)46 



NATURE 



[Apkil 6, 1899 



The comet is increasing in brightness, and is moving in a 

 south-easterly direction through Aries and Taurus. On the I7lh 

 it passes close to the Pleiades, and on the 30th it is close to a 

 Tauri (Aldebaran). A telegram from Herr Wolf, of Heidelberg, 

 states that the comet is about the nth magnitude (Asl. Nacli., 

 Bd. 148, No. 35S2). 



Meteor Obser\ations kro.m a Balloon.— The March 

 number of the /?«//. de la Soc. Aslr. de Fraiue contains an 

 article by M. A. Hansky, of the Meudon Observatory, describ- 

 ing his attempt to observe the Leonid meteor shower in 

 November 1898 from a balloon. The experiment was so far 

 successful in that the observers saw a number of meteors, the 

 sky to them being perfectly clear, although to the people on 

 terra firma in Paris the sky was completely clouded over. 

 This was at a height of only about 150 metres. Attention is 

 also drawn to the other astronomical observations which might 

 be made in this way when otherwise impossible on account of 

 local weather conditions Among these may be mentioned the 

 observation of solar and lunar eclipses, the zodiacal light, the 

 gegenschein, and auror.u, which last are probably very frequent 

 but masked by atmospheric glare or insufficient transparency 

 of the air at low levels. 



The first balloon ascent for astronomical purposes, so far as 

 is known, was made by the Russian chemist Prof. Mendeleef, 

 who, by this means, was enabled to observe the total eclipse of 

 the sun in 1867. 



Planetary Pertirbatio.s^. — In Ast. Nach., Bd. 14S, 

 No. 3549, Prof. S. Newcomb draws attention to a source of 

 error in the formula; used in computing the positions of the 

 planets at future or past epochs. In the method of "special 

 perturbations," which is often used, a small error in the decimal 

 places, arising from superfluous numbers or uncertainty in the 

 data is. from the nature of the integrals, accumulative with the 

 lime. Prof. Newcomb takes integrals of the various types 

 commonly used, and shows the relative errors introduced in 

 their evaluation. The mean longitude, requiring two integra- 

 tions for its determination, will have a more rapidly accumu- 

 lating error than the other element.s, and hence its computation 

 should be done with special care. 



U.S. Naval Observatory. — We have just received the 

 report of the superintendent of the Naval Observatory for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1S98, embodying the several 

 reports made by the directors of the various departments. 



The 26inrh refractor has almost exclusively been used on 

 faint and difficult objects, including observations of D'Arrest's 

 and t'.iacobini's comets ; measures of Titan and Japetus for a 

 new determination of the mass of Saturn (i : 3491 'S), this ap- 

 pearing to be affected by the different brightness of the two, so 

 new measures of Rhea and Japetus are to be made ; forty-one 

 complete measures of position angle and distance of Neptune's 

 satellite were obtained, and the diameters of Mercury and Venus 

 on all possible occasions. 



Some interesting experiments were made to spectroscopically 

 determine the colour curve of the 26-inch. The minimum 

 focal length occurs about E, from which the focal plane for F is 

 0142 inches, and for G (iron) I 233 inches distant. 



The 1 2-inch has been used in observing comets, minor 

 planets, occultation of stars, and eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. 

 In past years this instrument has been used for the exhibition of 

 celestial objects to the public on two evenings each week ; 

 this has now been limited to one evening. "The number of 

 visitors during the year has been nearly 1500. 



Two new instruments have been acquired, a 6-inch transit 

 circle and a 5-inch altazimuth, both marking a new departure 

 in being made entirely of steel, in the endeavour to reduce to a 

 minimum the changes due to flexure and temperature. Both 

 instruments have been made by an .Vmerican firm, this choice 

 being seemingly justified by their performance after installation. 



The new tables of the planets Mars, Uranus and Neptune 

 are nearly completed ready for publication. 



The department of nautical instruments, chronometers and 

 watches was under a great strain during the war with .Spain, 

 all available instruments in the country being purchased, and 

 many having to be sent out without the complete tests usually 

 applied before acceptance. 



The magnetic department is likely to be abandoned owing to 

 the serious disturbing effects of the currents leaking from the 

 numerous electric plants in the immediate vicinity. 



\0. 1536, VOL. 59] 



A"" 



ALLOYS OF IRON AND NICKEL. 



