38 



NATURE 



[November 9, 1905 



diagrams. Until the book is completed it would be im- 

 possible to form an opinion of its value, but the first part 

 promises well. 



The annual report of the board of regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution for me year ending June 30, 1904, 

 has now been published. As usual, the general appendix 

 to the report, which makes up about seven-eighths of the 

 volume of 804 pages, will prove most interesting to British 

 readers. This appendix contains more than fifty articles 

 upon scientific subjects to which special attention was 

 directed during the year with which the report deals. 

 Five of the articles represent addresses at the congress 

 of arts and sciences held at St. Louis during September, 

 1904. Among these may be noticed that of Prof. H. H. 

 Turner, F.R.S., on some reflections suggested by the 

 application of photography to astronomical research ; Mr. 

 C. T. R. Wilson, F.R.S., on condensation nuclei; and Sir 

 William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., on the present problems 

 of inorganic chemistry. Two addresses delivered at the 

 Cambridge meeting of the" British Association are also re- 

 printed. A generous selection of articjes from important 

 American, French, German, and British scientific publi- 

 cations is included, and nearly every department of scien- 

 tific knowledge is represented. There are several articles 

 which appear to have been contributed specially to this 

 report, and of these may be mentioned the essays of Dr. 

 S. P. Langley on experiments with the Langley aerodrome 

 (see p. 645), Dr. J. O. Skinner on the house sparrow, 

 Dr. Theodore Gill <m Hying fish and their habits, Mr. 

 Edgar L. Hewett on a general view of the archaeology of 

 the Pueblo region, Dr. Ales Hrdlicka on the painting of 

 human bones among the American aborigines, and Mr. 

 W. C. Gorgas on the sanitation of the Isthmian Canal 

 zone. The profusion and excellence of the plates and 

 other illustrations again call for remark. Readers who 

 are fortunate enough to have access to these vearlv re- 

 ports are provided with an excellent means of keeping 

 •abreast of current scientific studies. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Italian Observations of the Recent Solar Eclipse.- 

 A series of valuable observations of the partial eclipse of 

 the sun was made at Aosta (Italy) on August 30, and the 

 results are given in No. 17 (1905) of the Comptes rendus. 



The times of contacts, the meteorological changes, and 

 the spectroscopic phenomena were observed in an atmo- 

 sphere of exceptional purity, and, in connection with the 

 last named, Dom CI. Rcizei describes what he believes to 

 be a unique observation. At about ih. 40m. (Paris M.T.) 

 the cusp of the crescent sun (position angle about 90 ) 

 was projected on to the widened slit of the spectroscope, 

 arranged perpendicular to the solar limb, and the lines 

 C and D i were seen very bright and showing a hazv, 

 cloud-like prominence. 



The bright line in each case, however, was divided 

 sharply into three parts. First, on the red side was a 

 broad bright line with sharp edges, then came a narrow, 

 well defined dark line, and finally, on the more refrangible 

 edge, a bright line showing the form of the prominence 

 was seen. 



Martian Meteorology.— In No. 8, vol. liii., of the 

 II, m-, ird Colleg, Observatory Innate, Prof. W. H. Picker- 

 ing discuss,-, ., number of photographs of Mars some of 

 which were taken with the 13-inch Bovden telescope at 

 Cambridge (Mass.) in [888, and the others at Mt. Wi]s,,n, 

 with the same instrument, in 1890. Although these photo- 

 graphs do not show the canals and lakes, they show 

 sufficient variation, due 10 meteorological changes, for a 

 discussion of Martian meteorology. 



