September 7, 191 1] 



NATURE 



337 



igi >s in the illuminating power of the flame being 

 balanced against an electric lamp worked under constant 

 conditions. The results are summarised in two formulas, 

 for the Harcourt and Hefner lamps respectively, showing 

 the ai tual light of the lamp, expressed in terms of the 

 light under normal conditions, the pressure, and the 

 existing percentages of carbon dioxide and aqueous 

 vapour in the air. A few experiments were also carried 

 out on the effect of variations in the atmospheric con- 

 ditions on the light of gas and candle flames. It was 

 found that the changes were in the same direction, and 

 approximately of the same order, as those of the Harcourt 

 standard, and the conclusion is drawn that small variations 

 in the atmospheric conditions of a gas testing room will 

 not appreciably affect the results of photometric com- 

 parisons in which the Harcourt or Hefner lamp is used as 

 the standard of light, and that these standards will give as 

 accurate results as are anyhow practically obtainable in 

 determinations of the illuminating power of gas, if they 

 are used in all ordinary circumstances without correction 

 for any divergence from normal atmospheric conditions. 



With reference to a statement to be found in our issue 

 of May 25 (p. 412) in a review of " Salvarsan or 606 

 (Dioxy-Diamino-Arsenobenzol) : its Chemistry, Pharmacy, 

 and Therapeutics," by Dr. W. H. Martindale and \V. W. 

 Westcott, in which trypan red is named as a remedy for 

 bovine piroplasmosis (Texas fever), a correspondent resi- 

 dent in Australia has written to ask where the drug can 

 be obtained, its price, and any literature concerning it. 

 In reply, we would point out that the reference to " trypan 

 red " was made in error (see correction on p. 526 of 

 Nature for June 15) ; the drug for the treatment of piro- 

 plasmosis is "trypan blue," particulars as to the cost of 

 which can probably be obtained from such a firm as 

 E. Merck, in Jewry Street, London, E.C. The remedy 

 is discussed by Nuttall and Hadwen in Parasitology for 

 1909. We are informed that large doses of quinine have 

 also been found to exert a curative action on bovine piro- 

 plasmosis in Malaya and Guatemala. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Spectrum of Kiess's Comet. — With spectrographs 

 attached to the equatorial of the Juvisy Observatory, MM. 

 de la Baume Pluvinel and Baldet secured photographs of 

 the spectrum of comet 1911b, which they discuss in a paper 

 published in No. S of the Comptes rendus (August 21). 

 On their best photograph, the two bright bands at A 4735 

 and A. 3S82 are accompanied by many fainter bands, which 

 present one or two noteworthy features. Three feeble con- 

 densations at AA 3914, 4005, and 4026 are apparently only 

 in the tail; they probably correspond with the A 3914 of 

 the kathode spectrum of nitrogen and with the doublet 

 (A 4003 and A 4023) given by Fowler. While agreeing 

 with the majority of cometary spectra, that of comet 1911b 

 is different in many respects from those of several recent 

 comets. For instance, the great comet 1910a showed a 

 most intense continuous spectrum, of which there is very 

 little in the radiations from the Kiess comet. Again, in 

 Morehouse's comet the doublets traced by Fowler were 

 common to the nucleus and the tail ; here they are peculiar 

 to the tail. To explain this, the authors suggest that in 

 the former case the decomposition of the cyanogen was 

 very active, and so one got the products of the decomposi- 

 tion surrounding the nucleus ; but in the case of comet 

 1911b the activity was not so great, and the cyanogen 

 was not sufficiently decomposed until it had been repelled 

 from the nucleus into the tail. 



The Zodiacal Light. — In No. 4520 of the Aslronomische 

 Nachrichten Herr Josef Sedlacek describes the Zodiacal 

 Light as observed at the Neuschloss in Steiermark Observa- 

 tory during January and February. At 7I1. 15m. (M.E.T.) 

 on January iS the li^ln was about twice as bright as the 

 NO. 2184, VOL. 87] 



brightest part of the Milky Way, and the cone reached up 

 some 49-5° from the horizon ; its colour was reddish. On 

 other nights it was noted that the brightness of the light 

 fluctuated considerably with intervals of i-o to 1-5 minutes. 



