46 



NATURE 



[March io, 1910 



The earliest date on whicli the comet appears to have 

 been seen in South Africa was January 12, when, at 

 I4h. 25m. (G.M.T.), some worlimen at the Transvaal 

 Premier Diamond Mine saw it. They described it as an 

 ordinary star with a tail to it, apparently a little to the 

 light of the point where the sun rises. Apparently Mr. 

 Innes was nearly as unfortunate as some London astro- 

 nomers, for, having made a series of observations on the 

 morning of January 17, he and his colleagues were pre- 

 -vented, by overcast skies, from seeing the comet again. 



A number of observations now recorded in the same 

 journal and in the Comptes rendus show that the comet's 

 brightness decreased very rapidly after January 30, and 

 this probably accounts for the disappointment of a large 

 number of people in not seeing it after reading the accounts 

 of its extraordinary brilliancy and beauty. M. Coggia 

 found that on February 11 it was but a bright nebulosity 

 about equally visible with a star of magnitude 84 ; on 

 February 4 it was as faint as magnitude 7-6, and only 

 showed faint traces of a tail near the nucleus. 



Halley's Comet. — An interesting popular address 

 delivered before the Jersey Society in London by Mr. 

 AV. B. Brodrick in December (1909) is now published in 

 Science Progress (No. 15, p. 492). The address contains 

 a discussion of the historical events which have coincided 

 with the comet's known apparitions, especially that of 

 1066. and some interesting quotations from early writers 

 are given. 



It is now improbable that the comet will be seen again 

 until the third week in April, when, until its transit on 

 May 18, it will rise shortly before the sun almost due 

 east. 



The Sun-spots of September 25, 1909. — An interesting 

 description of the sun-spots of September 25, illustrated by 

 photographs taken with the Rumford spectroheliograoh at 

 the Yerkes Observatorjs is given by Dr. Slocum in No. i, 

 vol. xxxi., of the Astrophvsical Journal (January, p. 26). 

 The history of the spot, shown to be connected with the 

 magnetic storm of September 25, is given from its appear- 

 ance on Scotember i to November 19, when it was last 

 seen, and the Yerkes observations confirm those made at 

 South Kensington in showing that the spot was especially 

 active at the time of the magnetic storm. On September 24 

 the high-level calcium flocculi showed a soiral form over 

 the spot, but on September 2:; this had disappeared, and 

 was replaced by a number of bridges crossing the snot. 

 On Seotember 27 the arrangement of these bridges had 

 changed completely, and there was again a trace of the 

 spiral structure. A prominence plate taken on Sep- 

 tember 30, at 3h. 48m. G.M.T., showed that the spot 

 area ■yvas still active, for there were several orominencps 

 at the region of the limb where the soot had disapppared ; 

 a second plate, taken at 4h. c:7m. G.M.T., showed that 

 in the interval a violent eruotion had occurred, and in 

 ..place of a small sinf^le prominence thpre was a brilliant 

 ..one extending some 1;° or 6° along the limb, and rising, in 

 .several a.rches, to a height of 32,000 km. 



^j./Di^M^Acement' OF Lines at the Sun's Limb. — In publish- 

 irig his important results on the spectroscopic determina- 



,tion of ihe sun's period of rotation, Dr. Halm, in 1907, 

 directed attention to several cases where there were small 

 displacements, of certain lines, independent of those due 

 to rotation. Since then the matter has been under investi- 

 gation at Mount Wilson, an.d Mr. W. S. Adams now 

 publishes, and discusses at length, the results obtained. 

 Too many points of interest are raised in his paper to be 

 discussed adequately here, but one or two of the chief 

 ones may be briefly referred: td. ' . 



A great deal of the work has been carried out with the 

 30-foot spectrograph, used in connection with the tower 

 telescope, thus providing photographs of large dispersion. 



