Marcw 19, 1914] 
servations during the eclipse would communicate with 
the honorary secretary, Dr. W. Eccles, University 
College, London, W.C., at the earliest possible date. 
The committee proposes to prepare and circulate 
special forms for the collection of statistics of signals 
and strays, especially within the hemisphere likely to 
be affected by the eclipse. It will endeavour to 
make provision for the transmission of special signals 
at times to be indicated on the forms. It will also 
offer for the consideration of the authorities control- 
ling stations near the central line a simple programme 
of work. The discussion of the observations, and the 
comparison with meteorological data will be carried 
out by the committee, and digests of the statistics, 
together with the conclusions drawn from the analysis, 
will be published in due course. 
THe Curious Metreoric DispLay OF FEBRUARY 9, 
1913.—A brief account was given in NATuRE of Sep- 
tember 18 last (vol. xcii., p. 87) of what was described 
as an ‘extraordinary meteoric display,’’ which was 
observed over a very extensive line in Canada and 
America. The display took the form of a procession 
of meteors, brilliant and coloured, and was compared 
with a fleet of battleships or airships proceeding at 
night across the sky. The Journal of the Royal Astro- 
nomical Society of Canada for November—December, 
1913 (vol. vii., No. 6, pp. 404 and 438) publishes some 
further information and correspondence relating to 
this extraordinary display which will be read with 
great interest. In the first instance, Mr. W. F. Den- 
ning communicates an interesting discussion, having 
gone over the work again, after Prof. Chant’s inves- 
tigation, with the result of obtaining a good general 
agreement with the latter’s conclusions. Even so ex- 
perienced an observer as Mr. Denning describes the 
fall as ‘‘unique.’’ The further information is supplied 
by Col. W. R. Winter, of Bermuda, who has been 
able to collect additional facts since his first report. 
It shows that the general appearance of the display 
at Bermuda differed considerably from that observed 
in Canada, for most of the large leading bodies had 
disappeared while the number of trailers and groups 
had greatly increased. Prof. Chant discusses these 
various opinions and new observations in the article 
in question. 
THE GENERAL DISPLACEMENT OF LINES IN THE SOLAR 
SPECTRUM.—Some results of a comparison of arc and 
solar wave-lengths of certain iron lines appear in 
Bulletin No. xxxvi. of the Kodaikanal Observatory by 
which Mr. Evershed has been led to a new interpreta- 
tion of the general displacement of lines in the solar 
spectrum towards the red. The completion of the 
electric installation has enabled use of the arc to obtain 
spectra of the sun and laboratory source of light on the 
same plate, thus permitting more accurate determina- 
tion of absolute and relative shifts of the lines in the 
solar spectrum. Some of the plates have been 
measured by the positive on negative method 
recently noted in this column. Mr. Ever- 
shed’s determination of the difference between sun 
and arc agree, in the main, very well with the figures 
which MM. Fabry and Buisson have obtained by the 
interference method. The pressure explanation of 
the origin of the shifts is now found to be quite 
incompatible with the observations in three different 
directions : (1) King’s low-level lines show least shifts 
in the sun; (2) the lines showing greatest shifts under 
pressure in the laboratory show least shift in the sun; 
and (3) the lines in the red do not show the greatly 
increased shifts they would be expected to if Duffield’s 
exponential law were followed. It is found that lines 
in the red show-the least shifts, and that the strong 
(high-level lines) are mest affected. These two facts 
NO. 2316, VOL. 93] 
NATURE 
69 
receive adequate explanation on the supposition that 
in. the higher levels there is.a movement of descent 
with a negative acceleration. |The motion for. the 
strong lines amounts to 0-93 km./sec., while for the 
weak lines it is less than 0-3 km./sec.. The director 
is to be congratulated on the early advantage he has 
taken of the increased facilities afforded by the com- 
pleted electric installation. 
ORIGIN OF ~ PLANETARY SURFACE FEATURES.—M. 
Emile Belot has communicated to the French Academy 
of Sciences a tentative theory of the mode of forma- 
tion of the external features of some planetary bodies, 
more especially those of the earth (Comptes rendus, 
vol. clviii., p. 647). Whilst one does not feel by any 
means compelled to accept all the suggestions there 
put forward, the paper is nevertheless intensely in- 
teresting, and contains some highly original ideas 
regarding the development of the heart-shaped figure 
of the earth and the formation of land areas based 
on the hypothesis of a relative movement of trans- 
lation of the earth (also the moon and Mars, which 
are regarded as resembling the earth) in the primitive 
nebula, the movement being in the direction of the 
axis of rotation from south to north. M. Belot re- 
gards the main land features as cognate with water. 
He supposes, indeed, that they were formed by the 
deposition of material carried by surface torroidal cur- 
rents flowing away from the south pole, completing 
a stupendous circulation generated by the resistance 
offered by the nebula to the movement of translation. 
The vertical cool descending current in the Antarctic 
region marked that as the site of the condensation of 
the water of the ocean. 
SMOKE ABATEMENT IN EUROPE AND 
AMERICA. 
es movement for lessening the evils of smoke, 
both factory and domestic, is extending and in- 
creasing in weight and importance. In our own 
/ country, the health authorities of sixteen cities have 
/ commenced to make accurate observations upon the 
| extent and character of the soot- and dust-fall, by a 
| standard method and apparatus, 
Classes for the instruction of stokers and engineers 
in the scientific principles of combustion are now 
included in the curriculum of the majority of the 
larger technical schools and institutes; and a move- 
ment is in progress to obtain higher wages and a 
better status for the men who have passed satisfac- 
torily through these courses of training, and have 
obtained a certificate of efficiency. Glasgow has made 
most progress in this direction, and has also carried 
on for several winters a series of popular lectures, 
designed to bring home to the general public the losses 
and evils arising from smoke, and the best methods of 
minimising these, both in the works and in the home. 
The classes and lectures have been carried on in 
Glasgow, by the West of Scotland Branch of the 
Smoke Abatement League; in Manchester, Liverpool, 
and other towns and cities, the classes are run by 
the local education authorities. 
In Germany, the Hamburg ‘‘ Verein fiir Feuerungs- 
betrieb und Rauchbekaéampfung ”’ continues to flourish, 
and can show a membership of nearly 500 members, 
the majority of whom own boilers or other heating 
appliances, and are thus large users of fuel. The 
officers of the Verein are now directing their attention 
to the emission of smoke from steamers lying in the 
port of Hamburg, and are seeking to extend the 
benefits of their system of supervision to the Mer- 
cantile Marine. 
In America, the most notable event of the past 
twelve months has been the publication by the Mellon 
