(ove) 
4 
NATURE 
[ NovEMBER 26, 1896 
in studying the laws of storms on the basis of these investiga- 
tions. Meteorological observations are made at the Treaty 
Ports and transmitted to the observatory, and the hope is enter- 
tained that the number of ports from which such information is 
telegraphed will be greatly extended ; for there is no meteoro- 
logical service in China, and the data at present collected is 
insufficient. 
THE Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society was 
founded so long ago as February 28, 1781, the number of 
original members being twenty-four. Some interest, therefore, 
attaches to the complete list, just issued, of the members and 
officers from the institution of the Society to April of this year. 
In the same publication are bibliographical lists of the manu- 
script volumes dealing with the affairs of the Society, and of the 
volumes of the JZemozvs and Proceedings issued by the Society. 
There are also two appendices setting forth the original rules 
adopted and the objects of the meetings. 
In looking through the 7yazsactzons lately received from three 
local scientific societies, the fact brought tosmind that 
practically all such societies are concerned with natural history, 
is 
scarcely any attention being paid to physical science. In the 
Transactions of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical 
Society are papers on bacteria and their importance in nature, 
Coleoptera of Bradgate Park, and insects in relation to the 
fertilisation of flowers. The Natural History Zyazsactions of 
Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne—the 
publication of the Tyne-Side Naturalists’ Field Club, founded 
fifty years ago—contains papers on Entomostraca collected in 
the Solway district and at Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, 
during 1894, a catalogue of the spiders of Northumberland and 
Durham, and the results of a systematic study of pollen. In the 
Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society 
are several really valuable papers. The President, Mr. II. D. 
Geldart, devotes his address to the consideration of the distribu- 
tion of flowering plants in the Arctic regions, and strives to show 
that the commonly accepted hypothesis of the migration to and 
fro of the Arctic flora with the greater or less intensity of cold is 
not consistent with facts, but that plants have held their own in 
their old localities in spite of the intense glaciation to which 
they have been subjected. Mr. Geldart is also associated with 
Colonel Feilden in two interesting papers on Arctic Botany. 
Among other papers are some instructive notes on the 
Flora of Great Yarmouth and its neighbourhood, by. Mr. G. 
B. Harris; and Mr. Stacy Watson contributes an account 
of the herring fishery from that port and Lowestoft. Some 
observations on the rare New Zealand Owl, Sce/oglaux albifaces, 
in captivity, with a figure, are contributed by Mr. J. H. Gurney, 
and Prof. Newton follows with a note on an early record of the 
breeding of the Spoonbill in Norfolk ; while Mr. Miller Christy 
notes a reference to an occurrence of a Narwhal in the same 
county in the year 1588. A list of the Mollusca of Norfolk 
is given by Mr. Mayfeld; Mr. Preston continues his long 
series of Meteorological Notes for the neighbourhood of Norwich ; 
and Mr. Southwell describes interesting recent additions to the 
Norwich Castle Museum. 
THE Journal of the Asiatic Soctety of Bengal (vol. |xv. part 2, 
p- 66) contains an investigation of the decomposition of aqueous 
olutions of sodium hypochlorite at the temperature of boiling 
water, by Jyotibhushan Bhaduri. It is of interest that solutions 
containing from 1°5 to 1°7 per cent. of the hypochlorite, 
decompose less rapidly than those of any other concentration. 
The decomposition results in the formation not only of sodium 
chlorate, but also of considerable quantities of free oxygen. 
IN the current number of the Comptes rendus M. A. Leduc 
gives an account of some further experiments on the densities 
of oxygen and nitrogen, the repetition of the determinations o 
NO. I413, VOL. 55] 
the latter being necessitated by the discovery of argon. The 
nitrogen was prepared from four distinct sources (ammonium 
nitrate, ammonium nitrite, nitric oxide, and ammonia), every 
possible precaution being taken to ensure the purity of the gas. 
