March 2^, 19 16] 



NATURE 



89 



helion, and the apparent stellar magnitude will be 6-2. 

 It will be upwards of four years before a better con- 

 ditioned opposition takes place. The accompanying 

 chart shows its apparent path. After about March 26 its 

 magnitude does not appreciably alter during the period 

 shown on the chart. The positions of the four stars 

 nearest to the path are corrected for precession. The 



PATH OF THE Minor Planet Vesta. 



positions and mag-nitudes of the stars shown are 

 otherwise taken from the catalogue of naked-eye stars 

 prepared by Mr. T. W. Backhouse. Attention is 

 especially directed to the very close appulse of the 

 planet and the star Flamsteed 78, approximately 

 during the early morning of April 22. 



Spectroscopic Observations of Comets 1913/ 

 (Delavan) and 1914b (Zlatinsky). — N. v. Konkoly 

 has published results of visual spectroscopic observa- 

 tions of these comets made during 1914 {Astro- 

 nomische Nachriditen, No. 4833). The spectra of b<bth 

 were particularly bright, and presented a striking 

 similarity. The sodium D line w^as seen in the spectrum 

 of Delavan 's comet. The mean of a large number of 

 settings on the "bright vellow oearl," as it appeared 

 on September 30, gave' A 589-6*. Five hydrocarbon 

 bands were measured in both, the wave-lengths for 

 Delavan 's comet on October 17 being 55954, 543-50, 

 516-63, 48838, and 47238. In Zlatinsky's comet the 

 band at A 516 was the brightest, the relative intensi- 

 ties, from the red, being 05, 02, 10, 04, and 03. 



An Atmospheric Effect of Solar Kathode Rays. 

 —Reference was made in this column on October 28 

 to M. J. Maurer-s observation of a new atmospheric 

 optical effect synchronising with rapidly increasing 

 solar activity. M. J. Maurer made a more extensive 

 contribution to the Meteorologische Zeitschrift on the 

 same subject, and attention is now directed to an 

 tnghsh translation of this appearing in the U.S. 

 Monthly Weather Review (vol. xUii., No 11) 



T 



MR. WAX LEVIXSTEIX 



HE death, in his seventy-first year, of Mr. Ivan 

 Levmstein, which occurred on March 15, at his 

 residence at Hale, near Manchester, removes a con- 

 spicuous figure from the world of industrial chemistry. 

 He went to Manchester about the vear 1864 from 

 tterlin where he had studied chemistn- at the Tech- 

 nical High School, and established himself in business 

 in Ulackley in the heart of the dyeing industry of 

 south-east Lancashire, as a manufacturer of aniline 

 ayes being himself not only his own actual producer, 

 but his own salesman also. He quicklv laid the foun- 

 nations of a flourishing business, and' soon began to 

 NO. 2421, VOL. 97] 



identify himself conspicuously with the industry and 

 commerce of the city, associating himself also with 

 the active direction of other chemical enterprises like 

 those of the Ammonia Soda Company of Plumbley, 

 and Murgatroyd's Salt Company, of Middlewich. He 

 was the active promoter of the fine chemical exhibit 

 which attracted so much attention at the Manchester 

 Jubilee Exhibition of 1887. He W'as also the founder 

 and for some time the editor of the Chemical 

 Review, one of the first technical journals established 

 in this country. He was twice president of the Society 

 of Chemical Industry, and vice-president of the Society 

 of Dyers and Colourists and of the Manchester Chem- 

 ical Club. He was for many years a director of the 

 Chamber of Commerce and a past-president, and he 

 was closely identified, for more than thirty years, with 

 the development of the Manchester School of Tech- 

 nology-, which owed much to his keen intelligence and 

 sound knowledge of technical matters. The Man- 

 chester University, of the Court of which he was a 

 member, aw-arded him the degree of M.Sc. in recog- 

 nition of his man\' services to technical science. His 

 name will always be remembered for his stout advo- 

 cacy for the reform of the Patent Laws, which gave 

 so unfair an advantage to the foreigner, and he under- 

 took at great personal risk many successful actions 

 against certain of the great German chemical firms in 

 order to compel them to grant licences to manufac- 

 turers to work their patents in this countrj-. As he 

 once said, "they had patented the whole field of 

 organic chemistry by their astute method of drafting 

 their patents." His unwearied agitation resulted in 

 the Act of 1907, of which he may tioily be said, after 

 efforts which had extended over twenty vears, to be 

 the real author. 



METHODS AND APPLIANCES FOR THE 

 ATTAINMENT OF HIGH TEMPERA- 

 TURES IN THE LABORATORY. 



"IITHAT was described as an informal discussion on 

 * * the above subject was opened by Dr. J. A. 

 Harker, F.R.S., on March 15 at a meeting of the 

 Faraday Societ)-. The meeting, which was presided 

 over by Sir Robert Hadfield, F.R.S., attracted con- 

 siderable interest, and many well-known experimenters 

 in high-temperature work gave their experiences in 

 the course of the discussion. 



Dr. Harker, in the first place, described a recent 

 type of carbon tube furnace at present in use at the 

 National Physical Laboratory for standardising optical 

 pyrometers. It is gratifying to know that the high- 

 resistance, thin-walled carbon tubes employed are now- 

 made in this country. For many purposes graphite 

 can be substituted for carbon. This material has the 

 advantage of being easy to tool, but in order to in- 

 crease its resistance, a spiral or zigzag groove has 

 to be cut along the tubes, and the simple device of 

 wrapping filter paper round the tubes prevents — when 

 nothing but ash remains of the paper — the heat-insu- 

 lating material from falling through the grooves. For 

 this insulating material Dr. Harker recommends that 

 highly flocculent soot known as paint-maker's lamp- 

 black. Finally, the furnace must be completelv closed 

 in by a framework of wire-netting coated with' cement 

 to form a kind of solid ferro-concrete block. This is 

 necessary on account of the carbon monoxide that is 

 produced, as well as for thermal reasons. Copper 

 bands wrapped round the ends of the tubes as terminals 

 practically complete the furnace, but water-cooling is 

 necessar}^ to prevent undue heating at the contacts to 

 keep down the voltage; indeed, attention to the ter- 

 minal contacts is a necessarv condition of smooth 

 running, and inattention to this is a frequent sourrp 



