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ARY 3,1923]) 
A ust (No. 31) of second-hand books of science, 
‘mainly natural history, botany, and gardening, has 
st been issued by Mr. R. S. Frampton, 37 Fonthill 
d, N.4. Upwards of a thousand titles are given, 
and the prices asked appear very reasonable. 
_ Tue latest catalogue (No. 439) of Mr. F. Edwards, 
83 High Street, Marylebone, W.1, is devoted to 
atlases and maps and books of geographical interest. 
As is usual with the catalogues issued by this book- 
seller, the present list contains many rare and scarce 
tems, which are fully described. 
Mr. E. G. Wuite, the third edition of whose “‘ Voice 
utiful in Speech and Song ” was noticed in NATURE 
December 30, p. 871, objects to the remark of the 
reviewer “‘ that I regard the vocal cords ‘ as strings,’ 
whereas the whole book is written for the precise 
e of showing that they are not strings.’’ In 
bY 
_ CALENDAR REFoRM.—Somewhat of a deadlock has 
been reached in the matter of calendar reform, owing 
to the unwillingness of a considerable section to 
abandon the free week, which has now been running 
tel genet for some 3000 years, by the intro- 
days that would not count in the week or 
Rev. D. R. Fotheringham, editor of the 
an, proposes a scheme in No. 17 of that 
which would retain the fixed calendar, with- 
interfering in the least with the succession of 
‘days. He proposes to make an ordin ear 
3 ly 52 weeks or 364 days. This could be divided 
into > Ayer in each of which the ys of the 
mon would be 30, 30, 31 days; or if preferred, 
here could be 13 months of 4 weeks each: every fifth 
year (the last digit of which was 0 or 5) would have an 
ttra week; unless the year was divisible by 45, in 
yhich case there would be no extra week. There 
ould thus be 8 extra weeks in 45 years, the average 
mgth of the year being 365-2444444 .. . days. 
phe true length of the tropical year is 365-242199, so 
tt the error is 0-00224 days, or 1 day in 446 years ; 
is is a trifling amount and could be corrected by 
ropping the extra week once in 3000 P pug in 
dition to its normal dropping every forty-fifth year. 
[he proposed calendar would satisfy the following 
Siderata, assuming that the extra week is always 
sckoned at the end of the year: (1) any particular 
ndar date would always be on the same day of 
week ; (2) the interval in days between two dates 
the same year would always be the same; (3) the 
act of the ot grag of weekdays going on unchanged 
rould be likely to remove opposition from ecclesias- 
sal and other quarters. The two chief objections to 
ur present system from the astronomical point of 
w are the irregular lengths of the months, and the 
currence of the leap-day early in the year. The 
atter flaw is not due to Julius Caesar, for he made 
farch the first month, as the boxy Septem-, Octo-, 
tc., still remind us ; so that he saw the advantage of 
jutting the leap-day at the end. 
HE POSITION OF THE SOLAR APEX.—The positions 
fived for the solar apex, or point to which our 
em is tending, from the study of the stellar proper 
ms, have been far less accordant than one could 
; it has been found indeed that they differ 
ystematically according to the faintness of the stars 
motions of which are utilised. The late Prof. 
pteyn suggested that this discordance might be 
1e to the imperfect correction of systematic errors in 
NO. 2779, VOL. 111] 
* 
NATURE 

159 
stating that Mr. White regards them as strings the 
reviewer adopted the argument in Chapter III. of the 
book, but he did not say that Mr. White actually 
believed the ‘‘ vocal cords "’ to be strings. As to the 
view that the theory of sinus tone production “ is not 
supported by a particle of evidence,”’ Mr. White refers 
to evidence ‘‘ that it is possible to speak and sing 
when both vocal cords have been excised,’’ but no 
physiologist would accept this as conclusive. He 
detaches from the notice of the second edition of his 
book, in Nature of April 17, 1919 (vol. 103, p. 124), 
the words “ there is much to admire in this book,” 
but omits to add that the reviewer “ J. G. M.” 
entirely rejected his thesis, remarking, “Over and 
over again he furnishes what he regards as evidence 
in support of his thesis, but the conclusion, almost 
invariably, is in the opposite direction.’’ To this it 
may be added that the supposed evidence never 
points in the direction of the sinuses. 
Our Astronomical Column. 
the older catalogues; this would affect the proper 
motions deduced from comparison of these catalogues 
with modern ones, and the effect on the position of the 
apex would be greatest for the stars with smallest 
motions. Now a determination of the apex from the 
radial velocities of stars is independent of this source 
of error, and is therefore a useful check. M. J. S. 
Paraskevopoulos, of Athens Observatory, uses the 
radial velocities of the stars in Vofte’s Catalogue, 
together with 537 additional ones recently published 
from Victoria, B.C. His results, given in Asir. 
Journ. No. 813, are :— 
North Stars. South Stars. 
R.A. of Apex 271°4 
N. Decl. of Apex 31°-6 
Sun’s velocity km./sec. 20°-7 
All Stars. 
272°-2 271°°6 +3°-0 
29°-6 30°-3 +3°-0 
25°°4 23°°33+1°-03 
The apex accords well with that usually adopted, but 
the velocity is somewhat greater. 
~Lost PLANET RECOVERED.—Planet 132, Aethra, 
was discovered by the late Prof. Watson of Ann Arbor 
on June 13, 1873. It was one of 22 found by him 
between 1863 and 1877; he was not content merely 
with finding them, but he also determined their orbits 
and perturbations, and at his death left a trust fund 
to secure that the necessary calculations and observa- 
tions should continue to made on these planets 
after his death. Aethra appeared to be the most 
interesting of them all from its large eccentricity and 
small perihelion distance; however, in spite of 
constant endeavour it remained lost from 1873 till 
now. On December 12, 1922, M. B. Jekhowsky, of 
Algiers Observatory, found a planet of mag. ro-5 in 
R.A. 5" 56-1", N. Decl. 18° 27’ with daily motion 
—1-3™, S. 21’. It was independently found at 
Simeis on December 19 by M. G. Beljavsky. An 
approximate orbit by M. Jekhowsky makes it highly 
robable that it is the lost Aethra, a conclusion which 
r. Luther has reached independently. As further 
observations are desired, the following predicted 
ositions (from Astr. Nach. Circular) may be useful. 
Peciary 24, R.A. 54 11-5™, N. Decl. 4° 33’; February 
I, R.A. 5" 10-6", N. Decl. 3° 0’. The period comes 
out as 3:89 years if we assume 13 revolutions since 
1872, but the assumptions of 12 or 14 revolutions 
would give 4:2” and 3°6! respectively. The elements 
deduced in 1873 were: Period 3-926 years, eccen- 
tricity 0- 3314, perihelion distance 1-664, longitude of 
perihelion 151° 56’, ascending node 259° 40’, inclina- 
tion 23° 42’. 
