88 



NATURE 



[November i6, 191 i 



condition. The camera may be compared to a large pill- 

 box, but the lid. which carries the rotating optirnl system, 

 is as deep as the box within which the film is hi-ld by two 

 rings, one notched or marked to indicate on the photo- 

 graph the azimuths of the objects on the picture. .\ right- 

 .tngicd prism is preferred for the upper reflector, and the 

 rotation is done by hand by means of a toothed wheel and 

 endless screw. 



The first annual report of the Road IJoard, established 

 under the powers of the Finance Act of I9(k>, has been 

 nirntiy i)ublished. This Board was farmed for the pur- 

 pose of improving the main roads of this country, rendered 

 necessary by the general adoption of motor vehicles. The 

 funds required for the purposes of the Board are derived 

 from the duties imposed on motor spirit and motor licences 

 livied under the powers of the Act. The applications for 

 aid from local authorities amounted to 7,870,459/. Up to 

 I he end of June the Board had been able to allocate out of 

 the money placed at its disposal for the first year, 

 i,ibi,ooo/., the sum of 270,824/. This sum was to be 

 applied to the improvement of main roads and important 

 < onnecting roads passing through rural areas ; also to the 

 improvement of the surface of the roads and the allevia- 

 tion of the nuisance arising from mud and dust due to 

 motor traflic, and to bringing the road surfaces up to 

 such a standard of construction that the cost of future up- 

 keep to the local authoritirs may be brought within the 

 means available from local >uuici >. l-'or this purpose the 

 Board has sanctioned the use of bituminous binding 

 material, and has issued general directions and specifica- 

 tions relating to the treatment of road surfaces. The 

 Hoard has also taken steps to establish at the National 

 Physical Laboratory at Teddington a laboratory for test- 

 ing the value of different kinds of stone used for road 

 repairs. This work is to be under tlie dinction of the 

 (jeological Survey. 



.A CATALOGUE of gardening books and literature, com- 

 prising man\ i arly works, has been issued by Messrs. 

 John Wheliloii and Co., Great Queen Street, London. 

 The items are arranged under the sections of flower, fruit, 

 kitchen and landscape gardening, trees, conservatory and 

 general treatises. 



In the notice of those volumes of " The Home I'niversity 

 Library " published in Nature of November 0, it was 

 stated that "ten volumes will be issued each )ear. " The 

 publishers, Messrs. Williams and Norgate, asic us to say 

 that the plan of publication is to publish ten volumes in each 

 set at intervals of three or four months. Since .\pril last 

 thirty volumes have been issued, and at least one hundred 

 are planned. 



Forthcoming Scientific Books. — In the " Fauna of British 

 India " Series, Canon W. W. Fowler's volume on the 

 Cicindelidie and Paussida>, with a general introduction to 

 the Coleoptera, and Mr. E. Brunetti's work on the Nemo- 

 cera (excluding the Chironomidaj and the Culicida^), are 

 in the press. The remaining volumes which the editor, 

 Mr. .\. E. Shipley, with the assistance of Mr. Guy A. K. 

 Marshall, and with the sanction of the Secretary of State 

 for India, has arranged for in this series are : — volumes on 

 the Orthoptera (.Acridiida; and Locustida;), by Mr. W. F. 

 Kirby ; on butterflies (Lyca'nida and Hesperiida^), by Mr. 

 H. H. Druce ; on the Curculionidae, by Mr. G. A. K. 

 Marshall ; on the Ichneumonidie, by Mr. Claude Morley ; 

 on the longicorn beetles, by Mr. C. J. Gahan ; on the 

 Blattidae, by Mr. R. Shelford ; on the Helicidae, by Lieut. - 

 Colonel H. H. Godwin-.Austen ; on the Ixodida> and 

 Argasidae, by Mr. C. Warburton ; on leecht>. In Mr. W . A. 



