230 



NA TURE 



[July 7, 1904 



ing report on fhe subject, by Messrs. R. G. McConnell and 

 R. W. Brock, has since been issued by the Geological 

 Survey of Canada (part viii., Ann. Rep. for 1903). The 

 conclusions arrived at fully confirm the explanations 

 previously given by Mr. Brewer, but the authors add that 

 recent earthquake tremors no doubt hastened the time of 

 the final disruption. They regard the present state of 

 Turtle Mountain as dangerous, and recommend the removal 

 of the town of Frank to a site higher up the valley of the 

 Old Man River. The report is illustrated by map, sections, 

 and numerous pictorial views. 



The Geological Survey of India has revived the publi- 

 cation of its Records, a serial which was established in 1868, 

 and amalgamated with the Memoirs in 1897. In justifi- 

 cation of this step, the director, Mr. T. H. Holland, points 

 out that during the course of the survey work many observ- 

 ations are made from time to time that it would be advisable 

 to publish as promptly as possible, on account of their 

 bearing on current scientific problems or of their economic 

 value. The present number (vol. xxxi., part i.) contains 

 accounts of coal-deposits, copper ore, sapphirine-bearing 

 rock, together with miscellaneous notes on tin-ore, gem 

 sands, &c., and selections from assays made in the labor- 

 atory relating to coal and manganese-ores. Mr. Holland 

 expresses the hope that contributions will be made by private 

 workers, to whom the Records will be open for original 

 observations on geological subjects. 



In the April Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital (xv., 

 No. 157), Dr. George Dock discusses vaccine lymph and 

 vaccination especially as regards American practice. Dr. 

 Watts Lee publishes studies of the sinus frontalis of man 

 and of certain mammals, carried out both by dissections 

 and by means of lead casts, and Dr. Hastings describes a 

 new blood stain possessing advantages over the Romanowsky 

 and Leishmann stains, which should prove very useful, as 

 it is permanent in the preparations, and the solution keeps 

 well. 



In Nature of March 17 (vol. Ixix. p. 467) a review was 

 given of the anti-malarial operations at Mian-Mir. A 

 second report on the subject has now been published, and 

 gives additional details (Sc. Mem. of the Gov. of India, 

 No. 9, by Lieut. S. R. Christophers, I. M.S.). The con- 

 clusions are in accordance with those expressed by Captain 

 James, I. M.S., in the first report. It is found that the 

 destruction of the anopheles mosquito within an area by 

 attacking their breeding places is extremely difficult, the 

 mere obliteration of local breeding places being useless. 

 Thus at Mian-Mir, although large numbers of pools were 

 filled up and drained, and almost complete absence of breed- 

 ing was ensured to a distance of half a mile, adult anopheles 

 still appeared in large and increasing numbers, apparently 

 due to immigration from without. Although a distinct 

 effect was produced on the incidence of malaria among the 

 troops and on the endemic index of the native bazaars, it 

 was only evident at the beginning of the fever season, and 

 could not be maintained. The value of quinine administra- 

 tion was found to depend on the efficiency of the supervision 

 exercised ; when quinine was regularly taken the admission 

 rate for fever was much reduced. The conclusion is formed 

 that although some effect on malaria was produced by anti- 

 mosquito measures, these are not those best adapted at 

 Mian-Mir to the eventual reduction of malaria. 



The third issue of The Central— the journal of the Central 

 Technical College Old Students' Association — is an excel- 

 lent number. Prof. Armstrong, F.R.S., contributes the 

 NO. I 8 10, VOL. 70] 



first of a series of short articles on the mechanisin of com- 

 bustion. Among other articles we notice two which are 

 illustrated — one on popular motor cars, by Mr. M. 

 O'Gorman, and the other by Mr. R. W. Sindall, on the 

 manufacture of wood-pulp. 



A SECOND edition, revised and enlarged, of the " Student's 

 Handbook of British Mosses," by Mr. H. N. Dixon, the 

 first edition of which was reviewed at length in our issue 

 of September 10, 1896 (vol. liv. p. 434), with illustrations 

 and keys to the genera and species by Mr. H. G. Jameson, 

 has been published by Mr. V. T. Sumfield, Station Street, 

 Eastbourne. Since the publication of the first edition of 

 the book, some thirty species or subspecies of British mosses 

 have been detected, together with a corresponding number 

 of varieties. These additions have been interpolated in the 

 second edition, and notes also have been provided where 

 recent knowledge necessitated their inclusion. Some slight 

 alterations, too, have been made in the general arrangement 

 of the book. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Number of the Stars. — In No. 114 of Popular 

 Astronomy, Mr. Gavin J. Burns makes some calculations 

 and deductions as to the number of stars in the entire sky 

 from the various star catalogues and photometric durch- 

 musterungs which have been published. On the assump- 

 tion that, on the whole, the stars are evenly distributed, 

 he deduces from the plates taken for the Greenwich zone 

 of the Astrographic Chart that there are 38 stars brighter 

 than the second magnitude, 13,421 brighter than fhe seventh, 

 and 8,325,000 brighter than the fifteenth. The ratio of the 

 total number of stars brighter than any one magnitude to 

 the number brighter than the next magnitude fainter is 

 fairly constant at about 34 until the tenth magnitude is 

 reached, but beyond that there is a sudden drop to 1-9, which 

 ratio continues down to magnitude 15. From this dis- 

 cussion there is strong presumptive evidence that the stars 

 thin out as their distance from our system increases. 



Radial Velocities of the Pleiades. — From an investi- 

 gation of a series of plates taken with the Bruce spectro- 

 graph, using only one prism, Mr. W. S. Adams, of the 

 Yerkes Observatory, has determined the radial velocities 

 of the Pleiades stars as follows : — 



Measurements of seven spectrograms of Maia (20 Tauri) 

 indicate that this star has a variable velocity ranging from 

 — 7.4 km. (October 30, 1903) to 4-209 km. (December 25, 

 1903). The lines in the spectrum are well defined, so that 

 although the range of variability is not very large, it is 

 almost certainly real. 



The spectra of Maia and Taygeta are at variance with 

 what we should expect to find for stars associated with a 

 nebula, and they engender a suspicion that these stars may 

 not be physically connected with the surrounding nebula 

 {.istrophysical Journal, No. 5, vol. .xix.). 



An Expedition for Solar Research. — With the aid of 

 a grant of 10,000 dollars from the Carnegie Institution, the 

 Yerkes Observatory has sent an expedition to Mount Wilson 

 (altitude 5886 feet), near Pasadena, California, for the 

 purpose of making special investigations of the sun. 



The Snow horizontal telescope is to be the principal 

 instrument erected. One of the concave mirrors of the 

 coelostat reflector, having a focal length of 145 feet, will 

 give a solar image 16 inches in diameter, and will be used 

 for special spectroscopic studies of sun-spots and other 

 solar phenomena. A spectroheliograph of 7 inches 

 aperture and 30 feet focal length is also to be used in con- 

 nection with this mirror. A stellar spectrograph provided 



