690 



NA TURE 



[May 27, 1922 



started in the hope that the support appealed for will 

 be sufficient to justify publication and so save this 

 valuable compilation for zoologists both in this 

 country and abroad. Special mention is made of the 

 valuable collection of water-colour drawings of 

 ornithological subjects bequeathed by the artist, the 

 late Major Jones, a collection of almost unique artistic 

 beauty and ornithological interest. The collections 

 of animals from Nepal and Malaya presented by 

 H.R.H. Prince of Wales, will be exhibited in a special 

 part of the gardens during the summer of 1922. 

 Among the proposed new works ior 1922, the most 

 important are the provision of better accommodation 

 for the refreshment department and the suggested 

 aquarium on the Mappin Terraces for fresh-water 

 and marine animals. A proposal to place coloured 

 labels on the cages and enclosures containing different 

 species, as a means of identification for visitors, is 

 one that will commend itself. Experiments with 

 coloured drawings painted on tiles and afterwards 

 fired promise success in the production of a form of 

 label which is weatherproof. There can be no doubt 

 that the provision of such labels will prove of great 

 service to visitors to the gardens. 



On Tuesday next, May 30, Sir Percy Sykes will 

 deliver the first of two lectures at the Royal Institu- 

 tion on (i) " Travel in Persia," (2) " Foundation of 

 the Persian Empire." The Friday evening discourse 

 on June 9 will be delivered by Mr. Joseph Barcroft 



on " Physiological Effects at High Altitudes in 

 Peru." 



The following have been elected officers and new 

 members of council of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers for 1922-1923 : President, Mr. F. Gill ; 

 Vice-Presidents, Dr. W. H. Eccles, and Mr. A. A. 

 Campbell Swinton ; Honorary Treasurer, Sir James 

 Devonshire ; Ordinary Members of Council, Mr. J. W. 

 Beauchamp, Mr. R. A. Chattock, Mr. F. W. Crawter, 

 Mr. D. N. Dunlop, Major K. Edgcumbe, Mr. A. F. 

 Harmer, and Mr. W. R. Rawlings. 



At the annual general meeting of the Chemical 

 Section of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical 

 Society held on May 5, the following officers and 

 members of committee were elected : Chairman, 

 Mr. Leonard E. Vlies ; Vice-Chairman, Dr. H. F. 

 Coward ; Hon. Secretary, Mr. David M. Paul ; 

 Committee, Dr. David Bain. Dr. W. H. Bentley, Mr. 

 David Cardwell, Mr. R. H. Clayton, Dr. J. A. R. 

 Henderson, Mr. Harold Moore, Miss Rona Robinson, 

 Prof. F. C. Thompson, and Dr. J. C. Withers. 



We have received from the Eastman Kodak 

 Company, Rochester, New York, their latest price list 

 of Eastman Organic Chemicals. Several new chemicals 

 have been added. The Ust is noteworthy in that it 

 now includes melting- and boiling-point data for the 

 majority of the chemicals determined from actual 

 laboratory observations. This feature should make 

 it useful to chemists. 



Our Astronomical Column. 



New Comet. — A faint comet, 1922 b, was discovered 

 by Mr. Skjellerup at the Cape on May lyd- 6''- G.M.T., 

 in R.A. 7'>- 53ni- 44'*-, N. decl. 19° 32'. Daily motion 

 + 6"- 40^-, N. 1° 28'. The comet is an evening object, 

 and its motion is bringing it into a more favourable 

 position for observation. 



Changes on the Moon. — In a paper by Prof. 

 W. H. Pickering in Popular Astronomy for May two 

 drawings are reproduced of the lunar crater Erato- 

 sthenes by Dr. Maggini. Prof. Pickering shows that 

 these corroborate strongly his own work, and establish 

 fully the reality of the changes of aspect. He notes 

 that the markings cannot be shadows, since they 

 are visible at full moon, and one of them approaches 

 the setting sun, instead of receding from it ; but he 

 has not, perhaps, considered sufficiently the possi- 

 bilities arising from the different changes of reflective 

 power, according to the angle of incidence, that are 

 shown by different substances. It is generally 

 agreed that at least two lunar phenomena— the 

 increasing visibility of the bright rays as the sun's 

 altitude increases,' and the darkening of the floor 

 of the crater Plato under the same conditions — 

 arise in this way. Prof. Pickering estimates the 

 density of the lunar atmosphere as T-iir of that on 

 earth, and supposes that enough water vapour and 

 carbon dioxide might be emitted from the craters 

 to support low forms of vegetation. 



Prof. Brown's New Lunar Tables. — Prof. Brown 

 in his tables, which are used for the first time in the 

 Nautical Almanac for 1923, deliberately adopted 

 the secular acceleration arising from the change in 



the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, regarding the 

 larger value deduced from ancient eclipses (general^ 

 ascribed to the tidal retardation of the earth's rotation) 

 as too uncertain to use. Many will consider that in 

 this respect he showed some lack of judgment, for 

 Dr. Cowell's discussion of the old eclipses was avail- 

 able before the tables were put into final form. 

 However, he now admits his conversion to the larger 

 acceleration, which has been effected by Dr. Fothering- 

 ham's papers on the old eclipses and occultations, 

 and the researches of C. I. Taylor and Dr. H. Jeffreys 

 (misspelt Jeffries by Prof. Brown) on tidal friction 

 in the Irish Sea and similar semi-landlocked waters. 

 In a paper in the Astronomical Journal, No. 799, 

 he gives the results of an increase of the moon's 

 secular acceleration from 7-12" to 11-91", with the 

 resulting changes in some other constants. He 

 notes that the change makes little difference in 

 his tabular places up to the year 1890, but that it 

 makes a decided improvement since that date, 

 which is another argument, though not a very 

 strong one, for the larger acceleration. Brown's 

 tables thus modified represent the moon's longitude 

 correctly for the end of 1905 ; after that the moon 

 went ahead of the tables, reaching a maximum of 

 nearly 5" in 191 8 ; it now shows signs of diminish- 

 ing again. A small table enables the new correction 

 to be applied to Brown's longitudes of the moon up 

 to the year 1940, when its value is 7-44". This 

 table will be of use in predicting eclipses, or for 

 other purposes where an accurate prediction is 

 desirable. The paper also gives a list of the errata 

 detected in the new tables ; these are chiefly in 

 the explanatory matter, but one refers to the tables 

 themselves. 



NO. 2743, VOL. 109] 



