1 84 



NATURE 



[December 21, 189; 



Among some of the more remarkable spectra maybe mentioned 

 that of R. Coron£e, which, as Mr. Espin says, is one of the 

 most puzzling in the heavens. The spectrum, he " feels pretty 

 sure," is a double one, and that there is a displacement ; at one 

 time the spectra coincide and the star's light is continuous, and 

 at another they are so displaced as to give the appearance of 

 bright lines flanked with dark ones. T. Coronse, which 

 showed some years ago a nebular spectrum, seems to have 

 undergone a change, as Mr. Espin says that it "is certainly 

 .S'V now the case." 



A remark of interest is that the region bounded by the 

 decimations +51° and +56°, andR.A. loh. 40m. and iih. 8m. 

 contains a large grouping of coloured stars. Out of 108 stars 

 above 9th mag. there are seventeen which may be classed as 

 orange-red. The region from j3 to € Ursse is also " very rich." 



" HiiMMEL UND Erde " FOR DECEMBER. — In the Current 

 number, of this journal Prof. Scheiner contributes an inter- 

 esting article on the cluster in Hercules ; it is accompanied 

 both with early drawings of this fine object as viewed in the 

 telescope, and also with the latest photograph. The last- 

 mentioned appears, as one would suppose, as if quite another 

 object had been photographed, so different isthe result obtained. 

 Dr. Schwahn treats in a clear manner also of a very difficult 

 subject in an article entitled "Die Lothabweichungen und das 

 Geoid. 



A New Variable. — In Wolsinghavi Ohservatory Circular, 

 No. 38 (December 14), the Rev. T. E. Espin announces that 

 photographs taken with the Compton telescope show that the 

 star Espin-Birmingham 57'' (R.A. Ilh. 39m. 58s. ; Decl. +56° 

 23'), Magnitude 9*5, is variable. The star is now 8 '5 mag. 

 It has a Type III. spectrum. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



Dr. F. a. Cook has communicated to the American Geo- 

 graphical Society of New York a scheme for the exploration of 

 the Antarctic regions. He proposes to purchase a steam-whaler 

 of 300 tons, equip her specially with several large boats, sledges, 

 and an outfit similar to that used for Arctic travel, including fifty 

 Eskimo dogs. The plan proposed is to steer south from the 

 Falklands to Terre Loui? Philippe, and enter the ice-barrier 

 at the first convenient opening where winter quarters may be 

 established and a land ing effected. The adjoining land would be 

 systematically explored and all possible scientific observations 

 made. The scientific party will not exceed twelve or fourteen. 

 Dr. Cook has had some experience in Arctic exploration with 

 Lieutenant Peary, and Astrup, now with Peary on his second so- 

 journ in North Greenland, has agreed to accompany him. It 

 IS proposed that the expedition should be one year in the Ant- 

 arctic regions. Dr. Cook estimates the cost of his expedition 

 at ;^io,ooo, which he hopes to raise by private subscriptions, 

 grants from scientific societies, and by lecturing. While re- 

 cognising the greater advantages to science likely to accrue from 

 a national expedition on a large scale, such as that suggested by 

 Dr. Murray, we would like well to see Dr. Cook's party also in 

 the field, which is a wide one, and full of scientific pDssibilities. 



Reuter's Agency announces that Mr. and Mrs. Theodore 

 Bent and their party left Aden on the i6th inst. for the seaport 

 of Makalla, on the south coast of Arabia, whence they will pro- 

 ceed to the interior with the object of exploring Hadramant. 



Ausland announces the sudden death, on November 21, in 

 Yokohama, of the Austrian Consul-General, Gustav von 

 Kreitner, who was with Count Szechenyi on his great journey 

 in Central Asia as topographer. There his work was of the 

 best quality, and made the results of the expedition per- 

 manently valuable to cartographers. 



The Annates de Geographie, a quarterly geographical paper 

 edited by M.M. Vidal de la Blache and Marcel Dubois, which 

 has just entered on the commencement of its third volume, 

 has already taken the first place amongst French geographical 

 journals for the comprehensive scope of its contents and the 

 solid value of the contributions to geography which it 

 publishes, as well as for the impartiality of its editorial notes. 

 The last number is particlarly good, containing a coloured map 

 of the faunal divisions of the globe, with a discussion by Prof 

 J. Welsch ; an able treatise on the lakes of the Jura by Dr. A. 



NO. 1260, VOT,. 49"! 



