r Feb, lo, 1876] 



NATURE 



287 



document which was communicated to every member of that 

 body, and the consideration of which formed part of its proceed- 

 ings, can only by a legal fiction be described as confidential. But 

 the plea that the document was confidential practically abandons 

 the defence of it. A really statesmanlike paper on a matter 

 which affects all the higher grade schools of the country would 

 gain rather than lose by publicity. 



The course which Convocation has under consideration has no 

 doubt, as our correspondents point out, much to be said in its 

 favour. But the reason actually put forward in the preamble of 

 the Report as a ground for taking action, is from the point of view 

 of public policy simply indefensible. It would be appropriate 

 enough if the Report had been addressed by a Board of Directors 

 to the shareholders of a Limited Liability Company, because in 

 the fashion characteristic of such documents it treated the matter 

 in hand from the strictly business point of view of the ' ' con- 

 cern." It is this attitude which we described as cynical. And 

 we must repeat that it is not in our opinion decorous that a 

 matter gravely affecting the higher education of the country 

 should be treated simply as a question of the falling off of 

 .aminers at one particular centre of examination. If it is not 



; duty of a University to be dignified, it is at least the duty of 

 iis advisers to be statesmanlike ; and if we may have done in- 

 justice to the real desires of the framers of the Report, they have 

 only their own inadequate expression of them to blame. — Ed.] 



Public Analysts 



In your last week's issue your correspondent, Mr. M. Williams, 

 lites in such terms as would lead your readers to suppose that 

 uch less has been done in the matter of butter analysis than is 

 .oolly the case. 



I have not the letter before me at this moment, and therefore 

 speak from memory, but I believe that your readers are led to 

 understand that no analyses of pure butter and of pure butter 

 mixed with known quantities of foreign fats have been published. 

 In this he is mistaken, for in a little work published in 1874, the 

 details of eleven experiments upon butters known to be pure are 

 given. The samples were purchased from outlying country 

 farms in the Isle of Wight, and the results of the analyses fairly 

 prove the constancy of the fixed fatty acids in butter. 



It is also shown that all foreign fats likely to be used as 

 adulterants are constant in their composition, and that they yield 

 a much larger percentage of fixed acids than does butter ; the 

 range of difference being wide enoagh to offer a practical basis 

 upon which to found accurate estimations of foreign fats in fac- 

 titious butters. Many admixtures were made, and the published 

 results of the analyses prove the practicability of the method 



II ployed. Your correspondent hints that no one dares to un- 

 crtake the analysis of mixtures of known constitution. I ven- 

 ire to state that if the necessary provisions could be made 

 ;ainst concoctions chemically prepared, and so as to admit of 



commercial admixtures only, such as would be likely to be made 

 use of by fraudulent butter factors, there would be no difficulty 

 in getting half-a-dozen or more analysts ready to take up the 

 gauntlet. Arthur Angell 



Southampton, Feb. 7 



Large Meteors 



A LARGE fireball was seen here this evening at about 7.35 p.m. 

 ; rolled slowly across the southern sky, and its path was slightly 

 jscending from left to right The observed part of its course 

 as from 7 Orionis to a few degrees below o Ceti. There was 

 ) train, but the moon was shining brightly at the time, and 

 -ly have overpowered any faint appendage of this sort. It was 

 any limes brighter than Venus (then near setting), and esti- 

 mated to equal one-fifth the moon's apparent diameter. The 

 : obular form of the nucleus was very evident. 

 A meteor with very slow motion and a short course was obser\'ed 

 ;i Feb. 2, 8.31 p.m., traversing a space between S Leonis and Cor 

 aroli, or just above Coma Berenicis. It was as bright as .Mars. 

 Radiant point probably near 7 Leonis, and very possibly a 

 lember of the same system as the fireball described above, 

 ■ hich also appears to have been directed from Leo. 



A bright meteor was also seen here on Jan. 31, 9. 13 P.M. It 

 fell almost vertically in S.S. W. from the Hyades, and must have 

 been quite equal to Venus. I saw it in a region of the sky 

 covered with thin clouds sufficiently dense to obscure the stars. 

