November i8, 1915] 



NATURE 



323 



In bulk, and there is a large and increasing demand 

 for such vessels. Proposals have been approved for 

 hi' carrying of oil in circular tanks placed in the holds 

 : ordinary cargo steamers. Several geared-turbine 

 .cssels have been approved during the year. Two are 

 being built in the United States in which Curtis 

 turbines are to be installed ; the sf)eed reduction in 

 these ships will be from 3500 revolutions per minute 

 at the turbine to about 90 at the propeller. There are 

 now thirty-eight vessels classed at Lloyd's which are 

 fitted with Diesel engines. The' granting of scholar- 

 ships has been postponed until the end of the war; 

 those postponed will be available then, in addition to 

 .^ those which will be open in the ordinary course of 

 events. The use of wireless telegraphy and submarine 

 signalling increases rapidly, and there are now on the 

 ociety's books 2939 vessels fitted with wireless, and 

 .47 fitted with submarine signalling apparatus. 



With its issue of October last, the American maga- 

 zine known for many years as the Popular Science 

 Monthly changed its name to the Scientific Monthly. 

 The old name has been transferred to a second con- 

 inporary, the World's Advance, which will in future 

 •known as the Popular Science Monthly and World's 

 Advance. The functions of the two magazines as now 

 arranged will be quite distinct. The Scientific Monthly 

 will publish articles which appeal especially to educated 

 . aders as opposed to purely popular matter intended 

 or the public generally; the Popular Science Monthly 

 cind World's Advance, to quote the magazine itself, 

 •presents to its readers the new, the practical, and 

 the unusual in modern science, mechanics, and elec- 

 tricity." It will strive to be a fascinatingly interest- 

 ing, easily grasped, and trustworthy monthly record 

 of the latest achievements in science, invention, and 

 Industry. 



Messrs. J. and A. Churchill announce the early 

 publication of " Catalysis and its Industrial Applica- 

 tions," by E. Jobling, and a new edition of "An 

 Introduction to the Physics and Chemistry of Colloids," 

 by E. Hatschek. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Parallaxes of 70 Ophiuchi and 6 Cvgni. — Photo- 

 :iaphic measures of the parallaxes of these binary 

 \>tems have been made by Prof. S. A. Mitchell at the 

 McCormick Observatory, University of Virginia 

 \strophysical Journal. October, 1915), using the 

 t)-in. Clark refractor, the same aperture, it will be 

 noted, as that employed at Greenwich on similar work. 

 The results obtained are as follows : — 

 (i) 70 Ophiuchi. 

 Brighter star (43 mag.) n-= +0-145" ±0-007" 

 Fainter star (6-0 mag.) n-= +0-165" ±0-007" 



(2) 6 Cygni. 

 Brighter star (6-6 mag.) n-= +0-051" ±0-006" 

 Fainter star (6-8 mag.) 7r= +0-036" ±0-007" 



The Solar Eclipse of 1916, Dece.mber 24. — The 

 Rev. William F*. Rigge, S.J., has worked out par- 

 ticulars regarding this eclipse (Monthly Notices, 

 f R.A.S., No. 9, 1915). Visibility is restricted to a 

 if small area of the Antarctic Ocean midway between the 

 ^ Cape of Good Hope and the south pole. Theoretically 

 the conditions are noteworthy, and have raised special 



NO. 2403, VOL. 96] 



difficulties in the construction of the map. At maxi- 

 mum only 0011 of the sun's diameter is obscured 

 from a point about 32° E. long, and 66° S. lat., the 

 sun being on the horizon. The moon's penumbra 

 barely overlaps the earth, and as the date is so close 

 to the^vinter solstice the penumbra falls on the .Ant- 

 arctic circle beyond the south pole, and consequently 

 moves against the diurnal rotation. Further, for 

 some places it is an eclipse of the Christmas midnight 

 sun. 



The Radial Velocities of Five Hundred Stars. — 

 The power of the 60-in. reflector is strikingly mani- 

 fest in the latest list of stellar radial velocities by 

 Dr. W. S. Adams (Contr. Mt. Wilson Solar Observa- 

 tory, No. 105). The stars included are mostly fainter 

 than 50 mag., but there are many fainter than 

 80 mag., and at least one fainter than 9-0. The velo- 

 cities for all these stars depend on three or more 

 observations. The table gives type of spectrum, total 

 proper motion observed, radial velocities, and velocities- 

 corrected for solar motion. Determinations of about 

 fifty of the stars have been made at other observa- 

 tories, chiefly at Lick, and notwithstanding the greater 

 dispersion employed at that observatory, the agreement 

 is remarkably good. Incidentally, velocities of about 

 thirty-four additional parallax stars are included. 

 Some stars of sp)ecial interest are : — AOe 14320 (spect. 

 GO) with the high velocity of +299 km. /sec, which, 

 combined with its proper motion and parallax, gives 

 an absolute velocity of 577 km. /sec., and Boss 2647; 

 although this star has a spectrum of the A type, it 

 has the high radial velocity of +87 km. /sec. 



The Colour Index of S Cephei. — In several ways 

 S Cephei is an object of exceptional interest. It is at 

 once a circumpolar variable of long period, and one 

 of the deepest coloured of red stars. The special im- 

 portance of obtaining data concerning it is obvious, 

 but, unfortunately, not less obvious are the observa- 

 tional difticulties it presents. At Harvard Observatory 

 attention has been paid to it for many years, and 

 lately Miss H. S. Leavitt has made a preliminary 

 study of its colour index (Circ. Harv. Coll. Obs., 

 No. 188), partly on the basis of observations made in 

 1897. The extraordinarily large value of the colour 

 index puts this star beyond reach of the Harvard 

 prismatic cameras using ordinary plates, whilst with 

 yellow screen and plates stained with erythrosin there 

 •fjesults an image nearly monochromatic, the effective 

 light having a wave-length of about 5600 tenth metres. 

 Diiner, however, was able to classify its spectrum 

 (Tvpe IV. ! !) by visual observation. The results 

 drawn from a comparison of visual and photographic 

 magnitudes of the star have been confirmed by a series 

 of photographic photovisual observations. It appears 

 that S Cephei has a colour index of fully five magni- 

 tudes at its maximum phase. Increasing as mini- 

 mum is approached, it may reach six and a half mag- 

 nitudes, whilst the visual and photographic maxima 

 are probably not simultaneous. It may be added that 

 the visual magnitudes range from 7-70 to 10-8 mag., 

 whilst photographically the range is 1262 to <i6-o 

 mag. 



MARINE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH.^ 



THE annual report on the investip^ations carried 

 on during 1914-15 by Prof. .\. "Meek and his 

 colleagues contains papers of general interest. Mr. 

 Storrow writes on several faunistic records, and Mr. 

 T. Bentham contributes a note on what appears to 

 be a new ha;mogregarine from the skate. The purely 



1 Report for 1914-15 of the Dove Marine Labor.-itory at CuMercoats, 

 Northumberland. (Published for the Northumberland Sea- Fisheries Coir- 

 miltee.) 



