634 



NATURE 



[July 14, 192 1 



cannot become a real menace to the coal trade, as j 

 the amount available is only one-sixteenth of that j 

 needed to displace coal, and much of this is required ' 

 for other purposes. A summary of addresses delivered 

 at the annual dinner of the Guild by Field-Marshal 

 Sir William Robertson, Col. Sir Ronald Ross, the 

 Very Rev. Dean Inge, the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, 

 and the Right Hon. Lord Bledisloe is also included in 

 this issue of the Journal. Sir William Robertson 

 made some illuminating comparisons between mili- 

 tary experience of the past and the scientific warfare 

 of the present day. He remarked that the day of the 

 amateur is past, and that those who aspire to exercise 

 Ministerial control over the destinies of this country j 

 should attach greater importance to the value of 

 science. The administrative activities of the Guild 

 fill a considerable portion of the issue. Special import- 

 ance attaches to the report of the Committee on the 

 Utilisation of Science in Public Departments, atten- 

 tion being directed to the position of scientific research 

 workers in regard to tenure of service, salar}^ super- 



annuation, etc. The attitude adopted by the Scientific 

 Research Department of the Admiralty towards the 

 individual university worker whose researches bear on 

 Admiralty requirements is spoken of with approval. 



A FAVOURABLE Opportunity of obtaining books in 

 general literature and on scientific subjects in new 

 condition at prices considerably below those at which 

 they were published is presented by Messrs. W. 

 Heffer and Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, in their 

 "Remainder" catalogue (No. 201), which has just 

 been issued. It contains 485 titles, and is worthy of 

 perusal. 



The most recent catalogue of Mr. F. Edwards, 

 83 High Street, Marylebone, W.i, is No. 416, entitled 

 "Australasia and the South Seas." It gives par- 

 ticulars of some 813 works relating to Australia, 

 New Zealand, Tasmania, New Guinea, and the 

 islands of the Pacific. Some very choice and rare 

 volumes are included. 



Our Astronomical Column. 



Recent Meteors. — Mr. Denning writes : — " On 

 July 5 there were two showers in prominent activity, 

 supplying large, slow-moving meteors. The radiants 

 were at 243^+65° and 228°+58°. These positions are 

 some distance east of the radiant point computed for 

 Pons-Winnecke's comet, but it is possible the comet 

 and meteors may be associated, the discordances 

 having been brought about by perturbations. Fire- 

 balls were observed at Bristol on July 5 iih. 40m. 

 G.M.T. from radiant 243^+65°, on July 9 iih. 54m. 

 from radiant 238°+ 18°, and I2h. 47m. from radiant 

 343°+ 12°. A well-defined shower of swift, streaking 

 meteors was observed from the latter position on the 

 night of July 9." 



Another Plan of Calendar Reform. — Prof. Rene 

 Baire (Dijon) contributes an article to Revue Scien- 

 tifique, 192 1, No. 9, in which he points out several 

 drawbacks (chiefly from a statistical point of view) 

 attaching to the proposal to place certain days in 

 each year outside the weekly and monthly reckoning. 

 His plan of evading the difficulty is bold and novel, 

 and consists in shortening the greater number of weeks 

 to six days. A Saturday would occur only on the 

 thirty-first day of the month — that is, five times in the 

 year or six times in leap-year. The months are left 

 nearly as at present, but the missing days of February 

 are supplied. The following is the suggested table : — 

 January 30, February 30, March 31, April 30, May 31, 

 June 30, July 30, August 31, September 30, Octo- 

 ber 31, November 30, December 31. In leap-year 

 July has 31 days. 



The ist, 7th, 13th, 19th, and 25th days of each 

 month would be Sundays ; there would thus be sixty 

 Sundays in the year instead of the present fifty-two or 

 fifty-three. The author seeks to disarm ecclesiastical 

 criticism by pointing to this increased number; he 

 also notes that the feasts of January i, November i, 

 and December 25 would always occur on Sunday, 

 while if Easter were fixed to the date April i it would 

 be preceded by a Saturday. It is proposed that the 

 additional Sundays should take the place of the 

 present Bank Holidays, thus making the number of 

 working days in the year much the same as at present. 



NO. 2698, VOL. 107] 



While the scheme has some obvious advantages, it 

 is doubtful whether public opinion could be brought 

 to sanction such a revolutionary change. 



The Variable Nebula in Corona Australis. — Bul- 

 letin 20 of the Helwan Observatory contains a photo- 

 graphic research by the director, H. Knox Shaw, 

 of the variability of this nebula and the neighbouring 

 star R Coronae Australis. The star magnitudes were 

 deduced by comparison with standard fields at the 

 same altitude, the incidental result being derived 

 that the graph connecting magnitude with diameter 

 of image shows decided curvature in the direction of 

 enlargement of the image of the fainter stars. There 

 are five variables in the field besides R Coronae, viz. 

 S and T Coronae, C.P.D. -37-8450° (shown by Mr. 

 Innes to be an Algol variable with period just under 

 twenty-six days ; a minimum of this star was ob- 

 served at Helwan in 1915 August 9) and two other 

 stars. Except for the Innes star, the variations 

 appear to be irregular, and Mr. Knox Shaw con- 

 jectures that they may be due, wholly or in part, to 

 the absorbing medium which he assumes to cover the 

 whole region, as its star density is distinctly less 

 than that of the neighbouring sky. The variability 

 of the nebula is next discussed. Its structure is shown 

 to be made up of a series of rings and knots, which 

 apparently remain in situ, but alter in relative bright- 

 ness. This is analogous to the behaviour of the 

 nebulosity round Nova Persei, and Mr. Knox Shaw 

 has examined the results to see if there is any con- 

 nection between the changes of the star R Coronae 

 and those of the nebula. There is suspicion that 

 the nebular changes follow those of the star at a ten- 

 day interval, but the interruptions of the series of 

 photographs by moonlight render it difficult to con- 

 firm this. If correct, and if it be due to an emana- 

 tion travelling from the star with the velocity of 

 light, the distance of the object would he about 

 100 light-years. It is pointed out that Hind's and 

 Hubble's variable nebulae are also near variable stars, 

 and in regions of the sky that give evidence of the 

 intervention of absorbing matter. 



