4S0 



KNOWLEDGE. 



December, 1910. 



made by the observatory staff; and. though not obvious in the 

 printed books, a considerable amount of time and thought was 

 given to these annuals by \'alle. Besides this publication a 

 bulletin was issued occasionally, and reports were made to 

 the Government of Mexico : some of these reports may be 

 found in the Animrio. 



Since 1892 the main work of the Obser\atory was the 

 execution of the section of the Photographic Survey. — IC to 

 — 16° undertaken by .A.nguiano and \'alle; with this. considerable 

 progress has been made, but no volumes have as yet been 

 published, though about one hundred charts have been printed 

 and distributed. \'alle visited England. Europe and the U.S.A. 

 upon several occasions, to attend astronomical conferences in 

 the name of the Mexican nation and science : he had a 

 pleasant, affable and gentlemanly manner, and he was deeply 

 interested in his work. After he had returned from his recent 

 and last visit to Europe his health commenced to decline, and 

 though none of those near him could believe that his end was 

 so near, he died quite suddenly at a little before the middle of 

 the night surrounded by his family. 



F. A. BELLAMY, M.A.. F.R.A.S. 



FIREBALLS IN KOVEMBEK.^Every year brings us 

 fireballs in November, and particularly in the first half of the 

 month. These phenomena are indeed \ery abundant at the 

 close of October, and for several weeks our skies are 

 illaminated again and again by a succession of brilliant 

 meteors. Few of them are fully reported and properly 

 investigated, but from the instances which come to our 

 knowledge we may form some idea of the large number of 

 these autumn fireballs. 



They are often seen in the evening hours, and have no 

 connection whatever with the Leonids. Their flights are 

 usually directed from the region of Taurus and .Aries, and 

 they move at moderate speed along very extended courses. 



This year the Taurid fireball radiant has been strongly in 

 evidence, and has supplied an abundance of fine flashing 

 meteors, equal to Jupiter or Venus, and in several cases they 

 were comparable with the moon"s light. To give a list of all 

 the objects observed would occupy too nnich space, and in 

 many instances the records are imperfect and inaccurate. 

 Recent experience has in fact accentuated the necessity of 

 observers being more precise and careful in their descriptions, 

 and the heavens have lately shown that there is a large amount 

 of work to be done by painstaking observers. In spite of 

 all that has been eftected in past years there is still a rich 

 harvest to be reaped in this inexhaustible field. 



Observations at Bristol during the early part of November, 

 pro%ed that the following showers were in action : — 



33^ + 18° 163°+57° 



ST^ + lb" 192^ + 70° 



5S°+ 9° 300°+ S0° 



61° + 34° ilO° + 47° 



The shower near J Ursae Majoris, is interesting as 

 supplying very swift meteors. It was unusually active on 

 November 5th and 7th. I have seen this radiant point before, 

 at the end of November and early in December, and its 

 apparition at the same point of the sky shews that it is one of 

 the long-enduring radiants. 



The Taurids have a double or triple radiant, and require 

 careful reinvestigation. There are certainly well defined 

 points at 63° + 23° and 5S°+9° with probably a rich radiant 

 between that pair. But it seems a very diftnse shower, and I 

 have found a difficulty in obtaining an exact radiant point for 

 the third shower, though it seems near 57°+ 15°. 



These Taurids furnish many splendid meteors at the period 

 of the celebrated Leonid display. 



W. F. DENNIXG. F'.R.A.S. 



THE BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION.— 

 The Annual General Meeting of this .Association was held at 

 Sion College on Wednesday, October 26. Mr. H. P. HoUis 

 in the chair. After the election of Mr. E. B. Knobel as 

 President for the ensuing vear, and the new Council and 



Officers, following on other business, the retiring President 

 gave his annual address. He sketched briefly the progress of 

 the science during the last few years, and drew a striking 

 contrast between the present state of our knowledge and the 

 condition of things forty years ago, dwelling especially on the 

 remarkable de\elopment of Spectrum .Analysis since the day 

 when the spectroscope was first brought to bear on astronomical 

 objects, and the present condition of things when the spectroscope 

 has come almost into the front rank of astronomical instruments. 

 He pointed out. indeed, that a new name had been invented. 

 ■■ .Astro- Physics." for what was almost a new science, based 

 upon two older sciences formerly independent of each other, 

 namely, .Astronomy and Chemistry. Mr. HoUis remarked 

 generally that despite what had been accomplished in the way 

 of an increase of our knowledge respecting the Sun. and 

 including the discovery of various new satellites and many 

 minor planets, there yet remained many interesting and 

 important unsolved problems, including the question of an 

 undiscovered planet within the orbit of Mercury, and an 

 undiscovered planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. Mr. Hollis 

 also offered some remarks on the loss to the science of 

 astronomy during the past year of three such distinguished 

 astronomers as Sir W. Huggins, representing England. Galle, 

 Germany, and Schiaparelli, Italy. 



TELESCOPES FOR EVERYONE.— Why live, awake or 

 asleep, without a telescope when you can take advantage of 

 this opportunit\' : " Notice. — The publisher has made an 

 arrangement whereby he can supply readers of this paper 

 with Telescopes at the low price of four pence each, post 

 free." I omit the address and need only say that I have no 

 pecuniary interest in this ad\'ertisement. which is from an 

 advertising paper ; neither do the words " publisher, readers, 

 and this paper " refer to " Knowledge." But really amateur 

 and professional astronomers should seize this grand offer of 

 the twentieth century. Galileo, Huygens, Brahe ! What 

 would you have given for such opportunities ? ,- . ■, 



.A NEW COMET. — The following telegram from Kiel 

 announces the discovery of a comet in Cancer : — 



"Comet discovered by Cerulli, magnitude 10'2. 

 Nov. 9"* S*" 20'8'". M. T. Rome. 



R.A. app. 54° 38' 58" 



N.P.D. app. 81= 16' 40" 



Dailv motion in R..A. — 2' 



.. „ N.P.D. +19' 



No further details are vet to hand. 



BOTANY. 



By Professor F. Cavers, D.Sc, F.L.S. 



ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION.— Some time ago 

 Buchner claimed that the fermentation of grape-sug.-ir (glucose) 

 takes place in two stages — glucose is converted into lactic acid 

 by the ferment zymase, and the lactic acid is transformed 

 into alcohol and carbon dioxide bv the ferment lacticidase. 

 Kohl iBcilicftc Bot. Ccntralbl.. Bd. 29, 19101 finds that 

 lactic acid is not fermented either by zymase or yeast ; that 

 one per cent, or more of lactic acid greatly reduces the 

 fermentative activity of yeast in glucose ; but that zymase or 

 yeast ferment sodium lactate rapidly. He therefore concludes 

 that while fermentation occurs in two stages, as shown by 

 Buchner, the latter was mistaken in his view of the enzymes 

 that carry on the processes. Kohl's theory is that catalase 

 transforms glucose into lactic acid, and that zymase carries 

 the splitting on to alcohol and carbon dioxide. In glycerine 

 extract of crushed yeast Kohl found neither an oxidase nor a 

 peroxidase, yet it contained an enzyme capable of oxidising 

 various substances like phenols, and these oxidations he 

 behoves are carried on by the catalase present. The extract 

 gave rise to lactic acid, and a trace of oxalic acid, when added 

 to glucose. Kohl's work locates the function of the catalase 

 of yeast, a point not before settled. If zymase is present 



