November 20, 1919] 



NATURE 



\2\ 



committee's surveyors. Tlie collective capacity of new 

 cold stores and extensions carried out under Lloyd's 

 survey amounts to 7,500,000 cub. ft. The committee 

 has also undertaken research work at its own expense, 

 one of the subjects at present engaging the attention 

 of the special sub-committee on research being the 

 effect of a fluid cargo in the form of oil in bulk on 

 the behaviour of a ship in a seaway, and the manner 

 in which energv passes between the ship and the 

 fluid in the holds. The report is voluminous, and it 

 is only possible to touch upon a few of the leading 

 items of interest. 



The new monthly Conquest, of which the first 

 number has just been issued, will fill a want long 

 felt by the British public for a magazine giving, in 

 popular language, an account of the scientific and 

 technical achievements of the day. Readers having a 

 technical bent were obliged to glean what information 

 they could from the technical journals proper, or, if 

 they read French sufficiently well, to subscribe to a 

 well-known French periodical which fulfils the same 

 function. The first number contains well-written and 

 illustrated articles on the running of the London tubes, 

 the technique of film-making, the internal structure 

 of metals (by Dr. Walter Rosenhain), and other 

 interesting contributions. 



The Cambridge University Press hopes 10 have 

 vol. iii. of the " Cambridge British Flora " ready for 

 publication before the end of the year. Other an- 

 nouncements of the same publishers are a new edition 

 of Prof. .\. H. Keane's "Man, Past and Present," 

 completely revised and largely rewritten bv Mrs. 

 Quiggin, with the assistance of Dr. A. C. H addon ; 

 " Pleasure — Unpleasure," an experimental investiga- 

 tion on the feeling-elements, Dr. A. Wohlgemuth; 

 " Chemistry for Textile Students," Prof. B. North 

 and N. Bland; "Machine Drawing for Electrical 

 Engineers," E. Blythe ; "Food Poisoning and Food 

 Infections," Dr. W. G. Savage; 'Practical Exercises 

 on the Weather and Climate of the British Isles," 

 W. F. Stacev; "The Phvsiologv of Farm Animals, 

 Part i. (Gene'ral)," Dr. F.H. A'. ' Marshall ; "General 

 Psychology," W. S. Hunter; "Practical Geometry," 

 C. Godfrey and A. W. Siddons ; and "The Elements 

 of Analytical Conies," Dr. C. Davison. The Library 

 Press, Ltd., has nearly ready for inclusion in its 

 Manufacturing Problem Series "The Management 

 Problem," E. T. Elbourne, and in preparation "The 

 Reorganisation Problem," ]. E. Powell, and "The 

 Workers' Problem," W. Wilkinson. The S.P.CK. 

 will publish "Woodcraft .Scouting in Town and 

 Suburb," the Rev. W. Bren ("Silver Wolf"). 



A CATALOGUE (No. 78) interesting not only by reason 

 of its contents, but also from the fact that many of the 

 volumes offered for sale are from the libraries of the 

 late Prof. T. McKenny Hughes and Mr. W. E. 

 Balston, and that the geological portion of the library 

 of Dr. Henry Woodward is included, has just been 

 circulated by Messrs. Dulau and Co., Ltd.. 34-36 Mar- 

 garet Street, W.i. The 1018 works listed range over 

 the subjects of zoology, botany and horticulture, geo- 

 logv and pnlaeontologv, astronomy, phvsics, etc., geo- 

 graphy and travel. Many scarce books are on sale, 

 but the majority of the volumes offered are obtain- 

 able for reasonable prices. 



Readers of Nature on the look-out for bargains in 

 books for personal use or for presents would do well 

 to see the Catalogue (No. 183) just issued by Messrs. 

 W. HelTer and Sons, Ltd., Cambridge. All the works 

 listed are new copies, and the reductions in price 

 from those at which they were originally published are 



NO. 2612, VOL. 104] 



in many cases remarkable. Most branches of litera- 

 ture are represented, and many well-known books 

 of science of comparatively recent publication are 

 included. 



Mr. F. Edwards, 83 High Street, Marvlebone, 

 W.I, has just published an illustrated Catalogue 

 (No. 395) of valuable early English and foreign books. 

 The sections most likely to appeal to readers of 

 Nature are those referring to works dealing with 

 .Africa, America, Medicine, Herbals, Husbandry, and 

 Natural History. 



The Society of Glass Technology should have been 

 i included in the list of scientific societies founded in 



the last fifty years given in the jubilee issue of Nature. 

 I The society was founded in November, 1916, and has 

 I 550 members. Its work has frequentlv received 



favourable notice in our columns. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Large Fireball. — On November 2, at 7.6 ]).m., a 

 fireball of considerable brilliancy was seen by Mr. 

 C. P. Adamson, of Wimborne, Dorset. Its observed 

 flight w^as from 40° -1-7° to si°+4°, and it had an 

 extremely slow motion, its visible duration being care- 

 fully estimated as five seconds. The nucleus left a 

 short train behind it. 



The same object was observed by Dr. Cowper at 

 Shanklin, Isle of Wight. The meteor was comparable 

 with a football in regard to apparent size and shape. 

 It fell in due east in a nearly vertical direction. 



From these details it is not possible to deduce exact 

 values for the height, etc., and further observations 

 are required. Probably the radiant was at 312"-)- 14°; 

 and the height, 56 to 29 miles; path, 39 miles; and 

 velocity, 10 miles. The object was over France in 

 the region 45 miles east of Boulogne. 



Comets.— Mr. Sassaki, of Kyoto, Japan, discovered 

 a comet on October 25 in R..^. 2oh. 17m. 20s., 

 south declination 27° 11', the G.M.T. being October 

 24d. 23h. It was reobserved on November 9 by M. 

 Schaumasse at the Nice Observatory, and was then 

 found to be identical with Finlay's periodic comet, 

 for which the Nice Observatory had already published 

 a search ephemeris. As the comet's period" is close to 

 64 years, it is well placed every thirteen years, and 

 usually escapes observation at the intervening return. 

 On November 1 1 it approached the earth within some 

 15,000,000 miles, its apparent magnitude being g-o. 

 The following is an ephemeris for Greenwich mid- 

 night : — 



R.A. N. Decl. 



Nov. 21 



25 



Dec. 



29 



3 

 7 



h. 



O 



I 



I 28 



I 



35 o 

 4 20 



4 

 48 4 

 6 12 



5 15 



9 24 



12 38 



15 7 



17 I 



Log r 



00606 

 0-0713 

 00818 

 00920 



Log A 



9-3149 

 93657 



9-4166 



94658 



9-5 140 



The following is a continuation of the ephemeris of 

 Schaumasse 's periodic comet 191 1 VII. for Greenwich 

 midnight. The magnitude is about 12-5 : — 



Nov. 



Dec. 



19 



23 

 27 



I 



5 



R..A. 

 h. m. 5. 



13 15 41 

 13 28 47 



J3 41 30 



13 53 SI 



14 5 49 



N. Decl.- 



2 32 

 I 28 

 o 26 



S. Decl. 



34 



1 32 



Log r 



o-io8i 



Lob; a 

 0-2671 



0-1198 0-2710 



0-1329 0-2745 



The above ephemerides do not claim great accuracy, 

 and some sweeping may be necessary to find the 

 comets. 



