June 



1910] 



NA TURE 



\o\ 



Tom Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, honorary secretary of the 

 Selborne Society, at 42 Bloomsbury Square, W.C., post 

 free for three halfpenny stamps. 



Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. will publish at 

 an early date an English translation of " Spiritism and 

 Insanity," by Dr. Marcel Viollet. This book forms part 

 Df the Library of Experimental Psychology and Meta- 

 ps\chism published under the direction of Dr. Raymond 

 Marcel, of Paris, and has been translated by Mr. Dudley 

 Uright, editor of the Annals oj Psychical Science. 



The report and transactions of the East Kent Scientific 

 and Natural History Society for the year ending last- 

 September have reached us. The society is affiliated with 

 the British Association and the South-eastern Union of 

 Scientific Societies. The pamphlet, which has been edited 

 bv Mr. A. Lauder, the honorary secretary of the society, 

 contains an account of the annual meeting in October, 

 190S, abstracts of the lectures delivered during the session, 

 notes on the work done by the various sections of the 

 society, and useful meteorological statistics for 1909. 



Mr. W. Engelmann, of Leipzig, has lately issued the 

 third (enlarged) edition of Ostwald and Luther's well- 

 known work, " Hand und Hulfsbuch zur Ausfuhrung 

 physiko-chemischer Messungen." The first edition was re- 

 viewed in Nature of January 4, 1894 (vol. xlix., p. 219), 

 Lnd the second in the issue for December 4, 1902 (vol. 

 Ixvii., p. 10 1). The volume provides teachers and students 

 with details of apparatus and practical hints on manipula- 

 tion not found in any ordinary text-book, and the new 

 edition claims a place in every chemical and physical 

 laboratorv. A second edition of Prof. M. Verworn's 

 lectures on the mechanism of psychical life (" Die 

 Mochanik des Geisteslebens ") has been published by Mr. 

 B. G. Teubner, Leipzig. This little work appeared in 

 1907. and the original edition was reviewed in Nature of 

 April 16, 1908 (vol. Ixxvii., p. 557). 



Erratum. — In Nature of June 9 (vol. Ixxxiii., p. 445), 

 column A, line 15 from bottom, for " Thaumatocrinus " 

 (a recent genus) read " Traumatocrinus " (a genus 

 characteristic of Upper Trias). 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



July and August Meteors. — W'ith the advent of July 

 every meteoric observer is induced to make preparation for 

 the active campaign which the season offers. After the 

 middle of July meteors usually become extremely abundant, 

 and any patient watcher of the skies may record a plentiful 

 harvest of meteor-tracks. In May and June there are com- 

 paratively few shooting stars, and perhaps the average 

 horary number is not more than four or six, but in the 

 two succeeding months the rate of appearance often equals 

 twenty or twenty-five per hour. 



In July there is a very active display from Aquarius, 

 which apparently reaches its maximum on July 27-31, 

 though the meteors continue to fall from the same centre 

 at about 339 — 11 during the first half of .\ugust — and 

 in July there are many early Perseids displayed, though the 

 latter are a different class of meteor to the Aquarids. 

 Those which are directed from Perseus are of the swift, 

 streaking order, while those from Aquarius are of the slow, 

 trained variety, and they have long flights, the radiant 

 being in low altitude. 



This year both the .Aquarids and Perseids may be observed 

 to advantage, as the moon will offer little interference. 

 On August 12, when we are led to expect the greatest 

 abundance of meteors, our satellite will set at 10.9 p.m. 

 and leave us with a dark sky, on which the meteors may 

 be seen at their best ; but, of course, in our English climate 

 atmospheric conditions are always very doubtful. What we 

 require is a series of beautifully transparent skies such as 



NO. 2 12 I, VOL. 83] 



we experienced during the first half of August, 1909. 

 Observers should seize such opportunities as are available 

 and determine the place of the radiant and horary rate of 

 meteoric apparitions on every clear night. The individual 

 paths of those meteors equal to or brighter than first 

 magnitude should be carefully recorded. The last few- 

 years have furnished average displays of Perseids ; there is 

 some reason- to expect a richer shower this year. 



