April 16, 1903] 



NA TURE 



567 



regard the scheme as a purely scientific investigation which 

 may throw light on fishery problems, he is prepared to 

 endorse their recommendation, but not otherwise. In 

 the same report Dr. J. T. Jenkins discusses the differ- 

 ences between the spring and autumn broods of herring, 

 and the question whether these are the offspring of the same 

 parent herrings (which in that case must spawn twice in 

 the vear), or whether they belong to different races of the 

 species, one of which breeds in the spring and the other in 

 the autumn. The question is left undecided, although it is 

 pointed out that the alleged differences in form between the 

 fish of the two broods are not constant. 



Prof. H. F. Osborn has sent us a budget of extracts 

 from our American contemporary, Science. In one of these 

 articles it is proposed to divide reptiles into two main sec- 

 tions, Synapsida and Diapsida, according to the presence, 

 primarily, of single or double temporal arches. From a 

 second article it is satisfactory to learn that the splendid 

 collection of Pampean vertebrate fossils acquired by the late 

 Prof; Cope has been unpacked in the American Museum, 

 ;ind is in course of being worked out. Recent investiga- 

 tions, it is stated in a third, have led to the abandonment 

 of the lake-basin theory of the origin of the Tertiary strata 

 of the great plains. Attention is likewise drawn to the 

 large series of vertebrates — inclusive of two mammals — 

 from the Cretaceous of Canada, recently described by Mr. 

 Lambe. Of considerable interest is the provisional identi- 

 fication of a fossil mammal from Japan, to which reference 

 was made some time ago in our columns, with Desmotylus, 

 of the later Tertiary of California. 



The Saturday afternoon excursions of the London Geo- 

 logical Field Class, conducted by Prof. H. G. Seeley, 

 F.R.S., will commence on April 25. Among the localities 

 to be visited this season will be Walton-on-the-Hill, Ayles- 

 bury, Harefield, Sevenoaks, Leighton, and Tunbridge Wells. 

 Further particulars can be obtained from the hon. sec, Mr. 

 R. Herbert Bentley, 33 Church Crescent, Muswell Hill, N. 



The second edition of Prof. A. Winkelmann's " Handbuch 

 der Physik," which originally appeared in 1896, is in course 

 of publication by the firm of J. A. Barth, Leipzig. The new 

 edition will be published in six volumes, dealing respectively 

 with general physics, acoustics, heat, electricity and mag- 

 netism, and optics. Each volume will be complete in itself, 

 and the editor, Prof. Winkelmann, has obtained the assist- 

 ance of many well-known men of science in Germany for 

 various branches of physics. The first half of the volume on 

 electricity and magnetism, which we have received, shows 

 that the complete work will be a more detailed treatise of 

 physics than exists at present for English-reading students. 



Prof. W. A. Tilden, F.R.S., was elected president of 

 the Chemical Society at the annual general meeting on 

 March 25. The retiring president, Prof. J. Emerson 

 Reynolds, F.R.S., delivered an address, in which he directed 

 attention to the publication of some recent reports on pro- 

 gress in chemical research, and urged the publication of 

 similar digests. He urged the study of " comparative 

 chemistry " of inorganic compounds. There were few in- 

 quiries of greater interest tharv those involving inorganic 

 isomerism, which was now either completely ignored or only 

 slightly mentioned. Polymerism, or molecular condensa- 

 tion, was well known to exist in many inorganic com- 

 pounds, as in the oxides of nitrogen, vanadium, niobium 

 and tantalum. Silicon showed a great analogy to carbon, 

 and it was highly probable that some of the native silicates 

 were benzenoid combinations of 6SiO.. The more familiar 



NO. 1746, VOL. 67] 



