2 lO 



NA TURE 



\yan. 2, 1890 



consWered. He notices the parallelism between pulse accelera- 

 tion and passion, the rush of ideas in fever, and so on. The 

 differences of pulse and breathing in different persons are no less 

 significant, and should be regarded in all psychometric deter- 

 minations. The author noticed in boys of a Strasburg 

 gymnasium, that in scanning verse, the number of feet spoken in 

 a minute rose with the pulse-frequency. Even in one person, 

 experimented on from midday till evening, the dependence of 

 normal reading of metrical compositions on pulse-frequency was 

 proved ; the rhythmic intervals in scanning corresponded to the 

 pulse-intervals. Leumann supposes that to be the most general and 

 normal song-metre, whose feet correspond to the pulsations, and 

 its lines to respiration. And, in fact, the Indo-Germanic original 

 metre consists of four times four trochees, an arrangement agree- 

 ing with that view ; from it arose the Nibelungen strophe and the 

 hexameter. 



In the Legislative Council of India recently, Mr. R. J. 

 Crosthwaite in introducing the amended Land Revenue (Central 

 Provinces) Bill, said that many objections hafl been raised, 

 chiefly by the Malguzars' Association of Nagpore, to the powers 

 given by the Bill to the Chief Commissioner to make rules for 

 the management of forests. To show that such powers were 

 necessary, Mr. Croslhwaite instanced two cases of the wanton 

 destruction of forests which is so common in India. In 1885 the 

 Deputy Commissioner of Nagpore reported that the malguzar 

 of Munsar had given a contract for the cutting and removal of 

 the wood in the forest land of his mahal. The villagers had 

 rights in this forest-land, and those rights were interfered with 

 by the cutting of the wood ; but, in spite of the Chief Com- 

 missioner, the malguzar continued the cutting, and the hills were 

 completely stripped of all timber and brushwood. In another 

 case a zemindar had sold the right to collect resin from his forest. 

 The resin is obtained by girdling the trees, and it was found that 

 in about four square miles of particularly fine forest every sab tree 

 was killed outright. That is, four square miles of forest were 

 destroyed to produce about i20orupees. SirCharles Elliott, speak- 

 ing on the same occasion, said that if some such provision as that 

 now proposed had existed in the past, the forest clearances round 

 Simla and along the southern slopes of the Himalayas abutting 

 the Punjab plain could never have taken place. 



Messrs. Dulau and Co. have issued a catalogue of works 

 on chemistry and physics. 



In some copies of Nature, last week, the following sentence 

 appeared in the first paragraph of the Duke of Argyll's letter 

 on "Acquired Characters and Congenital Variation": "But 

 it implies the denial of 'congenital' causes." It ought to have 

 been : " But it implies no denial of ' congenital ' causes." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past two weeks include a Malbrouck Monkey {Cercopithectis 

 cynosums S ) from South Africa, presented by Mr. William F. 

 Hughes ; a Lesser White-nosed Monkey {Ccrcopithecus petaurista) 

 (rom West Africa, presented by Mr. Lawson N. Peregrine ; 

 two Viscachas {Lagostomus trichodactylus i 9 ) from the 

 Argentine Republic, presented by Mr. Thomas Taylor ; two 

 Crimson-winged Parrakeets {Aprosmictus crythropterus J ? ) 

 from Australia, presented by Mrs. G. Byng-Payne ; a Bonnet 

 Monkey {Macacus siiiicus ?) from India, .presented by Mr. 

 James Entwistle ; a Malabar Parrakeet (/'a/fctjmw cohunboides) 

 from Southern India, presented by Mr. J. E. Godfrey ; three 

 Common Bluebirds {Sialia lailsoni) from North America, pre- 

 sented by Commander W. M. Latham, R.N., F.Z.S. ; a Black 

 Wallaby {Halmatunis lualabatus i ) from New South Wales, 

 two Black and White Geese {Anseranas mclanoleiica) from 

 Australia, a Ring-tailed Coati [Nasua rufa) from South 

 America, deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Objects for the Spectroscope. 



Sidereal Time at Greenwich at 10 p.m., January 2 = 4h, 

 49m. 56s. 



Remarks. 



(1) Described as "very bright, very large, very gradually 

 brighter in the middle ; barely resolvable." The spectrum was 

 observed at Harvard College in 1869. The continuous spectrum 

 extended from about A. 450 to 607. Two bright lines appear to 

 have been observed, less refrangible than those of other nebulae, 

 but no reliable measures were made, owing to errors in the micro- 

 meter (Harvard College Observations, vol. xiii. part i. p. 64). 

 Further observations are required, as all departures from the 

 ordinary spectrum of bright lines are especially interesting in 

 connection with the question of the variation of spectrum with 

 temperature. Comparisons with the carbon flutings seen in the 

 flame of a spirit-lamp, and the brightest flutings of manganese 

 and lead, conveniently obtained by burning the chlorides in the 

 flame, are suggested. 



(2) In this star of Group 11. the bands are very weak, only 2, 

 3, 7, 8 being well seen. The star falls in species 3 of the sub- 

 division of the group, the manganese fluting (band 4) being 

 absent because it is masked by the fluting of carbon near K 564, 

 and 5 and 6 being absent because the temperature is low. The 

 carbon flutings appear to be brightest in the earlier species, and 

 it seems probable that band 9 is also present but has been over- 

 looked. This band is the dark space lying between the bright 

 fluting of carbon 468-474 and the end of the continuous 

 spectrum. Comparisons with the spectrum of the spirit-lamp 

 flame, with special reference to the presence of the carbon fluting 

 468-474 are suggested. Duner's mean value for the end of the 

 band in other stars is K 476. 



(3) This is classed by Gothard with stars of the solar type. 

 The usual observations are suggested. 



(4) Gothard describes the spectrum of this star as Group IV., 

 but is somewhat doubtful about it. It is probably either a late 

 star of Group III. or Group V., as in either case the hydrogen 

 lines would be moderately thick. 



(5) This is a good example of stars of Group VI., in which 

 Duner records the bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10. The last 

 three are carbon absorption flutings, and the only point to be 

 noted in connection with these is the intensity of band 6 (near 

 A. 564), relatively to the other bands. The first four are 

 secondary bands, possibly produced by vapours similar to those 

 which produce the telluric bands in the solar spectrum. Other 

 absorptions may also be looked for. 



(6) This is another variable of which no spectrum has been 

 recorded. The range of variation is from about 8*5 at maximum 

 to < 13 at minimum, and the period is 294 days. The maxi- 

 mum occurs on January 2. 



(7) This is a variable star of Group II., of the same type as 

 those in which Espin has found bright lines of hydrogen at 

 maximum. The number and character of the bands and the 

 presence or absence of bright lines should be noted. The 

 intensity of the bright carbon flutings and their fading away, if 

 any, as the maximum (January 7) is passed should also be noted. 

 The magnitude at maximum is stated by Gore as 7 '6 and that at 

 minimum as <97. A. Fowler. 



Dr. Peters's Star Catalogue. — The case of Dr. Peters 

 against Mr. Borst, with reference to the possession of the Clinton 

 catalogue, containing over 30,000 stars arranged in the order of 

 their right ascension, has been definitely settled. It will be 

 remembered that Mr. Borst claimed the catalogue on the grounds 

 that most of the computations had been made by him outside of 

 his labours at the Observatory, and not under the direction of 

 Dr. Peters, who, however, devised the work, and regarded it all 



