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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1367 



playing, there is no question for instance that 

 a succession of notes, G, G sharp, A and a 

 succession G, A flat. A, are musically distinct, 

 and that each actual sound on the piano is a 

 symbol used to stand in turn for many 

 musical entities. The reformed method would 

 destroy the signs of some of these distinctions 

 and reduce playing at sight to striking a suc- 

 cession of notes with little chance of pre- 

 vision of the musical meaning. 



As to the reformed keyboard there is again 

 an obvious material if no clear ideal loss. 

 However the judgment that the simplification 

 of " physiological reflex " is of much value 

 might be demurred to. One can conceive a 

 psychologist taking the stand that a reflex is 

 a reflex, and a musician saying that he had 

 established the reflexes and forgotten the 

 process. Finally we might have a violinist 

 objecting to the pianist borrowing his G clef 

 and returning it in a damaged condition, for 

 advantages on the keyboard would be disad- 

 vantages on the fingerboard where the hand 

 covers an octave diatonically and the acci- 

 dentals are made by a special finger move- 

 ment. 



If musicians should bring forward these 

 matters it must not be inferred that they are 

 opposed to reform. On the contrary most of 

 them desire it but can not meet the bill. The 

 piano is no worse ofi than other instruments, 

 probably better. A tenor trombone player in 

 the ordinary week's work may have to read 

 from music written in six or seven different 

 systems, but the world rarely hears his com- 

 plaints. 



E. P. Baker 



Iowa Citt, Iowa 



mirage at sea 



To THE Editor of Science: In the Sections 

 reports of the meeting of the B. A. A. S., 

 Bristol, 1875, p. 26, M. J. Janssen gave a 

 brief summary of his observations and con- 

 clusions with regard to mirage at sea. As 

 this happens to connect with a phase of low 

 sun phenomena in which I am interested, and 

 as I find no trace of any further publication 

 by him, I would be glad to receive informa- 



tion as to whether he published further on 

 this subject. Willard J. Fisher 



Woods Hole, Mass. 



THE sidewalk MIRAGE 



To THE Editor of Science : My first experi- 

 ence with the sidewalk mirage described by 

 Professor McNair in your issue of August 27, 

 was on a smoothly paved straight-away be- 

 tween Canton and Alliance, Ohio. The time 

 was three o'clock p.m. of a very hot day in 

 August, 1918, the temperature being just 

 about 100°. We were headed east on a level 

 stretch, while about a mile ahead of us on a 

 slightly higher level was a car apparently sub- 

 merged in water to a depth of about two feet. 

 A woman crossing the roadway was " in " 

 up over her knees. As none of our party had 

 ever seen such a reflection we got out of the 

 car lest it might be caused by the windshield. 

 At first the vision was lost imtil we discovered 

 that the angle of vision was so small that we 

 had to himt for it, when it remained clear and 

 distinct as long as we had the time to watch it. 



Since that time I have seen a number of 

 similar reflections, some in warm weather and 

 others in cold; which leads me to conclude 

 that heat is not necessary to produce them. 

 The distance appears to govern the height 

 from the ground as I have seen one within a 

 distance of a square and it was within two 

 or three inches of the surface. The surface 

 reflection mentioned by Mr. Piatt in your 

 issue of September 27 is not uncommon, but 

 could never be mistaken for the mirror-like 

 sm-face of the mirage after you have seen a 

 real one. Such explanations as I worked out 

 in 1918 were upset the following winter and 

 I shall watch with interest for further in- 

 formation that may be offered. 



C. P. Du Shane 



A RAINBOW AT NIGHT 



To THE Editor or Science: About 11 p.m. 

 on Thursday, November 18, while waiting 

 for a street car, I saw a clearly defined rain- 

 bow — a phenomenon which is possibly of 

 sufficiently rare occurrence at night to be of 

 interest to some of your readers. 



A drizzling rain was falling overhead, but 



