446 
NATURE 
[MARCH 10, 1904 
which the main thesis is kept before the reader considerably 
enhances the interest of what is mainly a summary of recent 
werk contributed by the author and other investigators. 
Tue report of the Felsted School Scientific Society for the 
years 1902 and 1903 shows that the masters at Felsted are 
encouraging scientific observation of biological and other 
natural phenomena. Papers by members of the society on 
the birds, butterflies, moths and plants of the school neigh- 
bourhood are printed in the report. 
We have received from the Government of India Depart- 
ment of Revenue and Agriculture a copy of ‘‘ Agricultural 
Statistics of India for the Years 1897-98 to 1901-02.’ The 
statistics were compiled under the supervision of the 
Director-General of Statistics, and are published in two 
parts. The first volume deals with British India and the 
second with the Native States. 
Messrs. LepPpIn AND Mascue, of Berlin, have sent us a 
copy of the catalogue of the physical apparatus to be ex- 
hibited by them at the forthcoming St. Louis Exhibition. 
The first part of the catalogue contains particulars of a 
set of physical apparatus for the elementary schools in 
Berlin, and the second section instruments suitable for uni- 
versities, high schools and colleges. 
SoME remarkable examples of positive and negative cata- 
lysis are given by Dr. Titoff in the Zeitschrift fiir physik- 
alische Chemie. The case studied was the oxidation by 
dissolved oxygen of sodium sulphite in dilute aqueous solu- 
tion, a change which was half completed in 10-20 minutes 
when the water used was distilled from a boiler with an 
iron still-head and so contained traces of iron, but required 
200 minutes with water distilled in a silvered or tinned 
copper still, and as much as 1500 to 1800 minutes when the 
purest available water was used. The oxidation is extra- 
ordinarily sensitive to the influence of traces of copper, and 
it is stated that a marked acceleration is produced by 
N/1,000,000,000,000 CuSO,, or by merely dipping a piece 
of bright metallic copper into the water during less than 
a minute. Mannitol even in N/100,000 solution reduces 
the velocity of oxidation by 50 per cent., and tin salts are 
even more powerful negative catalysts; at a concentration 
of only N/250,000 the velocity was reduced to 25 per cent. 
of the normal value, but even then the tin salt, though 150 
times as active as the mannitol, is still 20 to 25 times less 
active than the copper salts. 
Tue additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during 
the past week include two Nisnas Monkeys (Cercopithecus 
pyrrhonotus) from Uganda, presented by Mr. C. R. Hall; 
a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus) from India, pre- 
sented by the Lady Londesborough; two Cheetahs (Cynae- 
lurus jubatus), a Beisa Antelope (Oryx beisa) from Somali- 
land, presented by Captain Barnard; a Horned Capuchin 
(Cebus apella) from South America, deposited; three Gold 
Pheasants (Thaumalea picta) from China, received in ex- 
change. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
Rapiat VELociTIES or Twenty Orton Stars.—Messrs. 
Frost and Adams, of the Yerkes Observatory, have just 
published the complete discussion and results of their deter- 
mination of the radial velocities of twenty stars, all of which 
have spectra-of the Orion type, in one of the Decennial 
Publications (viii.) of the Chicago University. 
The spectra were obtained with the Bruce spectrograph 
NO. 1793, VOL. 69] 
attached to the 40-inch refractor, and a self-induction spark 
between titanium poles was used as the light source of the 
comparison spectrum in every case. 
An analysis of the velocities obtained—which are reduced 
to the sun—indicates that the Orion stars, as a class, are 
much more remote than the solar stars, for their real radial 
velocities are much smaller. A classification of thirty-one 
Orion stars, based on the behaviour of the lines of He, H, 
Mg, Si, N and O in the region between A 4300 and A 4720, 
is given at the end of the paper. 
CaTALOGuUE OF LONG-PERIOD VARIABLE. StarRs.—Circular 
No. 74 of the Harvard College Observatory contains a cata- 
logue of 407 variable stars having long periods, published 
by Prof. Pickering. The positions and photographic magni- 
tudes of some of the sequences of comparison stars for these 
variables were published in vol. xxxvii. of the Harvard 
College Observatory Annals; others will appear in vol. 
xlvii. Those sequences not given in either of the two 
publications mentioned are given in the present Circular. 
Prof. Pickering expresses the hope that other 
astronomers will select and publish similar sequences for 
long-period variables, and that many will regularly observe 
these objects. He suggests that in using Argelander’s 
method for determining the magnitudes it is quite sufficient 
to record that the star under observation is brighter than 
one and less bright than another of two nearly equal com- 
parison stars, for, owing to the errors introduced by 
personal equations, &c., the estimation by grades is un- 
necessarily refined. All the comparison stars selected will, 
so far as possible, be observed photometrically at Harvard 
in order that the results from various observatories may be 
reduced to a common scale. 
Tue Leonip SHOWER OF 1903.—In the current number of 
the Observatory (No. 342) Mr. Denning gives a table of the 
apparent paths and magnitudes of twenty-six Leonids, six 
Taurids, and twenty-three other meteors, observed in 
England between November 14-18 inclusive, all of which 
were as bright as, or brighter than, Jupiter. In a second 
table he gives the real paths of nine of these meteors (in- 
cluding five Leonids, two Taurids, one Hydrid, and one 
Arietid), and then directs attention to the frequent appear- 
ance of bright Taurids and Arietids during the November 
Leonid showers. 
M. Fiévez, of Boitsfort, in a communication to the 
Académie Royale de Belgique (Bulletin No. 12, 1903), 
announces that, during a watch of two hours (12-30 to 2-30) 
on the morning of November 16, he observed thirty-eight 
meteors, of which thirty-four were Leonids. In the same 
Bulletin M. Terby states that two other observers, also 
stationed at Boitsfort, observed thirty-four meteors, of which 
twenty-eight were Leonids, between 10.5 p.m. on November 
15 and 5 a.m. on November 16. The majority of these were 
of the first magnitude, and they appeared in groups, six of 
them being seen in six minutes between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. 
Tue Distrisution OF Lines 1N BANDED SpECTRA.—At a 
meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences held on February 
8, M. Deslandres announced the results of his recent re- 
searches in connection with the law, announced by him in 
1886, concerning the distribution of lines in spectral bands. 
These results confirm his law of arithmetical progression, 
but indicate several anomalies in the behaviour of the in- 
dependent lines in the series. 
From a photograph of the negative-pole spectrum of 
nitrogen he very carefully determined the frequencies. of the 
individual lines in the band at A 3577, and found that they 
may be almost exactly represented by the integration of 
seven series, each obtained by calculation from the formula 
N=A(m+p/q)’+e (where N = the frequency, A and c are 
constants, m is a whole number, and p and q are small 
whole numbers), by giving different values to the constants 
for each series. 
Finally, he states the general law, as now confirmed, in 
the following words :—* In general each band, expressed in 
number of vibrations, is divisible into series of connected 
lines, each series being such that the successive intervals 
are in arithmetical progression. . . .’’ (Comptes rendus, 
No. 6). ; 
