14 



NATURE 



[November 3, il 



There is, however, one outlet which believers in this 

 law can take advantage of, namely, that perhaps the new 

 body was originally part of the planet which, when broken 

 up, gave rise to the group of minor planets. As opinion 

 is still divided as to the true origin of asteroids, namely, 

 whether they are the result of a large series of ex- 

 plosions of an original planet which revolved between 

 Mars and Jupiter ; whether they are the condensation of 

 matter which originally was distributed in rings like 

 Saturn, but which was disturbed by the action of Jupiter; 

 or, lastly, whether they are the result of tidal action on 

 the tenuous primitive masses, the presence of the new 

 planet in this exceptional orbit might be accounted for on 

 any of these hypotheses. Perhaps, for all we know, this 

 planet may be one of several similar bodies which were 

 so thrown off or perturbated from the original mass, that 

 they were able to get into more favourable positions for 

 being disturbed by the attraction of Mars when nearest 

 them, and that their orbits were changed. 



Mr. Rees, in a lecture before the New York Academy 

 in 1S97, suggested that "the very rapid augmentation in 

 the number of minor planets indicates that there may be 

 thousands or even millions in the zone : with more 

 powerful telescopes and more sensitive plates we may 

 hope to find many of these thousands. And perhaps 

 the same agencies will discover asteroids between the 

 orbits of all the planets." There is, however, no doubt 

 that the orbits of some of the minor planets are not very 

 dissimilar from those of Mars and Jupiter, and must be 

 subjected at times to large disturbing forces by both 

 these planets. That one, or even several, of these bodies 

 may have been violently disturbed by Mars when in a 

 very favourable position, and thus made to revolve in 

 orbits more eccentric and inside that of Mars, does not 

 seem at all improbable. 



Jupiter also would be responsible for a great disturbing 

 force, and it is as likely as not that beyond his orbit 

 many of these small bodies pursue their paths ; these, 

 however, would probably be invisible to us on account of 

 the greater distance. In fact, it seems more natural and 

 in harmony with the solar system in general to consider 

 this newly-discovered small planet as an unusually 

 situated member of the minor planet group, than as a 

 single condensed body which has from the beginning of 

 its career been up till now an unseen major planet. 



If future research on the movement of this new body 

 should indicate the probability that we are dealing with 

 a member of the minor planet group that has suffered 

 considerable perturbations, then the law of Bode will, 

 with the ususal exception (.\eptune\ still afford us the 

 simple approximate means of quickly calculating the 

 distances of the members of the solar system. 



William J. S. Lockyer. 



NOTES. 

 We regret to see the announcement of the death of Mr. 

 Latimer Clark, F.R.S., the well-known electrician, at the age 

 of seventy-six. 



Prof. Jamks \. Craio, of the University of Michigan, spent 

 his summer vacation in London at work in ihe liritish Museum, 

 on the astrological-astronomical (ablets of the Kujundjik 

 (Nineveh) collection known as the Illumination of Bel. This 

 is the most important series of unedited texts in the British 

 Museum, and by far the most important in many respects to be 

 found in any of the collections extant. I'rof. Craig has worked 

 upon it during the last three summer vacations, and has now 

 completed all the texts of the si-ries, which number about 130 

 lablcls. His manuscript is already in the press with Die 

 Ilinrichssche Buchandlung, Leipzig, and will appear shortly in 

 Ihe " Assyriologische Bibliothek," in which the author has 

 already pulilished two volumes. 



NO. I5t4, VOL. 59] 



The Paris correspondent of the Chemist and Driig^st states 

 that Dr. Calmette, Directeur of the Pasteur Institute at Lille, 

 has endowed that body with a sum of 250,000 francs (lo,cco/.), 

 representing the profits realised by the distilleries at Seclin by 

 one of his inventions. 



Natural Scieiia, the impending decease of which was 

 announced in the October number, has received a new lease of 

 life. .\n editor has been found willing to take upon himself 

 the burden of responsibility, so the journal will appear as 

 heretofore during 1899, and, it is hoped, for many years to 

 come. 



The Committee on endowment of the Franklin Institute, 

 Philadelphia, is making an appeal for subscriptions to the 

 endowment fund. It is of the utmost importance for the fnture 

 prosperity and progress of the Institute, that a substantia) 

 addition to its annual revenues be acquired, not only to provide 

 income sufficient to carry on its present work, but also to enable 

 it to extend this in other directions. 



Prok. Israel C. Rissell, of the department of geology 01 

 the University of Michigan, has recently conducted a geological 

 survey for the United States Government over the northern 

 portion of the Cascade Mountains. The greater part of thei 

 work was in Washington State, and extended from the Northern 1 

 Pacific railroad to the Canadian boundary, crossing the ' 

 mountains several times. .Among the places of interest visited 

 was Glacial Peak, the height of which was verified. 



Ar the close of the last, and the beginning of the present 

 week, the weather over these islands was of a verj' unsettled 

 character. On Saturday, October 29, a cyclonic disturbance 1 

 appeared off the south of Ireland, and subsequently passed to ' 

 the Shetlands, causing gales, especially over the western and 

 northern parts of the country, and rough weather in the Channel 

 and Bay of Biscay, with very heavy rainfall generally, amount- 

 ing in forty-eight liours to I '26 inches at Greenwich and 2'4S 

 inches at Pembroke, while thunder and lightning were observed 

 at several places. .A.t Camberwell Green (south-east London) 

 a terrific squall, resembling a small tornado in its character, 

 occurred at about gh. 30m. on Saturday evening, overturning 

 vehicles, uprooting trees, and causing much damage to build- 

 ings. The violence of the storm, the track of which was 

 apparently from about E.S. E. to W.X.W., fortunately lasted 

 only a few minutes, and was confined to a very small area, 

 other places in the immediate locality experiencing nothing 

 beyond strong wind accompanied by very heavy rainfalL 



The ordinary general meeting of the members of the Insti- 

 tution of Mechanical Engineers was held on October 26 and 27, 

 Mr. Samuel W. Johnson, the president, being in the chair. 

 The president announced that Sir W. H. White, Chief Con- 

 structor of the Royal Navy, had been nominated as his . 

 successor, Mr. T. Hurry Riches as a vice-president, and Sit | 

 William Arrol, M.P., Sir Benjamin Baker, Mr. Henry 

 Chapman, Mr. W. J. Pirrie, and Sir T. Richardson, M.P., as 

 members of the Council. In a paper on " Electric installations 

 for lighting and power on the Midland Railway, with notes or» 

 power absorbed by shafting and belting," Mr. W. E. Langdon 

 showed that an extensive loss of ix>wer takes place in shafting 

 and belting, but this may be reduced by driving each tool or 

 machine direct from an electric motor. With large tools or 

 machines absorbing over one horse-(>ower, there seems to be no 

 question of the advantage derived from driving them direct by 

 electricity. Mr. W. M. Smith described some recent practical 

 experience with express locomotive engines. The train resist- 

 ance was founil to be considerably increased by side winds. On 

 one trip it was found that the side wind increased the mean 

 train resistance by about 3'5S8 lbs. per ton of load. The 



