26o 



NATURE 



[April 28, 1910 



densation. No tail was distinguished except a small swell- 

 ing of "the circular nebulosity in position-angle 350°, but 

 this measured scarcely one minute of arc in length. 



Th6se observers who are generally unacquainted with 

 •celestial objects should note that Venus, as shown in 

 Fig. I on p. 224 in last week's Nature, is a conspicuous 

 •object near the comet's position at present; we have heard 

 of a number of enthusiastic would-be observers who have 

 evidently mistaken this planet for the comet, as many did 

 in the case of comet 1910a in January last. Referring to 

 Fig. 2, given last week, it should be noted that the posi- 

 tion of Alars was inadvertently omitted from the diagram. 

 On May 22 the comet will pass directly beneath Mars, 

 which should be inserted about half-way between the top 

 •of the date (22) and the disc representing /3 Geminorum. 



Mr. Denning writes : — " The meteors supposed to be 

 •connected with Halley's comet are due on the mornings 

 of May 4-7, as the earth reaches her nearest relative 

 position to the cometary orbit at that period. This 

 meteoric shower is directed from the immediate region of 

 the equator in about right ascension 338°, and was dis- 

 covered by Colonel Tupman in 1870, and seen also in the 

 following year. The radiant rises late on the night, so 

 that the meteors can only be seen in the morning twilight. 

 It is doubtful whether or not this meteoric shower is really 

 connected with the celebrated comet of Halley, for the 

 distance of the earth from the comet's orbit at its nearest 

 approach is about 6,000,000 miles, but the computed orbits 

 of the meteors and comet exhibit a significant resemblance. 

 "Should any rich display of meteors be presented at the 

 period mentioned, the spectacle will be unique, for the 

 parent comet will be visible at the same time." 



Comet 1910a. — Observations by M. Pechiile on .April 8 

 gave corrections of 4- 3s. and 4-0-6' to the ephemeris pub- 

 lished by Dr. Kobold in No. 4393 of the Astronomische 

 .Nachrichien, and' showed the magnitude of comet 1910a 

 to be about ii-o. In No. 4404 of the same journal Herr 

 Tscherny discusses the difficulties attending the calculation 

 of the orbit of this comet, and gives three sets of para- 

 "bolic elements, which he compares with ten other sets 

 previously published by various calculators. 



In No. 2 (1910) of the Bull, de I'Acad. toy. de Belgique 

 Prof. Stroobant publishes an account of his observations 

 of this "comet, and shows that on January 31, at 6h. 20m., 

 the tail extended to the middle of the Great Square of 

 Pegasus, its length being about 36°. 



OPENING OF THE NEW SCHOOL OF 

 AGRICULTURE, CAMBRIDGE. 



TN the presence of an assembly fully representative of 

 ■*■ agricultural interests, both scientific and practical, the 

 new School of Agriculture at Cambridge was opened by 

 the Duke of Devonshire on Tuesday, April 26. 



The formal opening was preceded by a luncheon party 

 given at Pembroke College Lodge by the Vice-Chancellor. 

 In addition to the Duke of Devonshire, the heads of 

 colleges, and the principal professors, the guests included 

 the Master of the Drapers' Company, Lord Blyth, Sir 

 "George Fordham, Sir C. Dalton, Sir Thomas Elliott, Sir 

 Richard Cooper, Prof. Somerville, Mr. A. D. Hall, and 

 Mr. T. H. Middleton. Speeches were delivered by the 

 Vice-Chancellor, the Duke of Devonshire, the Master of 

 the Drapers' Company, and Prof. Wood. 



In declaring the building open, the Duke of Devonshire 

 emphasised the necessity for a close alliance between the 

 scientific and the practical aspects in agriculturaf work, 

 and promised to exert his influence with the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society to further that end. He also expressed 

 the gratitude felt by all workers in the practical field to 

 the University authorities for the extended facilities which 

 it now gives to students of the agricultural sciences. 



The new school is situated close to the Botany School. 

 It was erected after the designs of Mr. Arnold Mitchell at 

 a cost of 20,000/. The building consists of three floors, 

 a basement, and attics. It contains three lecture rooms, 

 two large elementary laboratories for chemistry and botany 

 respectively, seven smaller rooms for private research, as 

 ■well as a library and private rooms for the teaching stafT. 

