424 



NATURE 



[Septemuer 3, 1903 



and the chimpanzee, remarks the writer of the article, 

 closely approaches the management of an untaught child. 

 These creatures do not seem as much like lower animals as 

 do the majority of the so-called " dumb brutes." Coaxing 

 and perseverance have been responsible for the exhibitions 

 which from time to time have taken place. 



In the Journal of Botany (August) Dr. G. Murray pub- 

 lishes a short note on Atlantic diatomaceae. Some few 

 species were obtained in all the captures, even tar out at 

 sea, but an increase in the quantity of the take was generally 

 found to indicate the proximity to land. Miss A. L. Smith 

 describes some interesting microfungi, and Dr. W. G. 

 Smith refers Nidularia dentata to the genus Sphaerobolus. 

 Biographical notices of the botanists L. A. Deschamps and 

 F. Noronha are contributed by the editor. 



The number of the Minnesota Botanical Studies pub- 

 lished in July is mainly given up to articles dealing with 

 flowerless plants. Mr. Bruce Fink presents a list of lichens 

 collected on the northern boundary, and Mr. H. L. Lyon 

 catalogues the pteridophyta which grow in the State. Con- 

 tributions to the algal flora are furnished by Dr. H. F. 

 Schrader, who describes a new species of Alaria, and by 

 Mr. Skinner, who discusses the tide pool vegetation at 

 Port Renfrew. The distribution differs considerably from 

 that found on our coasts, seeing that a CoralUna extends 

 throughout the whole tidal range, while a Codium is associ- 

 ated with it in the higher pools. 



The Agricultural News of Barbados for August 15 re- 

 prints from the India Rubber World an interesting article 

 on the subject of the preparation of Para rubber in Ceylon, 

 in which full and detailed instructions are given for collect- 

 ing and coagulating the rubber. The text is elucidated by 

 illustrations. 



A PAMPHLET on " The Boiling Lake of Domimca," by 

 Mr. F. Sterns-Fadelle, has lately been published (office of 

 the Dominican, price is.). It gives an historical and 

 general account of this well-known geyser, which will be 

 useful to travellers in the West Indies. 



The annual report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society 

 for 1902 contains part ix. of a catalogue of British plants 

 in the herbarium of the Society, and a popular article on 

 "Sea Sand," by Mr. Hugh Richardson, in which the 

 characters and origin of the grains of sand are discussed. 



In the Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of 

 Science (vol. x. part iv.) Dr. H. M. Ami shows that the 

 slates yielding Dictyonema Websteri, and which were re- 

 garded by Sir J. W. Dawson as Upper Silurian, belong to 

 the Upper Cambrian. 



A PAMPHLET entitled " A Historical Sketch of the Experi- 

 mental Determination of the Resistance of the Air to the 

 Motion of Projectiles," by the Rev. Francis Bashforth, has 

 recently been published by the Cambridge University Press. 



Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., have published 

 a second edition of " Animal and Vegetable Fixed Oils, 

 Fats, Butters, and Waxes," by the late Dr. C. R. Alder 

 Wright. The new edition has been revised and partly re- 

 written by Mr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell, who, though he has 

 retained the general arrangement of the original work, 

 has, especially in the chapters dealing with the manu- 

 facturing processes, modified the text and brought it up to 

 date. 



A NINTH edition of Bloxam's " Chemistry " has been pub- 

 lished by Messrs. J. and A. Churchill. The book has been 

 NO. I 766, VOL. 68] 



rewritten and revised by Prof. J. M. Thomson, F.R.S., 

 and. Mr. A. G. Bloxam. A change has been made in the 

 present edition in the order of treatment of the non-metallic 

 elements, and carbon is now considered after hydrogen, 

 oxygen, and nitrogen. The plan of making no division, in 

 the portion of the book dealing with organic chemistry, 

 between the treatment of the fatty and aromatic compounds 

 has again been followed. 



A NEW edition — the twelfth— of " The Art of Retouch- 

 ing," by Mr. J. Hubert, has just been issued by Messrs. 

 Hazell, Watson and Viney, Ltd. 



Messrs. George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., announce 

 for early appearance a series of " Nature-Study Readers " 

 for general school use, under the editorship of Mr. John 

 C. Medd. The aim of the books is to present varied aspects 

 under which nature may be most conveniently studied alike 

 in urban and in rural districts. Each subject is to be 

 treated by a different writer, who has devoted special atten- 

 tion to it, and knows from personal experience what is 

 within the capacity of, and calculated to interest, children 

 of from nine to thirteen years of age. 



Mr. R. Lydekker, F.R.S., will shortly issue, through 

 Messrs. Hutchinson and Co., a volume of zoological essays 

 entitled "Mostly Mammals." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 th-=! past week include a Himalayan Bear {Ursus tibetanus) 

 from East Asia, presented by Lady Constance Mackenzie ; 

 a Common Otter (Lutra vulgaris) from Scotland, presented 

 by Mr. J. B. A'Deane; a Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis), 

 European, presented by Mr. W. H. St. Quintin ; a Dela- 

 lande's Gecko {Tarentola delalandii) from West Africa, 

 presented by Mr. P. C. Challice ; a Black Lemur {Lemur 

 macaco), a Black-headed Lemur (Lemur brunneus) from 

 Madagascar, a Black Sternothere (Sternothoerus niger) 

 from West Africa, seven Dalmatian Lizards (Lacerta 

 mosorensis) from Dalmatia, twelve Sharp-headed Lizards 

 (Lacerta dugesi) from Madeira, an Indian Eryx (Eryx johni) 

 from India, a Black-tailed Snake (Ungalia melanura), a 

 Black-spotted Snake (Ungalia pardalis), a Cuban Snake 

 (Liophis andreae) from Cuba, deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Spuctrum of Comet 1903 c. — Observations of the visual 

 and photographic spectra of this comet were obtained at 

 the Meudon Observatory, and were communicated to the 

 Academic by M. Deslandres, whose communication appears 

 in the Comptes reiidus for August 17. 



A spectrograph containing a 60° heavy flint glass prism 

 was especially constructed for these observations, and was 

 used in conjunction with the large double telescope. The 

 faint light of the comet was concentrated from a wide slit 

 by having the collimator of the spectroscope 55cm. long, 

 whilst the focal length of the observing telescope or camera 

 was only 12cm. 



The spectrum generally is of the characteristic hydro- 

 carbon type, but near to the nucleus of the comet it contains 

 several extra faint lines ; the brightest bands are those at 

 W 3881, 4681, 4314 and 4052, their relative intensities being 

 10, 8, 7 and 7 respectively. The blue bands at \ 473 are 

 separated into their several groups, thus affirming the 

 presence of the hydrocarbon spectrum ; this separation was 

 also noticed in the spectrum of Rordame's comet (1893 b) 

 obtained by Campbell at Lick in 1893, with which 

 Deslandres's spectruin is practically identical. 



M. Deslandres proceeds to note the similarities and 

 differences of the cometary spectrum and the cyanogen 

 spectrum as obtained in laboratory experiments, and 

 suggests, as an explanation of the differences, that, although 



