December 3, 1908] 



NA 7 URE 



143 



Numerous measures of the comet's position are given 

 in No. 4283 of the Astronomischc Nacltrichten, whilst in 

 No. 42S5 of the same journal M. Geelmuyden gives the 

 positions (igoo) and corrections for fifty-two comparison 

 stars, extracted from a series of meridian observations of 

 stars between 65° and 70° N. declination, made at the 

 Christiania Observatory during the period 1897-1907. 



From Herr Ebell's ephemeris, and Ur. Smart's continua- 

 tion of it, we give the following abstract : — 



Ephemeris (Greenwich midnight). 



K..A. S. decl. 150S R A. 



h. 



S. decl. 



Dec. 3 ... 18 50J ... !i 11 Dec. 15 ... 18 500 ... 15 6 



7 ... iS 502 ... 10 38 28 ... 18 49-9 ... 21 34 



11 ... iS 500 ... 12 56 



The Change in the Phvsic.xl Condition of Nov.v 

 Pkrsei. — .Vccording to the spectroscopic evidence published 

 by Dr. Ilartmann, Nova Persei changed to the nebular 

 condition in the autumn of 1902, whilst later, in 1906, 

 its spectrum was similar to that of the Wolf-Rayet stars. 



Prof. Barnard now publishes a series of measures of 

 :hc star's focus, made with the 40-inch refractor of the 

 Verkes Observatory between August. 1901, and September, 

 1903, and a number of notes regarding the Nova's appear- 

 ance up to September 20 of the present year, which may 

 throw more light on the details of the various changes. 



.At first the focus was that of an ordinary star, but 

 between 1902 August 29 and October 6 it increased nearly 

 a quarter of an inch, and became the same as that for a 

 n.bula ; then from November it began to return to the 



'liar focus, and by the summer of 1903 the focus was 



I ntially stellar. As no further changes were observed 



' focus measures were then discontinued. 



Prof. Barnard also made focal measures of seven Wolf- 

 Rayet Stars, and found that the focus generally appears 

 to be shorter than for an ordinary star, whilst the stars 

 are yellowish, and in some cases appear to be surrounded 

 by a glow or halo (Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 4285, 

 p. 201). 



Refraction due to Jupiter's .Atmosphere. — In a recent 

 note in the Astronomische Naclirichten (No. 4272), M. 

 Chevalier published an account of an observed occultation 

 of a star by Jupiter, and directed special attention to the 

 fact, without offering any explanation of the phenomenon, 

 that the star did not disappear at the point of the planet's 

 limb to which its apparent motion, in regard to the planet, 

 was directed some minutes before; that is to say, the 

 star's apparent path was deflected immediately before 

 immersion took place. In No. 4285 of the same journal 

 (November 24, p. 206) M. E. Esclangon offers an explana- 

 tion of the phenomenon. It is that the apparent deflection 

 is caused by the horizontal refraction at the surface of 

 Jupiter, and he finds that the observed direction and 

 amount of the deflection are in good accordance with the 

 theoretical value for the refraction. Although the dis- 

 aopearance of the star was apparently instantaneous, a 

 diminution of light, such as might be caused by the 

 absorption due to the planet's atmosphere, was observed. 



OnsERVAnoNS OF THE ZoDi-'ic.'iL LiOHT. — .\t the sugges- 

 tion of Prof. Campbell, Mr. E. A. Path made a number 

 of observations, at the Lick Observatory, during the past 

 summer, in order to determine, if possible, the true nature 

 of a faint light which has for years been observed along 

 the northern horizon from Mount Hamilton during the 

 summer. 



The observations show that it is probably due neither to 

 twilight nor the aurora borcalis — although the strong 

 .•Hirora line at A 5571 was observed spectroscopically both 

 within and without the illuminated area — but to the 

 zodiacal light. Details of the observations are given at 

 Ifngth. and they show that the northern boundary of the 

 lisjht reached an altitude of 46° (Lick Observatory Bulletin, 

 No. ,42). 



