512 
NATURE 
[JANUARY I, 1914 
Tue report of the Clifton College Scientific Society 
for the year 1912-13 has been received. It contains 
information of the work done during the session by 
the various sections among which the work of the 
society is divided. We notice among the contents an 
interesting calendar of bird observations made near 
‘Clifton, from January to July, 1913, to which a note 
is appended, stating that the Royal Agricultural Show 
enclosures on Clifton Downs greatly interfered with 
‘birds and observers during the season. 
We have received from the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington two volumes prepared under the auspices 
of the department of historical research. One, by 
Mr. David W. Parker, is a ‘‘Guide to the Materials 
for United States History in Canadian Archives’; 
the other, by Prof. Herbert E. Bolton, is a similar 
guide concerned with materials for the same purpose 
in the principal archives of Mexico, Both volumes 
belong to a series, to which we have directed attention 
-on previous occasions, representing a systematic en- 
deavour by the department of historical research to 
make more easily available for authors and students 
the materials contained in foreign archives necessary 
in studying the history of the United States. Volumes 
have appeared already dealing with Cuba, Spain, 
“Great Britain, Italy, and Germany, and others con- 
cerned with the archives of Paris, Switzerland, the 
Netherlands, and Sweden are in course of prepara- 
tion. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
Comer 1913f (DeLavan).—Prof. H. Kobold com- 
municates, in a Kiel Circular, No. 144, dated Decem- 
ber 21, the elements and ephemeris of Delavan’s comet 
(1g13f), the former being based on observations made 
on December 17, 18, and 19. The elements are as 
follows :— 
Elements. 
T =.914 March 2°3211 M.T. Berlin. 
Qua lon Synicr 
oa= 7 4ol 
z= 13. 46 
log g=0'04526 
Ephemeris for 12h. M.T. Berlin, 
R.A. Dec. Mag. 
he Mle Bs Py ’ 
Dec.vg1 2 5ag5 —5 184 
Jan. 1 53 44 5 49 
2 53 28 4 50:3 
3 53 12 4 361 - 
+ 53.55 —4 20:9 10°5 
A note in The Times of December 24 states that 
the comet will approach the earth and sun for the 
next two months, and while its brightness will be 
considerably increased, the object is not expected to 
be visible to the naked eye. Its south declination 
will be maintained until about the middle of January. 
The positions of the comet are in the constellations of 
Eridanus and Cetus. 
An Arp to Transit CrrcLE OsserverS.—Transit 
observers are only too well aware of the time occupied 
in reading off chronograph strips, the work involved, 
even when assisted by a writer, being equal to that 
of making the observations themselves. Any sugges- 
tion of a method of reducing the labour will be wel- 
comed provided it can be thoroughly relied upon. 
NO. 2305, VOL. 92] 
Prof. E. Grossmann, in Astronomische Nachrichten, 
No. 4701, describes a very practical arrangement which 
seems very efficient and simple. »He adopts the read- 
ing apparatus constructed by Th. von Oppolzer, and 
works this in conjunction with an ordinary typewriter. 
All the observer has to do is to place the movable 
thread on the observed signal on the tape and the 
press of a key is sufficient to write automatically the 
scale reading underneath. In the paper Prof. Gross- 
mann describes the apparatus in some detail, and 
accompanies the text with two illustrations. Messrs. 
Favargar and Co. in Neuchatel were entrusted with 
the arranging of the complete apparatus. 
STANDARD WaAvVE-LENGTH DETERMINATIONS.—NO. 75 
of the Contributions from the Mount Wilson Solar 
Observatory is devoted to the second paper by Messrs. 
St. John and L. W. Ware, entitled ‘Tertiary 
Standards with the Plane Crating: the Testing and 
Selection of Standards.”” In this paper the authors 
have examined the international secondary standards 
from A4282 to A5506 as to their consistency among 
themselves, and have determined the wave-lengths in 
international units of a series of 198 lines in the are 
spectrum of iron from A4118 to A5506. The region 
from A5371 to A5506 is common to the 1912 and 1913 
investigations, but an entirely new series of plates 
was made for the common region. The Pasadena 
plates were taken with the 30-ft. spectrograph, while 
the Mount Wilson plates were secured with the 75-ft. 
Littrow spectroscope used in conjunction with the 
150-ft. tower telescope. The communication, which is 
published in considerable detail, is another example of 
the high accuracy attained in the Mount Wilson deter- 
minations. It is interesting to note that the difference 
between the heights above sea-level of Pasadena 
(244 m.) and Mount Wilson (1794 m.) is responsible 
for changes in relative wave-length determinations at 
the two stations. | Numerous important conclusions 
are summed up at the end of the paper. 
PRIZE AWARDS OF THE PARIS 
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES FOR 1913: 
Geometry.—The Francoeur prize to A. Claude, for 
the whole of his astronomical work; the Bordin prize 
was not awarded, no memoir on the question proposed 
having been received. 
Mechanics.—The Montyon prize to M. Sauvage; 
the Poncelet prize to Maurice Leblanc, for his work 
in mechanics, 
Navigation.—The extraordinary prize for the Navy 
is divided between Le Prieur (1800 francs), Geynet 
(1800 frances), Violette (1800 frances), and R. E. God- 
froy (600 francs); the Plumey prize to M. Risbec, for 
his work on the propulsion and stability of ships. 
Astronomy.—The Pierre Guzman prize is not 
awarded; the Lalande prize to J. Bosler, for his 
researches on the sudden variations of terrestrial mag- 
netism and their connection with disturbances in the 
sun; the Valz prize to Prof. Fowler, for his researches 
in spectroscopy; the G. de Pontecoulant prize to _M. 
Sundmann, for his researches on the problem of three 
bodies. 
Geography.—The Tchihatchef prize to Col. Peter 
Kusmitch Kozlov, fer his explorations and publica- 
tions on Central Asia; the Gay prize to Dr. Mocquart, 
for his memoirs on tropical reptiles. 
Physics.—The Hébert prize to Prof. Swingedauw, 
for his researches on explosive potential and electro- 
| technics; the Hughes prize to Jean Becquerel, for 
his work in magneto-optics; the De Parville prize to 
Prof. Rothé, for the whole of his researches in physics ; 
the Gaston Planté prize to R. V. Picou. for his work 
in the field of electrical industry; the Kastner-Boursalt 