The Lacings between Jupiter's Belts.— Circular No. 

 124 from the Kiel Centralstelle contains a telegram^ from 

 Prof. Lowell, dated June 14, announcing that the " criss- 

 cross filaments interlace all Jupiter's belts." This refers 

 to the lacings first observed between the equatorial belts 

 by Mr. Scriven Bolton, and apparently means that similar 

 lacings have been observed between all the belts. 



Observations of Orionids in 1909. — To No. 4418 of the 

 Astronomische Sachrichtcn Prof. Dubiago communicates 

 the results of the Orionid observations made at the Engel- 

 hardt and Kasan Observatories during October 17-20, 

 inclusive, 1909. The times and apparent paths of ninety- 

 six meteors were observed at the former station, and of 

 forty-eight meteors at the latter. Eight meteors were 

 observed at both stations, and for these real paths have 

 been computed ; the heights vary from 35 to 890 km. The 

 following is the position of the radiant as determined from. 

 these observations: — a = 88° + 2-9°, 5=+2i°±i-7°. 



The Cape Observatory. — Mr. Hough's report of the 

 w-ork done at the Cape Observatory during 1909 contains 

 several items of special interest. Among other things, we 

 learn that Dr. Halm's new spectrometer, giving direct read- 

 ings of wave-lengths, was extensively employed for the 

 measurement of stellar spectra, and the results found not 

 to be inferior in accuracy to those secured by the older 

 methods. It is also of interest to learn that arrangements 

 have been made to take daily photographs of the sun to 

 supplement those taken at Greenwich and other observa- 

 tories in the Empire. A large number of stellar spectra 

 were secured and measured in the research on the solar 

 parallax and for the examination of the systematic motions 

 of stars in the line of sight. For Prof. Kapteyn's " Selected 

 Areas " programme a number of proper-motion and parallax 

 plates were secured ; satisfactory progress in the Carte dtt 

 del programme is also reported. 



THE TRANSIT .AND TAIL OF H ALLEY'S 

 COMET. 



'T'HE question as to whether the earth passed through 

 the tail of Halley's comet is discussed, from the 

 point of view of the Helwan obser\-ations, by Mr. 

 Knox Shaw in No. 4418 of the Astronomische Sach- 

 richten (p. 31). On May 18, at i3h. G.M.T., the tail 

 was seen to stretch as far as o Equueli, where it was 2° 

 broad, although 8° broad where it involved y Pegasi. At 

 i3h. on May 19 there was no sign of the tail in the west, 

 but it was traced to Aquilae, where it merged with the 

 Milky Way. The form was still tapering, and was 15° 

 bioad at a Pegasi. Similar observations followed on 

 May 20, when still no tail was seen in the evening ; but 

 at i4h. it was traced to the Milky Way, and was about 

 10° broad in Pegasus. .At 6h., G.M.T., on May 21 the 

 tail was visible for a distance of 20°, but none could be 

 seen at dawn. The narrow-ness of the tail (8°) on May 18 

 and the increased breadth next morning suggest that it 

 was bent back in the orbit, and probably did not begin to 

 sweep past the earth liefore i2h. on May 20. At this 

 time the earth was some four million miles south of the 

 comet's orbit plane, and consequently the tail probably 

 passed well to the north of the earth, for the Helwan 

 observations, during May, suggest that it was not nearly- 

 wide enough to envelop the earth at J^at distance. They 

 also show that its length was well over twenty- million 

 miles, and w-ould therefore have enveloped the earth had 

 the planes coincided. No sign of the comet's transit of the 

 sun's disc was obser\'ed, although observations were made 

 with the 4-inch Cooke equatorial. Dr. Meyermann also 

 reports that, at Tsingtau, no trace of the comet was seen 

 during the transit, nor were any extraordinary magnetic 

 or meteorological effects recorded by the respective instru- 

 ments. 



