578 



NA TURE 



Al'KH, 17, 190: 



From this it follows that the critical temperature of hydrogen 

 is 40° '4 or - 232° '6 C, which is not far from the value which 

 was found for it experimentally, viz. - 234°'5 C. (he. lit.). 



From these researches it also appears that it is possible to 

 liquefy hydrogen by the method of free expansion without cooling 

 the gas to — 200° C. Provided the heat insulation were sufficiently 

 perfect, it should be necessary to cool the apparatus only to 

 - too', a temperature which could be attained by means of 

 solid carbonic acid evaporating under reduced pressure, before 

 allowing the hydrogen to expand. M. W. T. 



THE RADIANT POINT OF THE APRIL 

 L YRIDS. 

 ^THE moon being full on the evening of April 22 this year 

 ■^ there is little prospect that the shower of Lyrids will 

 assume prominence as a visible spectacle. It should, however, 

 be carefully looked for on the night following April 21, for, 

 notwithstanding the bright moonlight, it is probable that a few 

 fine Lyrids may be observed if the weather is clear. The 

 maximum formerly occurred on April 20, but 1900 not having 

 been a leap year, the epoch of the shower has advanced one 

 day, and must be looked for on April 21. 



There is strong evidence to show that the radiant, like that 

 of the Perseids, moves eastwards with the lime, but Ift Lyrid 

 display is always short-lived and frequently of very feeble 

 character. Moreover, cloudy weather sometimes hidts the 

 meteors, or moonlight may practically obliterate them, so that 

 it is extremely diflicult to determine the exact place of the 

 radiant on several succeeding nights. The April meteors are 

 rarely as abundant as the August Perseids, though there is 

 always the possibility of a brilliant return of the former as in 

 1S03, when they fell so plentifully that they could not be 

 counted. 



I have collected together all the determinations of the Lyrid 

 radiant which I have met with during the last nine years, and 

 they form a curious medley of positions from which it seems 

 impossible to derive any very exact results : — 



1S93 April 20 



April 20-21.. 

 April 20-21.. 



April 20-21.. 



April 20 

 1895 April 13-27,, 



April 19 

 21 



23 

 1S96 April 17-21, 



April 1S-19,, 



April 10-22,, 



1898 April 20 



April 21-24, 

 April 19 



Radiant. 



257 -f4°6 



271 +6,2 



278 -f39 

 292 -1-39 



267 +n 

 276 -(-34 

 266 4-37 



276 -+-34 



265 +34 

 2/5 +32 



272 +33 



273 +33 



268 -f45 



270 -f29 



274 +33 

 285 -(-32 



269 -1-37 

 274 +36 

 280 -1-35 

 2634 -f 40 



271 -^36 

 271 +36 

 284 +32 

 27s +38 



271 +36 

 2S0 H-27 



272 -f4l 

 268 H-36 



10 I 



Uo 



7 1 

 « J 



A. A. Nijiand, 

 Utrecht. 



H. Corder, Bridg- 

 water. 



E. R. Blakeley, 

 Dewsbury (reduced 

 by Corder). 



F. H. Ferrington, 

 Shrewsbury (re- 

 duced by Corder). 



W. F. Uenning, 

 Bristol. 



H. Corder, Bridg- 

 water. 



6 ,, 

 22 1 



4 •■ 



April 19-21,,. 26S +25 ,,, 5 



April 21-22,,. 273,^-^32)1 ,., 12 



April 12-22.,, 270 -f 40 .,. 5 



April 20 .,, 26S +37 ,,, 7 

 NO. 1694, VOL, 65] 



E, R. Blakeley, 

 Dewsbury. 



A. A. Nijiand, 

 Utrecht. 



IL Corder, Bridg- 

 water. 



A, S. Ilerschel, 

 Slough. 



A. .V. Nijiand, 

 Utrecht. 



E. R, Blakeley, 

 Dewsbury, 



J. H. Bridger, Earn- 

 borough, 



W. E, Besley, Lon- 

 don. 



