662 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
ASTRONOMICAL OCCURRENCES IN NOVEMBER :— 
Noy. 2. 13h. 6m. Minimum of Algol (8 Persei). 
4. th. om. Mercury at greatest western elongation 
(18° 50’). 
5- 9h. 55m. Minimum of Algol (8 Persei). 
6. 5h. om. Saturn in conjunction with the moon. 
Saturn 5° 33’ S. 
9. Predicted perihelion passage of Swift's comet (1895 
II.). 
14-15. Epoch of Leonid meteoric shower. 
15. Venus. Illuminated portion of disc=o'998, of Mars 
=0'914. 
20. 12h. 6m. to 13h. 7m. Moon occults 60 Cancri 
(mag. 5°7). 
20. Sh. 42m, to 19h. 51m. Moon occults « Cancri 
(mag. 5°0). 
23. Epoch of Andromedid meteoric shower. 
23. Perihelion passage of Perrine’s comet (1902 4). 
23. 14h. 14m. to 15h. om. Moon occults v Leonis (mag. 
4°5). 
24. 2h. 21m. to 6h. 4m. Transit of Jupiter’s Sat. III. 
(Ganymede), 
25. Ith, 37m. Minimum of Algol (8 Persei). 
28. 8h. 26m. Minimum of Algol (8 Persei). 
28. 14h. om. Venus in superior conjunction with the 
sun. 
29. 7h. 43m. to 12h. 37m. ‘Transit of Jupiter’s Sat. IV. 
(Callisto). 
THE LEONID SHOWER.—Twoarticles in Popular Aslronomy, 
No. 98, by Prof. Pickering and Mr. R. B. Taber respectively, 
deal with the reports of different observers of the Leonids 
during the shower of 1901, which, although not seen in this 
country, appears to have been a brilliant one as seen by the 
observers in the United States on the morning of November 15. 
Prof. Pickering records the following six observations :— 
No. of 
Station. Latitude. Longitude. meteors per 
hour, 
Trinidad, W.I. uns os TOM east) 508 290 
Steamer Admzral Dewey ... ZO eee MS 420+ 
Tuape, Sonora, Mex. B00 BOmme aT) . countless 
Tucson, Arizona... peo BH Wino! AE gor 225 
Claremont, California Re San ee) LS 800 
Mount Lowe Observatory ... BAg wee eLrS) 300 
The position of the radiant point seems unchanged. the 
Harvard report giving it as R.A. =10h. 6m., Dec. =22° 16’. Mr. 
Upton, of Providence, estimated it to be R.A,=10h. 2m.°8., 
Dec. =21° 19’, whilst M. Eginitis, director of the Athens Ob- 
servatory, suggests ‘‘a sensible displacement in right ascension.” 
Mr. Upton thinks that ‘‘the radiant is probably a point, rather 
than a spot 2” or more in diameter.” 
OBSERVATIONS OF ¢ GEMINORUM.— During the period 
March 10 to May 23 of this year, forty-two observations of 
the variable star ¢ Geminorum were made, by Argelander’s 
method, at the Princetown University Observatory by Mr. F. P. 
McDermott, junior. 
The observations indicate that there is a secondary maximum 
about 30d. before the principal maximum, and that the object 
attains a brightness of 3°88m.; a secondary minimum, when 
the object has a magnitude of about 3°93, is also indicated 
16d. before the principal maximum, 
THE FIFTH SATELLITE OF JUPITER.—Writing to Popzlar 
Astronomy (No. 98) on September 9, Prof. Barnard recalls the 
fact that it is exactly ten years since Jupiter’s fifth satellite was 
discovered. 
From the spring of 1899 until the spring of this year, Prof. 
Barnard was unable to see this object, but several good elonga- 
tions have been observed this year; the satellite can, however, 
only be seen under very good observing conditions and with 
large instruments. 
SEARCH FOR AN INTRA-MERCURIAL PLANET DURING THE 
Torat Sorar EciipsE oF 1901.—In Auxdletin No. 24 of 
the Lick Observatory, Prof. Perrine describes the photographic 
search for the intra-Mercurial planet which, according to 
Leverrier and others, might be the disturbing influence that 
NO. 1722, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
[OCTOBER 30, 1902 
causes the considerable motion observed in the line of apsides of 
the orbit of Mercury. 
