242 
NATURE 
[APRIL 29, 1915 


gives some further details about the discovery of this 
comet. In the Monthly Register of the Society for 
Practical Astronomy (vol. vii., No. 1, January and 
February, 1915), Mr. Mellish narrates how he first 
saw the comet on the morning of February 9. Day- 
light made it impossible to determine any motion of 
the object, and he had to wait until the following 
morning, February 10, before he was able to observe 
its slow movement, and thus recognise the object as 
a comet. Its position was R.A. 17h. 2m., and de- 
clination +3° 15’. The comet is described as being 
3/ in size, bright, and having a very short, fan-shaped 
tail. 
ASTRONOMY AND THE War.—A correspondent of the 
Morning Post (April 23), writing from Paris on April 
22, relates how astronomy is found among the victims 
of the war. At Nantes, he relates, ‘‘an electric tram- 
way built out to an English camp put all the instru- 
ments in the observatory for the registration of terres- 
trial magnetism out ot order, and made observation 
impossible. The observatory of the Puy de Déme 
found itself cut off from the outside world at an alti- 
tude of 5000 ft. The funicular on which it depended 
in time of peace stopped working, and all the horses 
had been commandeered, so that the astronomers had 
the choice between leaving their post and_ being 
starved. Happily the problem was solved by the 
artillery depét of Clermont-Ferrand, which undertook 
the task of provisioning the observatory.” 
ELECTRIC FURNACE SPECTRA OF VANADIUM AND 
CuromiuM.—tThe results of some very interesting ex- 
periments with regard to the variation with tempera- 
ture of the electric furnace spectra of vanadium and 
chromium appear in the current number of the Astro- 
physical Journal (March, vol. xl., No. 2, p. 86), by 
Dr. A. S. King. The author has been able to record 
his observations at three separate temperatures, which 
he denotes as high, medium, and low. The tempera- 
tures on which the classification is based were recorded 
by a Wanner pyrometer, and were 2500-2600° C. for 
the high, 2300-2350° C. for the medium, and 2000- 
2150° C. for the low temperature.. The metals used 
were metallic vanadium and. crystalline chromium. of 
“fair purity,’ and the furnace tubes used were of re- 
graphitised Acheson graphite. The paper gives two 
tables of the intensities of the lines measured under 
the three temperatures, together with the arc intensi- 
ties; several reproductions from the spectra are also 
included. The conclusions drawn indicate that the 
spectra-of these substances develop similarly to those 
of iron and titanium, vanadium being very like 
titanium. The chromium spectrum near the tempera- 
ture at which the vapour begins to radiate predomin- 
ates in Class J. lines (lines relatively strong at low 
temperatures and strengthen slowly at higher tempera- 
tures), which change little at higher temperatures. 
Certain chromium lines, very diffuse in the arc in air, 
may be resolved into sharp components in a vacuum 
source, either furnace or arc. A large number of lines 
belonging to various furnace classes are relatively 
weak in this arc. The spectrum increases into the 
utra-violet as the temperature rises. The ability of 
lines to show self-reversal in the furnace distinctly 
increases with decreasing wave-length. The absence 
in the furnace of banded spectra which appear in the 
ares of vanadium and chromium indicates that they 
are probably due to the oxides of the metals. 
RECENT Papers IN THE ‘‘ ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICH- 
TEN.’’—A large number of the issues of the Astro- 
nomische Nachrichten came to hand together last week, 
and while the material included is of too great and 
varied a nature to be dealt with in this column, it may 
help readers to know some of the chief contents. 
NO. 2374, VOL. 95] 


For this reason the following curtailed list of com- 
munications is given:—No. 4797: Observations of 
long-period variables (1914), by A. A. Nijland. No. 
4796: Observations of the planet Jupiter, by H. E. 
Lau. No. 4795: Numerical investigations on a class 
of periodic orbits, by Carl Burran and Elis Stromgren; 
observations of comet 1913f (Delavan), by A. Abetti. 
No. 4793: The variable star W Cygni, by G. Hornig; 
Observations of SS=V 19 Cygni, by A. A. Nijland. 
No. 4792: Tables for the computation of precession 
for stars near the pole, by L. de Ball; ephemeris of 
the periodic comet of Tempel 2, Johannes Braae. 
No. 4791: Determination of the position of third order 
points on the moon’s surface, by K. Graff and W. 
Voss ; observations of the star BD 89-1°, with the large 
refractor of the Berlin Observatory, by L. Courvoisier. 
No. 4787: Observations and elements of the Algol 
star Io, 1914, R. S. Canum Venaticorum, by Cuno 
Hoffmeister; elements and ephemeris of the periodic 
comet of Winnecke for the appearance in 1915, by K. 
Hillebrand. No. 4786: Definite orbit of comet 
1890 III., by S. Ogura and H. Kaneko; observations 
of Algol stars, by R. Lehnert; the orbit of comet 1913f 
(Delavan), by G. van Biesbroeck. The contents of the 
Nos. 4777 to 4785 will be given next week. 
THE ‘‘ GAzETrE ASTRONOMIQUE.’’—In this column for 
December 24 last reference was made to the proposed 
publishing in this country of the Gazette Astronomique, 
the monthly bulletin. of the Antwerp Astronomical 
Society, should sufficient financial aid be forthcoming. 
It is satisfactory to be able to record the appearance 
of the first number, but its continuance will depend 
on the support given to it in the future. The present 
issue contains an interesting account in English of the 
Uccle Observatory under German occupation, a de- 
scription of a photograph of Delavan’s comet, taken 
by M. G. van Biesbroeck in September last, a series 
of notes on astronomical current literature, etc. The 
first number promises well for future issues. 

BRITISH GEOLOGY. 
PHS series of memoirs published by the Geological 
Survey of Great Britain on the South Wales 
Coalfield reaches part xi. in the description of ‘* The 
Country around Haverfordwest ”’ (1914, price 3s. 6d.). 
Dr. Strahan is fortunate in having colleagues who, 
like himsélf, have become devoted to this particular 
ground. The district here described includes a con- 
siderable development of the Llandovery series, which 
is divided into local stages, the lowest of which rests, 
with an occasional conglomeratic ‘facies (pp. 78 and 
201), on rocks of Upper Bala age, while the highest 
stage laps over on to far older series. The Lower 
Old Red Sandstone is unconformable with the beds 
below it, and contains plant-remains, which are 
unfortunately indeterminable. The structure and 
economic features of the eastern part of the Pembroke- 
shire Coalfield are described. 
The pre-Glacial wave-cut platform recognised in 
southern Ireland is shown to exist also at Milford 
Haven (p. 214). Dr. Strahan (p. 220) points out how 
the older glacial drift of the area was brought in 
from the north-west, and even from the west, by a 
lobe of the Irish Channel ice. Through a recent 
subsidence, the rock-floors of the valleys tributary to 
Milford Haven lie far below sea-level, and a sub- 
merged forest with flints worked by man, which were 
recognised by A. L. Leach, occurs at Amroth on 
Carmarthen Bay. 
Memoir No. 83 of the Scottish series (1914, price 
2s.) deals with ‘“‘The Country round Beauly and 
Inverness.” The names of J. Horne and B. N. Peach 
are still to be seen happily associated on its cover, 

