DECEMBER 31, 1903] 
NATURE 
207 
and others have been published in the Transactions of 
British scientific societies. Among the reprinted articles 
we notice—to name a few—Prof. Dewar’s British Associ- 
ation presidential address on the history of cold and the 
absolute zero; Prof. J. G. McKendrick’s contribution to the 
study of experimental phonetics; Dr. Jee. yleallis 
address on the evolution of petrological ideas; and Mr. 
H. G. Wells’s Royal Institution lecture on the discovery 
of the future. There are several translations from French 
and German of important papers also included, such as 
Prof. A. Dastre’s article in the Revue des deux Mondes on 
the life of matter; Dr. Georg Jacob’s ‘‘ Oriental Elements 
of Culture in the Occident ’’ from the German; and Herr 
‘Oscar Israel’s appreciation of Virchow from the Deutsche 
Rundschau. Like all similar publications from the Smith- 
sonian Institution, the volume is provided with many excel- 
lenr illustrations. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
ASTRONOMICAL OCCURRENCES IN JANUARY, 1904 :— 
Jan. 3-4. oN of the January meteofs (Radiant 230° 
+53). 
5. oh. 13m. to 1th. gm. Moon occults o Leonis 
(mag. 3°). 
12. 10h. 11m. Minimum of Algol (8 Persei). 
>» 15h. 0m. Ceres in conjunction with moon. Ceres 
o° 58’ N. 
15. Venus. Illuminated portion of disc =0°707. 
> 6h. 58m. Minimum of Algol (8 Persei). 
27. oOh.om, Vesta in conjunction with moon. Vesta 
o° 21’ N. 
28. gh. 55m. to 8h. 8m. Transit of Jupiter’s Sat. III. 
(Ganymede). 
Soe Ons om. yens in conjunction with Uranus. Venus 
1° 47’ N. 
EPHEMERIS FOR WINNECKE’S CoMET.—A second part of the | 
ephemeris for the 1903-4 appearance of Winnecke’s comet 
is published by Herr C. Hillebrand in No. 3916 of the 
Astronomische Nachrichten, from which the following has 
been taken :-— 
Ephemeris 12h. (M.7. Berlin). 
1904 i a app. 5 app. log. r log. A 
- m s ° ‘ “ 
Jan. ©... 17 30 51 ... —17 46 46 ... 9°988836 ... 0272241 
Speeder, 50°44 --. —1S 30) 19)... O;9S1012 ... O;270012 
», 8... 18 10 59 ... —19 24 20 .. 9974601 ... 0'268606 
sp TB oss TRS Se SP ease Seto .». 9°969782 ... 0268027 
», 16... 18 52 16... —20 28 58 ... 97966085 ... 0°268248 
zOn-e10) 13) 4 --. —20 47 33 ... 9°905417 ... 07269255 
» 24... 19 33 50... —20 56 4I ... 9:966004 ... 0°271006 
»» 28... 19 54 27 ... —20 56 24 ... 9°968430 ..; 0°273468 
Webweee20 447) 1... — 20) 40) 57) ... 9:972633) ..... 0:27 0601 
39 5--- 20 34 46 ... —20 28 49 ... 9'978474 ... 0°280344 
1) 9... 20 54 18... —20 2 38 ... 9°985794 ... 0°284645 
», 13... 21 13 19 .. —19 29 13 ... 9°994414 ... 0°289439 
to) ee 2 3h 45)... —1S 49 25 ... 07004129) ... 072904662 
ce eZIAOna hi 1S) (full... 01014739) ... 01300253 
pe eee OLA 72-7 —E'7, 14020... O1020050) ... 07300155 
Oem 22neaeeOn ne — 10) 21» 3) --. O1037003, ... O312312 
SPECTRUM OF Mira Ceti.—In No. 5, vol. xviii., of the 
Astrophysical Journal, Mr. Joel Stebbins, of the Lick 
Observatory, gives the results of a study of the spectrum 
of o Ceti made with the 36-inch refractor during the 
period June, 1902, to January, 1903, in which period the 
magnitude of the star decreased from 3-8 to 9-0. The 
spectra were obtained with spectrograph i.—which is the 
Mills spectrograph converted into a one-prism instrument 
—attached to the 36-inch, and a spark between iron poles 
was always used as the light source of the comparison 
spectrum. 