Magnin, several excellent studies in local geography, an 

 epitome ofM. Maistre's great journey to the Shari, and an 

 account of Mount Ararat by M. Chantre. 



The prospective formation of a " buffer-state " between Siam, 

 Burma and China, necessitates a more complete survey of the 

 region than has hitherto been attempted, and an Anglo-French 

 Commission will probably undertake this work at an early date. 



Dr. H. R. Mill completed a course of twelve lectures on 

 geography applied to commerce, at the London Institution, on 

 Tuesday evening. The lectures were arranged by the Royal 

 Geographical Society as a special educational course, designed 

 to meet the wants of merchants and advanced school-teachers. 

 The first six lectures took up the scientific basis of commercial 

 geography, showing the relations of mathematical, physical, 

 biological, anthropological, and political geography to the special 

 subject. The remainder of the course dealt with the commercial 

 geography of the larger divisions of the British Empire, in order 

 to enforce the general principles in particular cases. The at- 

 tendance throughout was satisfactory ; and the same course was 

 given on Friday evenings at Birmingham, under the Oxford 

 University Extensi 'n scheme. Mr. Mackinder will commence 

 the second course of educational lectures for the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society on January 12, in the hall of the United 

 Service Institution, Whitehall, the subject being the relation of 

 geography to history. 



A NEW PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION 

 OF ETHERS. 



j\ NEW and advantageous general process for the prepara- 

 "^ tion of ethers (alkyl oxides), including the most important 

 from a technical point of view, ethyl ether, is described by Prof. 

 Krafft, of Heidelberg, in the current Berichte. In the course of 

 an investigation of the aromatic derivatives of sulphuric acid, it 

 was observed that there is a complete analogy between the be- 

 haviour of sulphovinic acid and its homologues on the one hand, 

 and the alkyl esters of aromatic sulphonic acids on the other, 

 towards alcohols at moderately elevated temperatures. It was 

 found, in fact, that the conclusions arrived at by Prof William- 

 son in the year 185 1, with regard to the processes involved in 

 the formation of ethers from the esters of sulphuric acid, are 

 equally applicable to the alkyl esters of the sulphonic acids. For 

 these latter substances decompose in a precisely similar manner 

 to the alkyl sulphuric acids upon warming with alchols, an ether 

 being the product of the reaction. Thus, for instance, the re- 

 actions between alcohol and ethyl sulphuric acid, and between 

 alcohol and the ethyl ester of benzene sulphonic acid, run exactly 

 parallel, as will be apparent from the equations representing 

 them — 



HO. SO2. OCoHg + CoHgOH = HO. SO^. OH -l- C2H5. 0. C2H3. 

 C6H.5.S02.0c"2H5H-C2HgOH = C6H5.S02.0H-|-C2H5.0.C2H5 



This new class of reactions of the sulphonic acids appears 

 likely to prove of more than merely theoretical interest, for on 

 account of the great stability of these aromatic substances, they 

 are capable of converting far larger relative quantities of alcohol 

 into ether when the reaction is made continuous than the alkyl 

 derivatives of sulphuric acid. Although sulphuric acid is so 

 cheap, and the manufacturing process of continuous etherification 

 has been rendered as perfect perhaps as is possible, still oil of 

 vitriol is unfortunately prone to decomposition in contact with 

 a readily oxidisable substance such as alcohol, becoming re- 

 duced to sulphur dioxide which is lost in the gaseous state. 

 Moreover, the powerful affinity of oil of vitriol for water, which 

 is one of the products in the first stage of the reaction, brings 

 about such a dilution after treatment with a considerable quan- 

 tity of alcohol, that it is no longer capable of performing its 

 function in the process of etherification, which latter must 

 of necessity be arrested in order that the acid may be replaced. 

 Now, the sulphonic acids of the aromatic series, such as benzene 

 sulphonic acid, CgHr,. SOo.OH, are so stable at the temperature 

 of reaction with alcohol, that the latter is only etherified, and 

 not in the slightest degree oxidised, doubtless owing to the fact 

 that the hydroxyl group present in sulphovinic acid is replaced 

 by the less mobile radicle of the benzene nucleus. Further, the 

 water which gradually accumulates is not retained by the sul- 

 phonic acid, but pa.«ses over largely with the ether, from which 

 it separates as a distinct layer in the receiver. 



