APRIL 22, 1915| 
NATURE ang, 

interest, as it is the only purely insular and tropical 
station at which anemographic data are recorded in 
India. The position of the station is well described, 
and the records are said to represent correctly the 
winds of the surrounding portion of the Bay of 
Bengal. At Port Blair winds from north-easterly 
directions predominate from November to March, or 
for five months of the year, and winds from south- 
westerly directions predominate during the five months 
from May to September. In the transition months 
of April and October, between the monsoons, winds 
are very variable. The discussion of the anemograph 
observations recorded at Dhubri is for seven years 
to May, 1896. The situation of the station is given 
in detail, and the anemograph was mounted on a 
tower, 45 ft. above the ground; its exposure is said 
to have been excellent. The height of the instrument 
above the tower is not given. The predominant winds 
at Dhubri are said to be those up and down the 
Assam Valley. During November, December, and 
May down valley winds very largely prevail, but up 
valley winds are more numerous than down valley 
winds in February, March, July, and August. Seasonal 
and diurnal movements of the air are given in tabular 
form for both stations. 
A copy of the annual report of the Board of Re- 
gents of the Smithsonian Institution, ‘‘showing the 
operations, expenditures, and condition of the Institu- 
tion’’ for the year ending June 30, 1913, has been 
received from Washington. The volume runs to 804 
pages, of which 140 are concerned with reports and 
proceedings. The bullk of the book consists of the 
general appendix which furnishes a_ miscellaneous 
selection of scientific papers, some of them original, 
embracing a considerable range of scientific investi- 
gation and discussion. Many of the papers are trans- 
lations of contributions by distinguished foreign men 
of science. Among these translations may be men- 
tioned; The reaction of the planets upon the sun, by 
M. P. Puiseux, astronomer at the Paris Observatory ; 
modern ideas on the end of the world, by Prof. G. 
Jaumann, professor of physics at the Technical High 
School at Brtinn; recent developments in electromag- 
netism, by Prof. Eugene Bloch, of the Lycée Saint 
Louis; oil films on water and on mercury, by Prof. H. 
Devaux, of Bordeaux; ripple marks, by M. Ch. Epry; 
the development of orchid cultivation and its bearing 
upon evolutionary theories, by M. J. Costantin; the 
problems of heredity, by Dr. E. Apert, principal at 
Andral Hospital, Paris; the whale fisheries of the 
world, by M. Charles Rabot; the earliest forms of 
human habitation and their relation to the general 
development of civilisation, by Prof. M. Hoernes; 
feudalism in Persia: its origin, development, and 
present condition, by M. J. de Morgan, of Paris; 
shintoism and its significance, by Mr. K. Kanokogi, 
of Tokyo, in Zeitschrift fiir Religionspsychologie; the 
economic and social réle of fashion, by M. Pierre 
Clerget, of Lyons; and the work of J. H. Van’t Hoff, 
by Prof. G. Bruni, of the University of Padua. As 
has been the case in former years, many of the articles 
in the appendix are illustrated by. numerous beauti- 
fully exeeuted plates. 
NO. 2373, VOL. 95| 

, corona. 
Messrs. JOHN WHELDON AND Co., 38 Great Queen 
Street, Kingsway, London, W.C., have issued a cata- 
logue of books and papers on economic botany which 
they have for sale. The list, which is conveniently 
classified, contains particulars of books on commercial 
plants, tropical agriculture, food plants, and. many 
other branches of economic botany. 
Tue following forthcoming books of science are an- 
nounced by Messrs. Constable and Co., Ltd. :— 
“Textbook on Motor-car Engineering,’ by A. G. 
Clarke, vol. ii., Design; *‘ Telegraph Engineering,” 
by Dr. E. Hausmann; a new edition of ‘Wood 
Pulp; by ©.2F:. Cross; E. J... Bevan, and) RoW: 
Sindall. Mr. John Murray will shortly publish 
‘Evolution and the War,’ by Dr. P. Chalmers 
Mitchell. 

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
Comer Nores.—The Ephemeris Circular of the 
Astronomische Nachrichten (No. 482) contains the 
elements and ephemeris of comet Mellish (19154), 
communicated by Dr. Fischer-Petersen. As this 
ephemeris differs somewhat from that given last week 
the new positions for the current week are as fol- 
lows :— 
R.A. (true) Del. (true) Mag. 
he tu. > > ‘ 
April 22 NOM G2) 2A ee O58) reat 70) 
ott Sy) WW 
Ae Sipod 8406 1. 74 
28 40NSo 9 3955 
30 18 43 48 pe OR Ag- OWN eager 
The comet lies towards the southern portion of the 
constellation of Aquila, in the neighbourhood of the 
stars 1,,2, and 3 Aquile. 
The only information to hand regarding the ob- 
served return of Winnecke’s comet is that mentioned 
in the Morning Post of April 15. It is stated that Dr. 
Thiele, of the Bergedorf Observatory, Hamburg, 
recorded its position on a photograph, the object being 
of the 16th magnitude. This comet has a period of 
about 5-8 years, and was first discovered in 1858. At 
the present return perihelion will not be reached until 
September, so that later the comet may be a good 
telescopic object. 
Prof. E. C. Pickering, in Harvard Circular, No. 187, 
gives some early positions of comet rg14e (Campbell). 
This comet, as the circular states, appears to have 
been first seen on Thursday, September 17 (astro- 
nomical date), at one o’clock in the morning, by Mr. 
Leon Campbell, at the Arequipa Station of the Harvard 
Observatory. The comet was then visible to the naked 
eye. It was discovered independently a few hours 
later by Dr. Lunt, at the Cape Observatory, and by 
Mr. Westland, in New Zealand. Six photographs 
talken by Mr. Campbell were sent to Cambridge, and 
the positions have been measured and are here re- 
corded. 
Tue Roration OF THE SOLAR Corona.—M. J. Bosler, 
in the Comptes rendus for April 6 (vol. clx., No. 14, 
p. 434), describes the result he has obtained in an 
investigation on the velocity of rotation of the solar 
corona. The experiment was made during the solar 
eclipse of last August, and the apparatus provided the 
means of photographing the whole spectrum of the 
It was thought that the green radiation at 
5303 would prove the most satisfactory line for 
measurement, but its absence rendered this impossible. 
However, the new red ray (X6374-3) provided the oppor- 