 The accommodation is designed for one hundred students, 

 NO. 2 113, VOL. 83] 



and is already barely sufficient for the increased numbers 

 coming forward. 



Among the exhibits on view on Tuesday, the one which 

 appealed most to practical men was a series illustrating 

 the work of Profs. Wood and Biffen in connection with 

 the improvement of English wheat. Prof. Punnett showed 

 a number of interesting experiments illustrating Mendelian 

 principles in connection with the inheritance of colour in 

 poultry and rabbits. The forestry exhibits of Messrs. 

 Henry and Burdon were also of extreme interest. Mr. 

 Foreman showed the results of a laborious research on 

 the constitution of the proteids found in linseed. 



INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSES ON 



ORNITHOLOGY AND TROPICAL 



AGRICULTURE. 



"\^E have received the announcement that the fifth Inter- 

 national Ornithological Congress will meet in Berlin 

 from May 30 to June 4 inclusive. Its success seems already 

 ensured by the large number of distinguished ornithologists 

 (representing twenty-three countries) who have intimated 

 their intention of attending. According to the programme, 

 the congress will assemble in the " F"estsaal " of the 

 Zoological Gardens, and its sectional meetings will be 

 held in the Landwehroffizier-Kasino, close to the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens station of the State railway, where also 

 will be installed on May 29 and following days the 

 business bureau. The president designate is the dis- 

 tinguished professor of the Berlin Natural History Museum, 

 Dr. Anton Reichenow, the subject of whose opening 

 address is " Uber die F"ortschritte und den gegenwartigen 

 Stand der Ornithologie. " In the ordinary course he would 

 have been introduced by the retiring president, the late 

 Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, and the absence of this genial 

 personality, so familiar at these triennial congresses, cannot 

 but cast a shadow over the meeting. The congress is 

 divided into practically the same sections as at its last 

 meeting : — systematic ornithology, anatomy, palaeontology, 

 geographical distribution ; migration ; biology and oology ; 

 bird protection ; aviculture and acclimatisation ; and 

 economic ornithology. Many important papers are already 

 announced by, among others, the president. Count v. 

 Berlepsch, Herr Csorgey, Dr. Eckstein, Dr. Hartert, Dr. 

 Helms, Herr Nehrkorn, Prof. Neumann, Hon. Walter 

 Rothschild, Dr. Thienemann, and Prof. Virchow. Visits 

 to the following places of interest have been arranged : — 

 on Monday afternoon to the Havelsee, at the invitation 

 of the German Ornithological Society ; on Thursday 

 morning to the Zoological Gardens, with lunch to follow ; 

 on Friday to the Natural History Museum, or a motor 

 trip round Berlin for those who prefer it. On the evening 

 of Tuesday there will be a kinematograph exhibition of 

 bird pictures at the " Urania " Society's rooms. On 

 Wednesday evening the city will entertain the members 

 and their wives, and on Friday evening the customary 

 banquet will take place in the Zoological Gardens. After 

 the close of the congress excursions will be arranged, if 

 sufficient members apply, to the observation station at 

 Rossitten and to the experimental protection station at 

 Seebach. The subscription for full membership is 

 20 marks, and for lady associates who do not desire the 

 publications 10 marks. The secretary's address is 

 43 Invalidenstrasse, Berlin N. 4. 



In order to facilitate the study of the problems of 

 tropical agriculture, an International .Association of 

 Colonial Agriculture was founded in 1905 at the close of 

 the first International Congress of Tropical Agriculture, 

 held in Paris in that year. The association has arranged 

 to hold a second International Congress at Brussels on 

 May 20-23. A British committee has been formed to 

 arrange for the contribution of papers by those concerned 

 in tropical agriculture and colonial development. The 

 president of this committee is Prof. W. R. Dunstan, 

 F.R.S., and the secretary Dr. T. A. Henry, Scientific and 

 Technical Department, Imperial Institute, S.W. As 

 evidence of the interest taken in the work of the congress, 

 it may be mentioned that the following papers have been 

 promised already to the British committee : — W. L. Balls, 

 (1) the application of Mendel's law to cotton breeding, 