For the flask employed, all the weights of nitrogen found fell 
between 2°8467 grams and 2°8474 grams, the mean result 
corresponding to a relative density of 0°9671 (air=1). The 
experiments with the oxygen obtained by the electrolysis of 
potash solution were also repeated, greater precautions being 
taken to remove all traces of hydrogen, while, in a second set 
of experiments, oxygen obtained by the action of heat upon 
potassium permanganate was employed, the mean relative 
density being 1°10523, a slight increase on the earlier results. 
By taking the values found for the densities of chemical and 
atmospheric nitrogen, together with the results of M. Schleesing, 
jun., on the ratio of argon to nitrogen in atmospheric nitrogen, 
the value 19°8 is found for the density of argon compared with 
hydrogen. The close agreement between this and the value 
found directly (19°94), affords a useful check upon the results, 
THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 
past week include a Sykes’s Monkey (Cercopethecus albigu- 
farts, é) from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Gooding; a 
Squirrel Monkey (Chv-ysothrix scturea) from Guiana, presented 
by ‘Mr. James W. Wells; a White-fronted Lemur (Lemur 
albifrons) from Madagascar, presented by Mr. Richard A, 
Todd ; a Red-bellied Squirrel (Sczzus vartegatus) from Mexico, 
presented by Mr. James Meldrum; a Vulpine Phalanger 
(Zrichosurus vulpecula) from Australia, presented by Mr. 
George Turner ; two Brown Mynahs (Acridotheres fuscus) from 
India, presented by Mr. H. Nowell; a Mute Swan (Gygnus 
olor), British, presented by Mr. J. Culling ; a Hawk’s-billed 
Turtle (Chelone cmbricata) from tropical seas, deposited. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
STARS WITH PECULIAR SPECTRA.—A recent examination 
of some of the Draper Memorial photographs, by Mrs. Fleming, 
has resplted in finding some interesting cases of peculiar 
spectra (Harvard College Circular, No..12). The spectrum of 
— 39 3939 is described as very remarkable, and unlike any other 
as yet obtained. Three systems of lines cross the continuous 
spectrum. First the dark hydrogen lines and K, then two 
bright bands or lines at approximate wave-lengths 4652 and 
4698. A third series has for the wave-lengths of its lines 3814, 
3857, 3923. 4028, 4203, and 4505, the last being faint. These 
latter six lines form a rhythmical series similar to that of 
hydrogen, and ‘‘apparently are due to some element not yet 
found in other stars or on the earth.” Balmer’s formula was 
not capable of representing this series, but a modification of it 
gave the wave-lengths of the lines as 3812, 3858, 3928, 4031, 
4199, and 4504. The only other line found in the spectrum was 
4620, being apparently independent of the series just men- 
tioned. The star R.A. (1900) 12h. 26°9m. Decl. — 57° I’ is a 
new variable in Crux. Its period is about a year, and its photo- 
graphic magnitude is deduced as being 10°3 at maximum, and | 
fainter than 13°2 at minimum N.G.C. 6302 was found on July 
g, 1896, to contain the bright lines characteristic of gaseous 
nebule. The stars designated +44°3649 and +44°3679 have 
similar spectra, containing two bright bands ‘‘ resembling, ~ 
and perhaps identical with, those in the spectrum of ¢ Puppis.” 
Miss Louisa D. Wells has found a new variable in Cygnus, its 
approximate position for 1900 being R.A. 2th. 38°8m.. Decl. 
+43° 8’. It has a period of about forty days, and fluctuates 
between 7°2 and 11°2 photographic magnitudes. This range is 
somewhat considerable for such a short period variable. 
THE LEoNIDS.—From the account of the Leonid meteors 
given in the last number of NATURE, it would have been 
gathered that the shower was after all only a very ordinary one, 
the time of maximum being estimated as having occurred 
during the early part of the night of the 14th. An observer, who 
has written to the Dumfries and Galloway Courter and Herald 
