398 



NATURE 



[August 27, 1903 



angle ; dz for each half degree of latitude and azimuth is 

 given in the table. All that one has to do to obtain the 

 " reduction " is to take the approximate azimuth from any 

 azimuth tables — and this has to be done for another part 

 of the problem— then take out the rate of change, iz, 

 from the Goodwin table and multiply- this by the number 

 of minutes in the hour angle. 



Return of Brooks's Comet. — A telegram from Kiel 

 announces that Brooks's comet was observed by Prof. 

 Aitken at the Lick Observatory on August i8, and that 

 the position of the comet at i2h. i7-4m. (Lick M.T.) on 

 that date was R.A.=2ih. 2m. 51-35., Dec. = -27° 4' 19". 

 This position agrees closely with that given by an 

 ephemeris computed by Herr P. Neugebauer, arid published 

 in No. 3868 of the Astronomische Nachrichtcn. The follow- 

 ing is an extract from this ephemeris : — 



Ephemetis izh. (M.T. Berlin.) 



1903 True o True S log r log A 



h. m. s. o / // 



Aug. 27 ... 20 56 24-95 ■•• -27 o 30-4 ... 0-3284 .. 0-07060 



,, 29 ... 20 55 12-95 ... -26 57 6-4 



„ 31 ... 20 54 6-78 ... -26 52 54-0 ... 0-3259 ... 007321 



Sept. 2 ... 20 53 6-98 .. -26 47 53-8 



„ 4 ... 20 52 13-90 ... -26 42 6-8 ... 0-3234 ... 0-07693 



„ 6 ... 20 51 27-98 ... -26 35 33-6 



„ 8 .. 20 5049-45 ... -26 28 15-2 ... 0-3210 ... 0-08165 



,, 10 ... 20 50 i8-6i ... -26 20 12-8 



„ 12 ... 20 49 55-67 ... -26 II 27-7 ... 0-3187 ... 0-08727 



„ 14 ... 20 4940-87 ... -26 2 I'O 



„ 16 ... 20 49 34-32 ... -25 51 53-8 ... 0-3164 ... 0-09369 



„ 18 ... 20 493619 •• -25 41 7'o 



„ 20 ... 20 49 46-55 ... -25 29 41-9 ... 0-3142 ... 0-10081 



According to Aitken 's determination of the comet's posi- 

 tion, as given above, this ephemeris needs a correction of 

 -f22-58s. in R.A. and +1' 4i"-2 in Dec. 



Although not a bright object, this comet is of historical 

 interest, because when it was first discovered by Brooks, 

 in 1889, it was held to be a good illustration of the " capture 

 theory " of comets, and was looked uppn as identical with 

 Lexell's lost comet of 1770, which had been " captured " 

 by Jupiter. This belief was, however, discountenanced by 

 the subsequent researches of Dr. Poor, of Baltimore. In 

 1889 Barnard observed the comet as double, and found that 

 the two parts were slowly separating. 



This comet has a period of 7096 years, and was duly 

 observed in 1896, when it performed its perihelion passage 

 on November 4. For the present return the comet takes 

 th'=' designation 1903 d. 



Ephemeris for Comet 1903 c. — An ephemeris for comet 

 1903 c is given in No. 3890 of the Astronomische Nach- 

 fichten by Herren M. Knapp and W. Dziewulski. 



The comet is now too near the sun to be observed, but 

 it will be observable by astronomers residing - in the 

 southern hemisphere after the middle of September. 



a Corona a SpECTROscopfc Binary. — Using the 80cm. 

 refractor and the No. i spectrograph of the Potsdam 

 Observatory, Prof. Hartmann has determined that the 

 radial velocity of o Corona; Borealis varies from —20km. 

 (May 28, 1902) to +38km. (June 3, 1902). The observations 

 extended over the period May, 1902-July, 1903, and the 

 respective velocities were determined frOm measurements of 

 th.' lines H/3, H7, H5, A 4481 (Mg) and \ 3934 (Ca). The 

 period of the binary is given as about 17 days (Astrono- 

 mische Nachrichten, No. 3890). 