Seven classes of lines were selected for special discussion, 

 so that anv differential effects might be the better investi- 

 gated, and altogether 470 lines were dealt with ; the 

 intensities at limb and centre, the displacement, and 

 various remarks are tabulated for each line. Two values 

 for the displacement are given, one the observed value, 

 the other the value obtained after applying, to this a correc- 

 tion of 0002 A . indicated by the cyanogen bands as being 



NO. 2106, VOL. 83] 



probably due to motion in the line of sight produced by 

 convection currents in the values for the centre. 



These results show that the lines of titanium, vanadium, 

 and scandium are less displaced than those of iron and 

 nickel, and this is considered to be an indication that the 

 cause producing the relative " shifts " is most effective at 

 the lower levels. Lines most strengthened at the limb 

 generally show the smaller displacements, and the explana- 

 tion offered is that the intensification is a temperature 

 effect, the higher level lines being cooler ; the smaller 

 displacement is thus in accordance with the previous 

 conclusion. ., . . 



The enhanced lines are well marked in tne results, and 

 generally show a much greater displacement than the arc 

 lines. This is especially prominent in the case of lines 

 extremely weak in, or absent from, the arc spectrum, as 

 shown by the special study of eighteen, lines given in 

 Lockyer's list of the enhanced lines of iron ; the line at 

 A 4385-548 gives a larger displacement ( -I- 0013 A.) than 

 any other line on the more refrangible side of X 5500. 

 The suggested explanation of this peculiarity of enhanced 

 lines is that, in the solar spectrum, they are due almost 

 exclusively to the " granulations " on the disc. If, as has 

 been suggested, these granulations signify masses of 

 ascending, heated vapours, the measures at the centre 

 would be affected by the resulting differential motion in 

 the line of sight, and so increased displacements would 

 result; an upward motion of 0-12 km. per sec. in the 

 granulations would account for the results found. 



Finally, the results indicate that the relative displace- 

 ments are caused by pi'essure, although this is a general 

 result to which there are exceptions, which further investi- 

 gations may adequately explain. The action of magnetic 

 fields, of anomalous dispersion, and various other causes 

 are referred to, but more evidence is necessary ere their 

 definite relation can be inferred. 



The " Anuario " of the Madrid Observatory, 19 10. — 

 From the Madrid Observatory we have received a copy of 

 their " Anuario " for 19 10, a useful volume containing the 

 usual astronomical tables and some interesting articles on 

 astronomical subjects. There is also a resume of the 

 solar observations made at the observatory during 1908. 

 containing a complete daily, and summarised, record of 

 the prominence observations, and a similar resumd of the 

 meteorological observations. 



THE ORGANISATION OF INDUSTRIAL 

 RESEARCH. 

 A N address delivered by Mr. W. R. Whitney at the 

 ■^ twentieth anniversary of Clark University, and re- 

 printed from the Journal of the American Chemical Society 

 in two recent numbers of the Chemical News, contains 

 many suggestive and valuable passages, expressed with 

 characteristic forcefulness. As the author is himself at the 

 head of a staff of eighty investigators, he is well qualified 

 to speak on the " Organisation of Industrial Research." In 

 his view the fundamental problem is to secure men who 

 are endowed with the essential qualities of optimistic 

 activity and knowledge ; the former he regards as of 

 supreme importance, in view of the fact that general laws 

 usually indicate the impossibility of a process rather than 

 the specific conditions under which success may be achieved. 

 Fortunately this quality can be imparted, as has been 

 proved again and again, by the establishment of " schools " 

 of research, many of which have become world-wide in 

 their operation ; fortunately, also, it is possible by suitable 

 organisation to utilise the labours of those who. are not so 

 endowed to promote the achievement of the ideals con- 

 ceived by the few who are ; and in such an organisation 

 it is urged that the output should be not merely propor- 

 tional to the number employed, but to some higher 

 exponential function. In such a complex scheme it is not 

 thought to be possible to reward each investigator by 

 royalty or by any such direct payment for his success in 

 making discoveries of definite commercial value, on one 

 hand because his success is only in part due to his own 

 efforts, and on the other hand because each investigator 

 must be freely available for carrying on lines of work in 

 which success of this kind is not likelv to ensue. 



