February i, 19 12] 



NATURE 



459 



Mars and Satukn. — M. Jarry-Desloges reports {Astro- 

 uomische NachriihU'ii, No. 4549) that the southern white 

 polar cap on .Mnis .ijjjicars to be reforming, particularly 

 on Thyle I., and that tin' insular area which lie reported 

 to the west of Novissima Thyle is still apiinii nt, and forms 

 a background to the dark, sharply defined M. Aiistrale. 



On Saturn he has remarked manv chan;4es in the 

 southern regions. The dark polar cap lias not been seen 

 again, but the pole is occupied by a brii^ht aiea surrounded 

 by a very thin dark band ; three othm- bands were also 

 seen on the disc- 



Search-ephemerides for \\'i:stphal's Comet, 1852 IV. — 

 The period for Wcstplial's 1852 comet is rather uncertain, 

 but, according to a new calculation by Dr. .Vdolf llnatek, 

 which is published in No. 4549 of the Asiroiioiiiischc 

 \achrichteii, it is not unlikely that perihelion will be 

 reached in October of this year. 



This is on the basis that the period is sixty years, but 

 Dr. Hnatek gives search-ephemerides, for the first half of 

 this year, taking 600, 6o-i, 60-2, 60-3, 60-4, 60-5, 6i-o, 

 61-5, and 620 years as the period ; for the first six values 

 the computed brightness, on June 19, would lie between 

 magnitudes 7-5 and 100, but until later in the year the 

 comet is considerably south of the equator. 



Observations of Jupiter's (i\[.ii.i:AN Satellites. — -In 

 Circular No. 12 of the Transvaal Observatory, Mr. Innes 

 records a large number of eclipses, transits, &c., of the 

 four Galilean satellites of Jupiter, and gives some interest- 

 ing notes c;on( rrning the more uncommon phenomena 

 observed. On A]>ril 4, 1911, a partial transit of J. III. 

 was observed, and Mr. Innes remarks that the possibility 

 of a partial transit does not appear to have been recog- 

 nised hitherto. A table is given sliowing the differences 

 between the observed times and those computed by Dr. 

 de Sitter, those given in the " Nautical Almanac," and 

 those computed from Prof. Sampson's tables; the differ- 

 ences range between — 06 and —12-5 minutes. Peculiar 

 shapes of the satellites and tlieir shadows, e.g. the shape 

 of a figure 8, were noted during scvr'ral transits, and on 

 May 24, 19 II, before the commencement of the ingress of 

 a transit by J. III., a bright spot, wiili a dark band skirt- 

 ing it on the south side, was seen in tiie N./. quadrant of 

 the satellite. 



Star Cai.iadaks, Cuxkts. ami Gihues. — From the 

 publishers \\ e h;i\e r. 1 . i\( d i()|)ie^ of the H.P.Il. se'ries 

 of annuals. 1 he' " St;ir ( .ilendar " lor if)r2 is an improve- 

 ment on that of former years, and has the aperture, which 

 enables the star chart on the under card to be seen, oval 

 instead of circular; the price is i,v. net. The " Star 

 Almanac," (-id, net, is, as in previous yemx, intended to 

 display on the observatory or study wall, and it contains 

 a large amount of useful information. .\ number of notes 

 discuss the aUher, the roroii.i, (S;(-., and in addition to four 

 charts then are leproductions of P'alher 

 corona and Max Wolf's photograph of the 



tlei)ula. The a!"i\'' are published hv Messrs. 



hall and Co., I.i'i. 



ind Consfellalion- : a Little C.uide to the 



escribes (he ronslfdlations and 



in rh\nie. b'or the instruction 



will prohahh- pi(i\e useful, and 



])uhli--hei-s, Messi's. Haker :nid 



circular --la 

 Coiaie's H|i, 

 North Aniei-i 

 Simpkin, M; 

 In " Star 

 Sky," Miss .\e[i, s i'i\ 

 their relative po-iiioii--, \c 

 of >fninL; [)eo|jle the work- 

 ma\- be obtain, il hajui ih 

 "' -11, (difloti. ]irii e 1,1, ]]■ 



dlock 

 in ih 



ci-.\t:rai 



^ were f 

 On January 20, at 

 Strong enough to ,a\ 

 to afTcct the Milne 

 ■ ''nhurgli. ()n Jai 

 .. fell in likulrni 

 and Loch Lonii>nd. 

 there were thre, fli 

 ' 'anhillefh, in Mom 



h' ICCENT E.'\ h' rnniJAKES. 



Upp.r,. d 



d. Ih. 



to earthquakes, 



nd of last week. 



•' at Dunblane 



ing enough 



• )l)servator\ , 



' < I - |. a V.' theii" work. 



a.M)., a sharp tr.'moi 

 Campsie, in Si ii-Iini^-liir 

 Edinburgh s. isnioeraph. 



