i6 



NA TURE 



[May 7, 1903 



poisonous than the salts of calcium or magnesium. Prof. 

 Jeffrey outlines an anatomical clue to the phylogeny of the 

 monocotyledons which would derive them from dicotyle- 

 dons. A suggestive paper by Prof. Tourney discusses the 

 initial root system of tree seedlings. 



The latest addition to the useful series of short scientific 

 memoirs published in Paris by M. C. Naud under the 

 name Scientia is by Dr. h. D^combe, and is entitled 

 " La Compressibility des Gaz R^els." This is the twenty- 

 first volume in the series dealing with physical and mathe- 

 matical subjects. 



The Cambridge University Press has published the second 

 part of vol. ii. of the " Reports of the Cambridge Anthro- 

 pological Expedition to Torres Straits," which deals with 

 physiology and psychology. The fasciculus contains sec- 

 tions by Mr. Charles S. Myers on hearing, smell, taste and 

 reaction-times, and by Mr. W. McDougall on cutaneous 

 sensations, muscular sense, and variations of blood-pressure. 



The decision of the GovernmerK to continue the present 

 temporary Vaccination Act for one year has met with the 

 approval of conscientious objectors, whose case Mr. Alex- 

 ander Paul appears to take up in his little book, " The 

 Vaccination Problem in 1903, and the Impracticability of 

 Compulsion," recently published by Messrs. P. S. King and 

 Son. The book should be useful in making clear the posi- 

 tion of the objectors, so that the dilificulties they put for- 

 ward can be satisfactorily met when occasion requires it. 



The Orient-Pacific Line have published their pleasure 

 cruise arrangements for the forthcoming Norway season. 

 Three steamers will be employed, viz. the Orient, the Cuzco 

 and the Opiiir. The cruises begin on June 11, and vary 

 in length from twenty to twenty-eight days. In addition 

 to the attractions of Norwegian scenery and the Midnight 

 Sun, the programme includes a visit to the glaciers of 

 Spitsbergen with a prospect of seeing the Polar pack. 



Mr. a. R. Hinks writes in the Monthly Review for May 

 on the evidence for life on Mars, and his article is illus- 

 trated by two maps of the canals or channels observed by 

 SchiapareUi. The article is largely taken up with an 

 account of Mr. Percival Lowell's observations of Mars at 

 Flagstaff, in Arizona, and the conclusions drawn by Mr. 

 Lowell, following a suggestion of SchiapareUi, as to the 

 existence on Mars of a great irrigation system. 



The report of the council of the Hampstead Scientific 

 Society for the year 1902 shows that the association con- 

 tinues its commendable activity. Among the lectures 

 organised by the Society during the year may be mentioned 

 those of Prof. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., on the forest 

 primeval of the Coal-measures ; Mrs. Dr. Bryant, on bees 

 as builders of the honeycomb and otherwise ; and Dr. 

 Shenton, on medical applications of Rontgen rays. But 

 much of the useful work of the Society is accomplished in 

 sectional meetings, which are held in connection with the 

 astronomical, the natural history, and the photographic 

 sections two or three times a month. The example set by 

 the Hampstead Society might with advantage be more 

 widely copied. 



Considerable evidence is being accumulated at the pre- 

 sent time which is apparently strongly antagonistic to the 

 view that electrically charged ions are the factors which 

 are directly active in all cases of chemical change. In the 

 March number of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, Mr. 

 H. E. Patten gives an account of experiments on the inter- 

 action of metals and hydrochloric acid in various perfectly 

 NO. 1749, VOL. 68] 



anhydrous solvents. The solvents employed were benzene, 

 chloroform, tin and silicon tetrachlorides, phosphorus and 

 arsenic trichlorides, antimony pentachloride, sulphur mono- 

 chloride, and thionylchloride. These solvents had a smaller 

 conductivity than air, and yet zinc was in all cases directly 

 acted upon by the acid. 



An interesting study of the modifications of acetaldehyde 

 is the subject of a paper by R. Hollmann in the Zeitschrift 

 fiir physikalische Chcmie. Experimental data are given 

 which show clearly the relationships existing between 

 acetaldehyde and paraldehyde for temperatures ranging 

 from -100° C. to 300° C. Of special interest are the 

 observations relating to the composition of the liquid sub- 

 stance in its natural state of equilibrium. At the melting 

 point (675° C.) the liquid consists of 88 3 per cent, of 

 molecules of paraldehyde, whilst at the boiling point 

 (41 6° C.) the molecular proportion is 53-4, and at the 

 critical temperature (217° C.) only 11 per cent. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Two-spotted Paradoxure (Nandinia 

 binotata) from West Africa, presented by Mr. H. R. 

 Harger ; a Springbok {Gazella euchore) from South Africa, 

 two Feline Dourocoulis (Nyctipithecus vociferans) from 

 Southern Brazil, two Violet-necked Cassowaries {Casuarius 

 violicoUis) from the Aru Islands, four White-eared Bulbuls 

 {Pycnonotus leucotis), an Indian Python {Python molurus), 

 four Saccobranchs (Saccobranchus fossilis) from India, three 

 Grey-breasted Bullfinches {Pyrrhula griseiventris) from 

 Japan, three Mocassin Snakes (Tropidonotus fasciatus) from 

 North America, five . Red-spotted Lizards (Ereinias rubro- 

 punctata) from Egypt, a Delalande's Gecko {Tarentola dela- 

 landii) from West Africa, deposited ; a Diamond Snake 

 {Python spilotes), three Brush Turkeys {Talegalla lathami) 

 from Australia, purchased ; on Axis Deer {Cervus axis), 

 eight American Timber Wolves {Canis occidentalis), two 

 Crab-eating Raccoons {Procyon cancrivorus), born in the 

 Gardens. 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



A New Comet. — A telegram received from the Kiel 

 Centralstelle informs us that Mr. Grigg, observing at iVir, 

 Tebbutt's observatory, Windsor, New South Wales, dis- 

 covered a new comet on April 17. The position of this 

 object at 6h. 44m. 2s. (M.T. Windsor) on April 27 was :— 



R.A.=4h. 3m. 24s. 

 Dec. = 16° 23' 25" south. 



The daily movement in R.A. is -|-i° 26', and in declin- 

 ation -1-0° 27' ; the announcement says nothing about the 

 comet's brightness. 



The above position is a little s.f. of 7 Eridani. 



Nova Geminorum. — A telegram received from Prof. 

 E. C. Pickering on April 22, published in No. 3864 of the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten, states that " the light of Nova 

 Geminorum is increasing." 



The Partial Eclipse of the Moon on April ii. — The 

 most striking feature of this eclipse was the blackness of 

 the eclipsed surface, for it was not possible to see any of 

 the details on that portion of the surface which was covered 

 by the shadow. In a paper published in No. i6 (1903) of 

 the Comptes rendus, M. Montangerand describes the results 

 of the attempts he made to photograph that portion of the 

 lunar surface eclipsed by the earth's shadow. 



Using the astrographic-chart telescope and Lumi^re 

 plates, and giving an exposure of one second to each plate, 

 he obtained eleven negatives, two of which, Nos. vii. 

 (Lumifere " blue ") and ix. (Lumi^re panchromatic), show 

 the contour of the eclipsed moon, but no surface details. 



