26o 



NATURE 



[January lo, 1901 



installation is too recent to allow any definite inferences yet to 

 be drawn. 



Messrs. W. N. Brunton and Son, Musselburgh, N.B., 

 have issued a new list of special brands of electrical resistance 

 material. Taking the electrical resistance of copper as unity, 

 the resistances of wires supplied by the firm are given as follows : 

 Pure Swedish iron, 6 ; soft steel, 8 ; Edina steel, 12 ; German 

 silver (19 per cent.), 17; German silver (28 per cent.), 26; 

 Ferno, 30 ; and Beacon, 51. 



Messrs. Chapman and Halt, have published a second 

 edition, with appendix, of a book ijy Mr. F. Hovenden, bearing 

 for its title the interrogations " What is Life ? or Where are We ? 

 What are We ? Whence did we come ? and Whither do we Go ? " 

 Mr. Hovenden explains how he is able to answer these ques- 

 tions and revise the accepted opinions of men of science. 



A short account of the scientific work accomplished by the 

 Tasmanian Society and the Royal Society of Tasmania, from 

 the year 1840 to the close of 1900, has been prepared by Mr. 

 Alex. Morton, the secretary of the latter society. The total 

 number of scientific papers published by this society during the 

 period mentioned, and not including small papers on various 

 subjects, is 606. Of these no less than 132 are devoted to 

 geology, palaeontology and mineralogy, 85 to botany, 56 to 

 astronomy and meteorology, and 53 to fishes. Mr. Morton's 

 record is an interesting history of scientific activity in Tasmania, 

 and it is a good testimonial to the valuable work of the Royal 

 Society at Hobart. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Macaque Monkey {Macaais cynomolgus) 

 from the Andaman Islands, presented by Lieut. -Colonel G. M. 

 Prichard, I.S.C. ; a Campbell's M-Ov^^y {Cercopithecus camp- 

 belli) from West Africa, presented by Mr. W. R. Fowler ; a 

 Suricate {Suricala tetradaclyla) from South Africa, presented by 

 Mr. E. Thomas ; seven Verreaux's Guinea Fowls {Guttera 

 edouardi) from East Africa, presented by Mr. J. F. Walker ; 

 two Crested Pigeons {Ocyphaps lophotes) from Australia, pre- 

 sented by Mr. W, L. Prentice ; two Blue-winged Sivas {Siva 

 cyanopiera), a Silver-eared Mesia {Mesia argentauris), a White- 

 capped Redstart (Chifnarrhornis leucocephalus), a Rufous- 

 bellied Miltava {Miltava sundara), a Burmese Roller {Coracias 

 affinis) from India, presented by Mr. E. W. Harper ; three 

 Painted Snipe (Rosh-attila capensis) from India, presented by 

 Mr. Frank Finn ; a Heron {Ardea cinered) from South Africa, 

 presented by Mr. J. E. Matcham ; three Delalande's Lizards 

 (Nucras delalandi), a Hispid Lizard {Agama hispida), a Three- 

 streaked Skink (Mahina tri7nttaia), a Rufescent Snake {Leptodira 

 hotambaeid), a Lineated Snake (BoodoJi lineatiis) from South 

 Africa, presented by Mr. J. D. Waley ; two Green Monkeys 

 {Cercopithecus callitrichus) from West Africa, three Viscachas 

 {Lagostomus trichodactylus) from Buenos Ayres, three Open- 

 bills {Anastomus oscitans), four Starred Tortoises {Testudo 

 elegans) from India, a Blue-crowned Hanging Parrakeet (Lori- 

 culus galgulus) from Malacca, ten Small-scaled Mastigures ( Uro- 

 mastix microlepis) from Persia, a Common Toad {Bufo vulgaris), 

 European, deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN, 



Elements of Comet 1900 (r). — A circular from the Cen- 

 tralstelle at Kiel gives the elements of this comet, computed by 

 H. Kreutz and J. Moller from observations on December 24, 

 26 and 28, 1900 



T=i9oo Dec. 2-660 M.T. Berlin. 

 w=i78°o'-8] 

 Q, =192 28-3 |- 1900-0 

 / = 3025-4) 

 log q = 9'99i84 



NO. 1628, VOL. 63] 



The brightness of the comet is slowly decreasing. The latest 

 observation recoided is by Aitken at Lick, the position being : — 



R.A. =23h. 23m. 18-55. 

