5i8 



NATURE 



[January 7, 1915 



much brighter than Venus, and its flight was from 

 324^ + 67° to 3502° + 55°, which it traversed in 2 sec. 

 This magnificent object was evidently one of the 

 Ouadrantids from a radiant at 228° + 54°. It would 

 be interesting to hear of another observation of it, 

 and also of remarkable meteors reported by Mrs. 

 Wilson as under : — 



Path 

 Date G.M T. Mag. From To Duration 



IQ14 h. m. „ , o 3 sec. 



Dec. 3879 103 + 28; 109 + 30 — 



5 6 47 IL 20-4 17-6 o'5 



7 14 I 350-20 340-31 20 



7 8 25 7/ 45+17 8 + 7| 2-0 



15 7 4 >i 64+10 52 o 3-5 



16 9 57 >i 64+14^ 48 + 2I 20 

 19 10 3 >i 106 + 70" 133 + 39 8-0 



The last in the table had an extraordinarily slow 

 flight, the duration being carefully estimated as 8 sec. 



Water V.^pour in Mars's Atmosphere. — Lowell 

 Observatory Bulletin, No. 65, contains a paper by 

 Dr. F. W. Very on the intensification of oxygen and 

 • water vapour bands in the Martian spectrum. The 

 sfvectrograms of Mars and the moon were taken by 

 Dr. V. M. Slipher, at the Lowell Observatory, on 

 February 6, 19 14, and on the plates taken C, B, and a 

 have been measured at the Westwood Astrophysical 

 Observatory, with a spectral band comparator. Each 

 plate contained two sets of spectrograms, and each 

 set consisted of a central Martian spectrum flanked 

 by two of the moon, taken at nearly the same altitude 

 and within a few minutes of each other. By the use 

 of a new stain the photographic sensitiveness of the 

 plate at a makes the intensities of a more accurate. 

 The observations confirm the supposition that the 

 melting snows of the Martian Arctic regions are the 

 sole source of aqueous vapour in the Martian air, and 

 that the equatorial regions are excessively dry. They 

 indicate also that the actual amount of oxygen In the 

 Martian atmosphere Is about half as great as upon 

 the earth. 



A Second Harvard Map of the Sky. — Harvard 

 College Observatory Circular, No. 71, contained a 

 description of a photographic map of the entire sky, 

 the map consisting of double contact prints on glass 

 of fifty-five photographs taken with anastlgmatic 

 lenses, each having an aperture of i in. and a focal 

 length of about 13 in.; the cameras were mounted at 

 Cambridge and Arequipa. Each plate was 8 by 10 in. 

 In size, and included a region of 30° square. The 

 total number of stars shown was 1,683,000, and the 

 limiting magnitude about 11-5. Circular No._ 185 

 now contains an announcement by Prof. E. C. Picker- 

 ing that a second set of plates has been selected, and 

 another map of the sky has been prepared by Prof. 

 King. In these photographs the centres of the plates 

 coincide with the corners of the first set; this was 

 done as it was found that owing to the large area of 

 the sky covered in the first set the stars near the 

 corners' were distorted, and faint stars were not re- 

 corded there. The circular contains a catalogue of 

 the plates employed. It is proposed to issue this new 

 set of photographs at the same price as the first, 

 namely, 15.00 dollars — a price, as is stated, some- 

 what less than cost. 



The Short-Period Variable, SZ Tauri. — An in- 

 vestigation of the light curve of the short-period variable, 

 SZ Taurl, Is contained in the Harvard College Ob- 

 servatory Circular, No. 186, and was made by Miss 

 Leavitt.' Prof. Schwarzschlld, In 191 1, published the 

 elements of this variable, basing them on observa- 

 tions by Prof. Hertzsprung, and the times of minima 

 were found to be represented by the formula, 

 J.D. 2,418,72416 M.E.Z. + 3(i 1484 E. It was with 



NO. 2358, VOL. 94] 



the object of securing a more precise -period that the 

 present investigation was undertaken, and 210 plates 

 taken at the observatory between October, 1891, and 

 February, 1914, have been utilised for this purpose. 

 A table Is given showing all the observations of the 

 variable used, and a curve is added Indicating the 

 nature of the light variation. By reducing the ob- 

 servations by the above formula it was found that 

 those previous to 1903 were not satisfied. They were, 

 however, all well represented by the formula for times 

 of maximum, J.D. 2,410,00060 G.M.T. + 3^ 1487 E, 

 and this has been used in computing the epochs and 

 phases given in the above-mentioned table. 



One Hundred New Double Stars. — Dr. R. G. 

 Altken, in the Lick Observatory Bulletin, No. 264, 

 gives the twenty-third list of double star measures, 

 the present one containing one hundred new double 

 stars. The mean results of his measures are arranged 

 In the same form as his earlier lists. The angular 

 separation of the pairs ranges from 0-17" to 4-78". 



PRIZE AWARDS OF THE PARIS ACADEMY 

 OF SCIENCES FOR 1914. 



Geometry. — The Francceur prize to A. Claude, for 

 the whole of his astronomical work, and the Poncelet 

 prize to M. Lebesgue. The Grand prize of the mathe- 

 matical sciences was not awarded. 



Mechanics. — The Montj-on prize to Ed. W. Bogaert, 

 for his memoir on the gyrostatic effect and Its applica- 

 tions; the Henri de Parville prize between Jean Rey 

 (1000 francs), for his work In mechanics and electro- 

 mechanics, and Marcel Biver (500 francs), for his 

 pamphlet on a system of transmission and trans- 

 formation of movement. The question proposed for 

 the Fourneyron prize, the theoretical and experimental 

 study of the question of combustion or explosion tur- 

 bines. Is postponed until 1917, as no memoir was 

 received. 



Astronotny. — The Lalande prize to J. N. Guillaume, 

 for the whole of his astronomical work; the Valz 

 prize equally between Pierre Salet and Stanislas 

 Chevalier; the Janssen prize to Rene Jarry-Desloges, 

 for his studies on the planets, especially Mars; the 

 Damoiseau prize to M. Galliot, for improvements in 

 Le Verrier's tables of Jupiter, No award was made 

 of the Pierre Guzman prize. 



Geography. — The Tchlhatchef prize between Com- 

 mandant Audemard (2000 francs) and Paul Labbe 

 (1000 francs), the former for his hydrographlcal work 

 in China, the latter for his work In Asiatic Russia 

 in the fields of natural history, anthropology, and 

 ethnographv; the Gay prize to'R. de la Brosse, for 

 his hvdraufic studies "in the Alps; the BInoux_ prize 

 between Ernest Esclangon (1500 francs), for his ob- 

 servations on the acceleration of gravity In the south- 

 west of France, Alfred Vialay (500 francs), for his 

 contribution to the study of the relations existing 

 between the atmospheric circulation, atmospheric 

 electrlcitv, and terrestrial magnetism, and Paul 

 Schwartz and Fernand Villatte (500 francs jointly), 

 for the whole of their work; the Delalande-Guerineau 

 prize to Jacques Llouville, for his work In ' the Ant- 

 arctic regions. 



Navigation. — The extraordinary prize of the Navy 

 is divided between M. Roussilhe (2000 francs), for his 

 works on the French Congo, M. Poincet (2000 francs), 

 for his studies on the association of screw propellers 

 and turbines, M. Cremieux (1500 francs), for his work 

 on the powders of the Navy, and M. Lafon (500 

 I francs), for his memoir on naval and military aero- 

 nautics (France and abroad); the Plumey prize be- 

 tween M. Dumanois (2000 francs), for his memoir on 

 i the application of the internal-combustion motor to 



