December j, 1898] 



NA TURE 



107 



(vol. Iviii. p. 173). The volume is profusely illustrated, and 



1 contains descriptions of a number of ingenious devices to 



\ illustrate astronomical phenomena. 



L 



: . A VOLUME entitled "Notes on Water Supply," containing, 

 among other matters, references, tables, notes, memoranda, 



" and detailed advertisements in relation to water-works engineer- 

 ing, has been prepared by Mr. J. T. Rodda, and is published by 

 Messrs. King, Sell, and Railton, Ltd. The work will be found 

 useful in indicating what water-works appliances are in the 

 market, and their usefulness in modern distribution of water 

 supply. 



Two publications of the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

 (Division of Biological Survey) have reached us : — '* Life-zones 

 and Crop-zones of the United States," by C. H. Merriam, the 

 Chief of the Survey; and "the Geographical Distribution of 

 Cereals in North America," by C. S. Plumb. Both are illus- 

 trated by a coloured map of the States (including Cuba), showing 

 the delimitation of the " Life-zones " — the Boreal, the Transi- 

 tion, the Upper Austral, the Lower Austral, the Gulf strip of 

 the L<jwer Austral, and the Tropical zones. 



Mr. Bernard Quaritch announces that the first volume 

 of the work on the zoology of Egypt, with which Dr. John 

 Anderson, F.R.S., has been engaged for some time, is now 

 ready. As the result of five years devoted to collecting, 1500 

 specimens of reptiles and batrachians were brought together, 

 of which more than 1400 were permanently preserved. The 

 formation of this collection was the first step towards the 

 preparation of the volume on " Reptilia and Batrachia" now 

 published ; for these groups were so poorly represented in the 

 museums of this country and of Europe that it would have been 

 impossible to have derived from them any just conception of 

 the extent of these constituents of the P2gyptian fauna. Only 

 100 copies of Dr. Anderson's work have been printed. Pur- 

 chasers of the first volume, now available, do not bind them- 

 selves to take further volumes. 



Since the discovery by Graham, in 1856, of the remarkable 

 property of palladium of absorbing hydrogen, many researches 

 have been carried out with the object of throwing some light 

 upon the relations existing between the metal and the gas, and 

 with the result that there are nearly as many different views as 

 experimenters. From the theoretical discussion, there would 

 at first sight appear to be no difficulty in distinguishing ex- 

 perimentally between the alloy or solid solution hypothesis and 

 the view that a definite compound, a hydride, is formed. The 

 pressure-concentration curve, in particular, would be expected 

 to decide at once between these two views. But the application 

 of this method is rendered difficult, if not useless, by the fact 

 that the shape of the curve varies greatly with temperature. 

 At 100' C, for instance, the horizontal portion required by the 

 hypothesis of PdjH being present is well marked (Troost and 

 Hautefeuille), but at 200° C. no trace of this is present. Of 

 the electrical methods tried, the most recent is that of Dr. J. 

 Shields (/'toc. Roy. Soc. Edi'n., vol. xxii. 169), who examined 

 the -electro-motive force of the concentration cell, palladium- 

 hydrogen (weak) / dilute sulphuric acid / palladium-hydrogen 

 (strong), where the concentrations of the hydrogen were weak 

 and strong at the two electrodes. The electro-motive force of 

 the cell was found to be zero, or nearly" so. This is opposed to 

 the solid solution hypothesis, and agrees better with the view 

 that a definite chemical compound is formed. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 



past week include a Diana Monkey (Cercopithecus diana) from 



West Africa, presented by Mrs. M. Riach; a Guinea Baboon 



{Cynocephahts sphinx, i ) from Africa, presented by Captain 



NO. I518, VOL. 59] 



Armitage ; a Smith's Dwarf Lemur (Microcebus smithi) from' 

 Madagascar; a Crab eating Opossum (Didelphys cancrivorus) 

 from Tropical America, two One-wattled Cassowaries ( Caj/faWai 

 uniappendkulalus) from New Guinea, a Common Rhea (Rhea 

 americana) from the Argentine Republic, deposited ; .1 Tesse- 

 lated Snake {Tropidcmotus tcsselaliis) European, purchased; a 

 Vak (Pocphagiis gninniem, 9 ), a Llama {Lama pcruaiia,'i ). 

 born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Astronomical Occurrences in December : — 

 December 2. Venus at maximum diameter 63" "4. 