Meteorite Finds. — Publication 145 of the Field Museum 

 of Natural History is devoted to a description, by Mr. 

 O. C. Farrington, of some recent additions of meteorites 

 to the museum of which he is curator. 



The Leighton meteorite is a stone weighing about 30 oz. 

 and having a length of 4 inches ; it has a very marked 

 brecciated appearance, and contains small grains of nickel- 

 iron. This stone fell on January 12, 1907, at a place eight 

 miles south of Leighton, Colbert County, Alabama. 



The Quinn Canyon meteorite, found in August, 1908, in 

 Nevada, is a much larger specimen, and is one of the 

 large iron meteorites of the world. The longest diameter 

 of its oval face is 47 inches, with a diameter at right 

 angles to this of 35 inches, and a circumference of 132 

 inches ; its weight is 3275 lb. In addition to numerous 

 knobs, pittings, furrows, and cylindrical holes all over the 

 iron, the bottom of the meteorite shows two patches of 

 crust of black magnetic iron oxide. These patches are 

 each about 1 inch square, and the oxide adheres so firmly 

 that it can only be detached by the use of a cold chisel 

 and hammer. An analysis shows that the meteorite con- 

 tains about 91-6 per cent, of iron and about 73 per cent, 

 of nickel, and very fine etching figures have been pro- 

 duced. It is supposed to have fallen in a recorded fall 

 which occurred on February 1, 1894. 



Mr. Farrington also gives an interesting list of recorded 

 falls since the year 1800, and accepts 331 as properly 

 authenticated. He also analyses the records in months, 

 and finds that May and June show the greatest numbers 

 of falls; November falls below, and August slightly exceeds, 

 the average number. He also gives a complete list of the 

 known falls that have taken place in the United States, 

 with brief particulars of each. 



The Leeds Astronomical Society. — No. 18 of the 

 Journal and Transactions of the Leeds Astronomical Society 

 contains the report for the year 19 10, and also some of the 

 papers read during the session. Of these, several deal with 

 comets ; and there is an interesting paper by Mr. Whitmell 

 dealing with lunar eclipses, in which historical eclipses and 

 various features producing and attending eclipses are 

 lucidly described. 



An Open-air Telescope. — A project for a large, long- 

 focus telescope is described by Prof. Todd in No. 187, vol. 

 xxxii., of The American Journal of Science. In order to 

 obtain great size at relatively low cost, Prof. Todd pro- 

 poses to do away with the costly dome and use the tele- 

 scope in the open air. At present he describes an altazi- 

 muth mounting in w-hich the azimuth motion would be 

 secured by a revolving vertical shaft working on rollers. 

 To secure the easy working of this he proposes to take up 

 most of ' the weight by "flotation with an arrangement 

 whereby the telescope could be clamped in a " safe " posi- 

 tion, when not in use, by pumping out part of the sup- 

 porting liquid. The tube 'would be built on the cantilever 

 principle, of angle steel, and would be supported in the 

 middle. He estimates that a 60-inch objective would cost 

 about 125,000 dollars, and such a mounting as is proposed 

 would probably cost a like amount. Instead of observing 

 chair, rising floor, Sic, he proposes to carry the observer 

 in a light carriage attached to the revolving tailpiece of 

 the telescope, and he discusses the practicability of erect- 

 ing sui h an instrument at some such altitude as that of 

 Fuji-vama in Japan (12,400 feet). 



Luminous Meteor Trains.— Some further work on the 

 origin of luminous and persistent meteor trains is described 

 by Dr. Trowbridge in The Popular Science Monthly for 

 August. Dr. Trowbridge has been able to reproduce the 

 phenomena bv causing gases at very low pressure to phos- 

 phoresce, and he suggests that in the upper air, generally 

 at about fifty or sixty miles' altitude, the conditions are 

 favourable fo'r this action, the phosphorescence being pro- 

 duced by ionisation caused by weak electric currents or 

 intense temperature generated by the meteor's flight. 



The Oxford University Observatory. — Further 

 evidence as to the energy and versatility characteristic of 

 I Oxford Universiti Observatory is forthcoming in the 



