated, as fully narrated in Chambers's " Vestiges of the 

 Footsteps of Creation," and the question was asked 

 whether any explanation of such strange phenomena had 

 ever been heard of. No reply seems to have been made, 

 and, presumably, no recent attempts to investigate the 

 mystery have taken place. It may be of interest to note 

 that Chambers's account is fully corroborated in the 

 " National Dictionary of Biography," and it appears that 

 Crosse, though he did not make any suggestions as to 

 "spontaneous generation," but merely related the facts 

 and left explanations to others, found himself the victim 

 of such a shower of abuse that he thenceforth entirely 

 abandoned all research work and retired into obscurity. 

 His experiments would probably have been forgotten but 

 that they were repeated with complete success by another 

 worker. Considering how much more easily prolonged 

 electric action can nowadays be applied, would it not be 

 well if someone would have the patience to repeat once 

 more the exact conditions so amply described by Chambers, 

 and so, if possible, clear up what is undoubtedly a very 

 mysterious occurrence? Charles E. Benham. 



28 Wellesley Road, Colchester, July 7. 



Barisal Guns in Australia. 



In Nature of June 4, 1908 (vol. Ixxviii., p. loi), under 

 the title of " Barisil Guns in Western Australia," you 

 published a note from me describing a peculiar, loud 

 detonation heard by my companions and myself while on 

 the Strelley River, in the north-west of Australia. In 

 reading Captain Sturt's " Two Expeditions into the 

 Interior of Southern .Australia during the Years 1828, 

 1829, 1830, and 1831," I find that, when camped on the 

 newly discovered Darling River, near what is now the 

 town of Bourke, in New South Wales, in February, 1829, 

 a very similar sound was heard by the explorers. Sturt's 

 words are as follows : — " About 3 p.m. on the 7th Mr. 

 Hume and I were occupied tracing the chart upon the 

 ground. The day had been remarkably fine, not a cloud 

 was there in the heavens, nor a breath of air to be felt. 

 On a sudden we heard what seemed to be the report of 

 a gun fired at the distance of between five and six miles. 

 It was not the hollow sound of an earthly explosion, or 

 the sharp cracking noise of falling timber, but in every 

 way resembled a discharge of a heavy piece of ordnance. 

 On this all were agreed, but no one was certain whence 

 the sound proceeded. Both Mr. Hume and myself had 

 been too attentive to our occupation to form a satisfactory 

 opinion ; but we both thought it came from the N.W. I 

 sent one of the men immediately up a tree, but he could 

 observe nothing unusual. The country around him 

 appeared to be equally flat on all sides, and to be thickly 

 wooded : whatever occasioned the report, it made a strong 

 impression on all of us ; and to this day, the singularity 

 of such a sound, in such a situation, is a matter of 

 mystery to me " (and edition, 1834, vol. i., p. 98). 



J. Burton Cleland. 



Bureau of Microbiology, Sydney, New South 

 Wales, June 19. 



