February i6, 1922] 



NATURE 



217 



February 21. The chair will be taken at 3 p.m. by 

 jthe Duchess of Portland, and an address on the work 

 the society will be delivered by Viscount Grey of 

 illodon. 



At the annual general meeting of the Royal 

 leteorological Society on January 18 the following 

 icers were elected: — President: Dr. C. Chree. 

 fce-Presidents : Mr. C. L. Brook, Mr. W. W. Bryant, 

 R. H. Hooker, and Dr. E. M. Wedderburn. 

 treasurer: Mr. W. Vaux Graham. Secretaries; Mr. 

 S. Dines, Mr. L. F. Richardson, and Mr. Gilbert 

 lomson. Foreign Secretary : Mr. R. G. K. Lemp- 

 rt. Council: Dr. J. Brownlee, Mr. D, Brunt, Mr. 

 J. P. Cave, Mr. j. E. Clark, Mr. R. Corless, Mr. 

 mcis Druce, Mr. J. Fairgrieve, Col. H. G. Lyons, 

 r. Henry Mellish, Sir Napier Shaw, Dr. G. C. 

 ipson, and Mr. F. J. W. Whipple. Communica- 

 )ns should be addressed to the secretaries at 

 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, S.W.7. 



'The following officers and members of council of 

 18 Royal Astronomical Society were elected at the 



Inniversary meeting on February 10 : — President : 



Prof. A. S. Eddington. Vice-Presidents: Dr. J. L. E. 



Dreyer, Sir F. W. Dyson, Prof. A. Fowler, and Prof. 



H. F. Newall. Treasurer : Col. E. H. Grqve-Hills. 



Secretaries: Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin and the Rev. 



T. E. R. Phillips. Foreign Secretary: Prof. H. H. 



Turner. Council: Prof. A. E. Conrady, Dr. J. W. L. 



Glaisher, Mr. P. H. Hepburn, Mr. J. Jackson, Dr; H. 



Jeffreys, Prof. F. A. Lindemann, Dr. W. H. Maw, 



Prof. T. R. Merton, Prof. J. W. Nicholson, Mr. J. H. 



Reynolds, Lt.-Col. F. J. M. Stratton, and Mr. H. 

 Thomson. 



The annual general meeting of the Physical Society 

 of London was held on February 10, and the follow- 

 ing officers and members of council were elected : — 

 President: Dr. A. Russell. Vice-Presidents: Lord 

 Rayleigh, Prof. T. Mather, Mr. T, Smith, and Prof. 

 G. W. O. Howe. Secretaries: Mr. F. E. Smith, 

 "Redcot," St. James's Avenue, Hampton Hill, and 

 Dr. D. Owen, 62 Wellington Road, Enfield. 

 Foreign Secretary: Sir Arthur Schuster. Treasurer: 

 Mr. W. R. Cooper. Librarian : Dr. A. O. Rankine. 

 Other Members of Council: Mr. C. R. Darling, Prof. 

 C. L. Fortescue, Dr. E. Griffiths, Dr. E. H. Rayner, 

 Mr. J. H. Brinkworth, Mr. J. Guild, Dr. F. L. Hop- 

 wood, Dr. E. A. Owen, Dr. J. H. Vincent, and Dr. 

 G. B. Bryan. 



A TRANSLATION of the Nobel Prize address delivered 

 by Prof. Max Planck before the Royal Swedish 

 Academy of Sciences on "The Origin and Develop- 

 ment of the Quantum Theorv " will be published at 

 an early date by the Oxford University Press. 



Readers in search of book bargains should see 

 Catalogue No. 4-54 of Messrs. William Glaisher, Ltd., 

 265 High Holborn, W.C.i, and Catalogue No. 424 of 

 Mr. F. Edwards, 83 High Street, Marylebone, W.i, 

 in which are to be found the titles of many science 

 books offered at greatly reduced prices. The works in 

 the first-named list are publishers' remainders; those 

 in Mr. Edwards's are second-hand. 



Our Astronomical Column. 



Fireball Observed in Sunshine. — Mr. W. F. 

 f )enning writes that on February 7, at 3.55 p.m., he 

 liserved a brilliant fireball descending in the northern 

 >ky. The sun was shining at the time, and the firma- 

 ment was almost cloudless. The fireball moved with 

 moderate speed, varying In size and lustre as it fell, 

 and its motion was directed to the north-north-west 

 point of the horizon, but it disappeared when 21° in 

 altitude. Its brilliancy was such that had it appeared 

 at night the heavens would have been strikingly 

 illuminated. The fireball was obser\'ed from other 

 places, and it appears certain that it was moving 

 from a radiant point near the star Capella. There 

 is a well-known shower of brilliant meteors from this 

 region in the month of February. It is hoped that 

 further observations of the recent fireball will come 

 to hand so that its height, velocity, and exact direc- 

 tion may be computed. 



A Printing Chronograph. — The printing chrono- 

 graph was invented by Prof. G. W. Hough, of 

 Dearborn Observatory, in 1885. It is brieflv described 

 liv Prof. Sampson in "the Monthly Notices, R.A.S., for 

 Vpril, 1903. Its use leads to a decided increase of 

 iccuracy in the recording of transits or other time 

 observations as compared with older forms of 

 chronograph. This becomes of particular importance 

 now that the use of the recording micrometer has 

 considerably reduced the errors in the signals sent 

 from the telescope to the chronograph. 



The Soci^t(5 Genevoise, 95 Queen Victoria Street, 



E.C.4, is now showing a new printing chronograph. 



There are three discs, marking minutes, seconds, and 



hundredths, which revolve in an hour, a minute, and 



NO. 2729, VOL. 109] 



a second respectively ; the first has to be set by hand 

 to agree with the clock ; the adjustment of the others 

 is effected automatically. When a signal is sent the 

 discs are pressed momentarily against a typewritmg 

 ribbon, behind which is a paper tape; the tape is 

 moved automatically after each signal ; there is thus 

 no waste of paper between the signals, and a night's 

 record is comprised in moderate limits ; this counter- 

 balances the greater awkwardness of a tape record as 

 compared with a cylindrical one for a long night's 

 work. The discs are electrically driven by a motor 

 the E.M.F. of which Is 12 volts, supplied by secondary 

 cells. The net weight of the installation is 66 lb., 

 and gross weight no lb. 



Nova Puppis 1902.— The Gazette AstronOmique for 

 December last records the discovery of a new star by 

 Miss Woods from the negatives taken at the Harvard 

 Observatory. The position of the nova was R.A. 

 8h. 9m. 36-4S., decl. -26° 158' (1900); the star was 

 thus situated on the fringe of the Milky Way, the 

 region in which novae are usually found. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the facts recorded :— 1901 

 (invisible), <i6 mag.; 1902, September 24, <io-3 

 mag. ; November 19, 7 mag. ; December 6, 7 mag. ; 

 1903, June 3, IO-5 mag. ; and 1905, <i4-5 mag. (in- 

 visible afterwards). More than 400 negatives of the 

 region were examined. Judging from the facts 

 recorded, it looks as if the nova reached its maxi- 

 mum some time before November 19. 1902, because it 

 is not usual for new stars to maintain their maxi- 

 mum magnitude for such a long period as seventeen 

 days. No photographs of the spectrum were taken. 



