NovEMBER 5, 1903] 
alone, but the joint efforts of a botanist and a chemist, and 
are supported by the field knowledge of botany of the 
botanical collector te the Sydney Technological Museum, 
and by numerous Australian authorities on the Eucalypts. 
Tue lecture on the ‘‘ New Star in Gemini,”’ delivered by 
Prof. H. H. Turner at the Royal Institution on June 5, 
has just been issued as an excerpt from the Proceedings of 
the Institution. Prof. Turner does not confine himself to 
his discovery of Nova Geminorum, but deals with the nature 
of new stars generally. He regards dark patches on the 
celestial sphere as not being actual voids in the stellar 
universe, but dark nebulae which hide the light from 
stars beyond. A new star is due to the collision of a star 
with such a mass of invisible matter as this; for, adds 
Prof. Turner, ‘“‘ The friction of the encounter raises the 
temperature of the star enormously within a day or two, 
just as a meteor, on entering our tenuous upper atmosphere, 
is set ablaze in a second or two.’’ This idea is, of course, 
fundamentally the same as that put forward several years 
ago in the meteoritic hypothesis as to the origin of new 
stars; and it is interesting to notice how the stone which 
the builders of astronomical theory rejected at that time 
has become the head of the corner since the phenomena of 
Nova Persei demonstrated the existence of masses of non- 
luminous matter in celestial spaces. But why did not Prof. 
Turner remember that Nova Persei only confirmed an ex- 
planation of the causes of the phenomena of new stars put 
forward long ago? He expresses anxiety lest England 
should fall behind in the progress of scientific discovery 
““for want of men and money, but especially men,’’ and 
while we share his uneasiness of mind, his address gives 
rise to a wonder whether he knows what men have done, 
and are doing, for the advance of astronomy in this country. 
Tue Prussian Meteorological Institute (Berlin) has 
recently issued its report for the year 1902. This organisa- 
tion deals especially with climatology, rainfall, and un- 
usual atmospheric occurrences, while the Deutsche Seewarte 
(Hamburg) is chiefly occupied with marine meteorology and 
weather telegraphy. With the Berlin Institute is associ- 
ated the meteorological and magnetical observatory at 
Potsdam, and the aéronautical observatory at Tegel. The 
latter establishment is carrying on a very valuable work in. 
the investigation of the meteorological conditions of the 
upper air by means of kites and registering balloons, and 
has, since August, 1902, made daily ascents, the results 
of which are communicated by telephone to the Berlin office. 
On one occasion, in December last, a kite attained the un- 
usual height of 5500 metres. These ascents are, in addition 
to the experiments with manned and unmanned balloons, 
undertaken in connection with the international monthly 
balloon ascents, to which we have had frequent occasion to 
refer. The magnitude of the useful work performed may 
be gauged from the fact that, including the observations 
from ordinary meteorological stations, rainfall statistics are 
received from 2574 places, and that no less than 37,273 
reports were received from 1412 stations dealing especially 
with thunderstorms and unusual occurrences. The latter 
observations are published yearly in addition to the regular 
publications of the Institute, together with charts showing 
the place of origin, the tracks, and the velocity of the 
storms. 
In the Annalen der Physik, 10, Messrs. L. Holborn and 
F. Kurlbaum describe an optical pyrometer, first constructed 
in 1901, in which the temperature of an incandescent body 
is determined by photometric observations of the emitted 
radiations. 
NO. 1775, VOL. 69] 
NATURE 13 
ae 
THE permanence of resistance standards of sheet man- 
ganese is discussed in the Zeitschrift fiir Instrumentenkunde 
by Mr. St. Lindeck, of Charlottenburg. ‘Thirty-one resist- 
ances were experimented with from October, 1901, onwards ; 
twenty-six of these were found to vary by not more than 
0-05 per cent., and of the ten in which the variations ex- 
ceeded 0-02 per cent., seven were large models which were 
subjected to currents of considerable intensity. 
A new method of producing tension in liquids is described 
by Mr. J. T. Jackson in the Scientific Proceedings of the 
Royal Dublin Society (x., part i., 8). The method con- 
sists in the application to the particular question considered 
of the well-known principles governing the flow of liquid 
in a pipe of variable section. At a constriction the velocity 
increases and the pressure diminishes, and the author finds 
that under certain conditions the pressure can be made 
negative, thus confirming the well-known result according 
to which liquids may sustain a considerable tension without 
rupture. 
Durine the past year several fragments of richly carved 
crosses have been found built into Lancaster Parish Church, 
which range from the earliest type of fine old Anglian 
work to late sculpture of the Danish period in the tenth 
and eleventh centuries. These most interesting relics have 
been described and figured by Mr. W. G. Collingwood in 
the current number of the MReliquary and Illustrated 
Archaeologist. 
In January, 1901, Mr. F. J. Horniman, M.P., gave his 
new museum and library, and the adjoining estate and the 
houses thereon, to the London County Council as places of 
public recreation and instruction; practically the only con- 
dition was that they were to be maintained in a proper 
state and dedicated to the public for ever. The London 
County Council has just issued its first annual report, 
which comprises a period of eighteen months. The report, 
which is illustrated, briefly states the history of the museum 
and of its transference, and gives a synopsis of the contents 
of the museum and of the scope of the library. The former 
arrangement of the museum has for the present been 
adhered to, and numerous descriptive labels have been pre- 
pared with the view of increasing the educational value 
of the museum. In the autumn term Dr. A. C. Haddon, 
F.R.S., the advisory curator, gave a course of lectures to 
teachers on the natural history of animals, which was illus- 
trated by specimens in the museum and by lantern slides; 
owing to the large attendance it was necessary to give the 
lectures in a gallery; the average attendance at the lectures 
was 114. The total attendance at the museum for 1902 was 
238,589, being an average of 658 on the opening days. 
The museum was visited by ninety-seven schools and insti- 
tutions, with an average attendance of nineteen children. 
From these figures it will be seen that the educational 
advantages of the museum are appreciated, and there is 
every reason to believe that the next annual report will 
show that these are being increased. It may be added that 
the Horniman Museum and Library (at Forest Hill, S.E.) 
are open free to the public from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. every day 
in the year except Christmas Day. 
From the veport of the Natural History Society of 
Northumberland, &c., we are glad to learn that the 
threatened split between that body and the Tyneside 
Naturalists’ Field Club, to which allusion was recently made 
in our columns, has been avoided, and that for the future 
the two institutions are to amalgamate their forces. 
Ir is distinctly refreshing to find an American naturalist 
protesting against slavish adherence to the ‘‘ fetish of 
