202 



NATURE 



[December 28, 191 1 



Alter lit)'- 20 triMii III' iHiiioiii oi (dlumn 3 on p. 964, ending 

 with thr worfN " known nu," nnd bfforf the next printed 

 lin« brjjinninn " twin*," there ithouid have oppfiirrd n line 

 rending* " nin<'thv»t. There are two well-marki^l kind* of 

 quartz *'. Also the ndjnrent FijJ. 14 »hould be verticnily 

 invcrlrd. 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Stii.nf MASSES CoMKT, 1911/1.— MM. Fayet and Schnu- 

 in.'i'iHo publish n set of element* nnd an ephenieris for 

 cornet H)iWi in No. 454a of the Aslronomischc Sachrichten. 

 The ephemeris gives the po!»itions of the toinet to the end 

 of .March, io«a. and shows that the object should attain its 

 greatest apparent brightness about the beginning of 

 February, when it should be of about the tenth magnitude ; 

 the following is an extract : — 



Ephemeris lafc. M.T. Paris. 



1919 a i I05 r log S i/r^S^ 



h. m. . , 



fan. I ... 15 175 . - « 49 ••• 011 16 ... 02008 ... 0*24 



,. 9 ... IS 52-4 .. - 3 43 ••• 00953 • 01899 ... 030 



,, 17 ... 16 277 .. - 5 28 .. 00822 ... 01835 •• 030 



.. 25 .. 17 30 ... ~ 7 2 ... 00732 ... 01813 ... 0-31 



Feb. a ... 17 37'5 ... - 8 21 ... 00689 ... 0-1830 ... 031 



„ 9 ... 18 109 ... - 9 25 ... 00696 ... 0-1877 ... 0-30 



This path lies through the southern parts of Serpens and 

 Hercules, then through Ophiuchus and .\quila ; the comet 

 will pass about 3° north of .Altair on March 9, 1912, and 

 will remain a morning object throughout. 



Brooks's Comet, 19110. — Prof. .Millosevich publishes an 

 ephemeris, e.xtending to March 3, for comet iqiic in No. 

 454a of the Astronotnische Sachrichtcn. The comet is now 

 too far .south for observation in our latitude, but was 

 observed by Dr. Ristenpart at Santiago on December q ; 

 its magnitude then was 7-5, and the observed position gave 

 corrections of -h7-6s. and +30' to the ephemeris position. 



In the same journal Dr. H. K. I.au records the magni- 

 tude observations made. at the Treptow Observatory during 

 the period .August 26 to October 10. Comparing the 

 observed with the calculated magnitudes, he finds that the 

 former fit i/r'a* better than i/r'A'; there is also a sugges- 

 tion of a periodic oscillation in the observed magnitudes. 

 Other magnitude observations are given, and Father 

 Iniguez also gives the wave-lengths of the lines observed 

 photographically and visually in the spectrum of the comet. 



Observations of Mars. — A telegram from M. .Antoniadi 

 to the .istronontische Nachrichten (No. 4542) states that 

 the large telescope at Meudon revealed, on December d, 

 a singular brown spot to the areographic west of Argyre. 

 On November 14 the same observer and M. Bosler were 

 struck by the decided citron hue of the planet's surface, 

 even the polar snows appearing yellowish. On December 

 4 and 6 the Solis Lacus region was seen, under good con- 

 ditions, to be as it was in 1909, but the " lake " itself 

 was more intense. It was on the second date that the 

 large brown spot was seen situated in the western part 

 of the M. Erythrxum. Such a spot, although much 

 weaker and uncertain, has been seen during previous 

 oppositions, but never so plainly as now ; it is about ftoo 

 kilometres long, and its coloration is entirely difTen in from 

 that of any other feature on the planet. 



The Total Soi-ar Fxlipse of .April 17, 1912. — In a 

 paper read before the British .Astronomical .Association, and 

 published in the current Journal (vol. xxii.. No. 2), Mr. 

 G. V. Chambers gives a number of interesting particulars 

 he has collected concerning possible facilities for seeing the 

 total solar eclipse of April 17, 1912. According to the 

 different almanacs, maximum duration, which occurs in 

 Portugal, will be from o-6s. to 8-os., the former being given 

 by The Sautkal .ilnianac, the latter by the Berliner Jahr- 

 huch ; the Connaissance des Temps gives 6-3 seconds. Mr. 

