843 



NA TURE 



[December 8. 1923 



Development of the Evolutionary Idea," by Brani- 

 »lav I'etronievics. which is a translation of the first 

 chapter of Petronievics' work, " L'ft volution univer- 

 selle " ; " The Heredity of Acquiretl ("haracters," by 

 Prof. L. Cu<inot, from the Revue Ghihale des Sciences 

 of October 15, iQii ; " The Indian in Literature," by 

 Herman F. C. ten Kate, from papers publiHhe<l in the 

 Dutch magazines De Gids (1919) and De West-lndische 

 Gids (1920) ; and " The Alimentary Education of 

 Children." by I^of. Marcel Labb^, from the Revue 

 scientifique of September 10, 1921. 



The Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution, 

 which are to be delivered this year by Sir William 

 RraRg. will be published afterwards in book form by 

 Messrs. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., under the title, 

 " Concerning the Nature of Things." 



We have received from Messrs. Ogilvy and Co., 

 18 Hloomsbury Sq., W.C.i, the British agents, new 

 editions of Leitz catalogues of microscopes and dis- 

 secting microscopes and magnifiers. Microscopes, 

 objectives, magnifiers, and other apparatus of all 

 types are listed, and the purchaser has a wide choice 

 as regards both elaboration and price. In addition, 

 some interesting and instructive details are given of 

 the general properties of objectives and eyepieces and 

 of their classification. 



Messrs. C. Baker, of 244 High Holborn, London, 

 W.C.I, have recently issued a new classified list of 

 second-hand scientific instruments (No. 79) which 

 they have for disp>osal. The catalogue contains a large 

 assortment of apparatus, and particularly of micro- 

 scopes, telescopes, and their accessories. Among the 

 astronomical telescopes (refractors) are a 12 in. 

 equatorial and a 7J in., both by Cooke, and an 8 in. by 



Grubb. A wireless department has been estabHsIx I 

 by Messrs. Baker, and a list of the apparatus available, 

 all of which is new, has been added to the catalogue of 

 second-hand instruments. 



In the Year-book of the Royal Society of Tropical 

 Medicine and Hygiene, Session 1923-24, recently 

 issued, an account with illustrations is given of the 

 Chalmers and Manson memorial medals of the 

 Society. The former, founded by a donation from 

 Mrs. Chalmers, is in memory of Dr. Albert J. Chalmers ; 

 the latter, by a surplus of a portrait fund, is in memory 

 of Sir Patrick Manson. The Chalmers medal is 

 awarded biennially, and this year has been presented 

 to M. E. Roubaud, of the Pasteur Institute, Paris. 

 The Manson medal is awarded triennially, and has 

 been presented to Sir David Bruce. 



The Cambridge Philosophical Society is to publish, 

 through the Cambridge University Press, as separa e 

 supplements to the Proceedings, translations of Dr. 

 Niels Bohr's present series of papers " On the 

 Application of the Quantum Theory to Atomic 

 Structure," Part I. of which has already appeared 

 in the Zeitschrift fur Physik, vol. xiii. (1923). The 

 translation of Part I. will be closely followed by a 

 similar translation of Part II., which it is hoped will 

 appear simultaneously with the German version. 

 Part I. will deal with the fundamental postulates 

 of the quantum theory, and Part II. with the thcor>' 

 of series spectra. 



Errata. — In our issue of November 10, p. 704, m 

 the Research Item on the Early Proboscideans, for 

 " Schlasser " read " Schlosser " ; December j, p. 806, 

 in the Research Item on the Cheiroptery-^itim in 

 Amphibia, line 3 from end, for " its fir-- il 



" its first ' e.' " 



Our Astronomical Column. 



The December Meteor Shower. — Mr. W. l. 

 Denning writes : " This annual display of meteors may 

 be expected on the night of Wednesday, December 12, 

 w'hen it will probably reach its maximum intensity. 

 The shower is visible, though it supplies very few 

 meteors, during the first week of December, and the 

 radiant point appears to be a moving one like that 

 of the August Perseids. As the moon will be absent 

 from the evening sky during the early part of De- 

 cember this year, it will be possible to watch the 

 oncoming and development of the shower if we 

 get sufficiently clear weather. The position of the 

 radiant on Dec. i will be about 98° +34° ; on Dec. 5, 

 io4°-|-33°; on Dec. 10, iio°+33°; and Dec. 15, 

 ii6°-F-32°. 



" Occasionally, the shower proves a rich one and 

 supplies about 40 or 50 meteors per hour ; but the 

 most abundant displays are usually witnessed in the 

 morning hours, as the radiant is then at a greater 

 altitude than in the earlier part of the night. In 

 1920, on Dec. 12, the shower returned with con- 

 siderable strength, though it does not appear to have 

 been well observed, in consequence of unfavourable 

 weather. 



" The individual meteors of this stream are moder- 

 ately swift and short, and as they do not often 

 leave streaks or trains they are rather difficult to 

 record accurately. The radiant point is therefore not 

 often determined as correctly as that of the Perseids 

 or Leonids." 



Companion to OMrcROX Ceti. — The interesting 

 variable Omicron or Mira Ceti has been found bv 

 Prof. R. G. Aitken (Harv. Coll. Obs. Bull. No. 792) 

 to have a close companion, at distance i*oi', position 

 angle 132-3°. The companion was bluish in colour, 

 and on October 19 was fully half a magnitude fainter 

 than the variable. The tardy discovery of a com- 

 panion to such a well-scrutinised star is remarkable. 

 and suggests that the distance may be increasing. It 

 will doubtless be carefully followed in the hope of 

 obtaining an orbit, which would determine the mass 

 of Mira. It is possible, however, that the pair is an 

 optical, not a physical, double. 



Proposed Observatory in New Zealand. — The 

 Bulletin of the New Zealand Astronomical Society 

 announces that the University of Yale has offered a 

 large telescope for astronomical observation in New 

 Zealand, provided a good site can be found, the con- 

 ditions of seeing to be tested with a telescope of 6 or 

 7 in. aperture, in a similar manner to the tests made 

 before setting up the Victoria telescope in British 

 Columbia. The New Zealand Government has been 

 approached to grant funds for this examination, and 

 has given a hopeful reply. The difficulty appears to 

 be to combine good seeing with convenient access. 

 Most of the towns are near the coast, and the seeing 

 is poor. Various sites are suggested by amateur 

 astronomers, and it is greatly to be hoj>ed that the 

 scheme may go through 



NO. 



2823, VOL. I 1 2 



