on el Lal =e 
pte cir ia oY c 






















} i Aaaee 
Marcu 31, 1923] 
_ two years later. It is noteworthy that in 1831 a 
‘joint committee of the Institute and the American 
Philosophical Society began systematic meteorological 
observations in aid of agricultural and other interests, 
and eight years later the Pennsylvania legislature 
madea grant of 4000 dollars for the purchase of instru- 
ments at the discretion of the Institute ; this is stated 
to be the earliest instance on record of the appro- 
riation, in any country, of public funds for the collec- 
tion of facts relating to the weather. The Institute 
awards medals, of which the best known is the 
Franklin medal, for distinguished work in advancing 
physical science or its applications; it was founded 
METEORS IN ApRiL.—Meteors are seldom abundant 
in April, but there are a number of interesting 
showers visible, including the Lyrids, which are con- 
nected with the first comet of 1861. This display 
sually attains a maximum on April 21, and the con- 
ditions will be rather favourable this year, as the 
will be visible only as a creécent in the evening 
5 The Lyrids exhibit a radiant which moves 
eastwards about 1 degree per day, and we require 
more evidence on this point. The shower, however, 
is of very short duration in its active stage, and 
meteors belonging to it are rarely seen two or three 
ays before or after the date of maximum. 
n April there are a large number of feeble showers 
vhich it is desirable to investigate further. These 
Include positions near a Persei, 8 Urse Majoris, 
: Cen a Cephei, etc. In Hercules, Corona, Bodtes, 
and Ophiuchus there are a few well-pronounced dis- 
plays which apparently recur annually. 





















_ Tue Ectirse oF SEPTEMBER 1922 IN QUEENSLAND. 
Mr. J. CG. Russell, of Brisbane, sends some notes 
on his observations of this eclipse made at Stanthorpe, 
favourite summer resort, nearly 3000 feet above 
Sea-level. The N.S.W. Branch of the B.A.A. were 
also stationed here. There was an extensive view 
Over the plain to the west, and the moon’s shadow 
vas Seen approaching, a little in front of the horizon 
he, and therefore about 10 miles distant, looking 
like a local rain squall. Shadow bands were observed 
at the same time. The central dark bands were 
12 or 15 inches apart, about 4 inches wide, fringed 
With an equal width of half-tone on each side, and a 
bright strip between them. They passed at the rate 
of 10 per second. Their least distance from his 
eye was 8 feet. They were followed to a distance of 
© or 50 feet, where they appeared fainter but 3 or 
times wider than when nearest. He ascribes them 
© compressional waves in the air caused by the 
ooling effect of the shadow cone, which was passing 
at a rate exceeding that of sound. Mr. Russell also 
makes the plausible suggestion that the shapes of the 
bands as seen are largely modified by the phenomenon 
of persistence of vision. He thinks the apparent en- 
largement at a distance was a (partly mental) effect 
due to this cause. 
During totality the shadow covered most of the 
Sky, but near the horizon to north and south there 
was a red glow, due to distant regions of the atmo- 
sphere beyond the shadow. (This effect’ was also 
seen in Norway in 1896.) The shadow was 120 
miles wide, and the observer 9 miles north of the 
centre. 
The corona was seen with direct vision to a distance 
NO. 2787, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 
441 
in 1914, and among its recipients have been Sir James 
Dewar and Sir J. J. Thomson. Other awards made 
are: the Elliott Cresson medal, for research and 
invention; the- Howard N. Potts medal, for dis- 
tinguished work in science or the arts and for papers 
presented to the Institute; the Edward Longstreth 
medal, for meritorious work in science or the arts ; 
and the Boyden premium of tooo dollars, to any 
resident of N. America who shall determine by ex- 
periment whether all rays of light and other physical 
Tays are or are not transmitted with the same velocity ; 
an award was made in 1907 for a solution dealing 
with the visible and ultra-violet parts of the spectrum. 
Our Astronomical Column, 
of } diameter from the limb, being very bright : with 
averted vision two faint extensions were seen, one 
to N.W., the other in the upper part, each 5 minutes 
wide and reaching to 1} diameters from the limb; 
they gave the corona the appearance of a wind- 
vane, a simile used on former occasions. Mr. Russell’s 
description of the corona mentions three immense 
“ spearheads ’’ of white light, one to the zenith, the 
other two on the lower side, the left-hand one being 
the larger; these formed ‘‘as it were a great forked 
beard.” A ruby spot, doubtless a prominence, was 
seen on the low left hand. 
A few stars were seen during totality, but they were 
not specified. An account in B.A.A. Journ. (Jan.) 
. by Dr. A. F. Turner states that six were seen, of 
which Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Spica were 
identified ; two that were seen far to the south may 
have been a and § Centauri. 
PROBLEMS OF THE NeEBUL&.—The Rev. H. 
Macpherson contributes an article on the nebule 
to Discovery (March). The numerous and rapid 
changes of view that have taken place with regard 
to them illustrate the difficulty of knowing where 
to place them in schemes of stellar cosmogony. The 
“island universe '’ theory of the spirals was received 
back into general favour ten years ago, but Mr. 
van Maanen’s detection of perceptible rotatory 
movements in several of them, in combination with 
the spectroscopic determination of radial velocities, 
enables hypothetical parallaxes to be estimated. 
These correspond to distances of a few thousand 
light years, so that they appear to be within the 
limits of our own universe. Dr. Jeans regards the 
luminous knots on the rims of these spirals as giant 
stars in process of formation at the rate of one every 
few centuries. 
There is another difficulty not felt at the time 
when stellar types O, B, A were supposed to be the 
earliest in the spectral sequence, which the ‘‘ Giant 
and Dwarf’ theory renders puzzling: this is the 
frequent association of these types with planetary 
nebule in the case of O, and with bright diffused 
nebulz in the cases of B, A (Orion and the Pleiades). 
It would seem that these nebule can scarcely be 
regarded as the parents of the stars that they sur- 
round, since, if such were the case, they would be 
much more in evidence round giant stars of type M. 
The conclusion appears to be that the natural condi- 
tion of nebulosity is dark, but that it may become 
bright either by simple reflection, as appears to be 
the case with the nebule in the Pleiades, or by 
selective excitation, which causes some of its gases 
to glow. Prof. Russell compares this to the excita- 
tion that occurs in a comet when near perihelion. 
