July 



[918] 



NATURE 



375 



cated ■' all over the States at 3500 different works, 

 some of them so remote that the average journey takes 

 as many as twenty days. Within five months of 

 commencing operations 26,000 men were employed on 

 the construction of the yard. The site is well inland, 

 away from possible enemy attack. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The New Star in Aolila. — Further particulars of 

 the observation of Xova Aquilae by Prof. Laskovski 

 at Geneva on June 7 have been given in Circular 

 \o. 25 of the Marseilles Observatory. The star was 

 observed at 9.45 p.m. mid-European time, and was 

 described as being white, and of a brightness greater 

 than that of o Ophiuchi (mag. 21), but less than that 

 of Altair (0-9). fhis would appear to be the earliest 

 observation so far reported. Subsequent observations 

 agree with those made elsewhere in showing that the 

 star was brighter than Vega on June 9, and had dwindled 

 to about 2nd magnitude by June 18. It is added that 

 the region was under observation by M. Dumastberay 

 at Nyon on June 3 and 4, and that nothing abnormal 

 was then noted. 



There appears to have been a slight recovery in 

 brightness of the nova at the beginning of the present 

 month. Mr. Denning found that after reaching 

 mag. 375 on June 29 there was a decided increase 

 in brightness to riiag. 35 on July i. With possibly 

 slight variations the star remained at about this 

 brightness up to July 8. The check in the decline of 

 the nova occurred at about the same interval after 

 maximum as in the case of Nova Persei, and it will 

 be interesting to see if Nova Aquilae will now similarly 

 assume the characteristics of a variable star. The 

 bright lines of hydrogen have continued to dominate 

 the visible spectrum, and no striking changes in detail 

 were noted by Prof. Fowler between June 29 and July 8 

 except that the reversal of the hydrogen lines was no 

 longer clearly visible. The band in the blue near 

 ,1464 remained a conspicuous feature during this 

 period, and was possibly increasing in relative bright- 

 ness. The relative brightness of the line 502, how- 

 ever, did not appear to have notably increased. 



Photographs of the spectrum obtained by the Rev. 

 T. E. R. Phillips have shown remarkable changes in 

 the structure of the bright bands of hydrogen. On 

 June 13 and 15 the bands had a bright central stripe, 

 with bright companion lines on both sides ; on June 22 

 they were single, but broad ; on June 26, 27, and 29 

 thev were double, as if centrally reversed, and the 

 less refrangible components were the brighter; and 

 on July 2 they were again single, but broad. The 

 band about A 464 appeared as early as June 13, and 

 has continued to brighten; it passed through changes 

 of structure similar to those exhibited by the hydrogen 

 bands. A new bright band appeared on July 4 on the 

 more refrangible edfe of a broad, dark space on the 

 violet side of Hy. 



Ephemeris of Wolf's Periodic Comet. — Attempts 

 to find this comet have hitherto been unsuccessful, 

 but as its distance from the sun and earth is steadily 

 diminishing, the comet is likely to be found before 

 long. The following ephemeris is from Mr. Kamen- 

 sky's elements .— 



G.M.T. R.A. N. Decl. Log r Log :k 



h. m. s. . , 



July 12-46 20 32 52 24 50 03368 01376 



24-64 20 26 3 26 28 03217 0-1017 



-^"g- 5-49 20 17 I 26 45 03073 00724 



17-01 20 8 27 25 50 02936 0-0499 



28-17 20 2 27 23 52 02803 00338 



NO. 2541, VOL. lOl] 



The New System of Time at Sea.— Mr. F. Jacob 

 suggests the term " Intermeridian Time" for the new- 

 system, with the abbreviation LM.T., so that 

 4'h. 7m. I.M.( + 3)T. would be equivalent to 7h. 7m. 

 G.^LT. The suggestion has met with favourable 

 consideration from the Admiralty Committee on the 

 subject. The term " Intermeridian " is unobjectionable 

 for denoting the regions that keep the same time, but 

 its length will probably hinder its general ado'ption for 

 this purpose. 



CONFERENCE OF CORRESPONDING 

 SOCIETIES OF THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 

 T^HE annual conference of Delegates of Corre- 

 ■'• sponding Societies of the British Association was 

 held in the Geological Society's rooms, Burlington 

 House, on Thursday, July 4. At the morning session 

 Dr. F. A. Bather gave his presidential address en- 

 titled "The Contribution of Local Societies to Adult 

 Education." In this Dr. Bather endeavoured to sum- 

 marise the membership and estimate the strength of 

 the various scientific societies in Great Britain, show 

 the part they were playing in the adult education of the 

 country, and make suggestions for the further useful- 

 ness of these societies. His statistics had been diffi- 

 cult to compile and were admittedly incomplete, but 

 it was demonstrated that while some centres were well 

 provided for in the \vay of natural history and allied 

 science societies, there were many large areas which 

 appeared not to be served by any societies of the kind. 

 Discussion was invited, which lasted for the remainder 

 of the morning. The general feeling was that, desir- 

 able as it is that everything should be done to increase 

 the popularity and work of our scientific societies, the 

 present time was inopportune, seeing that so many of 

 the young and vigorous men were occupied with more 

 important duties. In his reply to the discussion the 

 president attached particular importance to the remarks 

 made by the delegate from Hull, in reference to the 

 excellent work being accomplished in Yorkshire, where 

 there are far more important societies than in anv 

 other county. It was pointed out that, notwithstand- 

 ing the elaborate and systematic instruction in Nature- 

 study in the schools, and the formation of Nature-study 

 societies for teachers, the result was unquestionably 

 that there w-as less apparent interest taken in natural 

 history by young men and women after leaving school, 

 and even before the war the membership of the socie- 

 ties had shown an apoarent decrease. The conference 

 decided to endeavour to prepare a list of all the 

 scientific societies in the country. 



At the afternoon session Mr. Martin C. Duchesne 

 read an admirable paper on " Aff^orestation," Sir 

 Charles Bathurst and many of the delegates taking 

 part in the discussion. The lecturer dealt at length 

 with the urgent question of the inciease of our home 

 forests, and made many excellent suggestions towards 

 the accomplishment of this. It was felt that the dele- 

 gates could get the societies they represented to use 

 their influence to further the growth of timber through- 

 out the country, and one practical proposition was 

 made, namely, to form an Arbor Day throughout the 

 country. Such a suggestion, made on July 4, was also 

 complimentary to our American friends, who have had 

 an Arbor Day for many years. .\ short note from Mr. 

 P. Westall, who w^as not present, was read, the 

 gist of which seemed to be that some authority should 

 make grants to local museums, but how and by whom 

 these grants should be made the author did not seem 

 to know, and the delegates did not appear to be abl<> 

 to help him. On behalf of Mr. B. B. Woodward a 

 " typomap " of the British Isles was exhibited, upon 



