THE Gardeners' Chronicle regrets to hear of the decease from cholera of Adolf Biermann, the Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta.

ON the Ist inst. the Geological Society of France celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation.

FROM the following extract from the Planter's Journal, quoted in the Barbados Globe of March 8, it will be seen that science has reached that remote colony "Those who are interested in

the agricultural prosperity of Barbados will have observed with pleasure the increased attention that has of late been paid here to the application of the methods and improvements of scientific agriculture to the raising and reaping of our staple crop. The planter is more and more fully realising the fact that, if he is to hold his own in the face of the competition that is springing up all around him in the field where his supremacy was once un

IN various works on botany M. Alph. de Candolle has remarked (Arch. des Sciences, March), there are enigmatical and even unintelligible descriptions, which it would have been better not to publish. And this is the case not only with incompetent writers, but with those of the first rank. He gives a list of species dubiæ, &c., from vols. xiv. to xvii. of the Prodromus (published 1856-1873), referred to their authors (deceased), care having been taken to attribute each enigma to its true origin. Those volumes of the Prodromus contain 11,056 species classed and described, and the enigmatical amount to 562, or about 5 per cent. It is noted that there are pretty large proportions of enigmas (1) in certain authors who have written much, as Blume (66), Miquel (59), Roxburgh (20), Kunth (19), Sprengel (17); (2) in authors who have published only one or two volumes, or even simple memoirs, such as Blanco (32), Opiz (28), Loureiro (15), Don (14), Noronha (11), Griffith (11), Hamilton (11) . . . Martens and Galeotti (4). (The extent of the writings must be taken into account.) Three great naturalists who have written much, viz., Linnæus, Lamarck, and Brown, stand together about the middle of the list, with the numbers 7, 9, and 8 severally. M. de Candolle refers further to a document by Endlicher, in which that naturalist gives a list of enigmatical genera, amounting to 109 out of the 6,895 genera known in 1840, or about 14 per

cent.

Analysis here shows that the incapable or mediocre authors have given most enigmas. Père Vellozo (29) is most prominent in this respect, and a regret is expressed that he, with some other culpable pères (Blanco, Loureiro, &c.), did not confine themselves to writing homilies. The troublesome result of certain publications has now rendered botanists more prudent.

THE Belgian Academy of Sciences has announced the following subjects of prize competition for 1881 :-In mathematical and physical sciences: 1. Extend, as much as possible, the theories of points and straight lines of Steiner, Kirkman, Cay. ley, Salmon, Hesse, Bauer, to properties which are, for superior plain curves, for surfaces and for twisted curves, the analogues of the theorems of Pascal and Brianchon. 2. Extend to eight points of a curve of the third order the anharmonic property of four points of a conic. 3. New researches on the spectrum of oxides, chlorides, and bromides of barium, calcium, and strontium, whose absolute purity has first been proved by chemical analysis. In natural sciences: I. New researches on the germination of seeds, especially on the assimilation of nutritive deposits by the embryo. 2. New researches on development of Trematoda, from the histogenic and organogenic point of view. 3. New stratigraphical, lithological, and paleontological researches fitted to determine the arrangement or order of succession of layers of the formation named Ardennais by Dumont, and at present considered as Cambrian. The value of the medals awarded will be 600 francs for each question. Memoirs (which may be in French, Flemish, or Latin) are to be sent in, with mottoes as usual, before August 1, 1881. (A prize question on torsion is reserved for the programme of 1882.)

the processes and the discoveries which science offers to those who seek her. Hence it is that we have now, under the provisions of the Education Act, 1878, an Island Professor of Chemistry and Agricultural Science; that there is besides a private analytical chemist resident amongst us; and that the Barbados Agricultural Society has appointed a Chemical Committee, which has for some months been steadily engaged in doing good, though unostentatious, work in obtaining analyses of manures and similar matters. The result of these movements is seen in the encouraging fact that the prudent planter, in purchasing his foreign fertilisers, is more careful in inquiring into their quality, and, as a necessary consequence, the agents for the better class of manures are willing to meet his require ments by placing before him satisfactory analyses of the articles which they offer for sale. There prevails therefore in the manure market a better condition of things both for the buyer and for the honest vendor-the former receiving more value for his money, and the latter running less risk of being undersold by the fraudulent maker of 'sophisticated' manures."

