454 



NATURE 



[August 2, 191 7 



Messrs. VV. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, 

 have published a useful catalogue (No. i66) of scientific 

 books, periodicals, and publications of scientific 

 societies, which will be sent upon written application. 

 It is conveniently classified under the headings of agri- 

 culture and husbandry ; horses and horsemanship ; 

 botany ; chemistry ; geology, mineralogy, and palae- 

 ontology ; zoology, biology, and Nature-study ; physio- 

 logy, anatomy, and medicine (sub-section, dentistry) ; 

 mathematics, physics, and engineering ; and astronomy. 

 It includes a selection from the library of Dr. L. C. 

 Miall, and works on conchology and malacology, 

 mainly from the library of the late Prof. H. M. 

 Gwatkin. 



Sotheran's "Price Current of Literature" (H. 

 Sotheran and Co., 140 Strand, .W.C.2), No. 769, has 

 just appeared under the appropriate title of "The His- 

 tory of Civilisation," seeing that it deals with works on 

 anthropology, folk-lore, archaeology, and sociology. It 

 is a valuable catalogue, classified under the headings 

 of general works, early and primitive man, and the 

 dawn of civilisation — (a) Oriental and (b) Occidental — 

 and contains particulars of the library of the late Sir 

 Laurence Gomme. 



A NEW and revised edition of vol. i. of Dr. G. 

 McCall Theal's "History and Ethnography of Africa 

 South of the Zambesi " is announced for immediate 

 publication by Messrs. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. 

 The work covers the period from the settlement of 

 the Portuguese at Sofala in September, 1505, to the 

 conquest of Cape Colony by the British in September, 

 1795- 



A CATALOGUE (No. 376) of books on architecture, 

 art, archaeology, etc., has just been issued by Mr. F. 

 Edwards, 83 High Street, Marylebone, W.i. 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet 1916b (Wolf). — ^The following is a con- 

 tinuation of Messrs. Crawfurd and Alter 's ephemeris, 

 of this comet for Greenwich midnight, as given in 

 Lick Obs. Bulletin, No. 295 : — 



1917 R.A. Decl. Log A Bright- 



h. m. s. o / // "<^""» 



Aug. I 23 29 14 +22 10 13 00088 2-68 



3 30 4S 21 44 21 0-0065 



5 32 15 21 16 23 00043 2-68 



7 33 33 20 46 20 0-0023 



9 34 44 20 14 14 0-0005 2-67 



II 35 48 19 40 6 9-9989 



13 36 44 19 4 o 9-9976 2-65 



15 37 32 18 25 58 9-9965 



17 38 14 17 46 5 9-9957 2-6i 



19 38 49 17 4 26 9-9953 



21 39 18 16 21 8 9-9951 2-55 



The unit of brightness is that on April 21. An 

 ephemeris by Dr. Kobold {Ast. Nach., No. 4892) gives 

 the magnitude of the comet during early August as 

 lo-o. The comet will be in opposition on Septem- 

 ber 17. 



Variable Proper Motion of S Cassiopeia. — An in- 

 vestigation of the Pulkowa observations of the zenith 

 star S Cassiopeiae has been made by L. Courvoisier 

 in relation to Guthnick's discovery that this star is 

 an eclipsing variable having a period of about 2-1 

 years (Ast. Nach., 4891). It results from the dis- 

 cussion that there is a variation in the proper motion 



NO. 2492, VOL. 99] 



arising from the binary character of the star, and 

 that the amplitude in declination of the two-yearly 

 oscillation amounts to 0-04" ±0-01". The correction 

 to the assumed value for the aberration constant, 

 20-47", is +0-01", and the deduced parallax of the 

 star is +0-11". 



The Needs of Astronomy.— The Astronomy Com- 

 mittee of the National Research Council of the United 

 States has issued an interesting report on the most 

 pressing needs of astronomy. The best immediate use 

 of a fund for astronomical research is considered to be 

 the provision of increased facilities for observations in 

 the southern hemisphere, and the erection of large 

 reflectors in both hemispheres for the extension of 

 nearly every research to very faint stars. The pro- 

 vision of more assistants to aid in carrying on exten- 

 sive routine observations would also secure a relatively 

 great increase in the output of existing institutions. 

 The twenty examples of work of a more or less routine 

 character which are specified include determinations of 

 the positions of all stars of ninth magnitude and 

 brighter, proper motions of all stars down to mag- 

 nitude 7-5, and parallaxes of all stars down to mag- 

 nitude 6 and of specially selected fainter stars. Photo- 

 metric observations of all stars to ninth magnitude, 

 determinations of the radial velocities of all stars of 

 magnitude 6 and brighter, and the more systematic 

 observation of double and variable stars also form part 

 of the suggested programme. One important outcome 

 of such routine work would be the publication of a 

 catalogue of all stars down to magnitude 6-5, giving 

 for each the approximate position, proper motion, 

 radial velocity, magnitude, spectrum, colour index, etc., 

 which, it is suggested, should be brought up to date 

 every three years. The possible services that astro- 

 nomers can render in the war are under consideration. 



THE TRANSLITERATION OF RUSSIAN. 



'T*HE transliteration of Oriental and other characters 

 -*■ into Roman' script naturally varies with the 

 genius of the language into which the transliteration 

 is made. The diversity of the resulting metamorphoses 

 is bewildering, and any attempt to evolve cosmos ouc 

 of this chaos should be v^-elcorne. As regards Russian 

 names, with which we are immediately concerned, 

 such an attempt has been made, for bibliograpnicai 

 purposes, by the Russians themselves, under the aus- 

 pices of no less an authority than the Academy oi 

 Sciences of Petrograd. 



To give some idea of the importance of this system 

 of transliteration, the use of which has not yet ex- 

 tended beyond scientific circles, a brief relation of the 

 circumstances which led to its inception may not bf 

 out of place. The beginning of this century witnessec 

 the birth of a great scientific bibliography, publishet 

 by the Royal Society of London under the title of "Th< 

 International Catalogue of Scientific Literature." I 

 is, in effect, a continuation of the Royal Society's 

 "Catalogue of Scientific Papers," which is now ii 

 course of completion up to the dose of last century 

 It is carried on, as its name implies, by Internationa 

 co-operation,, and it is supported by almost the who! 

 of the civilised world. One of its distinctive featui; 

 being that it records the work of scientific invea 

 gators in their original language, the alphabeti'J 

 arrangement of authors' names necessitated the ad<f 

 tion of a system of transliteration for each langus 

 which does not employ Roman script. The Petrogd 

 Academy of Sciences thereupon applied Itself to 

 problem of Russian names, and referred the matf 

 to a special committee consisting of H. G. Zalema 

 (chairman), F. E. Kors, E. I. Lamanskij, N. A. Mei 

 §utkin, and A. A. Sachmatov. The result of i 