cases of isomerism were the nitrites and sulphites, and 

 isomerism had also been observed in the thiosulphates and 

 the salts of the phosphorous acids. Attention was directed 

 to some cobalt, platinum, and molybdenum compounds 

 which showed this peculiarity. Another analogy between 

 carbon and inorganic coniDOunds was the curious and 

 interesting catalytic action, referred to by Bredig under the 

 title of " inorganic ferments." Colloid platinum solutions 

 acted on many substances in the same way and under 

 similar laws as enzymes. The whole subject was little 

 known, but it suggested that the broader study of inorganic 

 chemistry, especially in the light of our knowledge of the 

 " organic " division of the science, was well worthy of 

 much greater attention than it had received of late. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include two Maholi Galagos (Galago maholi) 

 from South Africa, presented by Captain Crosse ; a Green- 

 land Seal (Phoca groenlandica) from the Firth of Forth, pre- 

 sented by Mr. E. H. Bostock ; two Lesser Kestrels (Tinnun- 

 culus cenchris), captured at sea, presented by Mr. L. 

 Ovens; a Long-necked Chelodine (Chelodina longicollis), 

 three Muricated Lizards (Amphibolurus muricatus), a 

 Quoy's Lizard (Lygosoma quoyi) from Australia, a Euro- 

 pean Pond Tortoise (Emys orbicularis), European, presented 

 by Mr. E. Hulton ; a Purple-faced Monkey (Semnopitkecus 

 ccphalopterus) from Ceylon, a White-crowned Mangabey 

 (Cercocebus oethiops). from West Africa, a Fringed Gecko 

 (Uroplates fimbriatus), two Green Geckos (Phelsuma 

 madagascariense) from Madagascar, four Derbian Zonures 

 (Zonurus giganteits), a Blessbok (Damaliscus albifrons) 

 from South Africa, an Antarctic Skua (Stercorarius 

 antarcticus) from the Straits of Magellan, six Amboina Box- 

 Tortoises (Cyclemys amboinensis), a Ceylonese Terrapin 

 (Nicoria trijuga, var. ediniana) from India, a Raven (Corvus 

 corax), European, deposited ; a Mouflon (Ovis musimon) 

 born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Nova Geminorum. — Several observations of the new siar 

 announced by Prof. Turner on March 24 are contained in 

 No. 3858 of the Astronomische Nachrichten. 



Prof. Deichmiiller, of Bonn, has looked up some old 

 observations of the region, made during 1856, 1857 and 

 1858, and cannot find therein any record of an object having 

 the position occupied by the Nova. 



Prof. Hartwig (Bamberg) compared the Nova with two 

 neighbouring stars, viz. B.D. + 2<)° 1336 (given as magni- 

 tude 83) and B.D. + 30 1331 (given as magnitude 87), on 

 March 26, and found that it was equal to the former and 

 about 01m. brighter than the latter, whilst he records its 

 colour as " bright orange." Two heliometer measures of 

 the Nova's position, using the stars B.D. + 29° 1342 and 

 B.D. + 29 1307 as reference stars, gave for 1903 : — 



a = 6h. 38m. 047s., S = +30° 2' 27"o 

 and 



a = 6h. 38m. 046s., 5 = +30° 2' 3 1 " ■ z 

 respectively. 



Prof. Hartmann and Dr. Ludendorff, using the 80 cm 

 Potsdam refractor with the No. 1 star-spectroscope, obtained 

 a spectrum of the Nova, with three hours' exposure, on 

 March 29. The star then apDeared to be of about the ninth 

 magnitude, and the spectrum on the plate is extremely faint. 



The hydrogen line H/8 appears as a bright emission line 

 between A 4857 and A 4881, and the middle of the line is 

 shifted about 8 Angstrom units towards the red. In the 

 blue part of the spectrum there are many bright lines form- 

 ing a band which has its maximum intensity from A 4604 

 to A 4672. The line H7 is also a bright line, but is so ex- 

 tremely faint that it was measured with difficulty ; it 

 appears to extend from A 4343 to A 43^6, and, like Hj3, to 