The absorption spectrum obtained is not very like the 
solar spectrum, but the calcium lines g, H and K are all 
‘Present, g being comparatively much more intense than 
an the solar spectrum; the iron lines are not prominent, 
NO. 1783, VOL. 69] 
and even the strongest do not appear when a small dis- 
persion is employed. The g line undoubtedly becomes 
broader as the star grows fainter, for on June 27 (mag.= 
3-8) its width was 2 t.m., whilst on September. 6 (mag. = 
7-0) it was g t.m, The lines at AA 3990-64, 4045-16, 
4093-55 and 4097-08 respectively, which are apparently not 
coincident with solar lines, appeared at successive intervals 
during the diminution of magnitude. 
A comparison of the several spectra shows that with the 
decrease in the star’s magnitude the continuous spectrum 
from A 4300 to A 5000 becomes relatively fainter than that 
between A 4000 and A 4300. 
The bright hydrogen lines are very prominent, and HB 
and He, which have been reported as absent by other 
observers, appear on all the dense negatives, and they 
appear to grow relatively stronger than the other hydrogen 
lines, and the continuous spectrum, as the star’s magnitude 
decreases. In addition to the hydrogen lines, bright lines 
of Si, Mg and Fe are probably present, and numerous 
changes took place in their relative intensities during the 
interval covered by the spectrograms. For example, the 
line at A 4007 undoubtedly disappeared altogether, whilst 
the line at A 4571—possibly due to magnesium—developed 
in a remarkable manner. ‘The latter did not appear at all 
until the star’s magnitude had fallen to 5-4, and afterwards 
it became the most prominent feature of the whole spec- 
trum. The evidence obtained supports the conclusion that 
the bright hydrogen lines disappear at minimum. 
Determinations of the star’s radial velocity showed that 
it remains constant at about +66 km., and this is held to 
be a strong argument against the theory that the light- 
changes are due to the existence of a companion. The 
abnormal changes in the relative intensities of the hydrogen 
lines—which are displaced from their normal positions 
towards the violet, apparently by other causes than radial 
velocity and pressure—lead Mr. Stebbins to the conclusion 
that the light changes are due to internal causes which 
produce effects that are, as yet, unfamiliar to us. 
Tne ‘‘ComPpaANION TO THE OpseRvaToRY,’’ 1904.—The 
1904 edition of the ‘well-known annual compendium of 
astronomical data, the ‘‘ Companion to the Observatory,” 
is very similar to that of 1903. 
information, the usual tables for solar, lunar and planetary 
observations, ephemerides for the various satellites, and 
minute data regarding a large number of variable stars. 
Mr. Denning has contributed a set of notes regarding 
the principal meteor showers, and Mr. Maw has supplied 
a list of double-star observations, whilst the numerous 
proofs supplied by M. Loewy. 
OXFORD AND SCIENCE." 
W HEN I am tired I sometimes go by train to Reading 
and cycle over here swiftly in the afternoon, and then 
I dress and dine comfortably at the Mitre and go out for 
a stroll. Perfect rest is not possible unless there is moon- 
light, but Oxford is always wonderful and satisfying and 
restful to an engineer like me. It is not because of its 
age, of the great men who have studied and worked in 
its colleges, of its almost unique character and high rank 
among universities, of the sacred beauty of its colleges and 
streets. It is because that to me it represents what is most 
persistent in the constitution of the British Empire. The 
Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Temple and 
City of London, Windsor, the great mansions of our English 
nobles, each of these suggests much to any man who is 
fond of reading, but each suggests only a small part of 
what Oxford represents. 
Now the thing that pervades all my thoughts of Oxford 
is that more than half of the most distinguished Englishmen 
during four hundred years have been educated here. And 
Oxford, all the most distinguished Englishmen during four 
hundred years have been educated here. 
Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that England is an 
aristocratic republic with the King at the head of the 
1 An address delivered by Prof. Jobn Perry, F.R.S., at a public meeting 
in Oxford, arranged jointly by the Ashmolean Natural History Society of 
| Oxfordshire and the Oxford Mathematical Society. 
It contains, amongst other * 
variable star ephemerides have been taken from advance : 
if, as I sometimes do, I include Cambridge when I say. 
