144 NATURE [APRIL 9, 1914 
Bureau of Standards at Washington has selected the 
Harcourt 10-candle pentane lamp as the best of the 
gas-flame lamps to serve as a secondary standard. 
This decision has been arrived at after an extensive 
test of the various lamps, and the conclusions with 
regard to the best method of using the standard are 
embodied in a paper by Messrs, E. C. Crittenden and 
A H. Taylor, which appears in the tenth volume of 
the bulletin. They cover the question of the fuel and 
the effects of pressure and moisture on the candle- 
power. 
A SUCCESSFUL modification of General Sterneck’s 
pendulum apparatus has been designed and em- 
ployed by Sig. Vincenzo Reina and Gino Cassinis 
in the determination of gravity (relative) at Rome, 
Arcetri (Florence), Livorno. and Genoa in Italy, and 
also at Vienna and Potsdam (Memorie R. Acc. 
ince, series. v:, vol.” 1x. No.« ¥7, )pp.. 751=839): 
In the earlier forms, such, for instance, as those used 
in the gravimetric survey of the Indian Peninsula, 
and more recently in Egypt, the pendulum support is 
a solidly constructed tripod resting on and clamped 
to a masonry pillar. Although maximum rigidity is 
aimed at, vet under the alternating strains induced 
by the swinging pendulums the support is found to 
be appreciably yielding, and the determination of the 
effect of flexure constitutes one of the necessary pieces 
of preliminary work. It is obtained by observing the 
oscillation of the invariable pendulum induced by a 
heavier synchronous (variable) auxiliary pendulum 
swinging in the same plane (method of Schumann). 
In the Italian modification the means for applying 
this method is made an inherent feature of the design. 
The trustworthiness of the correction is increased by 
securing (1) greater equilibrium in the distribution of 
parts, (2) that the correction is obtained with the 
invariable pendulum swinging in the position used in 
the actual determinations. These improvements are 
realised by mounting the single perforated agate plate 
on which the knife edges of the pendulums bear when 
they are in motion on two consoles, which can be bolted 
to a vertical surface. Only one invariable pendulum 
is swung at a time. With this arrangement the effect 
of flexure is less than one-tenth of that of the tripod 
type, the maximum correction of nine different groups 
being —3-9x10~-7 secs., whilst the minimum was 
—1I-5 x 10~‘ secs. 
WE have received a reprint of a paper read before 
the eleventh International Congress of Pharmacy, held 
at Scheveningen last September, by Prof. Hans 
Haller, of Leyden, on the application of comparative 
phytochemistry to systematic botany. Illustrations 
are given of the growing importance of a knowledge 
of the chemical substances elaborated by plants in 
elucidating vexed questions of classification and 
in throwing light on phylogenetic relations. dine 
field is one which has as yet been little worked, but 
it will in the future undoubtedly become more and 
more fruitful. 
Tue Societa Tipografica Editrice Barese, of Bari, 
Italy, announces the forthcoming publication of a 
series of reprints of scientific and philosophical classics 
NO. 2319, VOE. 03 | 
under the title, ‘‘Classici delle Scienze e della Filo- 
sofia.” In some respects this series will resemble the 
valuable collection already issued by Ostwald in Ger- 
many, under the title ‘‘ Klassiker der exakten Wissen- 
schaften,’’ but the venture will be on an even more 
ample scale; it will render easily accessible to the 
student of the historical development of science many 
classical papers which have hitherto been obtained 
only with great difficulty. Each volume will contain 
about 300 pages, and will cost about 3 lire. The 
whole series is under the general editorship of Messrs. 
Aldo Mieli and Erminio Troilo. All scientific workers 
will wish success to this praiseworthy enterprise. The 
following are specimens of the titles of volumes already 
issued :—Spallanzani’s ‘‘Saggio sul sistema della 
generazione”’ (1777); Biringuccio’s ‘‘De la Pirotech- 
nia’’ (1540), vol. i., and a translation of Descartes’s 
‘Principia Philosophiz.’”” Amongst those to appear 
at an early date are Francesco Redi’s ‘‘ Esperienze 
intorno alla generazione degli insetti,’’ Galileo’s tracts 
on motion, and several reprints of the scientific works 
of Leonardo da Vinci, Volta, Giordano Bruno, and 
Vico, to mention only a few of those announced as 
already in the press. 
Messrs. NOVELLO AND Co. have published a second 
edition of Dr. Jamieson B. Hurry’s ‘‘ Sumer is icumen 
in.”’ The attractive volume was originally published 
at the time of the unveiling at Reading Abbey of a 
memorial tablet, bearing a facsimile of the canon, 
which, it may be remembered, was written by a monk 
at Reading Abbey, about the year 1420. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
Comet 1914a (KRITZINGER).—Circular No. 145 from 
the Central Bureau at Kiel contains the following 
elements and ephemeris, communicated by Prof. 
Kobold, deduced from observations on March 29, 30, 
and 31 :— 
Elements. 
T =:914 May 3171816 M.T. Berlin. 
o =67° 0°95" 
=198 36°68 
J 23) U3 Op 
log g =o'09910 
Ephemeris for 12h, M.T. Berlin. 
“ R.A. Decl. Mag. 
April 16 *43 300) aeee = 3,464 20 “aos 
iif 46 56 2 53:8 
10 we, 5024) MP 2550-2 9 2c ose 
II 20% 53 «(54 I 25:4 
ieee ee LON See) —0O 39:9 
The ephemeris shows that the comet is reducing its 
southern declination; it is situated in the constellation 
of Ophiuchus. 
THe NEw Sorar Cycre.—The long period of 
apparent rest which the solar atmosphere has been 
recently undergoing has now been broken by the com- 
paratively large sun-spot which developed during the 
course of last week. The sun-spot activity of the last 
few years has been well summarised in the annual 
report of the council of the Royal Astronomical Society 
(Monthly Notices, February, 1914). In this we are 
told that the past year has been a year of minimum 
activity of sun-spots, more than a century having 
elapsed since the sun exhibited such complete and 
a ee ee 