T the Institution of Civil Engineers, on March 28, a paper 

 was read on " Alloys of Iron and Nickel," by .Vlr. R. .\. 

 Hadfield. The effect upon iron of gradually increasing amounts 

 of certain added foreign elements has already been investigated 

 by Mr. Hadfield in experiments upon the mechanical and 

 physical properties of alloys of iron and manganese, silicon, 

 aluminium and chromium, both in the cast and forged condi- 

 tions. The present paper contains the results of a similar 

 investigation of the alloys of iron and nickel. The addition of 

 nickel, either by conferring greater homogeneity or by some 

 particular combination with the iron or carbon present, or both, 

 appears to confer properties upon the alloy equivalent to an 

 annealing, or, if annealing be employed, to reduce the stress 

 produced by forging ; it does this even in the annealed material 

 without injuring or seriously lowering the elastic limit. In this 

 respect, therefore, its presence is of considerable practical 

 utility. It would appear there is considerable room for improv- 

 ing the material of propeller-shafts. The well known Russian 

 metallurgist, Chernoft', has stated that steel is composed of 

 crystals of metallic iron cemented by carbide of iron, the 

 result being that in the case of nickel-iron alloys the inter- 

 crystalline spaces (a subject which has been fully and carefully 

 investigated by .\Ir. T. Andrews, F. R. S., as regards ordinary 

 steel) are much more completely filled, and the cohesion conse- 

 quently rendered more powerful. The points of solidification 

 of the cement and crystals are nearer, thus producing or main- 

 taining a more intimate interweaving of the elements. In 

 support of this theory may be cited the fact that without doubt 

 nickel-iron alloys show less tendency to segregation, which 

 apparently indicates that the combinations formed at high tem- 

 perature are more intimately maintained when the alloy cools and 

 becomes solidified than is the case with ordinary steel. That 

 scientific evolution disregards nationalities is well illustrated 

 in the case of the metal nickel and its developments. The 

 Swedish chemist Cronstedt, at work in his laboratory, conceived 

 the idea that the deceptive Kupfer-Nickel is a metal containing 

 a new element ; from him it passed to other Swedish 

 investigators, thence to those of German, French, and other 

 nationalities, .\ttempts were made by Faraday to artificially 

 produce meteoric iron ; similar efforts were afterwards made in 

 France, Germany and elsewhere, .\pparently a period of 

 inactivity followed, during which, however, first one and 

 then another experimenter added facts to the general stock. 

 Finally, as regards the metallurgy of nickel .as applied to iron 

 and steel, .Marbeau, in France, applied the matter experi- 

 mentally ; Schneider, in France, perfected its application to a 

 number of purposes, chiefly armour-plates : Riley brought ihe 

 manufacture to a |iractical issue in England ; American and 

 Canadian enterprise followed in the perfecting of cheaper 

 methods of producing nickel, and a new product — nickel steel 

 — appeared. Ii has taken about 125 years to arrive at the stage 

 reached today. No one person, no one nationality, can lay 

 claim to its discovery, to its inception. If a chart were con- 

 structed on genealogical lines, how much wnuld be seen to have 

 sprung from the laboratory experiments by Cronstedt .' But, 

 if it were possible, long before the work of the Swede would be 

 discovered the early workers of the old world in China and 

 Japan, about whose work dates and facts were inaccessible. 

 Apparently, to modern ideas, mention of nickel appears to have 

 struggled into existence between the years 1600 and 1700, but 

 the metal must have been well known, not merely centuries, but 

 almost thousands of years earlier. 



THE PRESENT STATE OF EVOLUTION} 

 f~\'SL,\ a little less than fifty years have passed since the pub- 

 lication of Darwin's "Origin of Species," and the general 

 acceptance by naturalists of the theory of descent. Since 1S48 

 the sciences of embryolog)', cytology, and comparative anatomy 

 based on embryology— or, as it is now called, morphology — have 

 been placed on a firm foundation. It is but little over half a 

 century since the uniformilarian views of Lyell were promul- 

 gated. The cell doctrine was born in 1839; the view that pro- 



t ProloKUe of .111 address entitled ** A Half-Century uf Evolution, with 

 special reference 10 the Kffcct of Geological Changes on Animal Life," 

 delivered by Pn>f. .Mpheus S. Pactcird before the Section of Zootog>' of the 

 American Associ.iliori for the Advancement of Science at the Boston 

 meeting (fiftieth anni>crs.iry) on .\ugust 31, 1S98. 



