594 



NATURE 



l Ja.\iar\ to, 1919 



the new tables for sugar work. \ cop) 1 in In- 

 obtained free on application to the Bureau (Techno- 

 logic Paper No. 115). 



A review in Nature of January 2 of Prof. Cohen's 

 "Organic Chemistry for Advanced Students" contains 

 the statement, in reference 10 the portion dealing with 

 chlorophyll: "Curiously enough, no mention is made 



in the list of relnenres to Willstatter and Stull's hook 

 on this subject." This statement applies to the list 

 of references on p. 183 (part iii.), but is ambiguous in 

 mi far as il suggests thai tin book is not mentioned 

 elsewhere in the text. The inference is, of course, 

 incorrect, since the book in question receives full 

 mention on p. 172. It is in order to remove any mis- 

 understanding that we are glad to insert this note. 



We have received from Messrs. Watson and Sons 

 (Electro-Medical), Ltd., a pamphlet on radiography 

 and photography. It includes a price-list, but is chiefly 

 an essay on the practice of radiography, and gives just 

 those details that the practitioner wants to know re- 

 garding the choice and use of apparatus, the treatment 

 of the plates, and the printing from them. It is a 

 pitv that new names should be introduced without a 

 clear statement as to what they signify. We know 

 what amidol, metol, hydroquinone, etc., are, but what 

 is " sutol "? 



Messrs. Longmans and Co. have nearly ready 

 "The Quantitative Method in Biology," by Prof. J. 

 MacLeod, of the University of Ghent. Messrs. 

 Gauthier-Villars (Paris) have in the press vol. ii. of 

 R. de Forcrand's " Cours de Chimie " (Chimii 

 organique, Chimie analytique), and vol. i. of " CEuvn s 

 de Henri Poincare," 4 vols., vol. ii. of which appeared 

 in 1916. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Origin of New Stars. — In an article which 



appears in the Revue Gindrale des Sciences (Novem- 

 ber 30, 1918) Dr. J. Bosler, of the Meudon Observa- 

 tory, gives an able review, of the general phenomena 

 of new stars, and discusses the theories which have 

 been put forward to account for them. The sudden- 

 ness of the apparition of a nova is considered to be 

 against any explanation based upon radio-activity, and 

 it seems difficult to escape the belief that collisions 

 are in some way concerned in the outburst. The brief 

 duration of novae, and the relative frequency of their 

 occurrence, appear to be opposed to the direct col- 

 lision of two dark stars as a probable cause, and Dr. 

 Bosler favours Seeliger's view that a nova is pro- 

 duced by the passage of a dark or faint star through 

 an obscure nebulous cloud. The heating effects would 

 then be merelv superficial, as in the case of a meteor 

 in the earth's atmosphere, and a reasonable explana- 

 tion of the spectroscopic changes can be given. The 

 mutual relations between novas in their later phases 

 and the Wolf-Rayet stars and planetary nebulae lead 

 Dr. Bosler to trie conclusion that these bodies are 

 merely the vestiges of ancient novae, and have no place 

 in the ordinary evolutionary sequence. 



The Fayette County Meteorites. — A further in- 

 vestigation of three meteoric stones found in Fayette 

 County, Texas, in iqoo, has been made bv Mr. G. P. 

 Merrill (Proc. U.S. National Museum, vol. Hv., p. 557). 

 Hitherto these stones have been supposed to be a part 

 of the Fayette County (Bluff) stone found in 1878, 

 but it now appears that the two finds are to be re- 

 garded as belonging to distinct falls. The most strik- 

 ing difference lies in the physical condition of the 

 prevailing silicates, olivine anil enstatite, which are 



NO. 2568, VOL. I02] 



Cloud) in tin- stone of (878 and clear in that of 1900 

 Calcium phosphate is preserjt in both, but in the lati 1 

 find lacks tile gas cavities which an so conspicuous in 



the other. There are numerous other points "t differ- 

 ence, and the greater weathering of tin 

 probabl) indicates that the) belong to an earlier fall. 

 Tin- name Fayette County, Cedar, is suggested for the 

 pones found in 1900. 



Li i [pses \m> Transits of Japetus. — The orbit of 

 Japetus, .Saturn's eighth satellite, is at present seen 

 |dgewise, and eclipses ami transits an- observable. On 

 January ic;d. 14-24I1. G.M.T. the shadow of Japetus 

 Inters Saturn's disc, passing nit below our horizon at 

 23-ogh. On February 2jd. 1102I1. Japetus is occulted 

 bv Saturn; it remains invisible until jSd. 42411., when 

 it emerges from tin- shadow of the ball to enter tin- 

 shadow of the inner bright liiii; ai 4-Sdi. Ii passes 

 the space corresponding with the Cassini division at 

 7111I1., emerging from the shadow of the outer ring 

 at 8-49)1. It will be remembered that in 1889 Prof. 

 Barnard made a series of observations of its bright- 

 ness while in the shadow of the crape ring, which gavi 

 information about its transparency. Such observations 

 will only !"• ptissililr in longitudes considerably east "t 

 Greenwich, but the passage through the Cassini space 

 and the final emergence are observable here. 



Another transit of the shadow across Saturn's disc 

 will occur on April q, beginning at midnight. The 

 eclipse of May 18 is not observable nearer than 

 western America. 



THE SUGAR 



INDUSTRY IN 

 JAVA. 



l.XDIl AND 



\17 1TII an area under sugar-cane about one-seventh 

 * * of that devoted to this crop in India, Java has 

 an annual production of cane-sugar not greatly inferior 

 to that of India, and is able, after meeting its own 

 requirements, to export large quantities, for which 

 India is one of the chief markets. In Java the cul- 

 tivation of sugar-cane is conducted on the most 

 modern lines, and the manufacture of cane-sugar is 

 carried on in central factories, where the processes 

 are chemically controlled at every stage. 



In India the cultivation is in the hands of natives, 

 as is also the preparation of the sugar, and both sides 

 of the industry are conducted in somewhat primitive 

 fashion. The Indian industry has not been left entirely 

 to itself by the Government, and a certain amount of 

 experimental work on the improvement of canes and in 

 the introduction of better methods of preparing sugar 

 has been carried on for some time by the Imperial De- 

 partment of Agriculture in India and the Indian Pro- 

 vincial Departments closely interested, but so far this 

 work appears to have had but little effect either in in- 

 creasing the Indian production or in stemming the rising 

 tide of imports. Thus Messrs. Hulme and Sanghi, in 

 a note submitted to the tenth meeting of the Board of 

 Agriculture held at Poona in December, 1917, say 

 that " the rapid increase in the imports of sugar before 

 the war caused some anxiety to those in authority, 

 and steps were taken with the view of improving the 

 sugar industry in India" (Bulletin No. S2, Agricul- 

 tural Research Institute, Pusa). 



One of these steps was the erection of a small 

 experimental factor) in 1014-15 at the Government 

 farm at Nawabganj, in the Bareillv district of the 

 United Provinces; the authors of the note referred to 

 are in charge of this small factory, and in the note 

 tin >, ;ivi some results of their first two years' work. 

 Sugar-cane is grown as an experimental crop at the 

 farm, and the varieties in cultivation have 

 analysed and their milling properties tested 



