December i i, 1902] 



NA TURE 



l j/ 



The Public Health Department of the City of London directs 

 attention (Report of the Medical Officer of Health, No. 52) to 

 the filthy and dangerous habit of indiscriminate spitting, the 

 chief source, probably, of tuberculous infection. Many cities in 

 the United Stales, Canada, Australia and in Europe have made 

 the habit a penal offence, and the Corporations of Liverpool, 

 Manchester and Glasgow and the County Council of Glamorgan 

 have bye-laws prohibiting it in public places. The Medical 

 Officer for the City suggests that similar powers should be 

 obtained by the Corporation of London for dealing with it. 



New editions have been published of " Palaeontology, 

 Invertebrate," by Mr. Henry Woods (Cambridge University 

 Press) and "Maps, their Uses and Construction," by Mr. G. 

 James Morrison (Edward Stanford). The former is the third 

 edition and Mr. Morrison's book is a second edition, which has 

 been revised and enlarged. 



The twenty-fourth annual volume of the Proceedings of the 

 United States National Museum, published under the direction 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, contains, like all its predecessors, 

 an abundance of valuable information on anthropological, bio- 

 logical and geological subjects. It is impossible in this place to 

 refer to each of the separate contributions. Messrs. Jordan and 

 Snyder review many classes of the fishes of Japan, separate 

 papers being given to the discobolous, gobioid, gymnodont, 

 hypostomide, lophobranchiate, labroid, salmonoid and trach- 

 inoid fishes. Messrs. Wirt Robinson and M. W. Lyon 

 .provide an annotated list of mammals collected in the vicinity 

 of La Guaira, Venezuela, while Dr. Leonhard Stejneger deals 

 with the batrachians and reptiles of the same locality. In 

 another paper, the last named author describes a new bullfrog 

 from Florida and the Gulf Coast. Mr. D. White gives an 

 account of two new species of algce of the genus Buthotrephis, 

 from the Upper Silurian of Indiana. The fossil fresh-water 

 shells of the Colorado desert form the subject of a paper by 

 Dr. R. Stearns. The humming-birds of Ecuador and Colombia 

 are catalogued by Mr. H. C. Oberholser. Illustrations and 

 descriptions of new, unfigured or imperfectly known shells, 

 chiefly American, in the U.S. National Museum are given by 

 Mr. W. H. Dall. The larks of the genus Otocoris are de- 

 scribed in detail by Mr. H. C. Oberholser. Many of the papers 

 are accompanied by numerous admirable illustrations, those 

 connected with Mr. Oberholser's paper being especially good. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Patas Monkey (Cercopithecus patas) from 

 West Africa, presented by Mr. E. Chaplin ; a Virginian Eagle 

 Owl (Btibovirginiauus), a Mexican Eared Owl (Asio mexicanus) 

 from Argentina, presented by Miss Irene Thornton ; a Graceful 

 Ground Dove (Geopelia cuneata) from Australia, presented by 

 Miss Cooper ; a Glass Snake [Ophiosaurus apus) European, 

 presented by Mr. C. H. Rawlins ; aDerbian Wallaby (Macropus 

 derbianus) from Australia, deposited ; four Black-necked Swans 

 (Cygnus nigricollis) from Antarctic America, received in 

 exchange. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



New Comet 1902 d (Giacoeini). — A telegram from 

 Kiel, dated December 3, announces that the fourth new comet 

 of this year was discovered by M. Giacobini at Nice on De- 

 cember 2d. I2h. Its position at ioh. om. (Nice M.T.) was 

 R.A. = 7h. 17m. 6, Dec. = i° 58' S., anditis movingin a north- 

 westerly direction. A second telegram, dated December 4, 

 says that the comet was observed by Herr Graff at Hamburg 

 on December 3d. nh. '5, and its position for I5h. om. (Ham- 

 burg M.T.) was R.A. =7h. 17m. -4, Dec. = 1° 51' S. The daily 

 movement in declination is + 3', and the projected path of the 

 comet passes near to the 'border line between the constellations 

 Gemini and Orion. 



NO. I728, VOL. 67] 



The Variability of a Orio.nis.— From an examination 

 of his observations of the comparative magnitudes of Betelgeux 

 and £ Orionis which he has made during this year, Herr J. 

