494 



NATURE 



[March 23, 1905 



MoKt: than ten years ago Prof. Landolt described a series 

 of experiments which were considered to throw doubt on the 

 law of the conservation of mass in chemical action, and in 

 190 1 Heydweiller concluded that a change in the total mass 

 had been experimentally established in a number of cases. 

 In a paper published by Antonino Lo Surdo in the Ntiovo 

 Ciiiiento (1904, series 5, vol. viii.), the question is re-inves- 

 tigated. By excluding all possible sources of error, such, 

 for instance, as a difference of temperature in the two arms 

 of the balance, differences of volume of the vessels used, it 

 is established that the change of mass due to the interaction 

 between iron and basic copper sulphate, which by Heyd- 

 weiller was considered to be about 02 milligram, in realitv 

 falls within the limits of the error of weighing, being cer- 

 tainly less than 0.02 milligram. In the experiments de- 

 scribed, the sealed tubes in which the interaction took place 

 were not removed from the balance during the whole of the 

 series of weighings, and an ingenious mechanism was de- 

 signed by which the tubes and weights were manipulated 

 within the case. 



The operations of the Smithsonian Institution during the 

 year ending on June 30, 1904, and the work of the U.S. 

 National Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the 

 International Exchanges, National Zoological Park, and the 

 .'\strophysical Observatory, are described in Dr. S. P. 

 Langley's report which has just reached us. Among the 

 matters mentioned is the removal of the remains of James 

 Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian Institution, from the 

 British cemetery at Genoa to .America, at the beginning of 

 last year. The report states that the remains rest tem- 

 porarily in a room at the Smithsonian Institution containing 

 a few personal relics of Smithson, awaiting their final dis- 

 posal by the Regents. Dr. E. W. Scripture, of Yale Uni- 

 versity, has been awarded a grant from the Hodgkins 

 fund for the construction of a " vowel organ." Dr. Scrip- 

 ture expects to be able to construct an organ which can 

 sing the vowels, or a vowel register which, attached to a 

 pipe organ, may be used effectively in church music. An 

 exploration of some of the glaciers of British Columbia has 

 been undertaken by Dr. W. H. Sherzer, under the auspices 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, for the purpose of gathering 

 definite information regarding glacial phenomena, such as 

 the nature and cause of the ice flow, the temperature of 

 the ice at various depths, and its relation to air tempera- 

 tures, the amount of surface melting, and the possible 

 transference of material from the surface to lower portions. 

 Reference is made in the report to the new building of the 

 National Museum in course of erection in the Smithsonian 

 Park. The floor area in the four stories of the new build- 

 ing will be about 9^ acres. The accessions to the museum 

 in the year covered by the report amount to 241,547 speci- 

 mens, which bring the total number of objects in the 

 collections up to nearly six millions. The work of the 

 astrophysical observatory has been chiefly concerned with 

 solar radiation, and its possible variability. The investi- 

 gations point to the conclusion that the radiation supplied 

 by the sun may perhaps fluctuate within intervals of a few 

 months through ranges of nearly or quite 10 per cent., and 

 that these fluctuations of solar radiation may cause changes 

 of temperature of several degrees centigrade nearly simul- 

 taneously over the great continental areas of the world. 



The latest report issued by the Engineering Standards 

 Committee deals with British standard specification for 

 structural steel for marine boilers. Copies may be obtained 

 from Messrs. Crosby Lockwood and Son at 2s. 6d. net. 



NO. 1847, VOL. 71] 



.Messrs. Henry Sotiierax and Co. have issued a new 

 catalogue of second-hand books, containing works on 

 mathematical, astronomical, physical, and chemical sub- 

 jects. The works catalogued include the library of the late 

 Prof. A. W. Williamson, F.R.S., and many important 

 foreign works on the exact sciences published within the 

 past twenty years. 



I 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The .'\ltern..vtixg Vari.-\bilitv of M.^rtux C.\nals. — 

 During 1903 Mr. Lowell observed an apparent alternation 

 in the visibility of the Martian canals Tholh and 

 .\menthes, which he suggested might be due to the arti- 

 ficial regulation of a deficient water supply for irrigation 

 purposes (N.^ture, vol. Ixix. p. 496). 



In a telegram, dated March 10, communicated to Prof. 

 E. C. Pickering and published in No. 4003 of the Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten, Mr. Lowell announces that he has 

 again observed " a functional alternative visibility " of 

 these two canals, both of which are double. 



Discovery of Jupiter's Sixth S.\tellite. — In No. 100 

 of the Publications of the .\stronomical Society of the 

 Pacific, Profs. Perrine and ."Xitken describe the first ob- 

 servations of Jupiter's sixth satellite, and abstracts of their 

 communications are published in No. 4002 of the Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten. 



Prof. Perrine states that several years ago it was pro- 

 posed that the Crossley reflector, when reconstructed, should 

 be employed in a search for additional satellites to the 

 outer planets. In accordance with this programme, photo- 

 graphs of Jupiter were taken on December 3, 8, 9 and 10, 

 1904, and a comparison of them showed that the planet, 

 which was slowly retrograding at the time, was apparently 

 accompanied by an object of the fourteenth magnitude. 

 Photographs taken on January 2. 3 and 4 showed that the 

 newly discovered object was following Jupiter in such a 

 manner as to suggest its dependence on that body. The 

 greatest elongation (west) of the new satellite, about 50', 

 seems to have been passed on December 25, and the in- 

 clination of its orbit to the ecliptic appears to be greater 

 than those of the inner satellites. The direction of the 

 satellite's motion, although apparently retrograde, cannot 

 be determined until further observations have been made. 



On January 28, Prof, .\itken, using the 36-inch re- 

 fractor under unfavourable atmospheric conditions, found 

 the satellite quite easily, using the position predicted from 

 the Crossley photographs, and, after a few minutes' ob- 

 servation, the identification was confirmed by the motion in 

 right ascension. Following the object for nearly an hour, 

 he found it to have an hourly motion' in R.A. of about 

 + 20", and this agrees with the photographic result. A 

 comparison with neighbouring faint stars showed that the 

 satellite was about as bright as a star of the fourteenth 

 magnitude. 



Forthcoming Oppositions of Mars. — .As during the 

 oppositions of Mars in 1905, 1907, and 1909 the planet 

 will become successively more favourable for observation, 

 Mr. R. Buchanan has communicated to Popular .Astronomy 

 (No. 3, vol. xiii.) the following figures, showing the re- 

 spective conditions for each opposition : — 



Mari> passes Distance 



Year perihelion Opposition from Earth Brilliancy 



1905 ... Nov. 7 ... May 8 ... 0-543 ... 368 



1907 ... Sept. 22 ... July 5 ... 0-411 ... 75-4 



1909 ... Aug. 13 ... Sept. 25 ... 0-390 ... 86-6 



The sun's distance from the earth is taken as the unit 

 of the mean "distance from earth." In the oppositions of 

 1901 and 1903 the respective apparent brilliancies of the 

 planet were 20 and 234. 



Variable Radial Velocity of Sirius. — In No. 70 of the 

 Lick Observatory Bulletins, Prof. Campbell discusses the 

 spectrograph ic observations of the bright component of 

 Sirius made at Lick since iSqd, thirty-one plates in all. 



Before treating the main subject, however, he discusses 

 the ditViculty experienced in binary star work through the 

 employment of nuinerous different systems of nomenclature 

 to define the orbital elements, and then propounds a new 



