November 13, 1902] 



NA TURE 



39 



quarter and one-half that of the fan, according to the kind of 

 fan used. If the ratio of the orifices is one-third, the efficiency 

 in all these fans is not more than 2 to 3 per cent, below the 

 maximum, but it falls rapidly when the ratio is outside the 

 limits i and \. Hitherto there has been a "good old theory" 

 among colliery workers to have large airways and plenty of them, 

 but this theory Mr. Halbaum compares to remedying the defects 

 of a pump by enlarging its suction pipe. The investigation is 

 largely based on the theories of Mr. Murgue, of St. Etienne, 

 from whom, however, Mr. Halbaum differs in certain particu- 

 lars. We hope the author will be successful in convincing 

 mine owners that mathematical calculations are of more value 

 than "good old theories," but the slow progress which mathe- 

 maticians are able to effect in breaking down conservatism in 

 other directions does not make his outlook hopeful. 



We have received the first number of West India, a bi- 

 monthly illustrated magazine of thirty pages, publ ished by 

 Messrs. Lightbourn's Sons, price ten cents. Its contents are of 

 a very general character, being "devoted to questions and 

 persons and things generally," in prose and verse. The prin- 

 cipal article in the issue before us is one by Mr. Francis Watts, 

 on " Glimpses of the Leeward Islands." The Picture Stone, 

 at Harte's Bay, St. Kitts, is dealt with in verse by Dr. 

 Branch. 



Under the title of The Illustrated Scientific News, a new 

 monthly journal devoted to popular science has made its appear- 

 ance, and we offer it best wishes for a long and successful career. 

 With the second number, an excellent full-page portrait of Lord 

 Kelvin is presented as a supplement The journal is concerned 

 with inventions and other aspects of engineering work as well as 

 with purely scientific advances. There are, for instance, 

 articles on the 47 gun and the Diesel oil engine, as well as on 

 such scientific studies as sounding the atmosphere with kites, 

 Becquerel rays and Foucault's pendulum. Prof. H. H. Turner 

 lightens the pages with a few anecdotes, and asks for other 

 stories of scientific men and manners. This varied contents 

 should find an interested public. 



The thirty-fourth volume of the Transactions and Proceedings 

 of the New Zealand Institute, which deals with the year 1901, 

 runs to 627 pages and is illustrated by 42 plates. When it is 

 remembered that the Institute includes eight incorporated 

 societies, the proceedings of each of which are here reported, 

 and that the Transactions are concerned with zoology, botany, 

 geology, chemistry, physics and miscellaneous subjects, the 

 impossibility of describing the contents of the volume in a short 

 note will be at once understood. In his presidential address to 

 the Auckland Institute, Mr. J. Stewart considered, amongst 

 others, the subject of technical education. He insisted that a 

 youth cannot be taught a trade at a technical school in a manner 

 to enable him to take his place among those who have served a 

 regular apprenticeship to that trade ; but that the use of his 

 hands in mechanical handicraft is one of the easiest things for 

 a young man to acquire. The great aim of technical education, 

 he said, is to prepare the intellect to receive and master the 

 scientific basis of all construction and of all manufactures. A 

 paper, also read before the Auckland Institute, by Mr. Elsdon 

 Best, describes very fully the diversions of the " Whare Tapere," 

 a house where the young people of a village gathered at night 

 in order to amuse themselves in various ways, and gives an 

 account of the games, amusements and trials of skill practised 

 by the Maori in former times. A second contribution by Mr. 