L'.Xnnuaire Dti Bureau des Longitudes. — This 

 annuaire. for 1909, is now published, and contains the 

 usual very complete series of tables for use in astro- 

 nomical, meteorological, geographical, and general scien- 

 tific work. 



NO. 2040, VOL. 79] 



The article " Spectres des Etoiles," which used to be 

 written by the late M. Cornu, is replaced by a most 

 interesting resume of stellar spectroscopy prepared by 

 M. A. de Gramont. This will be found very useful for 

 reference, as it contains a brief account of the variou> 

 stellar classifications of Secchi, Pickering, Lockyer, and 

 others, with notes on their correlation. The annuaire 

 is published by Gauthier-Villars, Paris, at 1.50 francs. 



T//E CORRELATION OF THE TEACHING 

 OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE. 



T T is known that for some lime past the Mathematical 

 -'■ Association has been ai ranging for a joint committee 

 with the Association of Public Schools Science Masters to 

 leport on the teaching of mathematics in connection with 

 science. In furtherance of the same object a conference 

 was held at the Regent Street Polytechnic on Saturday, 

 November 28, between the Mathematical Association and 

 the Federated Association of London Non-primary 

 Teachers, the main feature being an address by Prof. John 

 Perry, F.R.S., bearing the title of this article. 



Prof. Perry said that a certain senior wrangler had 

 objected to the name mathematician being applied to a 

 mathematical physicist, and he therefore confined the term 

 to those who were enlarging the scope of pure mathe- 

 matics. Mathematicians, instead of being able to devote 

 themselves to research, were forced to teach elementary 

 classes ; they also took part in examinations, and some- 

 times wrote treatises on hydrostatics, which were really 

 books on integral calculus with such terms as pressure and 

 depth. 



The consequence was that too much attention was given 

 to so-called rigorous proofs, and boys wasted much time 

 in learning such subjects as deductive geometry, artificial 

 devices for solution of triangles, and drudgery with 

 algebraic .symbols. The conditions of one examination at 

 one British university had led to the creation of 90 per 

 cent, of elementary ' algebra and trigonometry in Great 

 Britain, this unnecessary 90 per cent, being as complex 

 and tricky as it was possible to make it. Until this sort 

 of thing was done away with the marriage of mathe- 

 matics and science was like that of December and May. 

 He alluded to the arbitrary division of examinations into 

 water-tight compartments headed "Algebra," "Trigono- 

 metry," "Mechanics." He maintained that students 

 ought' to learn to use logarithms, and even Fourier's 

 theorem, long before they could prove their methods. He 

 thought school lessons should be on the type of Sandford 

 and Merton and Mr. Barlow. There should be no division 

 into subjects. Bovs should learn to weigh and to measure, 

 to calculate and to find things out for themselves._ The 

 form-masters should be all-round men, not specialists. 

 There should be one teacher to every ten boys, and that 

 teacher should be well paid. Every master should be 

 responsible for English composition. If a boy wrote a 

 description of anything he had done in a laboratory or 

 elsewhere. It should be an exercise in English. He re- 

 ferred to the methods of teaching adopted by Dr. Andrews, 

 of carbonic acid fame. Continuing, it astonished him to 

 see how little comprehension there was of the proposals 

 of the British .Association committees. They recommended 

 some work with graphs on squared paper, and some 

 teachers did nothing but graphs, and there were dozens 

 of school-books to help on the craze. The surprising thing 

 was that manv teachers seemed to have no individuality, 

 no originalitv.'nor even the power to think for themselves 

 at all. He asked that the changes that were taking place 

 should go on unchecked. Mistakes would be made at first, 

 and it was their dutv to make the public believe in the 

 necessity for better paid teachers in order to attract really 

 able men. , r. t 



Prof. Bryan, who occupied the chair, thought^ Prot. 

 Perry attached too much importance to the distinction 

 which an idealist drew between a mathematician and a 

 mathematical phvsicist. Consequently, his .nddress tended 

 to give the impression that the man who did research m 

 pure mathematics was at the root of all the evil. In 

 Prof. Bryan's opinion the fault rather lay with those 

 whose only idea of research consisted in inventing 



