Marcu 21, 1907] 
NATURE 
497 
IN Nature of February 8, 1906 (vol. Ixxiii., p. 352), a 
brief account was given of the proceedings of the meeting 
of the International Meteorological Committee in Inns- 
bruck in September, 1905. The k.lk. Zentralanstalt fur 
Meteorologie und Geodynamik has now published «a 
volume of 154 pages (Vienna: W. Braumiller, 1906) which 
contains a full report of these proceedings and much other 
addition to 
which 
information. Thus, in 
of several committees 
valuable the reports 
special dealt with cloud 
classification, earth magnetism, and atmospheric electricity, 
a valuable series of appendices is given consisting of com- 
munications to the commission relating to many different 
subjects of interest and importance which were considered. 
The text of this volume is in the German language, but 
a resolution of the commission was passed at the fourth 
meeting to the effect that both English and French editions 
should be subsequently published. 
Since the discovery and practical application in Germany 
of processes for producing “‘ synthetical’’ indigo, the 
planters of India have made strenuous efforts to improve 
their methods of dealing with the natural material. In 
this connection, the report for the year 1906-7 of the work 
of the Indigo Research Station, Sirsiah, of the Bihar 
Planters’ Association, which has just been issued, presents 
interesting reading. The report, written by Mr. Cyril 
Bergtheil, is divided into three sections, namely, labor- 
atory work, manufacture, and agriculture. Perhaps the 
principal point that merits notice is that relating to the 
discrepancies between the results obtained by a number of 
different analysts who were entrusted with the examin- 
ation of the same samples of indigo. The same material 
analysed at Calcutta, Bradford, Manchester, and 
Berlin, and results were returned by the different analysts 
varying from 71 per cent. to 96 per cent. of indigotin. 
The question of the analysis of indigo has recently been 
the subject of several papers, but it is by no means yet 
decided which is the best and most trustworthy method 
for the purpose, although Mr. Bergtheil confidently re- 
commends the processes he has adopted. The question 
of analysis is one of great importance, and it is clear 
that no real progress in indigo research can be made until 
it is satisfactorily settled. What appears to be a decided 
improvement in indigo culture is described in the report 
with reference to the germination of the seed of the Java 
plant. It would appear that this seed does not usually 
germinate satisfactorily owing to its possessing a 
“cuticle '’ which is impermeable to water. To remedy 
this, it has been found advantageous to soak the seeds for 
half an hour in concentrated sulphuric acid, and sub- 
sequently to wash with water very thoroughly before 
sowing. Good seed treated in this way has been found 
to germinate to the extent of 100 per cent. The report 
also deals in detail with the work done on the farms 
established recently to supply seeds of the Java indigo 
plant. 
was 
Unper the title ‘A Junior Course of Comparative 
Geography ”’ Messrs. G. Philip and Son, Ltd., have just 
issued Course A of the ‘‘ Progressive Course of Compara- 
tive Geography,”’’ reviewed in the supplement to Nature 
of March 14 (p. v). The price is 2s. 6d. net. The same 
publishers have sent us a copy of the seventh edition, 
revised to date, of their ‘‘ Handy-volume Atlas of the 
World,”’ by Mr. E. G, Ravenstein. The price of this 
compact little volume is 3s. 6d. 
Iv is clear from the thirty-seventh annual report of the 
Natural Science Society at Wellington College that the 
NO. 1951, VOL. 75| 
society is in a flourishing condition. There is a balance 
in hand of 113/., for which, it is to be hoped, some useful 
found. 
lectures, which have become a feature of the work of the 
scientific purpose will be The Saturday scientific 
society, were continued during the Michaelmas and Lent 
terms. The meteorological report of the society is as 
complete as usual. 
Tue most recently published parts of the Transactions 
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh are vol. xli., part iii., 
for the 1904-5, vol. xlv., part i., for the 
session The papers included in these publications 
session and 
1905-6. 
cover those read before the society during a period of 
about eighteen months. The contents are very varied, 
and amongst subjects of special interest in the first-named 
part may be mentioned the fresh-water plankton of the 
Scottish lochs, the structure of the series of line- and 
band-spectra, the hydrodynamical theory of seiches, and 
the plant remains in the Scottish peat mosses. In the 
second of the publications are, with others, papers on the 
varying form of the stomach in man and the anthropoid 
ape, the normal temperature of the monkey and its diurnal 
variation, and on the effect of changes in the daily routine 
on this variation, the elevation of the boiling points of 
aqueous solutions of electrolytes, and the relationship 
between concentration and electrolytic conductivity in con- 
centrated aqueous solutions. 
Tue report for 1906 of the Agricultural Research Associ- 
ation for the north-eastern counties of Scotland is devoted 
almost entirely to an account, by Mr. T. Jamieson, of 
work on the utilisation of nitrogen in air by plants, in 
continuation of the observations described in Nature a year 
ago (vol. Ixxiii., p. 531). Mr. Jamieson claims that he has 
obtained further evidence of the absorption of nitrogen 
from air by plants, but the views of scientific experts upon 
the doctrine he desires to establish were stated in the 
notice of the previous volume. We have not the space 
available to enter into a detailed statement of Mr. Jamie- 
son’s position and point out the unsound foundation upon 
which it rests. We must therefore refer our readers to the 
volume just published for particulars of experiments which 
Mr. Jamieson puts forward as material for a new agri- 
cultural science. The criticisms of his views expressed at 
the York meeting of the British Association last year, and 
also in other places, are dealt with at the end of the 
present volume. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
Comet 1go7a (GiaAcoBiIN1).—The following elements and 
ephemeris have been computed for comet 1907a by Herr 
M. Ebeil, from places observed on March 9, 10, and 11 :— 
Elements. 
T=1607 March 235206 Berlin. 
o=319' 34°3 | 
8 =97 40'°0 |1907'0 
7=141° 20°5 i} 
log g=0'21176 
Ephemeris 12h, (M.T. Berlin). 
1907 fs a 6 Brightness 
March 19 6 40 ~9 26 081 
23s ee O33 —6 22 0°74 
Dye wert nOn2iy —3 34 0°67 
Brightness at time of discovery (mag, 11-0)=1-0. 
From the above it will be seen that the comet is travelling 
through the constellation Monoceros towards the northern 
part of Orion, and that its brightness is decreasing fairly 
rapidly. At present it crosses our meridian at about 
6.30 p.m., and sets at about 11.30 p.m. 