3. Mercury at greatest E. elongation (21° 3'). and 

 visible after sunset. 



5. 2oh. 2m. to 2ih. iim. Occultation of 55 Leonis 



(mag. 6) by the moon. 



6. I2h. 54m. to I3h. 24m. Occultation oft- Leonis- 



(mag. 5'i) by the moon. 

 ID. 8h. 42m. Minimum of Algol (S Persei). 

 10-12. Meteoric shower from Gemini (Radiant 



108° -f 33°.) 

 13. Neptune 52' N. of f Tauri. 



13. 5h. 30m. Minimum of Algol (/3 Persei). 



14. igh. Neptune in opposition to the sun. 



15. Mars. Apparent diameter I2"'6. Illuminatedi 



portion of disc o'95i. 



15. Jupiter. Apparent diameter 30"'2. 



19. 3h. om. to 3h. 46m. Occultation of k Piscium. 

 (mag. 5) by the moon. 



23. 9h. 4m. to loh. iim. Occultation of 47 Arietis- 

 (mag. 5 '9) by the moon. 



27. I ih. 3Sm. Middle of a total eclipse of the moon. 

 The total phase endures from loh. 57m. to 

 I2h. 27m., a period of about li hours. The 

 magnitude of the eclipse will be = I '383, the 

 moon's diameter being considered = i. 



29. loh. im. to iih. i6m. Occultation of f Cancrv 

 (mag. 5) by the moon. 



A New Comet. — Two telegrams from Kiel announce- 

 observations of a new comet discovered by Chase. 



The first from Newhaven, dated November 24, gives th& 

 position of this object on November 14, I2h. 3Sm. Newhaven 

 time, as R. A. loh. 7m. 4s., and Declination -h 22° 55' ; the- 

 motion being -(- Im. 36s. in R.A., and 4- 4' in Dechnation. It 

 was described as "faint." 



The .second telegram, dated November 25, gives an observ- 

 ation made by Coddington on November 23, at I7h. Lick time- 

 The Right Ascension then was loh. 21m. 48s., and the De- 

 clination -F 23° 37' 



November Meteors. — The observations of the November 

 meteors have been very much hindered owing to the extremely 

 cloudy weather that has prevailed nearly everywhere. There 

 seems, however, to have been greater success with the Leonids 

 on the night of the I3-I4th of last month. M. Janssen ( Coniptes 

 rendiis, November 21) eliminated cloudy weather by going up 

 about 200 metres in a balloon at two o'clock on the morning of 

 the 14th. M. Hausky, who was with the party, observed the con- 

 stellation of Leo, while the others took different portions of the 

 sky. Between 2h. 45m. to 4h. 30m., however, only 25 Leonids 

 were recorded. It is stated that next year ascensions on a large 

 scale will be organised. At the Observatory of Lyons the weather 

 was very favourable, and some useful observations were made 

 by M. -Andre and Guillaume. The former observer, in a watch 

 lasting from 8h. to I2h. 15m., observed 34 meteors, 22 of 

 which he estimated as Leonids. M. Guillaume, from I3h. 4m. to 

 i6h. 5m. saw no less than 134 in three hours, which is about 

 45 meteors an hour. The radiant point he deduced was 

 155° + 18°. 



Parallax of t) Pegasi. — In this column for September io> 

 last, we gave a brief note concerning the determinations of the 

 velocities in the line of sight of the variable ?) Pegasi, made by 

 Prof. W. W. Campbell. Concerning the parallax of this .star, 

 Mr. C. E. Stromeyer writes to us and suggests that "photo- 

 graphs or micrometric measurements of the position of this stae 

 should be taken at periods when its velocity in the line of sight 