IN consequence of the general election it has been considered advisable to fix the date for the Conference on the Progress of Public Health-which has been held annually by the Society of Arts since 1876-somewhat later than was originally intended, or than has been the case in former years. It will therefore be held in the beginning of June. A programme of subjects for discussion has been drawn up by the Executive Committee, and will be submitted to the Conference. The following are the subjects included:-1. The development of Local Government administration, especially by the constitution of County Boards. 2. The extension of the powers of the local authorities of urban and rural sanitary districts. Amendments in the Public Health Act. 3. Sanitary inspection and classification of dwellings. 4. Amend ments in the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act. 5. The advisability of strengthening the administrative organisation of the Local Government Board. Local Government Board Adminis tration Areas. 6. Further suggestions by sanitary authorities. The programme will also be issued to sanitary authorities throughout the kingdom. It is not proposed to make any attempt to procure papers which may be read and discussed; but the Committee state that they will be glad to receive any communications containing fresh information or giving accounts of progress made since the last Conference. Such communications, if approved by the Committee, will be printed and circulated at the Conference, but it is probable that time will not admit of any discussion being taken upon them.

THE Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, having appointed a committee to collect evidence and report the effect of the past severe winters and cold summer on trees, shrubs, and plants, will be glad of the co-operation of all horti culturists interested in the subject, whether members of the Society or not. Forms are in preparation for filling up, and may be had on application to the Secretary, South Kensington.

WE regret to hear that the University of St. Andrew's is in such difficulties that it has been resolved to reduce the salaries of the professors to a considerable extent for some years, unless her

surely, if the transition state of the Government excused inaction on its part, the Geographical Society could have organised a meeting, even although a prince was not at hand to take the chair. Possibly after all our insular want of sympathy with foreign enterprise, however great, may account for the absence of that enthusiasm which greeted our own abortive expedition of three years ago. The English edition of Prof. Nordenskjöld's narrative will be published by Macmillan and Co.; it will appear simultaneously in English, Swedish, German, and French.

M. J. PALMARTS has published at Brussels a pamphlet entitled "Projet d'Exploration au Pole Nord," in which, after a preliminary disquisition of a general nature, he expounds his plan for the construction of a submarine apparatus to attain the object in view. The Times Naples correspondent states that the Cristoforo Colombo is now in course of preparation for an exploring voyage in the North Seas.

THE current number of the Geographical Society's Proceedings contains Mr. J. Thomson's report of his journey from the head of Lake Nyas a to the south end of Lake Tanganyika, followed by Maj.-Gen. Sir M. A. S. Biddulph's paper on Pishin, and the routes between India and Candahar, which furnishes a vast amount of new topographical information. In order to make this more readily intelligible, it is illustrated by some excellent wood-engravings from, we believe, the author's own sketches, and a good map of part of southern Afghanistan, constructed from surveys made during the late expedition, on which the unexplored country to the east is usefully indicated. A proposal is made by Admiral Ryder to found medals for the encouragement of surveying by naval officers, which the council of the Society, after careful consideration, think had better be placed in other hands. Among the remaining matter is Dr. Holub's address on the subject of the Marutse-Mabunda empire, but the publication of the map to illustrate his former paper appears to be unavoidably postponed.

IT is stated that a new Belgian expedition is to leave this month for the purpose of establishing commercial stations along the Congo.

M. SLATIN, an Austrian traveller, is about to visit Dara, in Darfur, and proposes to explore the country to the south of Hofrat-el-Nahas and Kalaka. MM. de Müller-Capitany and de Lucken have recently left Cairo for Massowah, whence they intend to visit the region bordering on Northern Abyssinia. After spending a year there they will direct their course to Fazokl, by way of Valkait and Gallabat, and they will then endeavour to penetrate southwards into the Galla country.

MM. POPELIN AND CARTER, with the second Belgian Expedition, have arrived at Karema, M. Cambier's station on Lake Tanganyika, but it is said that only one elephant has survived the journey. Under the auspices of the King of the Belgians an establishment is to be formed in Eastern Africa for the capture and training of elephants. A further Belgian expedition is to be despatched to Karema under Capt. Ræmaekers and his brother, who will take with them three artisans and also a small steamer for use on Lake Tanganyika.

THE French Committee of the International African Association have despatched M. Bloyet to Zanzibar to undertake the formation of their station in Usagara.

