158 



NATURE 



[December 15, 1904 



although himself unable to verify the existence of the radi- 

 ations, adversely criticises Prof. Wood's objections. M. 

 Weiss, from his failure to observe the rays, simply concludes 

 that he was physically unfitted for such observations. 



Part xii. of the Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society 

 consists of an investigation by Mr. Richard J. Moss of the 

 state in which helium exists in pitchblende. The total 

 quantity of helium in a sample of pitchblende was 0107 c.c. 

 per gram, and of this 117 per cent, was liberated by simply 

 grinding the mineral in a vacuum. The quantity of carbon 

 dioxide separated by completely decomposing the mineral 

 was 4686 c.c. per gram, of which only 00085 per cent, 

 was obtainable by grinding. .As a similar proportion of the 

 total occluded carbon dioxide can be separated from calcite, 

 in which the gas is undoubtedly present in minute cavities, 

 by simply pulverising the crystals, it is probable that the 

 whole of the carbon dioxide of pitchblende, and possibly 

 the helium also, are present similarly occluded. It is 

 evident that the proportion of the gases liberated by roughly 

 grinding must necessarily be only a small proportion of the 

 total volume. 



The Christmas number of Photography, published by 

 Messrs. Iliffe and Sons, Ltd. (is. net), is restricted to many 

 kinds of work with the camera which can be accomplished 

 indoors during the winter months. It might be said 

 further to deal with the lighter side of photography as 

 well, as will be judged by reading the second portion of 

 this number. Part i., by Mr. C. J. Harrison, deals with the 

 working up of negatives and prints for the removal of 

 mechanical and other defects from negatives. The methods 

 and dodges employed are. as the author states, the outcome 

 of his own experience, but nevertheless they are interest- 

 ing reading, and may prove serviceable to many photo- 

 graphers. The illustrations accompanying the text and 

 chosen to represent various stages of these methods are 

 also well worth examination. In part ii. Mr. W. L. F. 

 Wastell discourses on bye-paths of photography. Here 

 the reader is made acquainted with methods for producing 

 what may be termed " freak " photographs. Thus we 

 have illustrated examples of the so-called " spirit " photo- 

 graph, distortions due to the object being too near to the 

 camera, two images of the same person in one picture, com- 

 bination portraits, silhouettes, and many others of a similar 

 character. The supplement to this number consists of 

 designs, covering sixteen pages, of photographic mounts to 

 serve as Christmas cards. 



The articles in the October number of the Johns Hopkins 

 Hospital Bulletin (xv.. No. 163) are mainly of medical 

 interest. Dr. Packard, however, writes an interesting 

 account of some famous quacks, including Valentine Great- 

 rakes, who claimed the healing touch for the King's evil 

 in the seventeenth century, no other than Robert Boyle 

 testifying to his powers; Joshua (" Spot ") Ward, who dis- 

 covered a cheap way of making oil of vitriol ; and John 

 St. John Long, who devised a famous liniment which 

 possessed not only curative powers, but also revealed hidden 

 disease, and from his practice is said to have derived 13.000/. 

 a year. 



Mr. W. B. Clive has published a revised and enlarged 

 edition of "First Stage Building Construction," by Mr. 

 Brysson Cunningham. 



Messrs. Dawbarn and Ward, Ltd., have published in 



their " Home Worker's " series a booklet by Mr. R. H. S. 



Williams with the title " How to Build a Bicycle," and 



one on " How to Build a Petrol Motor," by Mr. J. F. Gill. 



NO. 1833, VOL. 71] 



The separate parts (parts i.-vi.) of " A School Geometry," 

 by Messrs. H. S. Hall and F. H. Stevens, which have been 

 reviewed in these columns from time to time, have been 

 published together in one volume by Messrs. Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., at 4s. 6d. 



A FOURTH edition of Prof. Olof Hammarsten's " Text- 

 book of Physiological Chemistry " has been published by 

 Messrs. John Wiley and Sons, New York (London : Messrs. 

 Chapman and Hall, Ltd.). This issue is an authorised 

 translation by Prof. John A. Mandel from the author's 

 enlarged and revised fifth German edition. 



The 1904 issue of the " Year-book of the Scientific and 

 Learned Societies of Great Britain and Ireland " has now 

 been published by Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd. 

 This is the twenty-first annual issue of a useful list of 

 organisations for the advancement of science, literature, 

 and art, and of work done year by year. Comprehensive 

 as the compilation is, it is not quite complete, for there 

 appears to be no reference either to the Sociological Societv 

 or to the Geographical Association. 



Erratum. — In the inscription of Fig. 5 (p. 135) of the 

 article on " Invar " in last week's N.^ture, "32 km. 

 wire " should read " a 24 m. wire." 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Relations between Solar and Terrestrial Phenomena. 

 — In a paper communicated to the Royal Society of New 

 South Wales, Mr. H. I. Jensen, of Sydney University, dis- 

 cusses the more recent data concerning sun-spot frequencies 

 and the occurrence of volcanic outbursts, earthquakes and 

 climatic variations, with the view of illustrating further 

 the dependence of the terrestrial upon the solar phenomena. 



In a previous paper communicated to the same society in 

 June, 1902, he arrived at the conclusion that the maxima 

 of volcanic and seismic activity coincided, in point of time, 

 with the sun-spot minima, but the discussion of the later 

 data has led him to a confirmation of the views expressed 

 by Sir Norman Lockyer, viz. that the maximum activity 

 of the terrestrial takes place at both the minima and the 

 maxinia of the solar phenomena. His observations show, 

 however, that the action at sun-spot maxima is less marked 

 than, and of a different character to, that which takes place 

 at the minima. 



The differential action of lunar attraction is also dis- 

 cussed, and although the author concludes that this cause 

 is only one of secondary importance, he shows that volcanic 

 outbursts and earthquakes seem to occur most frequently 

 at those times when the moon is in perigee. 



In discussing the connection existing between solar and 

 meteorological variations, Mr. Jensen refers to the work 

 performed in this direction by Sir Norman and Dr. Lockyer, 

 and in general agrees with their results, although he in- 

 clines to the belief that the epochs of sun-spot maxima are 

 generally the epochs of excessive rainfall. Further, he 

 strongly insists upon the necessity of attaching more im- 

 portance to geographical position when considering the 

 prevailing meteorological conditions of any place (Proc. 

 Roy. Soc. New South Wales, vol. xxxviii.). 



Sun-spot Spectra. — In No. 4, vol. xx., of the Astro- 

 physical Journal Father Cortie brings together the results 

 of all the sun-spot spectra observations made at the Stony- 

 hurst College Observatory during the period 1883-1901. 



Using a Browning automatic spectroscope containing 

 twelve 60° prisms, the widened lines in the region B-D of 

 the solar spectrum were picked out, and the intensity of 

 their relative widening recorded on an arbitrary numerical 

 scale. The present catalogue results from 54S6 individual 

 observations of 349 lines, and the results generally confirm 

 the observations made at South Kensington as recorded by 

 Sir Norman Lockyer in a paper (" On the Relation between 

 the Spectra of Sun-spots and Stars ") recently communicated 

 to the Royal Society, viz. that vanadium and titanium are 

 the elements chiefly affected in sun-spot spectra. 



II 



