AuGuUST 26, 1915] 
NATURE 7 
as 

A splendid meteor was seen over the southern 
region of Scotland on August 13 at gh. 16m. It was 
fortunately recorded by Mr. A. King from 
near Edinburgh, and Mrs. F. Wilson saw the object 
near the N. by W. horizon, though her station at 
Harrow-on-the-Hill was distant about 
the place of the meteor. 
The following are the particulars of fifteen non- 
Perseids seen during this year’s display and computed 
370 miles from 
by Mr. Denning :-— F. 
22 29 of 29 . os 
. Pes es S % Radiant Meteor's 
Night G.M.T. mags. +p Be £ =) & ee Bari Sane 
tame 2 28 
h. m. m m m =m oe, A 
Aug. 10 9 33 I>1 68 52 154 38 40+29 Muscid 
10 234 2h-2 84 45 52 20 290+11 e Sagittid 
Ir of 3-2 8x 55 63 42 40+38 B Perseid 
Aug. 12 to 18 2k-2 74 42 32 16 281+43 a Lyrid 
10 18 y4- Ww 80 55 67 — 46+44 a. Perseid 
10 44% 2-2 <6 58 192 35 39+7 a Cetid | 
rr 28 2-1 77 ne 164s See ONES t5 tty Delphinid 
Aug. 13 9 16 O90" 52 43) Ion x9) 2bo—T3 6 Antinoid 
Io 40 ie 69 46 28 56 300+20 7 Sagittid 
10 40} 2-2 68 5t 27 36 332+10 e Pegasid 
IL 1 52 77 50 44 28 343+14 a Pegasid 
Aug. 14 10 14 4-4 67 52 24 25 194+64 e Ursid 
Io 25 I>1 49 4t 82 36 153+4t i Ursid 
10 364 2-1 67 61 7 «x 302+13 a Aquilid 
Aug. 18 10 40 52 59 52 29 58 72+41 7 Aurigid 
Aug. 19 9 20 >I 79) 9 57) Ost 44 eels 5c 59) v Ursid 
Tue Tuse Arc SpEectrUM OF IRON.—The installa- 
tion of a 1oo-kw. transformer in the Pasadena labora- 
tory has enabled Dr. Arthur S. King to extend his 
investigation of the spectrum peculiarities of the tube 
arc, and he has now carried out a comparison of 
typical iron lines in tube-arc and spark spectra. 
In these later experiments, according to a paper in 
the Astrophysical Journal for June, the best results 
are stated to have been obtained when energy was 
being supplied at the rate of 40 kw. at the moment 
of rupture of tube (i.e. formation of tube arc), the 
exposure being made whilst the current fell from 
Iooo to about 600 amps.; the second order of a 4-inch 
plane grating was used in the vertical telescope with 
an objective of 30 ft. f.l., the dispersion being o-g A. 
per mm. 
The tube are is found to resemble the disruptive 
spark in imparting unsymmetrical structure to many 
of the stronger lines, the magnitude of the effect 
being closely related to their furnace and pressure 
classification. The least affected lines are the flame 
lines. In the spark, very curiously, the enhanced 
lines remain symmetrical. The conclusion is reached 
that strong electrical excitation, together with high 
vapour density, produce displacements resembling the 
effect of pressure, and the suggestion is advanced that 
the density of high-speed electrons is the operative 
common factor. 
A brief account of the same investigation forms 
No. 9 in the series of Communications from the 
Mount Wilson Solar Observatory to the National 
Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.) Proceedings, vol. i., 
P- 371; June; rors: 
ContTroL OF AUSTRALIAN OBSERVATORIES.—From an 
Australian daily contemporary we learn that the 
Public Service Commissioner has recommended the 
transference of the Victoria Observatory to the 
Federal Government on the grounds -that it is a 
national, and not a State, institution. It is added 
that there is a consensus of opinion among the astro- 
nomers of the various States that it would be well to 
hand observatories over to Federal control. 
PropeR Morions OF THE STARS BY STEREOSCOPE.— 
M. J. Comas Sola (Comptes rendus, vol. clxi., p. 121, 
August 9, 1915) describes an interesting attempt to 
employ the stereoscope in the study of stellar motions. 
By means of a camera, aperture 160 mm., f.1. 800 
mm., mounted on a 6-in. equatorial as finder, photo- 
graphs of the globular cluster M. 11 (Aquila et 
NO. 2391, VOL. 95] 


