40 



NA TURE 



[November io, 1904 



suspension, &c., one may calculate from the observed read- 

 ings, taken from the scales each minute of the quarter or 

 half an hour that the wheels continue to revolve at a con- 

 stant rate, the angular velocity of the earth's rotation. 



For this quantity Prof. Foppl has obtained a value within 

 2 per cent, of that obtained from astronomical phenomena, 

 and hopes, with the assistance of M. O. Schlick, the maker 

 of the apparatus, to obtain a still more accordant value by 

 further modifying and perfecting his device {Revue ginirale 

 dcs Sciences, No. 19, October 15). 



Tme Perseid Shower. — Mr. A. King sends an account of 

 his observations of Perseid meteors during July and August. 

 The observations were divided into two periods, namely, 

 (i) July 12 to 18 inclusive at Sheffield, (2) August 3 to 18 

 inclusive at Leicester. 



The total time spent in watching was twenty-one hours. 

 Considerably more than 200 shooting stars were seen, of 

 which nearly 130 were Perseids ; 152 meteors were noted, 

 about 80 being Perseids. The maximum of the shower 

 seems to have occurred on August 11, or in the daylight 

 hours of the morning of August 12. By August 14 t^ 

 strength of the shower had much decreased, but on the 

 following night there was a recrudescence of Perseid activity, 

 for within the first fifteen minutes of a w'atch from loh. 

 to iih. two beautiful Perseid fireballs, both nearly equalling 

 Jupiter in brilliance, appeared, and altogether the hourly 

 rate of Perseids was higher than on August 14. Mr. King 

 considers that the display was scarcely so strong as of late 

 years, but still was a fairly rich one. The following posi- 

 tions were obtained : — August 6, a 38, 5 -1-565 (10 meteors) ; 

 August II, a 45^, 5 +572 (35 meteors); August 12, 

 a 46';, 6 +575 (13 meteors); August 14, a 503, 5 +585 (7 

 meteors). 



The movement of the radiant is thus well shown. In 

 conclusion, Mr. King says ; — *' All the brilliant Perseids 

 had pear-shaped heads. Of 47 Perseids the colours of which 

 were recorded 31 were yellow, a few of these having a 

 greenish tinge. The tints of the streaks usually eluded 

 observation, but the streak of a bright Perseid which 

 appeared on August 13 was muddy." 



The Dumb-bell Nebula. — From a special study of the 

 various forms of nebulas which he has photographed with 

 the Meudon reflector, M. Louis Rabourdin has arrived at 

 the conclusion that the dumb-bell nebula may be correctly 

 classified as elliptical, and that the ring nebula in Lyra 

 should also be placed in the same category. 



On comparing a number of photographs of these two 

 objects he found that they have the same elliptical form, and 

 that the stars enclosed in each are, generally speaking, 

 similarly arranged. Consequently, he believes them to be 

 objects which started with the same primal form, but 

 have arrived at different stages in the order of their 

 evolution. 



Several other well known objects are placed by him in 

 the same class, and he suggests that the nebulae generally 

 may be of two general types only, viz. elliptical and spiral 

 {Bullelin de la Sociiti astronomiqtic de France, October, 

 1903)- 



H.ARV.1RD College Observatory. — In a small brochure 

 published by the Harvard College authorities (Cambridge, 

 Mass., 1904) the establishment, growth, and work of the 

 college observatory is briefly recorded. The various stations 

 and the instruments located in each are named and de- 

 scribed, and the work already performed, the publications of 

 the observatory, and the officers employed are mentioned 

 in chronological order. Two reproductions of photographs 

 show the stations at Cambridge and Arequipa respectively. 



In a second similar publication Prof. E. C. Pickering out- 

 lines the second part of his " Plan for the Endowment of 

 Astronomical Research," in which he suggests several 

 methods of usefully spending the money he is seeking to 

 raise for this purpose. Among other things he discusses 

 solar eclipse expeditions, and states that the English method 

 of organisation by means of a central permanent eclipse 

 committee is one which might be usefully copied in other 

 countries, where much money has been " wasted " by send- 

 ing out a number of mutually independent expeditions, often 

 in charge of incompetent persons, to attempt to obtain 

 results which are but seldom adequately discussed or 

 published. 



NO. 1828, VOL. 71] 



IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE. 



