474 



NA TURE 



[March 15, 1906 



will enter the latter about March 27. On March 21 it 

 will be only about 2m. directly cast of a Ceti. 



Comet 1906b. — The comet discovered by Dr. Kopff will 

 evidently not become an object of popular interest, for it 

 passed perihelion at least two months ago, and is now 

 fading rapidly in brightness. 



Below is given a set of elements and part of an ephemeris 

 published by Herr M. Ebell in Circular 86 of the Kiel 

 Centralstelle : — 



Elements. 

 T = 1906 January 4-1289 Berlin. 

 00= 138° 25''I 1 

 fl = 328° 24'-2 -19060 

 ' = 0° S3' S J 

 loq q =0^03508 



1906 



Ephemeris 12)1. M.T. Berlin. 



log A 



Bright 



\ 



Mar. 15 .. 11 31 20 ... +1 57 ... 97514 ... 054 



19 ... 11 30 10 ... +2 2 ... 97842 . 0-44 



23 ... 11 29 17 .. +2 6 ... 9-8166 ... 036 



27 ... 11 28 44 ... +2 9 ... 9-8486 ... 029 



A set of elements computed from later observed positions 



by -Mr. Champreux gives the date of perihelion as 



December 25-17 Greenwich. 



Remarkable Variation in the Spectrum of <* Bootis. 

 In No. 4007 of the Istronomische Nachrichten Drs. H. 

 Ludendorff and G. Eberhard direct attention to some re- 

 markable variations which look place very suddenly in the 

 spectrum of the double star t" Bootis. 



A spectrogram taken on June 3, 1905, showed a number 

 of bright emission bands undoubtedly similar to those seen 

 in the spectra of new stars, but another spectrum taken on 

 June 5 showed no trace of these. 



On looking over previous spectra obtained at the Potsdam 

 Observatory on June 3, 4, and 26, 1902, respectively, only 

 the hydrogen series lines, the calcium line A 3934, the 

 magnesium line A 44<Si, and possible traces of other 

 absorption lines could be detected. No bright bands were 

 present. 



The star is a well known double, classed as a " Sirian " 

 star by Sir Norman Lockyer, as belonging to class 1. 02 

 by Prof. Vogel, and as a class A star in the Draper Cata- 

 logue. 



The question of the variability of the relative brightness 

 of the two components has been much discussed, but was 

 affirmed by W. Struve, Sir W. Herschel, and O. Struve. 



A Brilliant Fireball. — In No. 368 of the Observatory 

 Mr. Denning has brought together a large number of 

 observations of a magnificent fireball which was seen in 

 Scotland and the northern counties of England on December 

 30, 1905. 



The meteor appeared at about 4I1. 26m., swelled out 

 into a disc, which one observer states was about half the 

 size of the moon, and disappeared when about 10°— 15° 

 above the horizon. The trail left by the meteor lasted 

 for about twelve or thirteen minutes according to most 

 observers, and during that time was contorted into a 

 variety of peculiar forms. 



From the insufficient data yet to hand, Mr. Denning 

 supposes that this object was a very late e Arietid, having 

 its radiant point at about 40°+23°, and on this supposition 

 the height of the meteor works out at sixty-seven miles 

 over Thornhill, in Dumfries, to twenty-seven miles over a 

 point some six miles south of Arran. The earth-point 

 would be about ten miles N.E. of Rathlin. 



Thus the length of the path would be seventy-two miles 

 and the velocity about fifteen miles per second. 



In the same journal (Nos. 367 and 368) there is pub- 

 lished an interesting discussion of the 1905 Bielid meteors 

 by Prof. A. S. Herschel. 



Observations of Phcebe during 1905. — A number of 

 photographic measures of Phoebe, made during the period 

 May 9 to December 14, 1905, are given in Circular 109 of 

 the Harvard College Observatory. The usual exposure 

 given to each photograph was two hours, and only very 

 faint images of the satellite were obtained ; thus they were 



NO. 1898, \OL. 73] 



very difficult to measure exactly, and the resulting residuals 

 are somewhat large. 