Reduction of the negatives obtained during the 1901 eclipse 
has led toa negative result. There is just a possibility that at 
the time of the eclipse the hypothetical planet may have been 
in a direct line with the bright corona, and so have escaped 
notice ; but, as the corona only covered 1/200th of the area 
photographed, this is not very probable. 
A planetary body 34 miles in diameter would have appeared 
as having a magnitude of 7{ in the existing circumstances, 
and, as it would need seven hundred thousand such bodies, each 
having the same density as Mercury, to produce the observed 
movement in the orbit of the latter, it seems highly improbable 
that these changes are due to the interference of an intra- 
Mercurial planet. Prof. Perrine suggests that perhaps the finely 
divided matter which produces the zodiacal light may, when 
considered in the aggregate, be sufficient to cause the per- 
turbations in the orbit of Mercury. 
CHEMISTRY AT THE BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 
N a paper on experiments to ascertain the amount of carbonic 
anhydride absorbed from sea water, Prof. E. A. Letts 
and Mr. W. Caldwell stated that they are experimentally testing 
the validity of Schloesing’s theory that the ocean serves as the 
regulator of atmospheric carbonic anhydride, with the aid of a 
specially devised piece of apparatus. Prof. E. A. Letts also read 
a paper on the corrosion of copper by sea water and on the detec- 
tion of traces of impurity in the commercial metal, in which it 
was suggested that rapid corrosion of copper by sea water may 
be due to electrolytic action between particles of a copper-arsenic | 
alloy embedded in the copper plates and the copper itself. 
Prof. F. Clowes, in a paper on the action of distilled water upon 
lead, showed that dissolved oxygen first acts upon the lead, and 
the oxidation product is subsequently converted into a hydroxy- 
carbonate by carbonic acid. Dr. C. E. Fawsitt gave a paper 
on the decomposition of urea, showing that on heating urea in 
aqueous acid or alkaline solution at 99°, the decomposition does 
not proceed in accordance with a bi- or tri-molecular reaction 
as would be expected theoretically, but in accordance with the 
formula of a monomolecular reaction. The apparent anomaly 
is explained by the formation of ammonium cyanate as an inter- 
mediate product ; on heating with water, urea first undergoes 
isomeric transformation into ammonium cyanate, and this then 
decomposes into ammonia and carbonic anhydride. In a paper 
onthe telluric distribution of the elements in relation to their 
atomic weights, Mr. W. Ackroyd employs the purchasing power 
of agiven sum as an indication of the abundance or rarity of the 
different elements ; he shows that in each of the natural groups 
the rarity of the element increases with the atomic weight. In 
a paper on the proposed standardisation of methods of chemical 
analysis, Mr. B. Blount protested against the growing tendency 
to apply the principle of standardisation to analytical methods 
for the determination of chemical entities, such, for instance, as 
the constituents of steel ; at the same time, he agreed that arbi- 
trary methods, such as those applied to the examination of 
waters, oils, milks, &c., should be standardised. Prof. T. 
Purdie, F.R.S., and Dr. J. C. Irvine, in a paper on the alkyl- 
ation of sugars, described a method for alkylating hydroxyl 
groups in methylglucosides. On boiling methylglucoside in 
methyl alcohol with methyl iodide and dry silver oxide, the, 
trimethyl ether of methylglucoside, 
CH(OCH;).CH(OCH,). CH(OCH,).CH,C H(OCHsg). CH,.OH, 
| 
——— 
is produced ; on further heating with methyl iodide and silver 
oxide, it is converted into a tetramethyl ether. Under similar 
treatment, acetonerhamnoside yields a dimethyl ether. In 
dealing with the synthetical action of enzymes, Dr. E. F. 
Armstrong showed that the enzyme lactase is capable of con- 
verting glucose into a disaccharide, to which the name isolactose 
was given. The same author gave a paper on recent synthetical 
researches in the glucoside group; the pentacetylglucoses 
are converted into aceto-halogen-glucoses by anhydrous 
hydrogen chloride or bromide, the acetyl group attached 
to the aldehyde group being replaced by halogen. These 
substances are converted into alkylglucosides by treatment 
with alcohols, A report of the committee appointed to collect 
——KK ll 