 Decl. = - 23° 7' 27" 



j- 1900 Dec. 28. 



Ephemerisfor izh. Berlin Mean Time. 

 1901. R.A. Decl. 



Jan. 



10 

 II 

 12 



13 

 14 

 15 

 16 



17 



R.A. 



h. m. s. 



o 36 30 



41 51 



47 7 

 52 20 



57 29 



1 2 34 

 7 36 



I 12 33 



22 44'o 

 22 36 8 

 22 28 9 

 22 20-4 

 22 II -3 

 22 1-6 

 21 51-4 

 -21 40-6 



0-68 



060 



0-53 



New Variable Stars. — Three more variables have been 

 recorded as discovered in 1900, bringing the number for the 

 year up to twenty-three {Aslronomische Nachrichten, Bd. 154, 

 No 3678). 



21.1900, Monocerotis. — Prof. W. Ceraski, writing frorr> 

 Moscow, announces the variability of the star situated at 



R.A. 



h. 



6 48 49-13 



6 51 19-24 



Decl. 



-n°i 25 37-0 



+ 11 22 21-6 



(1855-0) 

 (1900.0) 



The brightness varies from 8 8 to 11-5 magnitude. 



22.1900, Cygni. — Mr. A. Stanley Williams, from examinatiorv 

 of photographs by Prof. Max Wolf and himself, has detected 

 variability in the star B D. + 42°-3935, having the position 



RA. 



m. s. 



\ 54 45-9 1 (1855-0). 



Decl. = -t- 42 



The magnitude varies from 9-5 to 11 'o. A table of observations 

 from 1891 is given, from which the following elements for the 

 variable are determined : — 



Epoch of Max. = 1900 Feb. 5 -^ 13d. 315 E, 



so that future maxima may be expected on Jan. 17 and 30, 

 1901. The writer draws attention to the fact that the rise from 

 minimum to maximum is very rapid, a phenomenon previously 

 recorded by Dr. Hartwig in the variable 2.1900 Cygni. 



23.1900, Andromedae. — Dr. T. D. Anderson draws attention 

 to the variability of the star B.D. + 38° -3 15, the place of which is 

 h. m. s. 



R.A. = I 31 7-9\(i8„.o\ 



Decl. = -f 38° 36'-3 J^'»55o;- 



The variation is from magnitude 9-8 (1900 Oct. 27) to 10-7 

 (1900 Dec. 15). 



Visible Spectrum of Nova Aquil^. — Prof. W. W. 

 Campbell, during the autumn of 1900, made an examination of 

 the spectrum of the new star in Aquila, which had been dis- 

 covered by Mrs. Fleming in July, 1900. A 60° simple prism 

 spectroscope was used in connection with the 36 inch Lick 

 refractor. Prof. Campbell confirms the Harvard College 

 observations as to the spectrum being nebular, but mentions 

 diff-erences between it and that of Nova Aurigse in 1892 which 

 are of importance. The visible spectrum is stated to consist of 

 extremely faint continuous light in the green, and of three 

 bright bands in the positions of the three nebular lines. The 

 relative intensities of the three bands were in agreement with 

 the corresponding intensities in actual nebular spectra. In 

 addition, however, the bands were not monochromatic, but on 

 the contrary were very broad, perhaps fully " twice as broad as 

 in the nebular spectrum of Nova Aurigse in 1892. 



Normal Positions of Ceres. — Prof. G. W. Hill has 

 collected the available observations of the minor planet Ceres 

 for the past century during which it has been known, and 

 formed normals from as many as were suitable. The computed 

 normal positions are given for seventy-five years, the dates being 

 for Greenwich mean noon, the values of the co-ordinates being 

 true, not apparent. The planet has been observed at every 

 opposition since its discovery, but on two occasions the reduc- 

 tions are discordant {Agronomical Journal, No. 487, vol. xxi., 

 pp. 51-54). 



