46o 



NATURE 



[June i, 191 i 



d'-posit on the end of the enlarged part of the tube which 

 reproduces the shape of the opening of the last diaphragm 

 through which the vapour Rhs passed. If a plate with 

 holes of any form in it is interposed in the path of the 

 molecules, the deposit on the end of the <ube reproduces 

 the openings sharply. M. Dunoyer is already engaged in 

 experiments to determine the kinetic energy of the projected 

 molecules or particles and to measure their electric charge, 

 if any. 



/?cd Booh No. 155 of the British Fire Prevention Com- 

 mittee deals with the loss of life at the Asch Building fire 

 in New York on March 25. It will be remembered that 

 there were 145 deaths. The committee has procured a 

 trustworthy report from Prof. Ira Woolson, of New York ; 

 this report was originally prepared by Mr. F. J. T. 

 Stewart, superintendent of the New York Board of Under- 

 writers. This great loss of life occurred where the struc- 

 tural damage was relatively small, and practically affected 

 only the fitments and equipment of the three top stories of 

 the building. Bad planning and exit facilities, neglect of 

 the ordinary precautions to prevent an outbreak of fire, 

 the absence of any prearranged system of utilising the 

 existing appliances, together with neglect to have all routes 

 of exits clear for easy and immediate use, are the primary 

 causes of the catastrophe. The building comprised a sub- 

 basement, basement, ground floor, and nine floor levels ; 

 its height may have some bearing on the total number of 

 lives lost, but scarcely on the general extent and character 

 of the calamity. 



We have received a pamphlet from Mr. Wm. Love, of 

 42 Ciaremont Square, London, N., giving particulars of his 

 system of maintaining straight the rolls used for rolling 

 flat sheets. The method appears to be novel, and consists 

 in supporting the rolls by means of intermediate bearings. 

 These bearings are in turn supported by means of beams, 

 so arranged that the deflections of all the bearings under 

 a uniform load on the roller are equal ; hence the roller 

 remains practically straight. There are no supports at the 

 ends of the roller. Suppose, for example, that four inter- 

 mediate bearings are fitted. The roller is divided into 

 four imaginary equal segments, and each bearing is at 

 the centre of a segment. The four bearings are supported 

 on a beam, which we may imagine to be divided into two 

 equal segments. This beam is supported at two points, 

 one at the middle of each segment, and the supports are 

 formed symmetrically on a longer beam, which is in turn 

 supported at its ends. On the latter beam deflecting under 

 the load, the two points at which the first beam is sup- 

 ported will suffer equal deflections, and by the arrange- 

 ment of bearings on the first beam, all these bearings will 

 deflect equally. In this system the roller may be much 

 less in diameter than has been customary, as reliance on 

 its stiffness is unnecessary. For example, a roller 2 inches 

 diameter by 24 inches long, supported in the ordinary way, 

 would deflect, say, o-i inch; supported on Love's system, 

 the deflection for the same load is 1/2560 inch. Other 

 applications of the principle are given in the pamphlet. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., announce for early 

 publication the third English edition of Prof. W. Nernst's 

 " Theoretical Chemistry," corresponding to the sixth 

 German edition, and translated by Mr. H. T. Tizard, 

 Magdalen College, Oxford. The portion of the book deal- 

 ing with thermodynamics has been largely rewritten and 

 includes a detailed account of the author's new theorem of 

 thermodynamics. A chapter on radio-activity has also 

 been added. The text of the earlier English edition has 

 been completely revised and partly rewritten. The trans- 

 NO. 2170, VOL. 86] 



lator has also made some additions to the text, at the 

 suggestion of Prof. Nernst, in order to bring the book up 

 to as late a date as possible. These include an account 

 of Nernst's work on specific heats at low temperature, and 

 a short summary of Perrin's recent researches on Brownian 

 movements. 



