i6 



NA TURE 



[November 3, 1904 



Mr. H. G. Wells returns to the more serious side of his 

 work in " A Modern Utopia," which is being published 

 month by month in the Fortnightly Review. As in 

 " Anticipations " and " Mankind in the Making," Mr. 

 Wells concerns himself with sociological problems, and 

 pictures the probable manners and customs of society in 

 a Utopia, situated on a distant planet, which is the natural 

 outcome of continued development on modern lines. 



A REVISED edition of Mr. H. N. Chute's " Physical 

 Laboratory Manual " has been published by Messrs. D. C. 

 Heath and Co. In this edition sound and light have been 

 made to follow mechanics, because, the author says, " there 

 seems to be a consensus of opinion among teachers that 

 ... the grade is less steep than it is where these subjects 

 follow electricity." A few of the problems of the first 

 edition have been omitted, and new ones added. 



The first number of the Journal of Agricultural Science, 

 edited by Messrs. 'i. H. .Miadleton, I. B. Wood, R. ... 

 Biffen, and A. D. Hall, in consultation with other gentle- 

 men, will be published in January ne.xt by the Cambridge 

 University Press. The journal will publish only definitely 

 scientific work in agricultural science, and will not include 

 the results of the ordinary trials of manures and varieties 

 for demonstration or commercial purposes. Papers for 

 publication should be sent to Mr. T. B. Wood, University 

 Department of .Agriculture, Cambridge. 



The seventh edition of Dr. J. Frick's " Physikalische 

 lechnik," enlarged and completely revised by Prof. O. 

 Lehmann, is in course of publication by Messrs. F. Vieweg 

 and Son, Brunswick. The first half of vol. i. has been 

 received, and the second half is promised shortly. The 

 second volume will be published in a year or two, and will 

 complete the work. In the part before us there are 629 

 pages and 2003 illustrations of lecture and laboratory 

 apparatus for demonstrations and experiments in various 

 branches of mechanics and physics. 



_ A CHEAP edition (is. net) of Mr. G. F. Chambers's 

 Astronomy for General Readers " has just been published 

 by Messrs. Whittaker and Co. The book contains 26S 

 pages and 134 illustrations, most of which represent the 

 pictorial efforts of bygone days. As instances of the worst 

 of these figures, reference may be made to Figs. 29, 104, 

 105, 106, 109, and 112. Before issuing this cheap edition 

 an attempt should have been made to bring the text and 

 the illustrations in line with the present position of astro- 

 nomy, instead of leaving them as they were in the original 

 volume. 



I HE Journal of Anatomy and Physiology for October 

 (xxxix., part i.) contains a number of valuable papers but 

 of purely anatomical interest. The principal contribution 

 IS by Dr. Huntington on the derivation and significance of 

 certain supernumerary muscles of the pectoral region, illus- 

 trated with fourteen e.xcellent coloured plates. 



The new illustrated catalogue of physical apparatus jw^t 

 issued by Messrs. F. E. Becker and Co. (Messrs. W. and J. 

 George, Ltd.) is likely to prove indispensable in the physical 

 laboratories of all our schools and colleges. It runs to 628 

 large pages, and is strongly bound in cloth. Full particulars 

 are provided, not only respecting the apparatus required in 

 elementary and advanced physical teaching, but also con- 

 cerning that necessary to the physicist in his research work. 

 All branches of physics are included, and the instruments 

 throughout are explained by excellent illustrations and 

 concise descriptions, and, what is of prime importance, the 

 figure and its appropriate text are close together. 

 NO. 1827, VOL. 71] 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Astronomical Occurrenxes in November : — 

 Nov. 5. Saturn. Outer major axis of outer ring = 39" '42. 

 ,, ,, Outer minor axis of outer ring= u"'OI. 



8. Ilh. 50m. Minimum of Algol (/8 Persei). 



9. I3h. cm. Venus in conjunction with Moon (VenusJ 



6° 30' S.). 

 II. 8h. 39m. Minimum of Algol (/3 Persei). 



13. 2ih. om. Juno in conjunction with Moon (Junol 



0'8'N.). 



14. oh. om. Saturn in conjunction with Moon (Saturn, 



3''53'S.). 

 ,, 5h. 28m. Minimum of Algol {/3 Persei). 

 ,, i6h. Epoch of November meteors (Leonids, radiant 



1 50° + 22°). 



15. Venus. Illuminated portion of disc = o832, of Mars 



= 0-936. 



16. I5h. Venus and Uranus in conjunction (Venus, 



I°2S'S.). 



17- Sh. 5m. Transit of Jupiter's Sat. III. (Ganymede), 

 egress. 



19. Ilh. Jupiter in conjunction with Moon (Jupiter, 

 I I'Si'N.). 



20. loh. 24m. to Ilh. 44m. Moon occults |' Ceti 



(mag. 4-5). 



23. 5h. 20m. Near approach of Moon to a Tauri (mag. 



24. 6h. 39m. to Sh. 34m. Transit of Jupiter's Sat. III. 



(Ganymede). 



25. Vesta in opposition to Sun (Vesta, mag. 6'5). 



Encke's Comet 1904 b. — In No. 3973 of the Astronomische 

 Nachrichten M. M. Kaminsky gives a further ephemeris for 

 Encke's comet, which he has corrected in accordance with 

 the observation made at Heidelberg on September 11. The 

 ephemeris gives the daily positions of the comet from 

 October 14 to December 5, and the following is an abstract 

 therefrom : — 



oh. {M.T. Berlin). 



S app. log. r log. A 



+ 24 9 

 + 23 21 

 + 22 29 . 



+ 21 33 • 

 -1-20 36 . 



+ 19 35 ■ 



+ 18 33 . 



+ 17 29 . 



+ 16 24 . 

 The accompanying chart shows, 

 apparent path of the comet through the constellation 

 Pegasus into Equuelus from now imtil December ^. 



SiMULTANEOLlS OCCURRENCE OF SOLAR AND MAGNETIC DIS- 

 TURBANCES. — Writing in No. 3, vol. xx., of the Astrophysical 

 Journal, Herr A. Nippoldt, of the Potsdam Magnetic Observ- 

 atory, disagrees with Father Cortie's conclusion (published 

 in Astrophysical Joiirnal, pp. 287-293, vol. xviii., 19031 re- 



