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NATURE 



[October i-j, 1923 



Throuom the generosity of the late Mrs. E. O, 

 I>urham. wife of Lieut. -Col. F. K. Durham, chairman 

 of the Junior Institution of Engineers, 1907-1909, 

 that Institution has offered annually a bursary of 

 25/. for coini)etition among its numbers between the 

 ages of 20 and 23 years. By Ijer will, the Institution 

 . to receive a sum to endow the bursary in perpetuity. 



We learn from Science that at the annual meeting 

 of the American Chemical Society at Milwaukee on 

 September 12, the Priestley medal, awarded trienni- 

 ally by the " society for distinguished services to 

 chemistry, was bestowed on Dr. Ira Kemsen, president 

 and emeritus professor of Johns Hopkins University, 

 Baltimore. 



The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 has made the following awards in respect of selected 

 engineering papers published without discussion 

 during the session 1922-1923 : A Watt medal to 

 Mr. T. E. Houghton (Liverpool) ; and Telford 

 premiums to Mr. J. W. Meares (Guildford), Mr. 

 J. W. Spiller (Maidenhead), and Dr. G. S. Coleman 

 (Manchester) and Mr. Dempster Smith (Manchester) ; 

 and in respect of papers read before meetings of 

 students of the Institution in London and the pro- 

 vinces during the same period, — Miller prizes to Mr. 

 E. L. Everatt (Newcastle), Mr. J. G. Kimber (London), 

 Mr. A. H. Nay lor (London), Mr. E. Sykes (Birming- 

 ham), and Mr. F. J. Symonds (London). 



Applications are invited for the post of an 

 assistant government analyst in Ceylon. Candidates 

 must have had experience in general analytical and 

 bacteriological work and in toxicological analysis. 



be associates or fellows of the In * ' ' •" trv 

 by examination in branch E v '^ 



microscopy— of fcxxl. drugs, and water;, and i>rcfer- 

 ably possess an honours degree of a BritUh University. 

 Application forms and further particulars are obtain* 

 able from the Assistant Private Secretary (Apix)int- 

 ments). Colonial Office, S.W.i, 



A MOVEMENT is ou foot to commemorai ti,' in.- 

 Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour. An area of 31 .n rci in 

 Glenbranter Forest, Argyllshire, where the plants 

 rai.sed at the Botanic (iarden, Edinburgh, can be 

 cultivated under suitable conditions and where trials 

 may be made in the rearing of newly imported 

 conifers and other trees, has been secured for the 

 purpose. It is proposed that the area shall be called 

 the Bayley Balfour Arboretum or Garden, and that 

 the memorial shall take the form of a rest-house 

 for the use of visitors. Subscriptions towards the 

 memorial are solicited. They should be sent to the 

 honorary secretary and treasurer, Mr. J. Sutherland, 

 25 Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh 



Messrs. Longmans and Co. are pubhshmg shortly 

 vol. I. of a work on " Cosmology," by Prof. J. O'Neill, 

 of Maynooth, which, it is said, is the first attempt 

 at an Itnglish treatise on scholastic cosmology. The 

 study of the text of Aristotle and of St. Thomas has 

 led the author to ascribe to these thinkers views 

 different from those attributed to them in most 

 contemporary manuals. The second volume on 

 " Modern Cosmology " will be published next year ; 

 its purpose is to show that scholastic cosmology 

 contains a sounder philosophy of matter than any 

 of its present-day rivals. 



Our Astronomical Column. 



Comets. — Very careful search for D'Arrest's Comet 

 has been made by photography by Dr. Innes at 

 Johannesburg and Dr. Baade at Bergedorf. Hamburg ; 

 several other astronomers have spent much time in 

 visual searching but without success. The comet has 

 not been seen for two revolutions ; the perturbations 

 up to 191 7 were computed by Mr. Braae, and those 

 for the present revolution by Mr. Cripps, starting 

 with Braae's elements for 191 7. As there was a fairly 

 close approach to Jupiter at the last aphelion passage. 

 It is possible that the second-order perturbations, 

 which were not computed, were sufi&cient to have a 

 considerable effect on the comet's position. If this 

 is not the case, we must conclude that the comet 

 has suffered disintegration, like those of Biela and 

 Brorsen. 



Baade's Comet of October 1922 was still under 

 observation in Augu.st by Dr. van Biesbroeck at 

 Yerkes Observatory, its magnitude being about 14. 



Dr. Stromgren welcomes the observation of comets 

 over long arcs, since it enables the eccentncitv of 

 theu: orbits to be determined. This is of importance 

 in discussing theories of their origin. 



The Einstein Shift in the Solar Spectrum. — 

 Two articles on this subject have lately appeared, 

 which both reach an affirmative conclusion on the 

 presence of the shift in the solar spectral lines that 

 Einstein predicted. Science for September 28 con- 

 tains a summary of a paper read by Prof. C. E. 

 St. John to the American Association for the Advance- 



NO. 2817, VOL. I 12] 



ment of Science. It will be remembered that his 

 earlier conclusions tended to the negative side, but 

 this summary makes it clear that he has now reached 

 an opposite conclusion. Details are not given, but 

 the following quotations clearly express his main" 

 result. " The lines of the solar spectrum are not 

 identical in position with those due to incandescent 

 samples of the same elements when observed on the 

 earth, and the displacement is toward the red end 

 of the spectrum." " The displacements of the lines 

 . . . predicted by Einstein amount to 86 per cent, 

 of the total observed effect, the remainder being due 

 to other well-known effects." 



The other paper is by Dr. J. Evershed in the October 

 issue of the Observatory, and gives details of the 

 confirmatory verdict which was announced to the 

 R.A.S. last June. The lines of iron, titanium, 

 calcium, nickel, sodium, cyanogen, were studied in 

 the sun and in the arc ; the study covered all parts 

 of the solar disc, the back of the sun being accessible 

 by means of the light reflected by Venus near superior 

 conjunction. The pressure effect is concluded to be 

 negative, the photosphere ha\dng ' a much lower 

 pressure than our atmosphere. He states that 

 " there seems to be very little doubt that the Einstein 

 effect is present in the solar spectrum ; the observed 

 shifts . . . seem impossible to explain by motion, 

 pressure, or anomalous dispersion." It remains to 

 find an explanation of the excess of shift shown by 

 the high level lines in the ultra-violet, and the 

 differences given by separate lines. 



