2 lO 



NATURE 



[October 22, 19 14 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet 1913/ (Delavan). — Delavan's comet is now 

 a more prominent object in the evening sky, and can 

 be picked up by anybody without an ephemeris : it 

 has a tail of considerable length and brightness. The 

 comet is rapidly moving in declination covering about 

 3° in four days. It is also visible as a morning object. 

 The comet passes perihelion on October 26, and in 

 the meantime should become brighter. The following 

 is a continuation of Prof. Biesbroeck's ephemeris up 

 to the end of the present month : — 



R.A. Dec. 



h. m. s. , , 



Oct. 22 ... 13 56 O ... +29 33 



26 ... 14 12 O ... 26 27 



30 ... 14 26 36 ... 23 25 



We are indebted to Prof. David Todd for a print, 

 here reproduced, of a photograph of the comet taken 



Delavan's Comit, September,, 1914. Photographed at Stockhol n 

 Observatory. Kxposurc, one hour. 



last month by Dr. Karl Bohlin at the Stockholm 

 Observatory. 



Encke's Comet. — The October number of the Ob- 

 servatory publishes the elements and ephemeris of 

 Encke's comet as computed by M. L. Matkewitsch, of 

 Pulkova. The latter for the present month are as 

 follows : — 



R.A. Dec. 



h. m. s. ' „ s. 



Oct. 20 ... 8 29 44 ... +61 37 



22 ... 9 26 3 ... 60 28 



24 ... 10 20 21 ... 57 42 



26 ... II 7 51 ... 53 27 



28 ... II 46 43 ... 48 7 



30 ... 12 17 33 ... +42 10 



The corrections to this ephemeris on about October 

 27 are given as R.A. +8s., declination —6'. It is 

 stated that the comet will be nearest the earth on 

 October 27, and is generally a fairly conspicuous object 

 when perihelion occurs in winter. It has sometimes 

 been glimpsed with the naked eye. 



The Recent Eclipse Expeditions. — Further news is 

 to hand regarding the experiences of some of the 

 recent eclipse expeditions (the Observatory, October). 

 The party from the Solar Physics Observatory, Cam- 

 bridge, seems to have had particularly bad luck, for 

 not onlv did a thick detached cloud completely hide 



NO. 2347, VOL. 94] 



the whole of the total phase, but even the telegrams 

 announcing the complete failure of the observations 

 never reached home. Prof. Newall, who writes this 

 account, draws the moral of " the importance of 

 spreading the camps of observing parties even in the 

 restricted area chosen for a station of observation." 

 Prof. Perrine set up his instruments in the same 

 camp as the Cambridge party, and suffered a similar 

 fate. While this camp was about four kilometres 

 from Theodosia, on a site one kilometre nearer Theo- 

 dosia, MM. Beljawsky and Neujmin obtained observa- 

 tions for about 30 seconds. At Theodosia the eclipse 

 was seen in blue sky between patches of cloud, and 

 observations were made during the whole total phase. 

 Among the observers there were Signer Ricco, Count 

 de la Pluvinel, Dr. Donitch, Prof. Sternberg (Mos- 

 cow), M. Cr^tien (Nice), and M. Ascarza (Madrid). 

 Dr. Backlund's expedition to Riga met with success, 

 and Prof. Newall refers to "the beautiful photo- 

 graphs of the corona " secured by M. Kostinsky, who 

 was of that party. Prof. Campbell and his party, 

 who observed at Kiev, had adverse weather condi- 

 tions. 



An interesting account of the Greenwich Eclipse 

 Expedition is given by Mr. H. S. Jones, one of the 

 official observers. This party, at Minsk (Russia), had 

 a narrow escape, for " when totality commenced a 

 long cloud was approaching the sun, but fortunately 

 did not reach it until the last second of totality." 

 The whole programme was thus carried out. The 

 corona he describes as "comparatively bright, and of 

 a steely-blue whiteness, with no trace of yellow — it 

 was of the intermediate type, with four streamers, 

 resembling somewhat the 1898 corona." 

 • Societ.\ degli Spettroscopisti Italiani. — The July 

 and August numbers of the Memorie della Societd 

 degli Spettroscopisti Italiani contain numerous con- 

 tributions of interest on various subjects. In the July 

 number the variable R. Leporis is dealt with by E. 

 Padova, who publishes some new observations and a 

 calculation of the period, which he gives as 43893 

 days. This is Hind's famous crimson star, which in 

 1845 was described by him as "of the most intense 

 crimson, resembling a blood-drop on the background 

 of the sky. ..." Some new observations and a dis- 

 cussion of them relating to the variable ST Ursae 

 Majoris are communicated by G. Silva. A preliminary 

 note by E. Paci describes the observations made for 

 the determination of the latitude of the centre of the 

 cupola of the Etna Observatory. The observations 

 were secured during 1913 by the Horrebow-Talcott 

 method, and the value derived was +37° 44' 8-392". 

 The last-mentioned author contributes two papers to 

 the August issue, the first dealing with a study of the 

 Ertel meridian circle of the Catania Observatory, and 

 the second with the difference of longitude between 

 Catania and Palermo as determined by telegraph by 

 Ricco and Zona in 1894. After giving the details of 

 the observations, he derives the value 6m. 54-78265. ± 

 00055, ^s being the difference of longitude between 

 the two observatories. This number concludes with 

 the obituary notices and portraits of Giuseppe Loren- 

 zoni and Edward S. Holden, written by A. Antoniazzi 

 and W. W. Campbell respectively. 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



THE Australian meeting of 1914 will always occupy 

 a prominent place in the annals of the British 

 Association, if only on account of the interest attach- 

 ing to the proceedings of its Anthropological Section. 

 Not only did the representatives of this rapidly develop- 

 ing branch of science muster in full strength, but their 