A. S. Merschel, 

 Slough. 



1. A. Hardcaslle. 



Obstr' 



189.9 April 19 ... 253 -f 13 



277 +39 



1900 April 20-21,,. 273 +34 



5 \ 



6 J 

 8 ,. 



Nijiand, 



April 2C-2I,.. 

 April 18-24,., 



April i6-2i,,. 



1 901 April xS-23 .. 

 April 12-22... 



April iS 

 April 21 

 April 18-21 



A, A. 



Utrecht. 

 J. H. Bridger, Farii- 

 borough. 



A, King, Lticestcr. 



}■»} 



32 



A. A. 

 Utrecht. 



A, S. 



Slough. 



\. S. 

 Slough. 



Nijiand, 



Merschel, 



Herschel, 



J. C. W. Herschel, 

 Cambridge. 



1}- 



F. 

 Bristol. 



Denning, 



266 -fsG 



274 +33 

 268 4-38 



277 i + 40 

 302 H-54 

 255 +37 

 255 +27 



275 +35 

 266 -^30 

 271 -f3o 

 268 -1-28 

 273i+28 

 2744 + 33i 



278 +i\ 

 278 +37 

 280 +ii\ 

 266 4-33 

 270 +33 

 261 f36 



It will be noticed that some of the observers give a multiple 

 radiant, but that the individual positions compared from year 

 to year do not present a good agreement. At Bri.^tol the 

 radiant has usually been very sharjily defmed, when the true 

 Lyrids have been sifted from the large number of other 

 meteors directed from showers in nearly the same region of the 

 heavens. The position of the radiant on April 20 21 is at 

 271" -)- 2>^, and presents a perfect agreement with the radiant 

 point of Comet I 1S61, with which the Lyrids have long been 

 supposed to be associated. 



Some of the positions included in the list represent showers in 

 Hercules and other contemporary streams. Mr. J. C. W. 

 Herschel, from his observations in 1901, regards the radiant as 

 decidedly multiple, but I believe that further observation will 

 negative this conclusion. There are a considerable number of 

 other meteoric systems in play at the same epoch as the Lyrids, 

 and these, combined with unavoidable errors of observation, 

 must sometimes give rise to apparently scattered radiation and 

 multiple radiants. W. F. Denninc. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



At the annual graduation ceremonial of the University of 

 Edinburgh on April 11, Prof M.->cC"iregor, who delivered an 

 address, stated that the suggestion to found a laboratory in 

 memory of the late Prof Tait had taken practical shape, and 

 that a subscription of 1000/. towards this object had been 

 received from an anonymous donor. 



Scarcely a week passes without the announcement in 

 Science of generous gifts to institutions for higher education in 

 the United States. The following are among the gifts recorded 

 during the past few weeks : — Mr. J. D, Rockefeller has given 

 1,000,000 dollars toward the general endowment fund of the 

 Univer.sity of Chicago, and 250,000 dollars for the general 

 needs of the University during the present academic year. He 

 promised a gift to the Harvard Medical School of 1,000,000 

 dollars on the condition that 765,000 dollars were collected to 

 meet the sum required for the removal and rebuilding of the 

 school. About 600,000 dollars were subscribed in two weeks, 

 and this was quickly increased to 821,225 dollars, which was 

 more than sufficient to make Mr. Rockefeller's gift available. 

 Mrs. Collis P. Huntington has given 250,000 dollars to the 

 Harvard Medical School to erect a laboratory of p.athology and 

 bacteriology in memory of the late Mr. Huntington, Mr. J. 

 Stillman has given 100,000 dollars for the establishment of a 

 chair of anatomy in the same school. Mr. Rockefeller has 

 given 5000 dollars to Washington and Lee University, thus 

 completing the fund of 100,000 dollars for a memorial to the 

 late President William L. Wilson, in the form of an endowment 

 for the chair of economics and political science. Barnard 

 College, Columbia University, has added 500,000 dollars to its 

 endowment, one half having been given by Mr. Rockefeller 

 and the other half having been collected as a condition of this 



