592 



NATURE 



[September 21, 1911 



become less general as the season progresses. The com- 

 bined rainfall of August and September, however, will 

 probably fall short of the normal, particularly in parts of 

 central and north-west India. Reports subsequently 

 received by telegraph seem to show that this forecast is, 

 in the main, likely to be fulfilled. 



The Scientific American oi August 19 publishes a most 

 interesting article entitled "The Head of the Official 

 Meteorological World," accompanied by an excellent 

 photograph of Dr. W. X. Shaw, taken by Mrs. Shaw 

 (who, in addition to her skill as an amateur photographer, 

 takes an active interest in educational matters). '! he 

 presidency of tin- International Meteorological Committee, 

 comprising the principal directors of the national weather 

 services of the world, is by no means an easy position. 

 Great tact is required at meetings in reconciling opinions 

 which are sometimes quite opposed to each other, in 

 introducing new subjects for discussion, and in referring 

 difficult matters to the consideration of carefully selected 

 subcommittees. The writer of the article (Mr. C. F. 

 Talman) points out that the committee was singularly 

 fortunate in having among its members a man ideally 

 fitted to occupy this post, vacated by Prof. Mascart (head 

 of the French Meteorological Service) shortly before his 

 death in 1907. He reviews witli much ability the varied 

 and useful work of the present holder of the position, from 

 the beginning of his academic career, the marks of his 

 " directive genius " as shown in the operations of the 

 Mi teorological Office, and briefly sketches some of the 

 evidences of the " advanced position that he has come to 

 occupy in the general campaign of meteorological re- 

 search." To mention one important matter only, the 

 British meteorological yea_r-books and their appendices 

 now appear so punctually that they set the pace for 

 similar publications throughout the world. 



In The Cairo Scientific Journal for August Dr. W. F. 

 Hume gives an account of the finding of a meteorite which 

 fell in the delta of the Nile on June 28, in the village 

 lands of El Nakhla, some 44 kilometres E.S.E. of 

 Alexandria. Fragments were reported as having fallen 

 at five separate localities, and several pieces were secured 

 for examination. The specific gravity was 3.4, and the 

 interior of the specimen showed prismatic crystals, prob- 

 ably of enstatite, and yellow grains of olivine or peridot ; 

 the outer surface was covered with a black, glistening 

 skin rich in iron. Specimens were exhibited in Section C 

 at the British Association, where Dr. Hume gave further 

 details. 



In the same number Mr. J. I. Craig describes a frag- 

 ment of a sundial which was found at the temple of Basa 

 in the Sudan, in lat. 16° 42' and long. 33 53' E. It is 

 constructed from a block of marble which is not of local 

 origin, but must have been imported, probably from 

 Europe. It contains portions of seven converging lines, 

 and two curved lines on a conoidal surface, and much 

 1 1 mills two sundials which are now in the museum at 

 Alexandria. Since the worked surface is not complete, 

 and what is left is not a true geometrical surface, com- 

 putation ol the locality for which the dial was constructed 

 is impossible ; but it is suggested that the block was 

 ! after an Alexandrian model, and the hour lines 



en adju ted for a place in the Sudan. Illustrations of 

 the dial are given, but the article does not mention where 

 -erved. 



Mr. H. Grindell Mai thews recently succeeded in 



umication by means of his wireless tele- 



2l86, VOL. 87] 



phone ovei a distance of five and a hall miles b) 

 from Beachley, neai Chepstow, to New Passage, on the 

 opposite bank of the Severn. The system will now be 

 tried by the War Office at Aldershot, which will tx 

 the option ol purchasing Mr. Matthews's invention, 

 while further experiments are being carried oul 

 attempts to communicate from Chepstow to I 

 distance of twenty-five miles, are being made. Codj man- 

 lifting kites play a prominent part in the necessary arrange- 

 ments, and apparently Mr. Matthews recently received a 

 bad electric shock from the wire attached to the kite, 

 although no power was being used at the time. Mr. 

 Matthews was also able to obtain sparks when the kite 

 wire was touched by another coil of wire. Thi 

 ently has convinced Mr. Matthews that, given a 

 length of insulated wire, it is possible to collect energy 

 from the atmosphere. We shall wait to see the results of 

 further experiments in this direction, which doubtl. ~~ M,. 

 Matthews will make shortly. 



The researches of Pictet have made it probable that 

 most of the plant alkaloids are to be regarded as di gradae 

 tion products of vegetable proteins, since they are formed 

 by the union of these simple substances with formaldehyde. 

 The ring compounds synthesised in this manner are sub- 

 jected to further minor changes in the plant, sui h as 

 oxidation, reduction, replacement of hydroxyl, &c, and 

 converted into the natural alkaloids. Pictet showed how 

 in this way the majority of the alkaloids could be supposed 

 to be formed, but specially excluded the isoquinoline alka- 

 loids, which comprise such important representatives as 

 morphine and the alkaloids of opium, berberine, &c, from 

 his hypothesis. In the current number of the Bericlite he 

 shows how tyrosine or phenylalanine condense with form- 

 aldehyde to tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives, and is able 

 to effect the complete synthesis of hydroxyberberine start- 

 ing from homopiperonylamine and formaldehyde. The 

 conception that alkaloids are derived from proteins is 

 therefore to be extended also to the isoquinoline alkaloids. 



The September issue of The Central, the magazine of 

 the City and Guilds of London Central Technical College 

 Old Students' Association, is of special interest. It opens 

 with an appreciative account, by Mr. G. C. Turner, of 

 the career and work of Prof. Henrici, F.R.S., who retired 

 from his professorship at the college at the end of last 

 term. A full report follows of the banquet to Prof. H. E. 

 Armstrong. F.R.S., in May last, which was duly noted in 

 Nature at the time. Important articles by old students 

 of the college deal with lifeboat launching slipways, the 

 training of alluvial rivers by the guide-bank system, 

 modern simple span truss-bridge construction, and the 

 electro-technical commission. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Expected Return of Comet 1905 II. (Borrelly). 

 — From a number of observations made in 1905, M. Fayet 

 has calculated a definite orbit for Borrelly's comet of that 

 year, and finds that perihelion passage should take place 

 on 191 1 December 18-601 (Paris M.T.). Ephemerides 

 based on these elements are published in No. 4523 of the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten, and the complete discussion 

 is t,, appear shortly in vol. xxx. of the Annals of the Paris 

 Observatory. 



Until the end of November the southern declination of 

 Hi. comet will make observations impossible in our 

 northern observatories, although the general conditions of 

 this apparition are more favourable than those of 1905. 



I in Discovery of Eclifsing Variables ; AuRIG«* 

 Variable Star. — In an interesting paper appearing in 



