544 



NATURE 



[September 15, 1910 



are worth noting, viz. E. Borel, " Elements de la Th^orie 

 des probability"; Marcel Landrieu, "Lamarck, le fonda- 

 teur du transformisme " ; Georges Bohn, "La naissance 

 de I'intelligence " ; Georges Dwelshauvers, "La synthase 

 mentale " ; \V. Lexis, " Theorie der Bevolkerungs und 

 Moralstatistik " ; A. Solmi, " Storia del diritto italiano " ; 

 H. Bouasse, " Bachot et bachotage." 



We welcome the first annual number of the Journal of 

 the Bedales School Scientific Society. This society has 

 been in existence for some years, holding meetings of the 

 kind familiar in schools ; and its members have also been 

 engaged on pieces of experimental work, some touching 

 the edge of new inquiry. This year the society prints 

 accounts of certain members' work, as well as reports of 

 the meetings, and the Journal shows that at Bedales 

 science is at once a favoured pursuit in free time, and a 

 well-treated part of the curriculum. The subject-matter is 

 limited to physics and chemistry; next year, perhaps, 

 biological notes might be included — Hampshire is an in- 

 teresting county — and short articles as well as longer papers 

 may suitably find a place in such a periodical. Of the 

 papers, that by D. Jarintzoft on the rare earths is worthy 

 of mention, as a painstaking attempt to grapple with the 

 separation of metals of the cerium group, and shows 

 careful reading as well as experimenting. A paper on 

 coherer-action shows resource and ingenuity ; the writer is 

 rash, perhaps, in criticising a paper by Robinson, whose 

 work was watched by Drude himself. A word of praise is 

 due to the society's committee for the careful preparation 

 of the Journal. 



The Thermal Syndicate, Ltd., of Wallsend-on-Tyne, has 

 sent us a reproduction of a photograph of the remains of 

 their exhibit of " Vitreosil " laboratory apparatus at the 

 Brussels Exhibition, from which it is evident that the fused 

 silica ware successfully resisted the great heat to which 

 the pieces had been subjected ; some of the larger pieces 

 had, however, been broken by the falling of heavy girders. 



The ninth volume of the Journal of Experimental 

 Zoology is, according to Science, to be a memorial to 

 Trof. W. N. Brooks, prepared by his former students at 

 Johns Hopkins University, and will be issued in four parts 

 towards the end of the present year. It will contain a 

 biographical sketch by Prof. H. V. Wilson, accompanied 

 by three portraits in heliotype. 



A USEFUL list of binoculars and telescopes has reached 

 us from Messrs. F. Darton and Co., 142 St. John Street, 

 E.G., copies of which may be obtained from the address 

 given. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Metcai.f's Comet, iqiob. — Xo. 4440 of the Astrono- 

 mische Nachricliten contains new elements and a daily 

 rphemeris for Metcalf's comet. The elements were calcu- 

 lated by Dr. Kobold from places observed on August 11, 

 .17, and 25, and give the time of perihelion as 

 August 26-04673 (M.T. Berlin). The following is an 

 extract from the ephemeris : — 



Ephemeris for i2h. (M.T. Berlin). 

 a(.>,io-o) 6CI9IO-U) log,- 1 



Mag. 



li. m. 



Sept. 14 ... 1530-4 ... +17 i3-q ... 0-2862 ... 0-3442 ... 11-4 



,, t8 ... 15 20-2 ... 4- 17 22-8 ... 0-2S77 ... 0-357S ... 11-5 



,, 22 ... 15 28-4 ... •H7 31-8 ... 0-2891; ... o 3701 ... 11-5 



,, 26 ... 15 27-9 ... + 17 41-4 ... o'2qi6 ... 0-3St5 ... 11-6 



,, 30 ... 15 27 8 ... -H7 51-7 ... 0-2939 ... 03919 ... II-7 



l->om this we see that the comet is now apparently 

 nearly stationary about half-way between t' and i Ser- 



NO. 2133, VOL. 84] 



pentis. A note from Prof. Pickering states that when dis- 

 covered, visually, by the Rev. J. H. Metcalf on .August 8, 

 the comet was of about the eighth magnitude. 



