544 



NA TURE 



[April 5, 1906 



present pamphlet treats exclusively of the magnifications 

 produced by lenses, the paths of the rays, and the prin- 

 ciples of the microscope and telescope. 



The danger which may accompany the teaching oi 

 elementary chemistry to children has been sadly illustrated 

 by the death of a girl of fifteen years of age — a pupil at 

 the Plymouth Secondary School — caused by swallowing a 

 strong solution of caustic soda while working in a prac- 

 tical chemistry class. The coroner's inquest showed that 

 the - hild -one of a class of eight — misinterpreted the direc- 

 tions given by the instructor, and sucked into a pipette 

 .1 concentrated solution of the alkali without previously 

 diluting it, as she had been told to do; in doing this she 

 managed to swallow some of the solution. In view of the 

 fact that three other pupils out of the eight in the class 

 gave evidence showing that they also had not followed 

 the directions given, it is clear that, in order to guard 

 against such accidents, the experiments should be devised 

 in such a way that, in the event of a misunderstanding, 

 no evil results may accrue. In the present case, for 

 instance, in which the neutralisation of sulphuri, acid b) 

 caustic soda was being studied, the concentrated solutions 

 might have been diluted by the demonstrator in front of 

 the class, and the diluted solutions thus prepared then 

 have been used for the pupils' measurements. Other simple 

 expedients could readily be suggested in which the use of 

 an ordinary pipette is avoided. In the practical study of 

 chemistry there are many possibilities of accident, and "this 

 should be borne in mind by the examining and inspecting 

 authorities which prescribe the work to be done in school 

 laboratories, and by the teachers who devise experiments 

 lor their pupils. It should be unnecessary to add that the 

 instructor, particularly when he has to deal with children, 

 should not only have seen chemical experiments performed, 

 but have acquired by a prolonged course of laboratory- 

 work a real knowledge oi manipulation and of the dangers 

 likel) to be incurred in any i.is,.. 



Messrs. John J. Griffin and Sons, Ltd., have issued 

 a third edition of their well illustrated list of apparatus 

 for elei trochemistry, arranged for students working through 

 Dr. Lupke's " Grundziige der Electrochemie. " 



A POPULAR article, with several striking illustrations, 

 upon the eye-spots exhibited by various creatures as orna- 

 ments or for protective purposes appears in the April 

 number of Pearson's Magazine. 



The current issue of the Home Counties Magazine 

 contains, among other interesting matter, a reprint of a 

 lecture by Mr. M. J. C. Meiklejohn on the place-names 

 oi Northwood and district, and the first of a series of 

 articles in which the editor, Mr. W. Paley Baildon, has 

 collected all available references to Paul's Cross,' and 

 arranged them in chronological order. 



The current number of Past and Present, the successor 

 to the Natural History Journal, published in connection 

 with the Friends' Schools, is before us. The magazine 

 shows tli.il great encouragement is given in these schools 

 1- 1 1 ervatlonal science, and that the boys are in the habit 

 of making and recording outdoor observations in biological 



and ""'< ological si i.-nce. The illustrations of the school 



buildings arr proof enough that the claims of science are 

 not forgotten in the school curriculum. 



Several parts of volumes of Transactions of the Royal 



Society of Edinburgh, containing papers read before the 



societ) during the sessions 1902-3, 1903-4, and 1904-5, have 



J L| -> been received; and also vol. xliii. of the Transactions, 



NO. 1 9OI, VOL. J?,] 



edited by Dr. A. Buchan, F.R.S., and Mr. R. T. Omond', 

 devoted to the Ben Nevis observations during the years- 

 1893-7. As abstracts of the papers read before the society 

 appear periodically among our reports of meetings, it is- 

 unnecessary to refer again to the many important contri- 

 butions now printed in full in the Transactions recently 

 issued. 



The fifth part of vol. ii. of the Proceedings of the Uni- 

 versity of Durham Philosophical Society has been received. 

 The number contains five papers read before the society 

 between February and April 27, 1905, together with the 

 proceedings for the academic year 1904-5. Prof. H. 

 Stroud contributes a paper on spark-gap experiments for 

 detecting radio-activity. Dr. J. A. Smythe a note on a 

 contact rock from the Island of Mull, Mr. A. Brennan 

 notes on abnormal flowers of I. ilium Martagon (Linn.), 

 Dr. D. Woolacott a paper on the pre-Glacial " wash " of 

 the Northumberland and Durham coalfield, and Mr. G. 

 Thomson one on the effect of light on selenium. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Astronomical Occurrences in Atrii. : — 

 April 5. 5h. 48m. to 6h. 42m. Moon occults o Leonis- 

 (Regulus, mag. 1 -31. 

 6. 7h. 3m to 7h. 57m. Moon occults x Leonis (mag. 



47)- 

 ,, 15I1. 50m. to i6h. 19m. Moon occults o- Leonis 



(mag. 4-1). 

 11. nh. 30m. Minimum of Algol (,8 Persei). 



14. 8h. 19111. „ „ ,, 



15. Venus. Illuminated portion of disc = 0-967. Or 



Mars =0-978. 



16. 15I1 48m. to i6h. 29m. Moon occults $ Capricorni 



(mag. 4-2). 

 18. 23I1. Saturn in conjunction with Moon. Saturn 



0° 22' N. 

 24. 8h. 22m. Transit (ingress) of Jupiter's Satellite III. 



(Ganymede). 

 ,, 1 5h. Venus in conjunction with Moon. Venus 



5° 11' N. 



26. 4h. Jupiier in conjunction with Moon. Jupiter 



4 16' N 

 ,, 5h. 42m. Near approach of Moon to a Tauri (Alde- 

 baran). 



27. Sh. 51m. to 9h. 48m. Moon occults 119 Tauri 



(mag. 4 -6). 

 30. 1 1 h. 33m. to I2h. 2Sm. Moon occults £ Cancri 

 (mag. 47). 



Comet [906b. — A part of the ephemeris for comet 1906b 

 (Kopff), calculated by Herr M. Ebell and published ire 

 No. 4080 of the Astronomische Nachrichten, is given 

 below : — 



Ephemeris 12ft. M.T. Berlin. 

 "(true) S('rue) log,- log A Bright- 



April 6 ... 11 22 53 ... 2 24 .. 05355 ... 0-3983 ... o-8t 

 14 ... 11 21 18 ... 2 28 ... 0-5397 ... 0-4128 ... 0-74 

 22 ... n 20 38 ... 2 26 ... 0-5440 ... 0-4291 ... 0-67 

 30 .. 11 20 58 ... 2 20 ... 0-5484 ... 04468 ... 061 

 Unit brightness on March 3 = about mag. n-o. 

 This comet is still in the constellation Leo, near to the 

 star t, which is on the meridian at about 11 p.m. 



I In suggestion that this object was a periodic comet of 

 short period is not confirmed by the observations. 



Observing at Strassburg on March 17, Dr. Wirtz re- 

 corded that the comet had a nucleus of mag. 115, the 

 total magnitude being n-o. The nebulosity was only o'-7 

 in diameter, and appeared to be extended towards position 

 angle 270°. 



Comet 1905c. — The following is an extract from Herr 

 Wedemeyer's ephemeris for comet 1905c (Giacobini) as: 

 published in the supplement to No. 4080 of the Astrono- 

 mische Nachrichten : — 



