November 17, 1904J 



NATURE 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., have in the press an 

 English translation of Dr. Cohnheim's " Chemistry of the 

 Proteids, " prepared with the author's sanction from the 

 second edition of that work by Dr. Gustav Mann, of the 

 physiological laboratory at O.xford, and author of " Physio- 

 logical Histology." Dr. Cohnheim's book, which, in its 

 second edition, has been entirely re-modelled, deals with all 

 recent advances made in analysing and synthetising proteids. 

 Several special features have been introduced into the English 

 translation, and some of the chapters have been re-written. 



An English edition of Prof. Weismann's " Evolution 

 Theory," which has been translated, with the author's co- 

 operation, from the second German edition (1904) by Prof. 

 J. Arthur Thomson, of Aberdeen University, and his wife, 

 will be published in two volumes by Mr. Edward Arnold 

 toward the end of this month. 



To commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 

 founding of the firm of Burroughs, Wellcome and Co., Mr. 

 Henry S. Wellcome is arranging an exhibition of historical 

 objects in connection with the history of medicine, chemistry, 

 pharmacy, and the allied sciences, the object being to illus- 

 trate the art and science of healing in all ages. The date 

 of the opening of the exhibition is not yet fixed. 



The Cambridge University Press will publish very shortly 

 in the Cambridge Biological Series " Morphology and 

 Anthropology," by Mr. W. L. H. Duckworth. The volume 

 will present a summary of the anatomical evidence bearing 

 on the problem of man's place in nature. The Cambridge 

 University Press has also in preparation " Studies from the 

 Anthropological Laboratory in the University of Cam- 

 bridge," by Mr. Duckworth. 



The November number of the Popular Science Monthly 

 is devoted entirely to the St. Louis Congress of Arts and 

 Science. The representative administrative board, it will 

 be remembered, adopted the plan proposed by Prof. Miinster- 

 berg, of Harvard University, to hold one congress of the 

 arts and sciences which should attempt to promote and 

 demonstrate the unity of science. An appreciation of the 

 work of this international congress, interspersed with 

 portraits of representative men of science from various parts 

 of the world, is contributed by Mr. W. H. Davis, of Lehigh 

 University, one of the secretaries. A selection from the 

 addresses given at the congress completes an interesting 

 number of the magazine. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Encke's Comet (1904 b). — A telegram from Prof. Max 

 Wolf to the Aslronomische Nachrichien (No. 3975) states 

 that on October 28 the ephemeris published by M. 

 Kaminsky in No. 3973 of that journal needed corrections of 

 4- 1 IS. — 2'-4, and, further, that the magnitude of the comet 

 was 12-5. 



\'isual observations have not, as yet, been fruitful. Prof. 

 E. Millosevich vainly sought for this object on September 15 

 and October 5. 



Deslandres's Formula for the Lines in the Oxygen 

 Band Series. — Referring to a note on the results obtained 

 by Mr. O. C. Lester concerning the oxygen bands in the 

 solar spectrunfc which appeared in these columns on 

 October 20, Prof. Deslandres directs attention to the fact 

 that a modification of his first formula (viz. N=a-|-fcn-), 

 equivalent to that now proposed by Mr. Lester, was pub- 

 lished by him in his original (Comptes rendus, August, 1886) 

 and succeeding memoirs on this subject. 



Mr. Lester's statement that the first law requires the 

 modification which he proposes is obviously justified, but he 

 appears to have omitted to study the original memoirs, and 

 to have accepted the epitomised and generally known results 

 as being complete. This does not, however, lessen the im- 



NO. 1829, VOL. 71] 



portance of the valuable experimental results he obtained 

 in measuring the old and new bands on his large dispersion 

 photographs. 



Annual Report of the Cape Observatory. — In the report 

 of the Cape Observatory for 1903 Sir David Gill records 

 several important additions to and modifications of the in- 

 strumental equipment. 



The work of the new transit circle has been greatly facili- 

 tated, and the results improved by the adaptation of a 

 Repsold automatic transitting device to the instrument. 



'ihe line-of-sight spectroscope which is used in connection 

 with the Victoria telescope has been re-modelled, and an 

 extremely delicate thermostatic arrangement has been fitted 

 so that the temperature of the prism bo.x can be maintained 

 constant, within +o°o5 F., during a three or four hours' 

 exposure. 



In the astrophysical department several stellar spectra 

 have been completely reduced in the region A 4200 to \ 4580, 

 and those of Canopus and Sirius have been discussed in con- 

 nection with the corresponding terrestrial origins of their 

 lines. The results of the line-of-sight work have been made 

 more trustworthy by measuring only those lines v/hich, on 

 traversing either the thin or the thick ends of the prisms, 

 show no relative displacement, and a Phoenicis has been 

 shown to have a very large radial velocity. In December 

 this star was apparently receding from us at the rate of 

 105 km. per second. 



A large amount of routine work in connection with the 

 maintenance of an efficient time service and the completion 

 of the Cape zone for the astrographic chart was accomplished 

 during the year. Important operations were also carried 

 out in connection with the geodetic survey of South Africa, 

 whilst the Government survey of the Transvaal and the 

 Orange River Colony and the topographic survey of South 

 Africa have been planned, the former having been 

 commenced. 



The Transition from Primary to Secondary Spectra. — • 

 Some very interesting experimental results, obtained with 

 the idea of determining as definitely as possible the points 

 at which, under various conditions, the primary is replaced 

 by the secondary spectrum in gases, are published by Mr. 

 P. G. Nutting in No. 2, vol. xx., of the Astrophysical 

 Journal. 



The general method was to determine what current 

 capacity caused the above named change when either the 

 wave-length, the pressure, the nature of the gas, the in- 

 ductance or the resistance was altered, and this was called 

 the " critical capacity." 



Among other results the experiments showed that this 

 critical capacity is a function of the wave-length, and that 

 it increases slightly as the pressure decreases down to about 

 t mm. of air, when it suddenly becomes infinite. All the 

 elements tested have the same critical capacity for the same 

 wave-length and pressure, although the critical point is more 

 marked in some elements than in others. The introduction 

 of inductance always relatively weakens the secondary and 

 strengthens the primary spectrum, although no amount of 

 inductance will completely annul the effects of capacity. 

 Resistance acts similarly to inductance. The critical 

 capacity of any vapour in a mixture of vapours was shown 

 to be the same as when no other gases were present. 



NEW BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY 

 OF LIVERPOOL. 



The George Holt Physics Laboratory. 

 T^HE George Holt Physics Laboratory, which was de- 

 clared open by Lord Kelvin on November 12, will be 

 valued by the University of Liverpool as a magnificent 

 addition to its fabric, as well as a memorial to one of the 

 wisest and most generous supporters of that college from 

 which the university has been developed. 



The laboratory covers an area of 9600 square feet, and 

 has an average height of 55 feet. The architects are 

 Messrs. Willink and Thicknesse, of Liverpool, with whom 

 there is associated Prof. F. M. Simpson, now of University 

 College, London. The external walls, which are very sub- 

 stantial, are built in best common brick with broad courses 

 of red brick and dressings of Storeton stone. The base- 