COL. GORDON-PASHA has recently informed the Church Missionary Society that the Egyptian military station on the Uganda frontier had been moved back, and that consequently the country between Egypt and Mtesa's kingdom is in an unsettled and insecure state, being overrun by Kaba Rega's men. The road to the Victoria Nyanza by way of the Nile is therefore not now practicable. The two members of the Nyanza Expedition, the Rev. C. I. Wilson and Mr. Felkin, with three Waganda chiefs, are expected to arrive in England during the present month, as they had reached Suakim on March 16. Mr. Wilson will thus be the first Englishman, since Speke and Grant, who has traversed Africa from Zanzibar to Uganda, and thence down the Nile.

HERR CARL LAMP gives some striking illustrations in Globus of the hatred that exists between the Mayos of Yucatan and the Mexican Creoles. He shows how important the exploration of the country would be, but the explorer must take his life in his hand. The same number (13) of Giobus contains some interesting details of Mr. C. M. Doughty's journeys in North Arabia.

THE leading contribution to the new number of the Annale de l'Extrême Orient is Count Meyners d'Estrey's paper on Sumatra, being a communication recently made by him to the Société Académique Indo-Chinoise.

THE new part of Le Globe contains a suggestive paper on the rôle of missionaries, looked at from a geographical standpoint. On the 16th inst. Prof. Vambéry is to read a paper at the Society of Arts on "Russia's Influence over the Inhabitants of Central Asia during the last ten years." Prof. Vambéry's intimate knowledge of Central Asia lends great value to anything he may say, though it is well known his opinions are rather violently anti-Russian. He is coming to London expressly to read the paper, and is expected here on the 13th. Sir Douglas Forsyth is announced to preside at the meeting.

ACCORDING to an evening contemporary the Moscow corre Russia and China may result in the occupation of Tchikislar, spondent of the Kölnische Zeitung writes that a war between and that the fanatical Mahommedan population of Tchikislar is the surest ally for Russia ! At first sight this was rather confusing, but the further statement that Russia "has a pretender for Tchikislar in petto-an elder son of Yakoob Khan," confounding Kashgar with Tchikislar! inclines us to the belief that the writer may not impossibly be

""

THE HISTORY OF MUSICAL PITCH

PITCH" is itself merely a sensation due to, and hence measured by, the number of double or complete vibrations, backwards and forwards, made in one second of time by a particle of air while the sound is heard. It is convenient to call the pitch of a musical sound the number of vibrations to which it is due. "Musical pitch" is the pitch of the "tuning note,' or that by which all other notes on an instrument with fixed tones is regulated according to some system of tuning or temperament.' Of these, two are of prominent importance in the history of pitch, the "Mean-tone" and the " Equal," the first being also frequently called "unequal." In mean-tone temperament, completed by Salinas in 1577, all harpsichords and pianos were originally tuned in England till 1844, and all organs till 1854. It may still be heard on Green's organs at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Kew Parish Church, and St. Katharine's, Regent's Park, and on a few country organs. It consists in flattening the Fifths of the scale sufficiently to make the major Thirds perfect, so as to sound without beats. As long as the player did not employ more than two flats or three sharps this answered very well indeed. But on introducing a third flat or fourth sharp he had to play them by substitution, and hideous noises, called "the wolf," were produced, and hence players have agreed to accept the much less perfect equal temperament, in which the Fifths are scarcely perceptibly flattened, and the major Thirds are made very much too sharp (producing the unpleasant "grittiness" of the harmɔnium), because at any rate all the keys are alike and the wolves are reduced to cubs.

It is convenient to consider A as the tuning note in all cases, but pianos and organs are usually tuned to C. The following relations give an easy sum in the rule of three for passing from A to C, and conversely. In equal temperament A 444, that is, the note A making 444 double vibrations in a second, corresponds to C 528, and conversely. In mean-tone temperament A 418 corresponds to C 500, and conversely, whereas for a perfect minor Third between A and C, A 440 corresponds to C 528, and conversely.