Messrs. E. and F. N. Spos, Ltd., announce for early 

 publication " Bibli<^raphical History of Electricity and 

 .Magnetism Chronologically Arranged," by P. F. Mottelay. 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Metcalf's Comet, 19106. — An observation of Metcalf't 

 comet was made by Dr. Schiller at the Bothkamp 

 Observatory on April 18, and showed that the comet stiU 

 has a sharply defined stellar nucleus of magnitude 13-5. 

 The total brightness was about equivalent to that of a 

 star of magnitude 12-8, and when thin clouds obscured the 

 comet the nucleus could still be seen. Dr. Ebell continues 

 his ephemeris up to the end of July, when the estimated 

 magnitude will be 14-8. The present position of the comet 

 is two or three degrees north of k and i Ursae Majoris 

 (Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 4495). 



Recent Observations of Hallev's Comet. — Prof. 

 Barnard secured good observations of Halley's comet on 

 April 16, 23, and 25, but finds that the object is rapidly 

 growing fainter. On April 23, in a very good sky, the 

 magnitude was estimated to be 14-5 or 15-0, but on 

 April 25, with the sky not quite so good, it was estimated 

 to be 15 or 16. Prof. Barnard states that the brigbtness has 

 been subject to considerable fluctuations, and at the time 

 of the second observation was probably in one of its fainter 

 phases (Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 4500). 



Early Visibility of the New Moon. — Mr. Horner's 

 observation of the new moon is discussed by Mr. Whit- 

 mell in No. 435 of The Observatory (May, p. 203). It 

 appears that the observation was made when the moon 

 was but sixteen, not seventeen, hours' old, which, so far 

 as is known, constitutes a record; the moon was " new" 

 at ih. 13m. on the morning of February 10, 1910, and 

 was seen by Mr. Horner, whilst looking for comet 1910a, 

 at 5h. 13m. the same evening. The difference in azimuth 

 between the sun and moon was roughly 10°, and, accord- 

 ing to a paper which Mr. Fotheringham published in the 

 Monthly Notices (R.A.S.) for May, 1910, the moon should 

 be unobservable if its altitude were lower than 11°; but 

 when Mr. Horner saw it the moon had an altitude of 

 only 4° or 5°. 



Large Proper Motion of a Small Star. — The examina- 

 tion of plates taken in 1892 and 1906 led Prof. Max Wolf 

 to the conclusion that a 9-7 mag. star in Leo had anj 

 extraordinary proper motion. This was confirmed byj 

 Prof. Burnham, who has since kept the star under observa- 

 tion, and, from measures made during the period 1907-1 1, 

 together with the 1892 photograph, finds that the most 

 probable value for the proper motion is 1-228' in I90-4'*. 

 The star's position (1900) is R.A. = iih. 23m. aos., 

 dec. = +8° 6' i', and it is 70s. preceding, and 185' north 

 of, the 7-5 magnitude star B.D. + 8°25i2 (Monthlv Notices 

 (R.A.S.), vol. Ixxi., No. 6, April). 



Photographic Determina.tions of Steixar Parallax. — 

 Having described the methods of photographically deter- 

 mining stellar parallaxes with the Yerkes 40-inch refractor, 

 Dr. Schlesinger is now discussing the results in his series 

 of papers appearing in The Astrophysical Journal, In 

 papers iii. and iv. of the series (The Astrophysical Journal, 

 vol. xxxiii., Nos. 2 and 3) he gives the results for four- 

 teen stars, and in four cases finds positive parallaxes 

 exceeding o-i*. These are Groombridge 34, ir=+ 0-266' ± 

 o-oio* ; n Cassiopeiae, » = 0'i05*±ooio'' ; Weisse I., 

 5h. 592, If = +0.189' ±0010' ; 3"^ Fedorenko 1457-8, 

 T= +0-148' ±0015'. The last-named is a well-known 

 double star (X 1321), which has a proper motion of 1-7' 

 per annum, and Dr. Schlesinger gives an interesting dis- 

 cussion concerning the probable source of a systematic 

 error which appears, including therein a discussion of the 

 effect of atmospheric dispersion on the measured images of 

 the stars. 