Antinous) were taken on July 12, 1912, and again on 
July 20, 1915. The negatives were then viewed in 
an ordinary stereoscope with striking results. Ona 
surface 20 degrees square, no fewer than 200 stars 
exhibited sensible proper motion, and it proved 
specially easy to pick out groups of stars having 
common or related proper motions. It is suggested 
that it should not be difficult to obtain quantitative 
results in employing a stereocomparator or stereo- 
meter. The preliminary qualitative survey indicates 
that the greater part of the stellar trajectories in the 
region studied make a large angle with the mean 
line of the Millkky Way. 
SorarR  Vorticrs.—Having established beyond 
doubt the existence of the Zeeman effect due to the 
magnetic field in sun-spots, Prof. George E. Hale 
has now been able to trace the law of rotation in 
spot vortices by some highly significant observations 
communicated to the National Academy of Sciences, 
U.S.A. (Proc., vol. i., p. 382). The typical sun- 
spot group consists of two spots of opposite magnetic 
polarity, and thus rotating oppositely, lying almost 
parallel to the solar equator. The preceding spot is 
usually the dominant member, whilst the following 
spot may consist of small spots or be represented 
merely by flocculi, the characteristic feature of the 
group being the presence of magnetic fields of oppo- 
site polarity in the regions of its eastern and western 
extremities. Briefly, the present results indicate that 
the direction of rotation depends on the phase of the 
spot cycle, thus in low latitudes (end of cycle) the 
rotation in the spot vortex (preceding spot) is the 
same as in a terrestrial tornado, i.e. anti-clockwise 
in the N. hemisphere, but in high latitudes (beginning 
of cycle) the direction of rotation is the reverse; each 
spot belt is thus divided into two zones of approxi- 
mate mean latitudes of 9° and 23° respectively. 
In collaboration with Mr. George P. Luckey, Prof. 
Hale has been conducting some novel laboratory ex- 
periments (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. i., p. 385) in 
vortex motion; means have been successfully devised 
for reproducing the characteristic features, not only 
of spot vortices, but also to some extent the move- 
ments in flocculi. 

LIFE-HABITS OF THE OKAPI. 
R. CUTHBERT CHRISTY, known to a good 
many people by his medical research work and 
botanical collecting in West and in Central Africa, 
recently spent several years in the service of the Bel- 
gian Congo, and was directed, amongst other things, 
to give careful study to the okapi in the forests of 
north-east Congoland. The result is that we have for 
the first time an accurate and detailed description of 
the life habits of the okapi. Dr. Christy has also, I 
believe, been the first to bring to Europe the ‘soft 
parts’ of this Giraffid. A few years ago this was 
what many zoologists were longing for; the soft parts 
(intestines, genital organs, etc.) of the okapi were 
needed to supplement the study of its skeleton and 
enable us to fix with precision its position in the 
giraffe family, and perhaps the basal relations of that 
group with other Pecora. 
Unfortunately, Dr. Christy arrived home (after run- 
ning many war risks on the way) with his valuable 
cargo of specimens at a time when we were so com- 
pletely engrossed by the war that little interest was 
aroused, and little attention was given to his remark- 
able researches. The comparative anatomists who 
might have examined his material are apparently 
absent from their usual seats of learning engaged in 
war business. I understand that Dr. Christy has 
placed the soft parts of his specimens in the British 
Museum (Natural History), and we may hope perhaps 