Man's memory of pitch is generally weak and (short, though there are a few exceptions. Even in running down an octave unaccompanied singers will often flatten pitch. Hence some means of handing down pitch is necessary. The only carriers of pitch which need be noticed are the organ-pipe and the tuningfork, which dates from 1711, so that for all older pitches' the organ-pipe is the sole, as it still is the principal, authority. Both pipe and fork alter with temperature. The pipe alters, roughly speaking, by one vibration in every thousand for each degree Fahrenheit, sharpening by heat and flattening by cold. This is an extremely important change, and all pitches of organs must be reduced to one standard temperature, for which 59° F. = Re-arranged and abridged by the Author from a paper on the same subject read before the Society of Arts on March 3, 1880. by Alexander J. Ellis, F.R.S., F.S.A. For a detailed authentication of the facts herea mentioned reference must be made to the Journal of the Society of Arts for March 5 and April 2, 1880.

15°C. = 12° R. is here selected and used. The tuning-fork alters only by I vib. in 21,000 for each degree Fahrenheit, flattening by heat and sharpening by cold (the exact contrary to an organpipe), but this minute change may generally be disregarded. It is best, however, to reduce forks also to the same standard temperature. The tuning-fork, if carefully treated, will probably retain its pitch exactly for any number of years, since we know by examination that some forks have not varied one-tenth of a vibration from 1837 to 1880. Even very bad rusting does not flatten a fork by more than 4 vib. in 1,coo.

Suppose then that we had a series of forks, tuned in unison with the different A's of different organs and other instruments, how are we to appreciate the difference between them, independently of the ear, which, even when well trained, is found to be most unsatisfactory in the judgments it forms as to the magnitude of an interval? The only satisfactory method is to measure them, that is, to determine the number of vibrations in each fork. For this purpose there are elaborate contrivances, but only one is easy of application, and, as has been ascertained by experiment, the results I have obtained by it do not differ by so much as one-tenth of a vibration from those yielded by the beautiful machines of Prof. McLecd and Prof. Alfred Mayer, who kindly tested my determinations by them. The "tuningfork tonometer" was invented by J. H. Scheibler (1777-1837), silk manufacturer of Crefeld. Its principle is this: Two tuningforks of nearly the same pitch, when sounded together, break up their continuous tones into a succession of loudnesses and weaknesses, called beats. The number of such beats that take place in ten seconds can be easily counted when it lies between ten and fifty, and most easily when it is forty. The number of beats in one second is exactly equal to the difference of the pitches of the two forks. Then again each fork can be made to produce its own octave by being held over a proper resonance jar, and this octave will beat with another fork nearly of its own pitch. Then from any selected low fork, say about A 220, a series of sharper forks, each beating (roughly) four times in a second with the preceding, is constructed, until one is reached which beats with the octave of the lower fork. Then all the forks are allowed several weeks to cool and settle, and the beats are afterwards counted with perfect accuracy, a very long, tedious, and extremely difficult operation. The sum of all the beats between the lowest fork and its octave is the pitch of the lowest fork, whence that of all the intermediate forks is immediately known. This done, the determination of the pitch of any fork or pipe, whose note lies within the octave counted, is very easy. The forks I used belonged to Scheibler himself, and were kindly lent me by Herr Amels, but I had to do the counting myself, and Professors McLeod and Mayer kindly enabled me to verify the results. It was by means of these forks and others tuned from them that I was able to measure the pitches of other forks and of pipes, and thus obtain the materials for this history.

First a large number of forks were obtained, most kindly lent or copied for me by numerous helpers; then I determined the pitch of a large number of organs, or obtained forks tuned to them at known temperatures. Organ-builders helped me with ancient pipes they had preserved from old organs. Pipes, of which the dimensions were given in old books, were reconstructed full size or to a scale, and their pitches measured. Then the records of other investigators of pitch were searched, and their procedure a certained. The chief of these were the measures made by Scheibler; by Näke with Scheibler's forks; by Delezenne with a sonometer tuned to a fork of Marloye's, the accuracy of which I tested; by Lissajous, probably with the siren and bellows of constant pressure; by Cagnard de la Tour with the siren; and the older determinations of Dr. Robert Smith (master of Trinity College, Cambridge), Fischer (of Berlin), Euler, and Marpurg made with a weighted string. From these, together with my own, I collected more than 320 pitches, nearly half of which were for the first time measured by myself, reaching from A.D. 1361 to the present day, and on these the following history is based.