NO. 2194, VOL. 88] 



Harding ; on the Meloida;, by Prof. Creighton VVellmai. 

 the brachyurous Crustacea, by Lieut. -Colonel A. AIcolk ; 

 and on the Unionida*, by Mr, H. B. Preston. — Mr. Edward 

 .Stanford, otTicinl agent for the large-scale Ordnance maps, 

 announces the publication of the first 165 sheets of a new 

 issue on the scale of 50 inches to a mile (i : 1250). 

 Hitherto, apart from the town plans, the largest scale on 

 which urban districts have been obtainable has been th- 

 well-known 25 inches to a mile, and the new issue is based 

 on an enlargement of that map. 'I'he larger scale map ha- 

 been specially prepared for use primarily in connection 

 with land valuation, and the area covered by each -' 

 is one quarter of that of a 25-inch sheet. — The «i^ 

 edition of Fream's " Elements of .Agriculture " is to l» 

 published by .Mr. John .Murray. The work of editing ha- 

 been entrusted to Prof. J. R. Ainsworth Davis, of thf 

 Royal .\gricultural College, Cirencester, who has consider- 

 ably extended the scope of the book and brought it up u> 

 date. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Planet MT. — The new and interesting minor planet dis- 

 covered by Dr. Palisa on October 3 has, apparently, been 

 lost again. It will be remembered that Dr. Palisa mad- 

 observations on October 3 and 4, and Hcrr Pechiile on thi- 

 latter date ; but bad skies interfered and further observa- 

 tions were prevented. Then the Greenwich observers took 

 a plate on October 25, with the Franklin-.Xdams camera, 

 which showed apparent images in the supposed position of 

 the planet. However, good plates taken the next night did 

 not confirm this, and there is little doubt that the supposed 

 images are spurious. This is most disappointing, for, a-- 

 Dr. Crommelin points out in No. 441 of The Observatory, 

 the object promised to be of extraordinary interest. The 

 present known data are insufficient for a determination of 

 the orbit, but the observations could be satisfied b\ 

 assuming an orbit having about the same perihelion 

 distance as Eros, with a slightly greater eccentricity. To 

 explain its apparent disappearance, Dr. Crommelin suggest^ 

 that, like Eros at some oppositions, this object mav b» 

 rapidly variable in apparent brightness. Its motion showed 

 it to be very near to the earth, and there is no need to 

 suppose its diameter to be greater than a mile or two. 

 Such small bodies need not be spherical ; in fact, thev might 

 be discoidal, and would, therefore, suffer considerable 

 changes of apparent brightness. The suggestion that Dr. 

 Palisa 's object might be a non-nebulous comet, such as 

 KopfT's, moving in a parabolic orbit, is discounted bv its 

 planetary aspect and by the fact that an ellipse would fit 

 the observations. 



.Mars. — Writing from the S6tif Observatory on 

 November 4, M. Jarry-Desloges announces the appearance 

 of seven fissures, towards M. .Acidalium, in the north polar 

 cap of Mars, and states that a bright area was seen on 

 Nerigos. 



From the Massegros Observatory, on October 31, it is 

 reported that Juventae Fons was easily visible, and that 

 Coprates was dull and appeared bifurcated near L. 

 Tithonius; three "lakes" were seen on Coprates, and 

 several small ones on the site of .Araxes. The south polar 

 spot is said to be very luminous {Astronomische Sacb- 

 richten, No. 4534). 



Ephemerides for Various Co.mets. — Xos. 4533-4 of the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten contain ephemerides for 

 Borrelly's (igiie), Brooks's (1911c). QuiSnisset's (191 1/), . 

 and Beljawsky's (1911^) comets. Borrelly's comet is now 

 just below T and t^ Eridani. and is moving northward at' 

 a little more than half a degree per day ; it is of about ■ 

 magnitude 130. Brooks's comet is now travelling south- 

 ward through Virgo at nearly a degree a dav, and will be' 

 near 7 Hydrae on November 21; its calculated magnitude 

 now is about 4-5, and it is unlikely to be observed further 

 in these latitudes. Observers in the southern hemisphere 

 should, however, be able to follow it for some time yet. 



Qu^nisset's comet is now near the sun, and practicallv 

 unobservable ; its calculated magnitude is about 7-0, and. 



