56o 



NA TURE 



[October 6, 1904 



" The Collected Mathematical Papers of Prof. J. J. 

 Sylvester, F.R.S.," vol. ii. ; "The Dynamical Theory of 

 Gases." by J. H. Jeans; "The Analytical Theory 

 of Light," by J. Walker; "A Treatise on Analytical 

 Dynamics," by E. T. Whittaker ; "Alternating Current 

 Theory," by A. Russell, in two vols.; "The Study 

 of Chemical Composition," by I. Freund ; "The Fauna 

 and Get graphy of the Maldive and Laccadive Archi- 

 pelagoes : being the Account of the Work carried on and of 

 the Collections made by an E.xpedition during the years 1899 

 and 1900 under the leadership of J. S. Gardiner," vol. ii., 

 part iv., illustrated; " Reports of the -Anthropological Ex- 

 pedition to Torres Straits by the members of the Expedi- 

 tion," edited by Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S. ; " Studies from 

 the Anthropological Laboratory in the University of Cam- 

 bridge," by W'. L. H. Duckworth, vol. i. ; " On two Orders 

 of .'\rachnida : Opiliones, especially the Suborder Cypho- 

 phthalmi and Ricinulei, namely the family Crypto- 

 stemmatoida\ " by Drs. H. J. Hansen and W. S0rensen, 

 illustrated; "Immunity in Infectious Diseases," by Prof. 

 Metchnikoff, authorised English translation by F. G. 

 Binnie, illustrated; "Morphology and -Anthropology," by 

 W. L. H. Duckworth ; " The Origin and Influence of the 

 Thorough-bred Horse," by Prof. W. Ridgeway ; "Fossil 

 Plants: a Manual for Students of Botany and Geology," 

 by -A. C. Seward. F.R.S. , vol. ii. ; "Trees: a Handbook 

 for Students of Forest Botany," by Prof. H. M. Ward, 

 F.R.S., in six volumes, vols. ii. to vi. ; " The Morphology 

 of Plants," by J. C. Willis; and "The Journal of Agri- 

 cultural Science," edited by Prof. T. H. Middleton, T. B. 

 Wood, R. H. Biffen, and A. D. Hall. 



Messrs. John Wiley .\nd Sons (New York) and Messrs. 

 Chapman and Hall, Ltd. (London), have in preparation : — 

 " An Elementary Treatise on the Differential Calculus, 

 Founded on the Method of Rates," by W. W. Johnson; 

 " A Treatise on Concrete, Plain and Reinforced," by F. W. 

 Taylor and S. E. Thompson ; " Elements of General Draft- 

 ing for Mechanical Engineers," by C. E. Coolidge and 

 H. F. Freeman; "Conversations on Chemistrv," bv W. 

 Ostwald, translated by E. C. Ramsay, part i. ; " Machine 

 Shop Tools and Methods," by W. S. Leonard; " Ordinary 

 Foundations, including the Coffer-dam Process for Piers, 

 with numerous Practical Examples from .Actual Works," by 

 C. E. Fowler; "The Textile Fibres, their Physical, Micro- 

 scopical, and Chemical Properties," by J. M. Matthews; 

 " Manual of the Chemical Analysis of Rocks," by H. S. 

 Washington; " Untechnical Addresses on Technical Sub- 

 jects," by J. Douglas; " Techno-Chemical Analysis," by 

 G. Lunge, translated by A. I. Cohn ; "Application of some 

 General Reactions to Investigations in Organic Chemistry," 

 by Prof. Lassar-Cohn, translated by J. B. Tingle; " Notes 

 on -Assaying and Metallurgical Laboratory Experiments," 

 by R. W. Lodge; "Elements of Mechanism," by P. 

 Schwamb and -A. L. Merrill; "An Introduction to Pro- 

 jective Geometry and its Applications, an Analytic and 

 Synthetic Treatment," by A. Emch ; and " Manual of Serum 

 Diagnosis," by O. Rostoski, translated by C. Bolduan. 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The South Temperate Spots on Jupiter. — In a letter 

 to No. 348 of the Observatory, Mr. Denning directs atten- 

 tion to the need for further observations of the white spots 

 which encroach on the south side of the south temperate 

 belt of Jupiter. 



