554 



NATURE 



[October 8, 1903 



Farm Cove, a bay in the famous harbour of Port Jackson. 

 The collections of cycads and conifers, including nearly a 

 dozen species of both Macrozamia and Podocarpus, are par- 

 ticularly noteworthy. The plan adopted in the " Guide " is 

 to give a list of the important plants to be found in each 

 bed, with brief notes on native and the more interesting 

 foreign, species. 



Two handy little publications have been issued by 

 Messrs. James Woolley, Sons, and Co., Ltd., of Man- 

 chester. One, known as the " Science Teacher's Pocket 

 Book and Diary, 1903-4," costs a shilling, and the other, 

 the " Science Student's Note Book, 1903-4," costs 6d. 

 Both books contain about forty pages of useful constants 

 in physical and chemical science, together with other 

 numbers in constant use in the laboratory. 



Messrs. Aston and Mander are now manufacturing for 

 the use of technical and other schools drawing instruments 

 provided with several useful improvements. The adjusting 

 screws cannot be detached from the instruments, and so be 

 lost, the inking-in pens are easily cleaned, and a patent 

 hook-and-nut method of holding the needles effectually pre- 

 vents breakages when clamping, and renders it easy to 

 change the needles. 



Several volumes of the first annual issue of the " Inter- 

 national Catalogue of Scientific Literature " have recently 

 been received. The volume on chemistry (part ii.) contains 

 671 pages, referring to papers published since the end of 

 1900. The literature published in 1901, together with a 

 portion of that published in 1902, is catalogued in the 

 volumes on palaeontology, general biology, human anatomy, 

 physical anthropology, and physiology (part ii.) ; the last 

 volume includes papers on experimental psychology, phar- 

 macology, and experimental pathology, and occupies 664 

 pages. 



Copies have been received of the last two half-yearly 

 volumes — xxxii. and xxxiii. — of the Journal of the Anthropo- 

 logical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Among 

 numerous other important contributions, the earlier volume 

 contains the Huxley lecture for 1902, on right-handedness 

 and left-brainedness, by Prof. D. J. Cunningham, F.R.S. 

 The more recent volume includes the address by the presi- 

 dent. Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., delivered at the annual 

 general meeting of the Institute in January last. The 

 volumes are profusely illustrated with beautifully repro- 

 duced plates, and serve to show the excellent work the 

 Institute is doing. Similar researches are, in the United 

 States and elsewhere, liberally subsidised by the State, but 

 the Anthropological Institute, working without such sup- 

 port, is enriching the Empire by collecting and publishing 

 a mass of well-arranged information of which any scientific 

 department might legitimately be proud. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Chimpanzee (Anthropopithecus 

 troglodytes) from the Albert Nyanza, a Patas Monkey 

 (Cercopithecus patas) from Gondolioro, presented by Colonel 

 Bruce; two Geoffroy's Cats (Felis geoffroii) from Chaco, 

 Argentina, presented by Mr. A. C. Crewe; a Puma {Felis 

 concolor), two Vicunas {Lama vicugna), a Condor 

 (Sarcorhamphus gryphus) from Puna de Jujuy, presented 

 by Baron Ott ; a Rosy-faced Love-bird {Agapornis rosei- 

 collis) from' South Africa, presented by Mrs. Healey ; a 

 Mandarin Duck (/Ex ^aZertcuia/a) from China, presented 

 by Mrs. Balston ; two Wagler's Pit Vipers {Lachesis 

 ■wagleri) from Singapore, presented by Mr. A. Herbert ; a 

 Back-marked Snake {Coluber scalaris), European, presented 



NO. 1 77 1, VOL. 68] 



by Mr. W. A. Harding; four Horned Lizards {Phrynosorria 

 cornutum) from Colorado, presented by Mr. Edwin Webb ; 

 two Carinated Lizards {Liocephalus carinatus) from the 

 West Indies, five Hispid Lizards {Agama hispida) from 

 South Africa, five Round-spotted Lizards {Stenodactylus 

 guttatus) from North Africa, five Black-spotted Lizards 

 {Algiroides nigropunctatus) from the Borders ; of the 

 Adriatic, two Wall Lizards {Lacerta muralis, var. genii), 

 two Wall Lizards {Lacerta muralis, var. badriagoe) from 

 Corsica, two Alaska Geese {Bernicla minima) from the 

 Pacific Coast, deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Rotation of Saturn. — Writing to the October 

 number of the Observatory, Herr Leo Brenner states that 

 the rotation pieriod of Barnard's large white spot on 

 Saturn, as deduced from his observations, is exactly 

 loh. 38m., and that this value is rigidly confirmed by the 

 observations of other German observers. 



This period exactly agrees with that obtained by Mr. 

 Denning as a mean of all the published observations, and, 

 as that observer points out in a communication to the above- 

 named journal, it indicates that the various belts and zones 

 on Saturn have different rotation periods in a manner similar 

 to those of Jupiter. 



The recent disturbances on Saturn have now practically 

 subsided, and can only be seen with the larger instruments. 



The Broadening of Spectral Lines. — In a paper com- 

 municated to No. 34 vol. vi. of the Philosophical Magazine 

 Mr. G. W. Walker discusses the causes which lead to the 

 asymmetrical widening of spectral lines. 



Taking it for granted that near to a luminous source, 

 whether the luminosity be produced by electricity or by 

 flame at high temperature, there must be a number of free 

 negatively charged particles, he proceeds to show how these 

 particles may modify the light which they receive, and 

 again scatter -it in a manner quite different to that obtain- 

 ing in the " Doppler " or in any " damping " effect. 

 These charged particles, under the influence of the plane 

 waves, will then vibrate with a period different from that of 

 the incident waves ; thus, instead of homogeneous light, 

 there will be a portion of the light scattered by the charged 

 particles, and this portion will have a longer wave-length 

 than the original light, its intensity varying in proportion 

 to the number of freely charged particles present. This, 

 however, does not account for those rare cases where the 

 broadening takes place on the violet side of the normal 

 line. To explain these cases Mr. Walker suggests that the 

 continuous streams of charged particles will set up a mag- 

 netic field which may produce the Zeeman effect, in which 

 Zeeman has frequently noted asymmetrical broadening to- 

 wards the violet. Where this latter effect is greater than 

 the former, then the broadening takes place on the violet 

 edge of the original line. 



The Spectrum of Hydrogen. — With the purpose of 

 elucidating the connection between the " four-line " spec- 

 trum and the " many-line " spectrum of hydrogen, Mr. 

 Louis A. Parsons, of the Johns Hopkins University, has 

 made a series of experiments dealing with the spectrum of 

 hydrogen obtained under many various conditions, and has 

 embodied his results in a paper communicated to No. 2 

 vol. xviii. of the Astrophysical journal. 



After discussing the various theories which have previously 

 been put forward in explanation of the phenomena, and 

 dealing especially with that of Prof. Trowbridge, who 

 supposes that the line spectrum is due to water vapour, and 

 not to hydrogen pure and simple, Mr. Parsons describes the 

 various pieces of apparatus he used and the experiments he 

 performed, and then summarises his results in the follow- 

 ing conclusions : — (i) The compound spectrum never occurs 

 without the line spectrum, although the latter may occur 

 alone at high pressures ; (2) the line spectrum is character- 

 istic of an abruptly oscillatory discharge, whilst the com- 

 pound spectrum is produced by the continuous discharge ; 

 (3) the line spectrum may be produced by high tempera- 

 tures occufring locally at points where the disruptive dis- 