Early musical pitch was of two kinds, known as the Church pitch (Chor-Ton, Ton de Chapelle) and the Chamber Pitch (CammerTon, Ton de Chambre), the former adapted to the ecclesiastical tones, the latter to the freer secular music performed in the private apartments or "chamber" of the prince, for his own pleasure, as the band used both in church and chamber consisted generally of his paid servants. Chamber pitch was also generally used for private, secular, and convivial music of all kinds. The confusion in most books between these two pitches is exceedingly

great, and the confusion has been increased by Prætorius, 1619, who insists upon calling the higher pitch the chamber pitch, whether it was used in church or chamber, and who introduces a new pitch, which he considers suitable to church (chormässig).

That the general reader should be able from the first to form some practical notion of differences of pitch, it may be mentioned that "mean pitch," as it will be called, or Handel's and Prætorius's suitable pitch, is still used in the three churches I have described as using mean-tone temperament, and with equal temperament at All Hallows the Great and Less, Upper Thames Street, at the German Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, and in many country organs, as Wimbledon, St. George's Chapel at Great Yarmouth, St. Nicholas at Newcastle-on-Tyne. The "French pitch," about a quarter of a tone higher, may be heard at Fulham parish church, in many country churches, as Arundel, Barking, St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, and will be probably heard at the Covent Garden Opera this season. An ancient "medium pitch," about the tenth of a tone sharper than the French, now adopted as a church organ pitch by all the principal organbuilders, unless some other pitch is specially ordered, may be heard on a genuine old organ at Hampton Court Palace, and on the present modern alterations of the old organs at Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Temple Church, Whitehall and St. James's Chapels Royal, and many other organs. practically what the Society of Arts pitch was intended to be. The modern high ". orchestral pitch" used at present in England, which is also the highest pitch used by Broadwood, Erard, Steinway, Brinsmead, and other pianoforte makers, may be heard on the organs at the Albert Hall and Alexandra Palace, and at the Crystal Palace; also at St. Michael's Church, Cornhill. Exeter Hall organ is a little flatter, and about the pitch used in France just before the introduction of the Diapason Normal. To get the true sensation of these pitches, however, the organs should be heard at nearly 60° F., as they rise and fall rapidly with the temperature. But the interval between the highest and lowest of these pitches is only five-eighths of a tone, and merely represents the rise in pitch since the Congress of Vienna.

It is

The great organ at Halberstadt (twenty-nine miles south-west of Magdeburg, in Prussian Saxony) was perhaps the first organ with three manuals and a pedal. It was finished February 23, 1361, by Nicholas Faber, and restored in 1495 by Gregory Kleng. It existed, unused, in the days of Prætorius, 1619, who figured its keyboards, described it, and gave the measurements of its largest pipe, B natural, four octaves below the B just above the bass staff, which was probably unaltered in length by Kleng, so that it gives a pitch 500 years old, the earliest I have been able to obtain. I had a pipe constructed to a scale of onesixteenth, sounding four octaves higher, and by measuring its pitch at 59° F. under three inches' pressure of wind, I obtained A 506 (to the nearest whole number of vibrations to which I here limit myself). This is a minor Third above mean pitch, and five-quarters of a tone above our highest orchestral pitch. This estimate agrees with Prætorius's. Now this high pitch and a corresponding very low pitch are thus justified by Schlick of Heidelberg, 1511, who says: "The organ is to be suited to the choir and properly tuned for singing, for where this is not considered, persons are often forced to sing too high or too low, and the organist has to play the chromatics, which is, however, not convenient for every one. But what is the proper length of the pipes for this purpose, and convenient to the choir to sing to, cannot be exactly defined, because people sing higher or lower in one place than in another, according as they have small or great voices. However, if the longest pipe, the F below the Gamma ut [that is, F just below the bass staff], has its body down to the [beginning of the] foot, sixteen times the annexed line [which was 4 Rhenish inches long, so that the pipe was 6! Rhenish feet in length], I think it will be a suitable length for the choir. But if you build an organ a fifth larger, then you must make C in the pedal [that is, C on the second leger line below the bass staff] of this length." And then he goes on to explain how these dimensions best suit the ecclesiastical tones, going through each in succession, and gives the preference to the first pitch with the 6 Rhenish foot pipe on F. Now, making models of the proper dimensions, I found the first pitch was A 377, which is a whole tone flatter than mean pitch, and more than a minor Third flatter than our highest orchestral pitch; and the second pitch was A 504, that is, the same as the Halberstadt organ (for one or two vibrations are an insensible difference in organ pitch for the tuning A). We have then the same man, at the same time and for the same purpose-the