 Chambers gives the times of sailing of ships to various 

 ports in the peninsula, particulars as to methods of reach- 

 ing, and accommodation in, the towns near to the eclipse 

 Sath, and some idea of the cost. From figures supplied bv 

 ather Iniguez. the meteorological conditions at the 

 NO. 2200, VOL. 88] 



Spfi"'-'- -'•••"»n« woukl probably be unfavourable • -•»"'' "o 

 th- nar in Portugal, about eighteen n 



of < ' • tns to promise the best chance nf 



Iranoiiuf) plwnomena. A part^ U being or. . .Mr. 



Chamb«V)i, and intending participants Khou! nicate 



with him. 



Pi..\NKTARV .Atmospmeres. — An Interesting «tudy of the 

 production, the effects, and the di 

 HphiTfs of planets is published I 

 rublicatioti% de la Socifti de Ch...... j .. . 



with each planet as a separated |X>rtion of li 



the author traces out the general methon 



metals, thr hydrixarbons, &c., would become !>ulidili«-d parts 



of the planet's crust, and th^n shows how this would 



operate in the case of the earth. Carbonic acid would be 



the most resistant impurity of the atmosphere, and under 



the action of plant life and light would ' ' 



posed. With less CO, the radiation won! 1 



the temperature of the earth's crust v. 

 Volcanic action would then interfere by producing more 

 CO,, and so an oscillation of temperature and riimate 

 would ensue. Prof. .Arrhenius is unable to accept the long- 

 period rotation of \'enus, and describes a development on 

 that planet which will be richer and more brief than it has 

 been on the earth. Turning to Mars, he likens the condi- 

 tions there to those obtaining in certain desert districts. 

 e.g. parts of Persia, only the temperature is some 30° 

 below zero according to him. The Martian " lakes " are 

 analogous to the semi-solid khivirs found in Persia, and 

 Prof. .Arrhenius shows how the colours and the changes on 

 Mars can be fitted with terrestrial equiv ' • ' ' N 

 type. 



INTERNATIONAL SOLAR RESEARCH.' 

 T^HE interesting volume referred to below gives evidence 

 of so much progress since the last meeting of the 

 Solar Union at Meudon in 1907 that it is not possible in 

 a limited notice to do more than mention some of the chief 

 contents. 



After giving a list of members of the scientific bodies 

 constituting the union, and the names of those who attended 

 the fourth conference at Mount Wilson, the minutes of 

 each of the four meetings held on .August 31, September i 

 and 2, 1910, are given verbatim. At the first meeting, with 

 Prof. E. C. Pickering in the chair, Dr. G. E. Hale gave a 

 lengthy address on the recent developments of solar inv" •" 

 gation. The preparation of the new sunspot map ha- 

 delayed by the necessity of arranging for spectra of gi 

 dispersion to allow of the proper analysis of the Zeem:r 

 effect in spot spectra. It was decided that the scale shoulvi 

 be not less than 5 mm. to lA the separate sections not 

 exceeding 60 cm. in length. In the progress of work on 

 comparisons between centre and limb, solar chromospherr 

 and other allied problems, the question of the Tertiarv 

 standards is important, and it is proposed to undertake 

 their determination in the near future. Dr. Hale also gav. 

 a very lucid description of the details of the new larfi* 

 tower telescope and spectrograph. Certain changes de- 

 tected in the spectra of sunspots were outlined, the differ- 

 ences found beinp^ due to the varying strengths of magnet ■> 

 field in the spot vortices, giving different separation of th- 

 components. An important statement is that the record o- 

 eruptive phenomena can be carried on with Ha better tha- 

 with the calcium lines, and these eruptive phenomena 

 are likely to be associated with magnetic storms on the 

 earth. 



A number of important resolutions by the Wave-length 

 Committee were adopted, from which it is apparent that 

 there is a good prospect of spectroscopists being providod 

 m the near future with a trustworthv table of wave-l< n^th 

 standards showing: all the lines of most of the known 

 elements on a uniform system. These will be referred to .-; 

 number of " secondary standard " iron lines which hav^ 

 been determined by Fabrv, Eversheim, and Pfund. 



At the second sitting. Prof. W. W. Campbell in the chair, 

 reports were presented dealing with solar radiation, spectra 

 of sunspots, splipse observations, &c. From an exhaustive 



1 "Transactions of the International Union for Cooperation in Solar 

 Kes-arch. \ ol. iiu (Fourth Conference). Pp. \-iii+23i. (Manchester: 

 Univeisity Press, igti.) Price 7*. M. net. 