It is seen from the measures that Phcebe attained its 

 maximum distance from Saturn, viz. 36' -4, on September 5. 

 The average differences between the observed distances and 

 declinations and those computed from the ephemeris pub- 

 lished in vol. liii. of the Annals (p. 141) were about — o'-2 

 and — o'«6 respectively. 



The Leeds Astronomical Society. — The Journal and 

 Transactions of the Leeds Astronomical Societv (No. 12? 

 has just been received, and contains a number of interest- 

 ing papers which were read before the society during 1904. 



In addition to these there is a ri'sumi! of the society's 

 work during the year, as shown by a number of communi- 

 cations to various journals. 



Non-members may obtain the journal for is. 6d. from 

 Messrs. Jackson and Son, Leeds. 



NEW MAGAZINES OF BIOLOGICAL 

 CHEMIST R Y. 



JOLRNALS dealing with the chemical aspects of physio- 

 logical and pathological research have long been 

 current in Germany ; but up to the present time English- 

 speaking workers have had to rely on periodicals dealing 

 with ail branches of physiology and pathology for the 

 publication of their results. This is by no means dis- 

 advantageous to the readers of such journal-, lor over- 

 specialisation has its drawbacks. But with the ever 

 increasing activity in the biochemical field of research, the 

 need has for long been felt of a special journal, and we 

 have to chronicle the advent of one — the Bio-chemical 

 Journal — which supplies the need, under the editorship of 

 ' Prof. Benjamin Moore and Dr. Whitley, of the Liverpool 

 University. In America also a similar want has been 

 met by the issue of the first numbers of what is there 

 called the Journal of Biological Chemistry, which is edited 

 by Prof. Christian Herter, of New York, and Prof. J. J. 

 Abel, of Baltimore. 



The prefix bio and the adjective biological indicate a 

 wider outlook than was implied by the older expression 

 physiological chemistry, for there are chemical matters 

 which have bearings, not only on physiology, but on 

 botany, zoology, and pathology; and, indeed, this broad 

 scope is already recognisable in the early issues of both 

 the journals mentioned. It will be sufficient to take the 

 English journal as an example. In the first number, just 

 to hand, there is a paper by Mr. Joseph Barcroft dealing 

 with the oxygen tension in the salivary glands and saliva, 

 and throwing new light on the question of internal re- 

 spiration in general. The professor of botany at Liver- 

 pool, Mr. Harvey Gibson, contributes an article on the 

 physiological properties of West Indian boxwood, so much 

 used now by the shuttle-makers of the north. The 

 cardiac symptoms noticed in many of these workers are 

 shown to be due to an alkaloid in the wood, which is dis- 

 solved out by the perspiration on the hands of the work- 

 people, and slowly absorbed into the system. Drs. Edie 

 and Whitley describe methods for estimating the daily gain 

 or loss of fixed alkali from the body, and the organic acids 

 in the urine; the application of their results in the case of 

 diabetes is pointed out. It was previously known that in 

 acid poisoning the body protects itself by an increased 

 formation of ammonia from urea ; it is now shown that 

 there is a similar protective mechanism at work against 

 excess of alkali in the production of an increased amount of 

 organic acids from carbohydrates. The last paper, by Drs. 

 Moore, Edie, and Abram, more directly illustrates the appli- 

 cation of chemical studies to the elucidation of disease. 

 They find that the administration of a neutralised acid ex- 

 tract of the duodenal mucous membrane counteracts diabetes 

 in the few cases examined up to the present. The ex- 

 planation advanced of the benefit is that the extract stimu- 

 lates the pancreas to form that internal secretion which 

 regulates carbohydrate metabolism, but which is apparently 

 in abeyance in the diabetic state. 



Enough has been said to show the interesting and 

 important kind of material at hand, and we wish our 

 two new contemporaries every success in the future. 



