68 



NATURE 



[May 19, 1887 



tlonofantenniform character* by the crustaceout ophthalmite, re- 

 ceived from M, Alphon»e Milne-Kdwardt, wa* exhibited by Prof. 

 G. H. IIowcN. Mr. C. Balcer showed Dr. Carl Zeiti'i apochro- 

 matlc objectivei and eye*piece«, made of the new Abbe- Schott glax. 

 The " nfecohmmeter," a direct reading instrument for the 

 alMolute meagurement of the coefficient! of self and mutual 

 induction, and for the absolute measurement of a capacity, wan 

 exhibited by Profs. Ayrton and Perry. On a future occasion we 

 shall have something to say about this instrument. Mr. 

 J. Norman Lockyer exnibited photographic comparison spectra 

 of sun and metallic elements, taicen at Kensington with Rowland 

 grating. The metallic spectra were obtained in the usual wayby 

 putting metallic salts between the poles of an electric lamp. The 

 lamp was placed at a distance of about 9 feet from the slit, and 

 the rays ol^ light diverging from it were rendered parallel by a 

 lens of 9 inches focal length. An Image of the sun was focused 

 between the poles of the lamp by another lens of 10 inches 

 focal length placed between the siderostat and the lamp. The 

 light from the sun was thus sent through the slit under exactly 

 the same conditions as that from the arc, so that both were 

 brought to the same focus. The slit was covered with a piece of 

 paper having four tongues, one of which was turned back tor each 

 exposure. The exposures varied from five to ten minutes. Mr, 

 Lockyer also exhibited photographs of the spectra of compounds 

 of carbon under various conditions, and a map showing the passage 

 from flutings to lines in the spectrum of alcohol with increase of 

 temperature, and the distribution of the various carbon flutings in 

 the spectrum of the electric arc, The photograph*, especially 

 those of carbon dioxide, show how the spectrum of each com- 

 pound depends upon the conditions of temperature and pressure 

 to which it was subjected. A comparison of the spectra of 

 different compounds will also show the general relations which 

 exist between them ; it will be seen that some of the flutings 

 are special to certain compounds, while others are conamon to 

 all. The accompanying map (approximately to a wave-length 

 scale) represented the changes in the spectra of alcohol vapour 

 produced by changes of temperature and pressure. The part of 

 the map to the right of 4900 was mapped from eye- observations, 

 and the remainder from the photographs. The lower half of 

 the map shows the distribution of the carbon flutings in the 

 spectrum of the electric arc, the spectrum of each portion of the 

 arc being represented on the same horizon. A point of great 

 interest is the appearance, in the flame which surrounds the 

 negative pole, of three sets of flutings which shade off" towards 

 the red. The two most refrangible flutings shown in the alcohol 

 spectra are apparently coincident with two of the fivc-membered 

 tutra- violet group occurring in the spectra of the arc and cyanogen. 

 Photographs of stellar spectra taken at Harvard College by 

 Prof. Pickering (Henrv Draper Memorial) were also shown by Mr. 

 Lockyer. Spectra of a Lyrae, Gemlnorum, a Cy 'ni, a 'rnuri. 

 These have already been referred to in Nature. Twelve-inch 

 Indian sun photographs taken at Dehra-Dun, India, March 4 and 

 May a, 1886, were exhibited by the Solar Physics Committee. The 

 Rev. Dr. Prltchard showed ( i ) original negative of the Cluster in 

 Perseus. Taken with the De la Rue reflector, 13 inches aperture ; 

 I ao Inches focal length ; exposure 30 minutes ; diameter of plate- 

 holder 6i inches. This is one of a series of photograph* token 

 in order to ascertain the greatest angular extent o'the field, in 

 whtch all the star impres-«ions are free from deformation of 

 circular contour. All the stars on this plote, even to the angular 

 points, at distance of 80' from the centre, are sensibly free 

 from elliplicily. Positive enlargemen s on glos^ of the above. 

 Wt , Macromicrometer presented by Dr. W. de la Rue to the 

 Oxford University Observatory, carrying one of the orieinal 

 negatives of 61 Cygni, as used- for the determination of^ the 



kink ~......:r^ ' ■ — ^ i.. »-'»»'"»uic, aiiu viewea unaer 



mEL^!S»l?' ^ ''*'*?'■; P,!' ^'^S" ^- Crookshank exhibited 

 SnTE ""'r^'' Microscopical specimens, including 

 S^ T"'".".?, *"*^ permanent preparations. (2) Cult^ 



varions on nutrient jellies, potatoes, &c. of^the following micro- 



Organisms : — 



n«cllliiii tuberculosis. 

 Mil iiiioiiiis tetragonus. 



II.K lllus IvpllOSttS. 



[<"' U\ KiiMMia-hHrillus. 



■"''>l''' ■■•• ' l':Tillu«. 



'""'*' - - l....:illui.. 



''•'"""■'" li'-' I'.i. I, num. 



J '"■■jpf"i""i of r»l)l)lt MDtlctomtii, 

 !»«(; Ilui of mouse soptlctemia. 

 B«cillui( of swine-erysipelns. 

 Bacterium of pneumonia (Fried- 



liinder). 

 Staphylococcus pyogenes albus. 

