628 
NATURE 
[AuGusT 5, 1915 


Service. Force: The Special Fire Service Force, 
organised by the committee at the outbreak of the 
war, and comprising ex-fire brigade officers and fire- 
men, was originally brought into such a form as to 
make 300 firemen readily available for mobilisation in 
sections within forty-eight hours. The results of the 
work of the committee have been far-reaching. The 
great care taken by the public on simple, sensible, 
and inexpensive lines to prevent outbreaks of fires and 
to meet them with organised self-help is extraordinary, 
and must affect the reduction of the fire loss after the 
war, as it has during the war. 
A copy of the- thirteenth half-yearly. volume of the 
Journal of the Institute of Metals has been received. 
For the most part the volume is a record of the papers 
read at the recent London meeting of the institute, 
to many of which attention has been directed already 
in these columns. In addition, there is an important 
contribution on ‘Bronzing Processes Suitable (for 
Brass and Copper,” by Mr. T. J. Baker, read on 
January 26 last at the Birmingham section of the 
institute. The part of the book containing abstracts 
of foreign scientific papers dealing with copper, brass, 
and other non-ferrous metals is remarkably complete 
in view of the difficulty of obtaining access to Con- 
tinental periodicals. The volume contains 471 pages, 
ten full-page plates, and numerous illustrations in the 
text. It is issued under the editorship of Mr. G. Shaw 
Scott, and published by the Institute of Metals, Caxton 
House, Westminster, S.W., from whom, or through 
any booksellers, copies can be obtained, price 21s. net. 
Tue Cambridge University Press has in the press, 
in the ‘Cambridge Travel _Books”’ series, oie 
Earliest Voyages round the World, 1519-1617,’’ and 
in the “Cambridge Public Health’? series ‘‘ The 
Spread of Tuberculosis,” by Dr. L. Cobbett. The follow- 
ing books in the latter series are in preparation :-— 
“Ticks as Carriers of Disease,” Prof. G. H. Re 
Nuttall; ‘‘Serum Diagnoses,” Dr. C. Browning; 
“Tropical Hygiene,’ W. J. R. Simpson; “The Puri- 
fication of Water in Sedimentation, Filtration and 
Precipitation,” Dr. A. C. Houston; Sabhe Purification 
of Water by Ozone and Chlorine, and Domestic 
Filters,” Prof. G. Sims Woodhead; ‘‘The Principles 
and Practice of the Dilution Method of Sewage Dis- 
posal,” Dr. W. E. Adeney; © Disinfection,’ Dr. C. W. 
Ponder; ‘‘ Housing in Relation to Public Health,” Dr. 
C. J. Coleman; ‘‘ School Hygiene,” Dr. E. T. Roberts ; 
us Soils, Subsoils, and Climate in Relation to Health,” 
G. Walker; ‘‘ Offensive and Harmful Trades,”’ Sir T. 
Oliver; ‘‘ Meat Inspection,” Dr. W. J. Howarth and 
T. D. Young; ‘Vital Statistics,” R. Dudfield and 
G. U. Yule; ‘‘ Foods, Sound and Unsound,”’ Dr. H. Gg: 
Haslam. 

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
An AssOcIATION FOR THE OBSERVATION OF Mars.— 
During the past opposition of Mars, Prof. W. H. 
Pickering issued a series of monthly reports dealing 
with the planet; these were first published in Popular 
Astronomy, then reprinted, and distributed in pamphlet 
form; in this way a system of co-operation by corre- 
NO. 2388, VOL. 95| 

WOES PACn (BroGi vol. . 1.5.0 p: 

spondence was established. This proved so mutually 
advantageous that Prof. Pickering is now attempting 
to organise an association to operate during the 
coming opposition of next February. Details are 
given in a circular letter distributed with Mars Report 
No. 9. The particular advantage to be derived from 
collaboration is continuity of record, which can only 
be secured in this case by having observers uniformly 
distributed in terrestrial longitude in consequence of 
the small difference between the Martian and terres- 
trial days. Weekly drawings, reduced micrometric 
observations, if possible, and a monthly report are 
desired from each observer. Regular observation 
should begin next January, but observations of Syrtis 
Major in October, November, and December would 
be of exceptional interest. 
THe PoLe Errect IN THE [RON Arc,—Some results 
of further investigations carried on by Dr. St. John 
and Mr. Babcock, at the Mount Wilson Solar Observa- 
tory, in continuation of their important work on the 
minute differences of wave-length of lines in the 
| spectrum of the iron are when sources near the middle 
and near the negative pole are compared, have been 
communicated to the National Academy of Sciences, 
295, I915). It has been 
found that the wave-lengths of these sensitive lines 
are not affected by wide variations of density of the 
radiating vapour; change of temperature in the electric 
furnace does not affect the wave-lengths; with the 
enclosed are the effect does not occur at pressures 
below 10 cm. of mercury; and, unlike the pressure 
shift, the pole effect does not appear to vary with 
wave-length. As the pole effect may amount to up- 
wards of 0-02A, it is obviously important that it should 
be taken into consideration in re-determination of 
wave-lengths in international units. In order to 
eliminate the effect, the light should be taken from 
a point more than 2 mm. distant from the pole. 
Tue Harvarp Osservatory.—Anything concerning 
this famous institution cannot fail to be of interest, 
and thus we welcome a reprint from the Harvard 
Alumni Bulletin, March ro, 1915, of two articles, one 
by the director, Prof. Pickering, and the other over 
the initials ‘J. D. M.,” dealing with the observatory 
and its work respectively. Founded in 1840 by W. C. 
Bond, with the help of thirty subscriptions of 2ol. 
each, the endowments now amount to 200,000l., and 
the annual income exceeds 10,000l., yet, we are told, 
“there has never been a time ... when funds... 
were needed more than they are to-day.” In addition 
to the well-known Arequipa Station in Peru, where 
the 24-in. photographic doublet has been mounted, a 
station in Jamaica has recently been founded for visual 
work. No fewer than seventy complete quarto 
volumes of Annals have been published and eight 
others are in preparation, whilst about 200 circulars 
have been issued. Concerning the progress of the 
Draper Catalogue, we are informed that down to 
March 1, 1915, Miss Cannon had classified no fewer 
than 188,350 stellar spectra. 
AnnuAL REVIEW OF ASTRONOMY (1914).—M. P. 
Puiseux has contributed to the Revue générale des 
Sciences of July 15 another of the useful annual re- 
views we have learned to expect from his pen. In 
referring our readers to this article, attention may be 
especially directed to the reference under the head- 
ing ‘‘Comets”’ to Innes’s cosmological hypothesis and 
the objection he raises that it leaves unexplained the 
fact of the small eccentricities and inclinations of the 
planets and satellites. In the section on nebulz pro- 
minence is, of course, given to the application of 