 Best of the same date to the same society contains notes upon 

 witchcraft, magic rites and various superstitions as practised or 

 believed by the old-time Maori. Captain F. W. Hutton, 

 F. R.S., is credited with numerous papers, treating of the beetles 



NO. 1724, VOL. 67] 



of the Auckland Isles and other zoological subjects. Other 

 papers are by Profs. Dendy, Benham, A. P. W. Thomas, 

 J. Park and T. H. Easterfield, and when the fifty-four articles 

 brought together in the volume by the director of the Institute, 

 Sir James Hector, KC.M.G. , F. R.S., are considered, the con- 

 clusion is reached that science is being worthily advanced by 

 workers at the antipodes. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Green Monkey (Cercopithecus callitrichus) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mr. T. Turner ; a Vervet 

 Monkey {Cercopithecus lalandii) from South Africa, presented 

 by Mr. E. C. Holland ; three Indian Porphyrios (Porphyrio 

 calvus) from Java, presented by Mr. A. D. Grange ; a Woodcock 

 (Scolopax rusticula) European, presented by Mr. W. C. Reid ; 

 two Common Chameleons (Chamoeleoti vulgaris) from North 

 Africa, presented by Mr. E. V. Wash ; a Smith's Dwarf Lemur 

 (Microcelnts smithi) from Madagascar, a Barnard's Parrakeet 

 {Plalycercus barnardi) from South Australia, deposited ; a Stone 

 Curlew (CEdicnemus scolopax) European, puichased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet 1902 b as Observed in Ceylon. — Mr. H. O. 

 Barnard, of the Ceylon Survey, has communicated some inter- 

 esting details of Comet 1902 b, as observed by him in Ceylon, 

 to the Ceylon Observer of October n. 



He records the comet's appearance, using a telescope of 

 "moderate power," as an egg-shaped mass of nebulosity having 

 a very distinct star-like nucleus which is of a reddish colour, 

 and a tail which extended to about i°'5 from the nucleus on 

 October 7, giving the whole object a "tadpole" appearance; 

 he further adds that it was easily visible to the naked eye, whilst 

 an opera-glass showed a faint trace of the tail, but no nucleus. 



Mr. Barnard's computations show that the comet increased its 

 distance from the earth by 45 million (37 million to 82 million) 

 miles during the period October 8 to 28, inclusive, and that its 

 diameter was 200,000 miles, its volume 600 times that of the 

 earth, whilst the length of the tail, on October 7, was about 

 one million miles. 



Mr. Barnard expects the comet to be visible again, in Ceylon, 

 just before sunrise in December. 



New Minor Planets. — Prof. Max Wolf announces, in 

 Nos. 3821 and 3S24 of the Astronomische Nachrichten, the 

 discovery of five new minor planets. The dates of discovery, 

 positions and magnitudes of these objects are as follows : — 



Planet, Date. Heidelberg M.T a S Mag. 



h. m. h. m. , 



1902 J.V. Oct. 7 1038-8 2 97 +1055 I2'5 



,, J.W. ,, 7 13 25-8 2 5-2 3 iS 13-0 



„ J.-X. ,, 7 » ,. 152-9 2 55 13-5 



„ J.V. ,, 24 12 10-3 1 552 12 14 13-5 



. „ J-Z. ,, 24 ,, „ 1 592 +12 59 130 



The daily movements of the respective planets are J.V. 



-om.7, -2';J.W., -om.'S, -6';J.X., -om.7, -6' ; J.V., 



-om. -8, -6'; J. Z., om.7, -8'. 

 The planet discovered by Prof. Wolf on October 7 and 



designated 1902 J.U. proved to be the same as (106) Dione. 



Near Approach of Comet 1902 b to Mercury. — A tele- 

 gram from Prof. Pickering, dated Cambridge, Mass., October 29, 

 announces that Prof. Seagrave finds that Comet 1902 b will 

 approach to within two million miles of the planet Mercury on 

 November 29. 



Herr M. Ebell, Kiel, has confirmed this telegram from the para- 

 bolic elements published by Herr ElisStromgren in No. 3821 of 

 the Astronomische Nachrichten, and which were computed from 

 observations made at Lick (September 1), Nicolaiew (Sep- 

 tember 20'4) and Strasburg (October 8 - 4). From the 

 ephemeris accompanying these elements it is seen that the 

 declination of the comet will be too southerly for any further 

 observations to be made in England until about the middle of 

 February, and that its brightness at that time (February 11) 

 will be only 2'I times its brightness at the time of its discovery, 

 whilst by the end of February this ratio will be reduced to 0'6 

 {Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 3821). 