On -August 9 he saw two brilliant spots in this locality, 

 havmg the longitudes 254°. i and 290° i respectively, and 

 has little doubt that these are identical with those he 

 observed in 1903 and previously. 



NO 1823, VOL. 70] 



As Mr. Denning has suggested that the movements of 

 these objects may cause the observed irregularities in the 

 velocity of the great red spot — the velocity of which is a 

 little less — it is important that they should be frequently 

 observed, and the results of the observations published. 



The spots lose about i6°-4 per month relatively to 

 Cronimelin's System ii., and their positions for the next 

 few months will he as follows : — 



I. 



Long. 



Long. 



Mr. Denning will be pleased to receive records of new or 

 old observations of these objects. 



-A Rapidly Moving Solar Prominence. — -A fairly large 

 prominence having a great velocity was observed by Mr. 

 J. B. Coit, of Boston University, on May 23. Whilst setting 

 the slit of his spectroscope on Ha he noticed a cloud-like 

 arch, made up of radial filaments, stretching from P = 89° 

 to P=ioo°, the space below the arch being apparently quite 

 blank. -At iih. J5m. the altitude of the prominence was 

 90", and it quickly increased to 105', after which it rapidly 

 decreased until, at iih. 58m., it was only 70". By this 

 time all semblance to the original structure was lost, and 

 only a few cloudlets remained. -At i2h. im. nothing could 

 be seen above the limb, and the chromosphere between 89° 

 and 100° was quite tranquil, e.xcept for a few small shreds 

 at the places where the ends of the arch had rested. Sub- 

 sequent observations with a s-inch equatorial showed no 

 trace of spots or bright faculae on or near the limb in this 

 region {Popular Astronomy, No. 7, vol. xii.). 



Publications of the Groningen Astronomical Labor- 

 atory. — Two numbers of these Publications, which are 

 printed in English and edited by Prof. Kapteyn, have just 

 been received. No. 12 is devoted to the results of an in- 

 vestigation by Dr. W. de Sitter of the systematic differences 

 between the photographic and visual magnitudes of stars 

 depending upon the galactic latitude. The investigation 

 was carried out at the Cape Observatory, Dr. de Sitter 

 taking the photographs and Mr. R. T. -A. Innes making 

 the visual observations. 



The results show, among other things, that the colours of 

 the stars near the galactic poles seem to be distributed at 

 random, and, further, that no average colour exists for 

 those in the galaxy, but rather that there are colour differ- 

 ences which vary irregularly with the galactic longitude. 

 This interesting result calls for further investigation, and 

 Dr. de Sitter suggests several methods which might be 

 employed to elucidate the matter further. 



No. 13 of the Publications contains a catalogue of the 

 proper motions of 66 stars of the Hyades, derived from the 

 comparison of thirty-four catalogues published between 

 1755 and 1900. This work was performed by Herr H. A. 

 \Veersma to facilitate the reduction of Prof. Duner's plates, 

 which were taken for the purpose of determining the proper 

 motions of the Hyades stars. The results are given in 

 detail in the paper, which concludes with a general cata- 

 logue of the 66 stars, showing their magnitudes, their 

 positions for 1900, and their proper motions. 



The Goodsell Observatory Expedition to the Rocky 

 Mountains. — -A short general description of the results 

 obtained by Dr. H. C. Wilson and Prof. Payne during 

 their sojourn at Midvale (Mont.), which is situated at an 

 altitude of about 4800 feet in the Rocky Mountains, is given 

 in No. 7, vol. xii., of Popular Astronomy. 



The expedition was undertaken in order to photograph 

 some of Herschel's suspected nebulous regions under 

 exceptionally good atmospheric conditions. The heavv 

 dews, caused by a difference of 40 or 50 degrees between the 

 day and night temperatures, and the smoke from neighbour- 

 ing forest fires somewhat interfered with the carrying out 

 of the entire programme, but on the whole the photographs 

 obtained were very successful. A full description of the 

 work accomplished, the observing conditions, &c., is 

 promised for a later publication. 



