526 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1301 



fore, under the name Steindachneridion we 

 rebaptize those cat&li whicli, for thirty-one 

 years have been nozing around on the river 

 bottoms just north of Rio Janeiro under the 

 improper appelation Steindachneria. 



Carl H. Eigenmann, 

 EosA Smith Eigenmann 



ACOUSTIC EFFECTS OF WIRES 



The thorough researches of "Wallace C. 

 Sabine, of Harvard University, showed that 

 the acoustic qualities of a room depend 

 largely on its reverberation times for various 

 pitches, that is, the intervals during which 

 the repeated echos of sounds remain audible. 

 Good corrections can usually be made by 

 altering the sound-absorbing qualities of walls 

 and other surfaces against which the sound 

 waves impinge and by which they are wholly 

 or partially reflected. 



Many attempts have been made, some 

 within very recent times, to correct faulty 

 rooms by stretching wires across them. There 

 seems to be no reason for supposing, a priori, 

 that a correction can be obtained in this way. 

 To my knowledge no quantitative experi- 

 ments to settle the question have been re- 

 corded. Many architects who have not given 

 careful attention to the work of Sabine are 

 inclined to believe that this method, because 

 it has been used in so many instances, must 

 give some degree of correction. 



In the course of some experiments which 

 I made a few months ago on the faulty 

 acoustics of the chamber of the House of 

 Representatives in the new parliament build- 

 ings in Wellington, N'ew Zealand, I was re- 

 quested to make an experiment on the effect 

 of wires. The committee in charge of the 

 work knew that a chamber in the Australian 

 parliament buildings had been fitted with 

 wires and that they were said to function 

 well. 



"No. 16 copper wires were stretched both 

 lengthwise and crosswise six inches apart in 

 a horizontal plane over the entire middle part 

 of the room bounded by the galleries. This 

 space constitutes two thirds of the cross- 

 section of the room. 9,000 feet of wire were 



used, possibly twenty times as much as would 

 ordinarily be used in a room of this size. 

 The reverberation times for a great variety of 

 pitches were carefully measured both with 

 and without wires, and were found to be the 

 same in both cases to within about two per 

 centum, which is not greater than the ex- 

 pected error of measurement. 



In this particular case, therefore, the wires 

 were without effect. I have not been able to 

 discover any imiformity in the arrangements 

 of wires where they have been used, and so 

 the one described above may be considered 

 as good as any. The probability is great that 

 wires, however arranged, have no effect on 

 acoustics. Haery Clark 



Obeelin College 



QUOTATIONS 



THE HARVEIAN FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL 

 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON 



The Harveian Festival was, for the first 

 time since 1913, celebrated with full honors 

 by the Royal College of Physicians of London 

 on St. Luke's Day (October 18). The 

 Harveian Oration has been delivered each 

 year, but the other ceremonies have been 

 intermitted. On this occasion the oration, 

 delivered by Dr. Raymond Crawfurd, dealt 

 with the forerunners of Harvey in antiquity. 

 As will be seen when the full text is published 

 in an early issue, the speaker supported the 

 thesis that in the matter of the circidation of 

 the blood Harvey's indebtedness to any but 

 Aristotle was negligible. The fuller knowl- 

 edge now possessed of the writings of men of 

 science of ancient days demanded, he said a 

 readjustment of traditional beliefs, for too 

 much had been claimed for the ardent anat- 

 omists of the Renaissance and too little con- 

 ceded to the master minds of antiquity. The 

 oration was delivered in the library, and the 

 speaker's development of his theme was closely 

 followed by a large and attentive audience. 

 Afterwards the President presented the Baly 

 Medal to Dr. Leonard Hill, and in doing so 

 recalled the circumstances of its foundation. 

 William Baly was assistant physician to St. 

 Bartholomew's Hospital, a Fellow of the 