"T^lIE opening meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute was 

 held on October 24 in New York under the presidency 

 of .Mr. Andrew Carnegie. .Addresses of welcome were de- 

 livered by the Mayor, by Mr. John Fritz, chairman of the 

 reception committee, and by Mr. James Gayley, president 

 of the .American Institute of Mining Engineers. On behalf 

 of the council Sir Jaities Kitson presented to Mr. Carnegie 

 the Bessemer gold medal in recognition of his great services 

 to the iron and steel industries of the world. On October 26 

 a seleciicp. of papers was read and discussed. 



The first and most important read was that by Mr. James 

 Gayley (New York) on the application of dry air blast to 

 the manufacture of iron. The variable moisture in the 

 atmosphere has long been recognised as a barrier to further 

 progress in blast furnace practice. The problem of extract- 

 ing the moisture has been solved by Mr. Gayley by the 

 adoption of refrigeration by means of anhydrous ammonia. 

 A plant was put in operation at the Isabella furnaces of 

 the Carnegie Steel Company at Pittsburg on August 11, 

 and remarkable results have been obtained. Prior to its 

 i adoption, the furnace from August i to August 11 produced 

 on an average 358 tons of pig iron daily with a coke con- 

 sumption of 2147 lb. Using dry air blast from .August 25 

 to September g the daily production of pig iron averaged 

 447 tons with a coke consumption of 1726 lb. Similar 

 advantages would doubtless be effected in the Bessemer con- 

 verter, in the open-hearth steel process, in copper smelting, 

 I and in other processes where air in large quantities is used. 



The next paper read was on the influence of carbon and 

 phosphorus on the strength of iron and steel, by Mr. H. H. 

 j Campbell, .of Steelton, Pennsylvania. 



I The paper by Mr. C. \'. Bellamy, Director of Public 

 Works, Lagos, was of great ethnological interest. He de- 

 scribed the process of iron manufacture in the hinterland of 

 the British colony of Lagos, within twenty days of 

 London, where the methods are the same as those 

 practised by the earliest workers in the metal. The 

 smelting works are near Oyo, the capital of the Y'oruba 

 country, and it is only recently that they have been visited 

 by a white inan for the first time. Analyses given by Mr. 

 F. W. Harbord, in an appendix to the paper, show that 

 the metal is a pig iron partially decarburised by an oxidising 

 flux. It is really a puddled steel, low in sulphur and phos- 

 phorus, its purity accounting for its good qualities. 



Mr. J. .M. Gledhill read a paper describing the develop- 

 ment and rise of high-speed tool steel. Since the initiation 

 of high-speed cutting at the Bethlehem Steel Works, great 

 developments have been made, and results in cutting powers 

 far beyond expectation have been attained. .An analysis of 

 one of the best qualities of rapid steels produced by Sir 

 W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Ltd., showed 0-55 

 per cent, of carbon, 35 per cent, of chromium, and 13-5 per 

 cent, of tungsten. 



The results of different analysts when operating on the 

 same sample of iron or steel are far from concordant, and 

 attempts have been made at various times to investigate 

 the causes of difference. A further attempt has now been 

 made to ascertain the most trustworthy methods for the 

 determination of carbon and phosphorus in steel by a coin- 

 mittee consisting of Mr. J. E. Stead, F.R.S., Baron H. 

 von Jiiptner (Austria), Mr. A. A. Blair (Philadelphia), and 

 Mr. Gunnar Dillner (Stockholm), who presented an interim 

 report covering fifty-two printed pages. 



A paper on acid open-hearth manipulation was submitted 

 by Mr. A. McWilliam and Mr. W. H. Hatfield (Sheftield), in 

 which experimental results were recorded proving that, at 

 about the temperatures occurring in Siemens steel-making 

 practice, the chemical composition of the slag, particularly 

 with regard to its acidity, is the factor which determines 

 whether the percentage of silicon in the molten steel shall 

 increase or decrease. 



Mr. E. Demenge (Paris) submitted a paper on the 

 utilisation of exhaust steam, from engines acting inter- 

 mittently, by means of regenerative steam accumulators and 

 of low-pressure turbines of the Rateau type. The process 

 has been applied with conspicuous success at the Donetz 

 Steel Works in Russia, at the Poensgen Steel Works at 

 Diisseldorf, and at several French collieries. 



The meeting concluded with the customary votes of thanks 