A Suspected New Planet. — On examining a plate taken 

 for Halley's comet on June 6, Prof. J. Comas Sola found 

 the trace of an unknown, but undoubtedly real, object, 

 which he suspects to be a tenth-magnitude minor planet. 

 During an exposure of one hour the motion was appar- 

 ently nearly due N. and S., making an angle of about 

 50° with the ecliptic; the following approximate position 

 depends upon the position of the nucleus of Halley's comei 

 according to Prof. Seagrave's ephemeris: — iqio June 6, 

 9h. 2om. (G.M.T.), R.A. = ioh. 13m. 22s., N.P.D.= 

 90° 40-5'; the motion in N.P.D. was of the order of -I- 45' 

 per diem {Astronomische Nachrichten, No, 4440). 



Definitive Elements for Comet 1852 IV. — k compre- 

 hensive discussion of the orbit of the comet discovered by 

 Westphal, at Gottingen, on July 24, 1852, is published by 

 Herr .Adolf Hnatek in Nos. 4438-9 of the Astrononiische 

 Nachrichten (pp. 345-87). The final result confirms the 

 period of sixty-one years, the actual value being 61-5554 

 years, and this comet should return in 1913. 



A Suggested Volcanic Origin of Martian Features. — 

 The theory that the various features and variations on 

 the surface of Mars may be due to volcanic action is 

 advocated by Dr. Wilhelm Krebs in No. 4439 of the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten. During the opposition of 

 1909 various new features were observed, and these are 

 held to indicate volcanic action, while the network of 

 " canals " is compared with the network of seismic and 

 volcanic tectonic lines met with in the earth's crust. 



The Passage of the Earth through the Tail of the 

 1861 COi-HET. — In the September number of the Bulletin 

 de la Societe astronomique de France, M. R. Baer, of 

 Rouen, describes the phenomena observed by him at 

 Horbourg (.Alsace) at the time of the earth's passage 

 through the tail of comet 1861 11. He points out that the 

 vertical pillar of light then seen by him at the northern 

 horizon was analogous to that described by recent observers 

 as being visible during the predicted passage of the earth 

 through the tail of Halley's comet. 



The Spectrum of Cyanogen. — No. 6, vol. xxxix., of 

 the Memorie di .Astrofisica ed Astronomia contains a note 

 in which Comte de Gramont and M. Drecq discuss some 

 results recently obtained by them during a research on 

 the spectra of various mixtures of salts. They find 

 evidence that the chief " cyanogen " band (3883.6) may be 

 produced under conditions where the presence of the 

 cyanogen compound is unlikely, carbon and nitrogen being 

 present, however. Thus they suggest that the function of 

 cyanogen may be simply to supply carbon and nitrogen, 

 and that the appearance of this band does not necessarily 

 imply the presence of the poisonous compound. Further, 

 they point out that if this result be established, the passage 

 of the earth through the tail of a comet such as Halley's, 

 in the spectrum of which the band at 388 was prominent, 

 becomes still less likely to produce any evil effects. 



Researches on the Colours of STARS.^^Employing the 

 rtseait method devised by M. Henry, M. Osten Bergstrand 

 examined the spectra of a number of stars to compare the 

 effective wave-lengths radiated by different spectral types 

 and by different classes of coloured stars. The results are 

 published in vol. ii. (series iv.). No. 4, of the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Society of Sciences of Upsala, and embody 

 several important conclusions. Among other things, M. 

 Bergstrand finds that the stars may be sharply divided 

 into w^hite and yellow, with a marked discontinuity 

 between the colour classes G.W. + and W.G. — . For 

 the white stars, the effective wave-length is, in the mean, 

 about 420 fifi, and for the yellow stars it ranges from 

 about 435 to 450 /Mfi ; the corresponding spectral classes 

 are B and A .ind K and M respectively. The effective 

 radiation of pronounced red stars is about 460 to 470 /i/i. 

 The intermediate classes, G.W. 4- and W.G.— of the 

 Photometric Durchmusterung of MM. Miiller and Kempf, 

 and the spectral classes F and G of Prof. Pickering, are 

 relativelv rare. It is also pointed out that as the effective 