 Plassman has confirmed the recent variation of magnitude in 

 the former star, and he considers that the peculiarities of the 

 variations merit further and continuous attention on the part 

 of variable-star observers (Astronomische Nachrickten, No. 

 3830). 



Activity of the Luxar Crater Linne.— In Circular 

 No. 67 of the Harvard College Observatory, Prof. E. C. 

 Pickering gives the micrometric measures of the bright spot 

 surrounding Linne which were made at Harvard by Prof. 

 W. H. Pickering, using the 15-inch equatorial, before and 

 after the passage of the earth's shadow in the eclipse of 

 October 16. 



These measures show that the bright spot has materially 

 increased in size since similar measures were made in 1S9S and 

 1899, an d> further, that the change in size during the passage of 

 the umbra was surprisingly great, so great that Prof. W. H. 

 Pickering found it necessary to reassure himself that the object 

 he was measuring was indeed Linne. This increase of size 

 amounted to 2"75, instead of o" 14 obtained by the same 

 observer during the eclipse of 1899 (Popular Astronomy. 

 vol. viii. p. 58). 



Prof. E. C. Pickering attributes the change in the normal 

 size to increased activity on the part of the crater, and the large 

 increase of diameter during the eclipse to the fact that, owing 

 to this increased activity, there was on this occasion more 

 moisture around the crater to condense. 



The increase in normal size was confirmed by measures made 

 on October 20, when the spot had begun to shrink owing to 

 the increased amount of evaporation in the fierce sunlight, for 

 the value obtained then (4" '61) was sensibly larger than that 

 obtained (3"'4t) during a similar phase in 1S98. 



Redeterminations of the Velocity of Light and 

 the Solar Parallax. — A communication from M. Per- 

 rotin to No. 21 of the Comples rendus describes the experi- 

 ments which have been made recently, at the Observatory of 

 Nice, to redetermine with greater accuracy the velocity of light, 

 using the toothed-wheel method of Fizeau under improved con- 

 ditions. 



In previous experiments, the beam of light was made to travel 

 a distance of 12km. (7 -452 miles) and back, but in the recent 

 experiments it was reflected from a mirror placed at a distance 

 of 46km. (28'566 miles) from the source, an objective of 

 076m. diameter being used at the plane of emission and one 

 of 0'38m. diameter as the collimator. 



As a result of 1 109 observations, the final value obtained for 

 the velocity was 299,880km. (about lS6,225'5 miles) per 

 second, and the probable error is less than 50km. per second. 



In addition, M. Perrotin also gives the final value obtained 

 for the solar parallax, from observations of the planet Eros, 

 made at Nice, as 8" •805 + 0" 'oi 1, and from this deduces a value 

 of 2o"'465 for the " constant of aberration," thus confirming the 

 value adopted by the International Astronomical Conference of 

 1896. 



The "Annuaire Astronomique." — This year-book of 

 astronomy for 1903, compiled by M. Camille Flammarion and 

 published at the low price of 1*50 francs, is one of the most 

 complete and useful books of its kind. It gives practically all 

 the data required by the amateur astronomer or meteorologist, 

 amongst which may be mentioned the solar, lunar and planetary 

 elements for the year, the various phenomena such as eclipses, 

 occupations, meteors, comets, &c. , tables of the positions, dis- 

 tances and proper motions of the brighter stars, particulars of 

 double stars, many useful meteorological tables, and a valuable 

 risuml of the more important astronomical and meteorological 

 events of 1902, the whole being freely illustrated by interesting 

 photographs and curves. 



METEOROLOG Y A T GREA T AL TITUDES} 

 A N International Aeronautical Congress was held at Berlin, 

 "^ May 20 to 24, 1902, on the occasion of the third meeting 

 of the International Committee for Scientific Aeronautics, ap- 

 pointed by the Paris Meteorological Conference of 1S96. Of 

 this committee there were present the president, Prof. Hergesell, 

 of Strasburg, Prof. Assmann and Mr. Berson, of Berlin, General 



1 Abridged from a Report contributed by Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch to the 

 U.S. Monthly Weather Ifevie-.e for July. 



