December 14, 1905] 



NA TURE 



161 



Orbital Elements of Two Meteors. — From a number 

 of observations of a meteor which was seen on August 3 

 Dr. P. Moschiek, of Heidelberg, has calculated the radiant 

 point, the earth point, the velocity, and the height of the 

 meteor, and also the elements of its orbit. For the 

 apparent radiant he obtained 11 = 317° 56', 8= — n° 54', 

 and for the mean velocity 47-93 ±8-37 km. per second, the 

 probable value for the absolute velocity being 52-74 km. 

 per sec. The elements show the orbit to be hyperbolic, 

 and the meteor's motion in the orbit to be direct. 



A second meteor was seen bv numerous German observers 

 on September 2S, and Dr. Moschiek has treated the observ- 

 ational results similarly. For the position of the radiant 

 point he obtained = 354° 54'- 8 = + 22° 40', and therefore 

 concluded that the object observed was a Pegasid. The 

 relative and absolute velocities were respectively 2151 and 

 36-4 km. per second, and the calculated elements show that 

 the meteor moved, with a direct motion, in an elliptical 

 orbit (Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 40571. 



Magnetic Disturbance during the Recent Auroral 

 Display. — In a paper communicated to the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences, M. Th. Moureaux states that a strong mag- 

 netic disturbance took place about o'clock on November 

 15, coinciding, in point of time, with the exceptionally fine 

 auroral display which was so generally observed. From 

 8h. 59m. to 9h. 9m. (Paris M.T.) the declination, which 

 was already below the normal, diminished by 34', and 

 then quickly recovered, increasing 42' between gh. 9m. 

 and 9I1. 24m. The horizontal and vertical components 

 were simultaneouslv affected in the opposite direction. 

 Similar disturbances took place on November 12. Numerous 

 small groups of sun-spots were on the solar disc during 

 this period, and the first large group seen in October, now 

 much scattered and diminished, was due to cross the 

 central meridian on the evening of November 13, during 

 its second rotation (Comptes rendus, No. 21). 



The Zodiacal Light to the North of the Sun. — Whilst 

 in Switzerland recently, Prof. Newcomb ascended the 

 Brienzer Rothorn in order to observe, if possible, the 

 extension of the zodiacal light in the north and south 

 direction. He found that the light was bright enough to 

 be seen at a distance of 35° from the sun in the direction 

 of the solar axis, and he assumes that it extends equally 

 on both sides. Prof. Newcomb therefore suggests that 

 the zodiacal light shall in future be described " as a 

 luminosity surrounding the Sun on all sides, of which the 

 boundary is nowhere less than 35° from the Sun, and which 

 is greatly elongated in the direction of the ecliptic " (Astro- 

 physical Journal, No. 3, vol. xxii.). 



CANADIAN EI.F.CTRIC POWER STATIONS AT 



NIAGARA. 

 (~) N January 2 of this year, in the power house of the 

 Canadian Niagara Power Company, on the Canadian 

 side at Niagara, the largest units used in the development 

 of water-power were started. This great power house is 

 situated in Victoria Park, and all the work of development 

 is done under consent from the Government of the Province 

 of Ontario and the commissioners of the park. 



Fourteen years ago ground was broken on the New York 

 side at Niagara for a power development by means of a 

 wheel-pit and tunnel. The 105,000 horse-power thus de- 

 veloped has been a great inspiration to the growth of the 

 American city, and Canadians looked forward to the time 

 when they should profit by a similar development. Now 

 their hopes are being realised, for three strong companies 

 "lively at work on the Canadian side developing 

 power from the water that speeds toward the Horseshoe 

 01 1 anadian Fall. It was in 1892 that the Canadian 

 Niagara Power Company secured its first rights to develop 

 power in Canada, and since then it has paid the park 

 commissioners more than 225,000 dollars in the retention 

 of its privileges, while its first horse-power was developed 

 op the date above mentioned. 



The Canadian Niagara Power Companv is allied to the 

 Niagara Falls Power Company of the New York side of 

 the river, but in its Canadian development it has given 

 men of science and electrical engineers the most wonderful 



no. 1885, VOL. 72>) 



installation to study yet known in the field of any water 

 power development. In the big power houses on the New 

 York side the unit of development is 5000 horse-power, but 

 on the Canadian side the unit is 10,000 horse-power. It 

 was in 1890, at a meeting of the International Niagara 

 Commission, held in London, that a unit of 5000 horse- 

 power was adopted for the development on the American 

 side at Niagara. 



Ten years have elapsed since Rudolph Baumann, a Swiss 

 engineer, turned the wheel that started the first 5000 unit 

 on April 4, 1895, and since that day the; installation has 

 been doubled in size and output capacity, and is in even 

 \\.i\ a success. Now oomes Canadian Niagara with its 

 units of 10,000 horse-power, th.- largest in the world. Mr 

 William H. Beatty, of Toronto, Ontario, who is president 

 of the Canadian Niagara Power Company, turned the small 

 wheel that controls the flow of water from the penstocks 

 to the turbines, and as he admitted the flood of water the 

 monster generator began to revolve, and within a few 

 minutes was making 250 revolutions a minute, the speed 

 at which it is to be steadily operated. Unit No. 2 was 

 also started, making 20,000 horse-power available in the 



-Site of the Po 



station, and by May 1 three additional units of the same 

 size win ready to run, giving off a total of 50,000 horse- 

 power from the five machines. In all, eleven units will 

 be installed in this station, so that its final output 

 will be 110,000 horse-power, or 5000 horse-power more than 

 is available from the twenty-one machines in the two power 

 houses of the Niagara Falls Power Company on the 

 American side of the river. 



In the wheel-pit and tunnel method of developing power 

 at Niagara, a great slot, several hundred feet long, is 

 excavated in the earth to a depth of about 180 feet and 

 et wide. From the bottom of the wheel-pit a tail 

 rar.' or tunnel is driven through solid rock a distance of 

 2200 feet to the lower river or gorge. This tunnel is built 

 in the form of a horseshoe, and is about 20 feet wide bv 

 25 feet high. It is lined from '-mi to end with vitrified 

 brick and concrete, while the wheel-pit is also carefully 

 lined. From the upper river a canal of short length diverts 

 water from the main stream to a forebay at one side of 

 the big power house. Near the bottom of the wheel-pit 

 the turbines are installed, and these are connected to the 

 generators in the power station over the wheel-pit bv 

 vertical shafts or tubes. From the forebay to the turbines 

 penstocks 10 feet in diameter run to the turbines, and as 