The Allegheny Observatory. — In his report for 1902 the 

 director. Prof. F. L. O. Wadsworth, laments the fact that 

 the new observatory buildings and their equipments are not 

 yet completed, and especially urges the necessity for mount- 

 ing and housing the new 30-inch refractor, the discs "for 

 which have already been received from Mantois, of Paris ; 

 for this' purpose a fund of sixty-five thousand dollars is 

 required, none of which is yet subscribed or provided for. 



An excellent electrical equipment for lighting and heat- 

 ing, and -for all kinds of experimental work, has been 

 donated by Mr. Westipghouse. 



An efficient time service was maintained throughout the 

 year 1902 in spite of instrumental, difficulties. General 

 observational work has had to be suspended pending the 



NO. 1765, VOL. 68] 



removal to the new observatory. A large number of niathe- 

 matical researches have already been carried out, and others 

 are suggested for future attention, by the director. 



The latter part of the report is devoted to an outline of 

 the work it is proposed to do when the new observatory is 

 in full swing ; this work includes exhaustive daily observ- 

 ations of all the solar phenomena and seismographic, 

 gravitational, and magnetic observations. 



THE RELATIONS BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC 

 RESEARCH AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRY.' 



THE particular branch of science with which I have been 

 asked to deal at this meeting of university extension 

 students — viz. chemistry — is perhaps better calculated to 

 illustrate the intimate connection between scientific research 

 and productive industry than any other subject. I 

 emphasise the term productive industry because 'it is desir- 

 able to distinguish between productiveness and trade, i.e. 

 buying and selling. With the latter I have nothing to do 

 beyond pointing out the very obvious principle that, with- 

 out something to buy or sell, there would be no commerce, 

 and consequently productive industry must be put into the 

 first rank. Now chemical products of various kinds are 

 absolutely indispensable to all civilised nations. You may 

 remember that many years ago Lord Beaconsfield said that 

 the state of trade could be gauged by the price of chemicals. 

 A writer in the North American Review in 1899 published 

 an article in which he laid it down that the nation which 

 possessed the best chemists was bound to come to the fore- 

 front in the struggle for industrial supremacy. Of course, 

 " there is nothing like leather," and I am bound to agree 

 with him. Had he been an engineer or an electrician he 

 might perhaps have said the same for mechanical or 

 electrical engineering. At any rate, it is perfectly safe to 

 generalise his statement, and to declare that the nation 

 which possesses the most highly trained technologists is 

 bound to take the lead. 



In so many ways does chemistry come into contact 

 with nearly every branch of industry that it is 

 difficult to know where to draw the line in giving actual 

 illustrations of the industrial results achieved through 

 chemical research. It is not possible logically, for ex- 

 ample, to distinguish between the results obtained through 

 research directed towards the solution of a particular in- 

 dustrial problem and the results obtained as by-products 

 in the course of purely scientific investigation. Industry 

 has been advanced, and always will be advanced, by both 

 methods. Bearing in mind also that chemistry, in its 

 widest sense, is essentially the science of matter — at any 

 rate until the physicist has electrified matter into his own 

 domain — it is evident that we are concerned not only with 

 the production of useful materials for direct consumption, 

 but also with the production of materials required in other 

 industries. Thus chemistry affects engineers through the 

 m.etals, cements, and other materials used for constructive 

 purposes, and through the fuels used as sources of energy ; 

 it affects the agriculturist on account of the relationship 

 between the growing plant and the composition of the soil, 

 as well as through the relationship between the composi- 

 tion of crops and their value as food-stuffs ; it supplies 

 materials for the pharmacist, for the manufacture of 

 pottery, glass and soap, for the paper maker, for the dyer 

 and colour-printer, for the bleacher, tanner, brewer and 

 spirit distiller ; it furnishes the explosives used in modern 

 warfare, and it supplies photography with all the materials 

 necessary for the practise of that art. Among later develop- 

 ments it may be claimed that the modern science of bacteri- 

 ology is the outcome of chemical research, and the manu- 

 facture of anfi-toxins — the industrial result of this science — 

 has until quite recently been in the hands of the chemical 

 manufacturers. I may remind you also that many im- 

 portant products such as sodium, aluminium, phosphorus, 

 calcium, carbide, caustic soda, and chlorine are manu- 

 factured by electrical processes, so that the demand for 

 these products has given an impetus to the development of 

 applied electricity. 



1 A Lecture delivered at the University Extension Meeting at Oxford oh 

 August 3, by Prof. Raphael Meldola F R.S. 