Prof. Pickering describes, in order, the appearance and 



NO. l88o, VOL. 73] 



disappearance of clouds, snow, &c, and deduces therefrom 

 some valuable suggestions as to the seasonal changes which 

 take place on or above the planet's surface, giving, in each 

 case, the equivalent terrestrial date at which these changes 

 occur. Nine reproductions from the original photographs, 

 on a scale of 1 mm. = 200 km., accompany the paper, and 

 show tin- clouds, &c, to which Prof. Pickering refers; 

 the Sinus Sabaeus and the Syrtis Major are also shown 

 on some of them. On two occasions the height of the 

 clouds above the Martian surface was measured, giving 

 about 15 miles as the result, and Prof. Pickering suggests 

 that the existence or non-existence of such clouds in the 

 equatorial regions may account for the discrepancies noted 

 between various estimations of the amount of the polar 

 flattening. 



In conclusion, Prof. Pickering points out that there is 

 now direct evidence of an effective atmospheric circulation 

 of moisture on Mars which would seem to account, 

 adequately, for the observed transfer of precipitation, during 

 the Martian year, alternately from pole to pole. 



A 300-YEAR Cycle in Solar Phenomena. — From a 

 lengthy discussion which appears in No. 1, vol. xxii., of 

 the Astrophysical Journal, Mr. H. W. Clough, of the 

 Washington Weather Bureau, arrives at the conclusion 

 that a 300-year cycle exists in solar, and the allied 

 terrestrial, phenomena. In the first place, Mr. Clough 

 disedsses the observations of numerous terrestrial pheno- 

 mena which are supposed to be dependency associated 

 with solar changes, and finds that a 36-year cycle is 

 common to these and to solar variations. He then shows 

 that the 36-year cycle varies in length during a cycle of 

 -i > >> > years, and supports this by reference to old observ- 

 ations of various terrestrial phenomena, e.g. aurora;, time 

 of grape harvest, &c, extending back to the earlv centuries 

 ccf the Christian era. 



Somi Suggestions on hie Nebular Hypothesis. — In 

 a paper communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 

 and published in part vii., vol. xxv., of the Proceedings 

 of the society, Dr. Halm makes some suggestions, con- 

 cerning the probable genesis of the solar system, which 

 may overcome some of the difficulties experienced in the 

 acceptance of Laplace's theory. Whilst the Laplaceian 

 hypothesis considers that the matter now forming the 

 planets was thrown off by the original rotating nebulous 

 mass, a consideration which is not consistent with the 

 principle of the constancy of the rotary momentum in a 

 system, Dr. Halm suggests that the conditions necessary 

 for the formation of planets were not introduced until 

 after the solar body had condensed from a non-rotating 

 nebula into a spherical body having a diameter probably 

 less than the distance of Mercury. This spherical body 

 then encountered a swarm of meteorites, and finally a ring 

 of these bodies, rotating with orbital velocities about the 

 solar nucleus, was formed. 



The planets were formed subsequently by the evacuation 

 of the ring by the larger nuclei existing tin rein, their 

 rotary motions being generated by the tangential impulses 

 given to each nucleus by the smaller masses falling into 

 it. M.iiu subsidiary considerations are discussed in Dr. 

 Halm's paper, but they are too lengthy to be given lure. 



Systematic Error in Transit Observations of Jovian 

 Spots. — We recently referred in these columns (September 

 21) to a suggestion made by the Rev. T. E. R. Phillips 

 I" accounl for a systematic error in eye-estimates of the 

 ir.cnsiis < 1 f Jupiter's spots, and, in the current number of 

 (In Observatory, ' Mr. Stanley Williams supplements Mr. 

 Phillips's remarks with a brief discussion of his own 

 results, in which a similar, but larger, m ~t < ->i 1.1 i ic error 

 seems to exist. Mr. Williams suggest, thai tie- phase- 

 darkening of any long feature such as the red spot, or 

 hollow, may introduce the error. For example, at the 

 quadrature preceding opposition the planet's disc for some 

 distance from the preceding limb is less bright than it 



leu lee tlie following limb, but at the quadrature follow- 

 ing e-|i|iee-ition the reverse is the case. As the spot and the 

 hollow ore so long, the transit is observed, in practice, by 

 comparing the relative spaces between their ends and the 

 limb, and if the latter are unequally bright, irradiation 

 may lead to such a systematic error as the one which 

 tppeai hi the results. 



