548 



NA TURE 



[April 9, 1908 



afcmirit the influence of tfie acceleration, are, for the three 

 days :— 



190S, Jan. 3 Jan. II Jan. 19 



+ 49-25 

 -2 2475 



+ 40-31 

 -2 21 69 



-o 27-50 



-2 21-65 



whereas the corrections to the published ephemeris, found 

 by Dr. Kobold from Dr. Max Wolf's observations, are of 

 cjiiite a different character : — 



1907 Dec. 25 



1908 Jan. 2 



.. 13 



.. 14 



.. .- 15 



,, 18 



.. ,. 19 



It will be seen that the neglected perturbations in no 

 way explain the deviations between the computed and 

 observed places. In declination these differences are par- 

 ticularly striking-, and no permissible alterations to the 

 elements will reduce them to the order of errors of observa- 

 tion. 



Prof. Backlund makes two suggestions by way of ex- 

 planation : — (i) that the object observed from December 25 

 to January iq was not Encke's comet; (2) that this comet 

 has divided itself into two parts, and that the part that 

 has been observed has, by the process of dislocation, been 

 deflected from the original orbit. Observations in the 

 southern hemisphere, which will be possible in June, will 

 decide this point. Dr. Backlund further points out that, 

 previous to this year, the comet has never been observed 

 before perihelion passage when the date of perihelion falls 

 between April and July. 



Dr. Ebell has computed a parabolic orbit from the 

 observations made at Heidelberg, and the result is suffici- 

 ently surprising. The dates selected were January 2, 13, 

 and 19, and the middle place is fairly well represented, but 

 the outstanding errors on December 25 were AA. + 32'.40 

 and A/3+i2'.i9. The elements are as follows: — ■ 



T ... 1907 Dec. 6 0569 Berlin M.T. 

 o- ... 39 25 59 ) 



a ... 317 7-25 > 1908-0 



i ... 10 2699 ) 

 log,/ ... 058448 

 The node and inclination are not very different from 

 those of Encke, but the perihelion distance is rivalled only 

 by the comet of 1729. The material is not sufficient to 

 derive an ellipse. It will probably be found that the 

 Heidelberg object is not the comet of Encke. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



London. — The report of the committee of University 

 College for the year 1907-8 has just been issued. During 

 last session there were 119 1 students, of whom 171 were 

 registered as post-graduate and research students. The 

 report deals, among other matters, with the work of the 

 faculties for the past year, and gives a list of the re- 

 searches and original papers published during that year. 

 That list occupies thirteen octavo pages. Among the de- 

 partments that seem to have been specially productive may 

 be noted the department of applied mathematics under 

 Prof. Karl Pearson, from which no fewer than twenty- 

 eight papers were issued during the year. Seven of these 

 were from the Francis Gallon Laboratory of National 

 Eugenics. The departments of chemistry under Sir 

 William Ramsay and Prof. J. Norman Collie produced 

 twenty-four original papers, while the subdepartment of 

 spectroscopy issued seven. The list of post-graduate 

 courses is valuable as an indication of the extensive pro- 

 vision for higher work that is now to be found in London. 

 'I he report concludes with a summary of the urgent needs 

 NO. 2006, VOL. 77I 



of the college if It is to meet the demands 

 they include the following : — 



Estimated 

 Cost 

 Now buildings for anatomy, 

 physiology, and pharmaco 



'ogy 



New buildings for the depart- 

 ment of chemistry. (The 

 scheme could be carried out 

 in two sections, costing 

 40,oooL and 30,000/. re- 

 spectively) 



Building alterations and new 

 equipment for botany and 

 pathological chemistry 

 Re-fitting of general library 

 and completion of science 

 library 



£ 

 50,000 



5,000 



nade upon it ; 



£ 

 '5.250 



5,000 



nil 



Dr. J. M. FORTESCCE Brickdale has been appointed 

 director of the public health laboratory of University 

 College, Bristol. 



The Fishmongers' Company has given loooZ. towards 

 the fund for carrying out the scheme of incorporation of 

 King's College with the University of London. 



Mr. C.irnegie has given a further donation of a million 

 pounds sterling to the Carnegie Foundation for the 

 Advancement of Teaching. Attention was directed in our 

 issue of March 12 (p. 452) to the admirable work done 

 already by the foundation, which was two years ago 

 inaugurated by Mr. Carnegie and endowed by him with 

 two millions sterling. The fund, which now amounts to 

 3,000,000/., is intended primarily to serve for providing 

 retiring allowances for professors and others in universities 

 and colleges in the United States, Canada, and Newfound- 

 land. Originally the benefits of the foundation were con- 

 fined to privately endowed educational institutions, and 

 Mr. Carnegie has increased the fund so that professors In 

 State institutions may also be eligible to participate in 

 the benefits of the scheme. 



The seventy-fourth annual report of Bootham School 

 (York) Natural History, Literary, and Polytechnic Society, 

 that for 1907, provides excellent evidence that in some 

 English secondary schools at least the out-of-school hours 

 arc opportunities in which the boys may follow their 

 natural bent and cultivate their individuality. The boys 

 band themselves together In societies for the outdoor study 

 of numerous branches of natural history ; they record 

 meteorological data, study the archaeology of the neigh- 

 bourhood, piactise photography, work in metal and wood, 

 and besides these and other practical pursuits they take 

 part in a flourishing literary society. Boys and masters 

 are to be congratulated upon the report, and the boys also 

 on the fact that they are allowed to manage the societies 

 largely by themselves. 



It is well known, says the Journal of the Royal Society 

 of Arts, that American employers give much more atten- 

 tion than has been the practice in this country to afford- 

 ing facilities to their managers and workpeople for obtain- 

 ing technical knowledge. For example, a large organisa- 

 tion of spinners and manufacturers at Atalanta (Georgia) 

 has adopted the following scheme for keeping their 

 employees up to date in commercial and technical know- 

 ledge of the textile trade. A librarian is employed to 

 secure all the latest books dealing with spinning, weaving, 

 and textile engineering ; all periodicals from all parts of 

 the world bearing on the subjects are purchased or other- 

 wise secured. The librarian prepares brief descriptions of 

 the books, to which anyone may refer to get a quick idea 

 of the contents. In some instances the whole periodical 

 is filed ; In others special articles are cut out. and sometimes 

 foreign articles are translated and pasted in scrap-books. 

 Everything is carefully indexed, and the library Is open to 

 any employee. 



A NATURE-STUDY course for -women is to be given again 

 this year at the Horticultural College, Swanley, Kent, 

 during the summer holidays. The course will extend from 

 .\ugust I to 12. Weather permitting, most of the instruc- 