 Staphylococcus pyojjcnet nureu*. 



Staphylococcus pyo|(tnes citreus. 

 Streptococcus or erysipelas. 

 Bacillus of anthrax. 



Micrococcus prodigiosus. 

 Kiiriljiii) indiciiH, 

 liacilliiH (if blue milk. 

 JIacillu* violaceus. 

 Bacillus pyocyanetts. 



Red bacillus from water. 

 Red itpirillum. 

 Black yeaot. 

 Pink yeant. 

 VkIIow Harcinii. 

 HacilliiH fiKurunN. 

 I'hosphorcHccnt h.icilluH. 



Water-cultures of the garden bean (V/'rin Faba), the roots o( 

 which are infested with tubercular swellings, due to the i)arasiti< 

 action of a fungus, the extremely minute germs of which ar< 

 common in the soil, were exhibited by Prof. H. Marshall Ward. 

 Dr. E, Klein exhibited microscopic specimens and culture-tubes 

 of the microbe of (i) foot-and-mnith disease ; (2) scarlet fever ; 

 (3) several different forms of Hq)ticpcmia ; (4) swine i)lngue. 



THE METEOR OF MA Y 8. 



r\^ Sunday evening, M.ay 8, at 8h. 22m., hundreds of [jcopl- 

 ^^ witncHHcd the flight of the lirilliant slow-moving fireball, abou: 

 which three letters were printed in Naiijrk last wcel<. At the tinn 

 of its appearance daylight was still so strong that only Venus 

 Jupiter, Saturn, and a few first -m.agnitude stars were visible in 

 the firmament. At stations in the ea tern part of I'.ngland thi 

 fireball fell in the western sky; .at llristol and the west it 

 descended in the east ; while at Stafford it is descril)cd as 

 falling in the south. 



Descriptions of the apparent path and appearance of (he 

 meteor have b^en received from Lastl)ourne, Staines, Stafford, 

 Hartfield near Tunbridge Wells, London, Clevedon, Uristol, 

 &c. It is referred to b^ most observers as a strikingly i)rii]iant 

 object, in comparison with which the planet Venus looked small 

 and faint. 



The following are quotations from some of the reports whicli 

 have reached me from various places :— 



The Kcv. 1<". W. Allison, of Eastbourne, says : — " An exception- 

 ally bright fireball was seen to fall to-night [May 8] at 8h. 30m. 

 There was so much lisht in the sky that I could only detect 

 a and d Aurigae. The meteor was considerably larger and 

 brighter than Venus, of a bluish tint, witli train of sparks, slow 

 motion ; 6 seconds over the path indicated." Mr. Allison sends 

 a diagram, in wliicli tlic observed part of the course is shown 

 extending under a and /3 Aurigx, at an angle of about 42", to a 

 length of about 24°. 



Mr. Francis Gare, of Staines, writes; — "The fireball was 

 observed about 8h. 2onQ. to 8h. 25m., and was alx)ut half the 

 size of the moon ; its light was pale blue in colour, and was very 

 bright, startlingly so. It left a train of red s|)arks about 6" 

 long. The first part of its tr.ack was invisible to me as I was in 

 a room wiih a S. W. window ; this, too, would have prevented 

 my hcarin'^ the detonation had there been any. The motion 

 was slow." Mr. Gare sends a skctcli, in which the fireball is 

 represented as traversing 40° at an angle of 38°, and terminating 

 10° east of a line joining Venus and the horizon. 



The Rev. E, Allen, of Castlechurch Vicarage, near Stafford, 

 says : — " The time was within five minutes of 8h. 20m., May 8. 

 It was so light that to see Spica as a reference-point, and whose 

 place I knew exactlv relatively to that of Jupiter, which was 

 plainly visible, I haa to fetch a binocular. The meteor was 

 very large, and brilliantly white. Its light seemed to rise and 

 fall in pulsations about two-fifths of a second in ])crio(l, and its 

 general power and effect was like what an extremely brilli.int 

 Roman candle ball would appear in somewliat deeper twilight 

 at a distance of 50 or 60 yarns from the spectator. Its motion 

 was very slow, taking, I estimate, 5 seconds in passing along its 

 total path of about la' of arc. Estimating projiortions of 

 distance by eye, with the space between Jupiter and Spica as a 

 guide, the path was something as follows ; It was inclined 

 about 25* to a perpendicular, the angle lying on the west, and 

 fell from about K.A. i2h. 35m., Decl. 13 30' S., in a line 

 nearly parallel to 8 and { Corvi, and east of those stars." 



At Hartfleld, near Tunbridge Wells, the fireball was observed 

 passing a little below Venus from right to left, and inclined 30" 

 or 40" to the horizon. Duration, 3 or 4 seconds. 



At Bristol, the meteor appears to have been pretty generally 

 observed, and a large numoer of reports have come to hand. 

 These, though diftering in some csstntiid i)articulars, sunicicntly 

 prove that the motion was from Sis. to I'], by N. at an angle of 

 30°, the altitude at disappearanc > 1. m • alxnit 20°. One obser- 

 ver describes it as being as laijM .1 . .\ unnis-ball, and having 

 a duration of 6 seconds. Anoiiui, who mentions the time as 