 Radiant point probably just north of o Tauri. 

 Ashley Down, Bristol, Feb. 5 Willi.vm F. Denxing 



The Flame of Common Salt 



I SEE that it is sometimes permitted to ask questions in 

 Nature for information. If I might be allowed to do so, I 

 would ask why common salt gives a blue light when cast into a 

 fire of coal, and a yellow light when burned on the wick of a 

 spirit lamp ? The books I have consalted do not give the 

 reason of this. E. G. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Bixarv Star 7 Cassiope.'E — Dr. Doberck, of 

 Col. Coopei-'s Observatory, Markree Castle, has commu- 

 nicated to the Royal Irish Academy the results of a com- 

 plete discussion of the elements of this binary from the 

 measures to 1875. Though he does not consider the 

 exactness of the orbit to be great, partly owing to the 

 observations being rather unfavourably placed, and partly 

 to uncertainty in the observed distances, the agreement 

 with observation is pretty close, and it appears likely that 

 preference may be given to his elements, over those lately 

 given by Dr. Duner, if the latter are correctly printed, 

 Dr. Doberck's orbit is as follows, being the result of a 

 sixth approximation : — 



Peri-astron passage 1909 "24 



Node 39" 5/ 



Peri-astron from node ... ... ... 223^20' 



Inclination ... ... ... ... ... 53° 50' 



Excentricity ... ... ... ... 0'5763 



Semi-axis major ... ... ... ... 9 "'83 



Period of revolution .. . ... ... ... 222 '435 years. 



Combining these values for the setni-axis and length of 

 revolution, with Mr. Otto Struve's parallax (o"'i54), we 

 have the following figures : — 



Semi -axis major 63 '83 earth mean distances. 



Mass of system 5 '25 sun -masses. 



The parallax corresponds to a distance of 1,340,000 times 

 the mean distance of the earth from the sun. The uncer- 

 tainty attending the measures of distance of the com- 

 ponents and the amount of probable error of Mr. O. 

 Struve's value of the paralla.x, of course allows only of the 

 above figures being regarded as first rough approxima- 

 tions. The semi-axis of the orbit of rj Cassiopeas, it will 

 be seen, results more than twice as great as that of the 

 orbit of Neptune. 



The star will doubtless be frequently measured in the 

 present approach to the peri-astron, and every additional 

 five years' observations must be of service in the improve- 

 ment of the elements. 



Dr. Doberck promises an investigation of the orbit of 

 the close binary a Leonis, no one of the orbits of which 

 star, so far published, represents recent measures. Not- 

 withstanding the case is a troublesome one for calculation, 

 a ver\- fair appro.ximation to the elements should now be 

 practicable. 



The Rugby (Temple Observatory) Catalogue of 

 Double Stars. — Following the excellent plan pursued 

 by Mr. J. Gurney Barclay in the speedy publication of 

 the Leyton measures of double-stars, made by Mr. Tal- 

 mage with the fine ten-inch refractor of that observatory, 

 Mr. J. M. Wilson and Mr. G. M. Seabroke have given to 

 astronomers (Memoir*, R.A.S., vol. .xlii.) a catalogue of 

 micrometrical measures of these objects made at the 

 Temple Observatory of Rugby School during the years 

 1871-74, with the 8j-inch Alvan CUrk refractor, con- 

 structed for the late Rev. \W R. Dawes, used by him in 

 his later measures, and now the principal instrument of 

 the Rugby establishment. Working in this interesting 

 branch of astronomy, in co-operation with Mr. E. 

 Crossley's Observatory near Halifax, Rugby has occupied 

 itself upon the even-numbered stars of Struve's Catalogue 

 below 50^ N. declination, Mr. Crossley, with Mr. Gled- 

 hill, having employed his 9^-inch refractor upon other 

 stars. 



The Dawes-refractor is well spoken of by the Rugby 