NO. 2205, VOL. 88] 



a \'ail. \ l\ iul; h.l w. .ai I h.' < .ai' 

 I^arly in the morning C)f Janua 

 inct shocks in the colliery disti 

 luthshire, strong enough to mak 



On January 20, shortly befoi 

 was felt at Lennoxtown an. 



ac.;ain without affertint! ih. 

 Of th. four di^lurhani .-, ;!,> 



first two were apparently of seismic origin. Dunblane lie- 

 close to the district on the south side of the Ochil Hill>. 

 where so many earthquakes have resulted during the la-c 

 twelve years from slips of the great fault which forms th. 

 southern boundary of the hills. The Glenfruin shock 

 seems to be a successor of two other earthquakes in th- 

 same part of Scotland— the Dunoon earthquakes . I 

 September 18, 1904, and July 3, 1908. The Llanhill.i;, 

 and Lennoxtown shocks bear a close resemblance to tho., 

 which are often felt in colliery districts, and which ai 

 probably caused by small fault-slips precipitated by the 

 working in the mines. 



A severe earthquake occurnd at u p.m. on Januar\ .^4 

 in the island of Cephalonia, which, with th.' n.-ii^hliouiin- 

 islands of Zante and Santa Maura, forms one of'^ih. • 

 important seismic zones in Europe. Buildings in ' 

 toli, the capital, were injured; considerable damag, 

 caused in the villages at the southern end of the island, a- 

 well as in the island of Zante. The villages in the north- 

 east of Cephalonia seem to have suffered most. Altogether, 

 five villages are reported as destroyed and eight person^ 

 as killed. Though hundreds of shocks have been felt in 

 the district during the last tw^enty years, the earthquake of 

 January 24 is apparently the most severe since the 

 disastrous Zante earthquakes of Januarv ■\i and \w\[ ■- 

 1893. 



'I he director of the Meteorological Office reports that on. 

 January 25 he received a telegram from the superintendent 

 of the Eskdale Observatory, in Dinnfriesshir.- 

 follows :^ — "Fine earthquake 24th at 10^, hours V" 

 S.E." More exact measurements of the records ha\ 

 the epicentre as 2570 kilometres distant, 56° 34 Ik 

 that is, at iat. 39° 16' N., long. 21° 53' E. ''J'h. p 

 of the earthquake is thus placed in S!W. Thev-..d\, n- ,, 

 the border between Turkey and Greece, so that :!.. V.-~\: 

 dale record would appear to have been derived from th. 

 earthquake in Cephalonia referred to above. 



A NEW SYSTEM OF GUN SIGHTIXi, 

 n^HE new Remington negative angle system of sighting. 



which formed the subject of a lecture by Sir George 

 Greenhill, F.R.S., to the Junior Institution of Engineer^ 

 on Friday, January i<,, i- ih. invention of .Mr. 11. 

 Ommundsen, worked out and appli.d to niilitar\ and <p..;- 

 ing rifles in collaboration with Mr. E. Ntwiii. I 

 vention has for its object the elimination ol th. n- 

 for judging distance in .sport and war b\ niakiUj^ u-- .c 

 the visual angk' which pro(e,(l> h-oui th.' >hooier's e\. :in(\ 

 embraces the, object aimed at. H\ iiu.iiine tli. !. >, k 

 sight, making it so that the obj. ci (.ui h. -• 

 instead of ovei-, as at present, th. okj. n .an 

 visually between th.' for.'- and ha. k-si^ht. Ik 

 of the visual an:.;!.' v.ui.'^ iu\ir.-..'K with disiai 

 further off the object is the small, r will k. ' 

 and consequently the higher tin fore^ielu 

 iil order to calliper the obj.. 1. ih. i. -lii 

 automal i. ini i .a--, ol ek \ al ion. '1 I 

 of el.'\ali..n im.i\ h.' okl.nn.d -.;m|e 

 of aim at a pi .(l.'i. nnin. .1 .k 

 This predel.'illlin. d <k pi h m ■ a 



N'arii^s in pr.'. i^. k • ' ■ ■ .1 !.,i\ . .i.'^.-i u 



h.'ine Im'Iow ill' i ulomal ic,'ill\ -- 



from III.' Ii\"<l a,. :k.' 1 ilk-, .a;. I 



call.d ill.' '■ ne-.ui\ . 

 on th.' rilk' i- .all I, 

 results within kmil-> \', lia'l .k j.. lid upon III. puu,; 



cartridt;.'- Apph. .1 i.i .pi.riiiiL; rill.'^, th.- nrj^.-uiv. 



sight .iii-shin^; i.'siills. Willi th.' C(inipar;il ivei\- 



old o .dkine i ill.', or with, s;i\ , the f).4on big- 



.r:i,nr lis I .ill I..' -kill ill: '.u;'!i lli" h. art .il :m\ 



irniishiilg ri 



,1, ,- ill,- ..1. 



