3°4 



NATURE 



[May 22, 1913 



and the models towed represented those ships now 

 in service as well as a yet unbuilt craft 1000 ft. long. 

 Suction was investigated by means of floating models 

 and submerged buoys. The movements of these 

 during each run of the towed model were recorded 

 by use of moving-picture cameras, so situated that 

 every essential movement could be caught. An index 

 finger moving over a dial on the towing carriage 

 showed the position of the model at every instant. 

 While the full results are not yet published, it may 

 be noted that the Government authorities have again 

 refused permission for the temporary pier extensions 

 to be made permanent. 



Under the title of "The Land of the Blue Poppy," 

 the Cambridge University Press will shortly publish 

 Mr. F. Kingdon Ward's record of his experiences and 

 observations while engaged in plant-collecting in 

 western China and south-eastern Tibet during the 

 year 1911. The book is dedicated to the memory of 

 the author's father, Prof. H. Marshall Ward. 



Messrs. Witherby and Co. have been appointed 

 European agents for The Emu, the organ of the 

 Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union, and copies 

 of that publication can now be obtained at 326 High 

 Holborn, London, W.C. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet Gale (1912a). — An ephemeris for Gale's 

 comet (1912a) is given in the Astronomische Nach- 

 richlen, No. 4651, by Herr M. Ebell, of Kiel, but the 

 object is very dim, being fainter than magnitude 

 twelve. It was observed on April 26 in Uccle by G. 

 van Biesbroeck, and in Bothkamp by Dr. H. H. 

 Kritzinger, and, according to the former, the 

 ephemeris was in error by —3s. and +1-5'. Dr. 

 Kritzinger describes the comet as an elliptical nebula 

 1' and 0-7' diameter, the brightness of the nucleus 

 being 128 mag., the total brightness amounting to 

 12-5 mag. In answer to a telegram sent to Algiers, 

 Herr F. Gonnessiat reports that on May 2 the comet 

 was on the extreme limit of visibility. 



The ephemeris up to the end of this month is as 

 follows : — 



a true 5 true Mag. 



May 



The Spectra of Spiral Nebul.e and Globular Star 

 Clusters. — Dr. E. A. Fath has been continuing his 

 discussion of the spectra of spiral nebula; and globular 

 star clusters secured with spectroscopes attached to 

 the 60-in. reflector of the Mount Wilson Observatory ; 

 his latest results appear in the April number of The 

 Astrophvsical journal (vol. xxxvii., No. 3, p. 198). The 

 spiral nebulas here investigated are seven in number, 

 the exposures ranging from 7h. 40m. to 38h. 14m., while 

 the total exposures for each of the four clusters ranged 

 from i3h. 5m. to i6h. 17m. In the case of the nebula; 

 they for the most part exhibit the spectra of solar type 

 stars, but he refers to two, namelv N.G.C. 1068 and 

 4736, as peculiar, giving evidence of "gaseous" radia- 

 tion. Up to the present he has investigated altogether 

 twelve globular clusters, and the result so far shows 

 that as a whole the brighter stars of the globular 

 NO. 2273, VOL. 91] 



clusters have spectra ranging only from the F- to the 

 G-type. Dr. Fath hopes that as the clusters observed 

 are nearly all readily reached in latitude 34 north, 

 some southern observatory will undertake the investi- 

 gation of those south of — 20 , to find out whether 

 they also exhibit this small range of spectral type so 

 striking a feature of the northern clusters. 



Reports on Indian Observatories. — Dr. G. T. 

 Walker, the Director-General of Indian Observatories, 

 has just forwarded his reports for 1912 on the observa- 

 tories of Kodaikanal, Madras, Bombay, and Alibag, 

 accompanied by the reports of the several directors. 

 In the case of the first-named, he directs attention to 

 the energies of Mr. Evershed, to the transfer of the 

 Poona instruments to Kodaikanal, and to the appoint- 

 ment of Mr. Royds. He states that a serious effort 

 is going to be made to teach the assistants to under- 

 take the measuring of the numerous photographs, 

 which up to the present has only been done by the 

 gazetted officers. He hopes further to make the 

 observatory an ordinary second-class instead of a 

 first-class meteorological station in order to free the 

 fourth assistant for solar work. The transit instru- 

 ment at Madras in the beginning of 1910 suddenly 

 changed its level, and the occurrence was repeated in 

 191 1 and 1912. As this had never taken place before, 

 it was thought that underground water currents had 

 affected the earth neighbouring the concrete founda- 

 tion. This is now going to be investigated, and in 

 the meantime the Madras clock will be rated by wire 

 from Kodaikanal. No special features are mentioned 

 regarding the other two observatories, unless the 

 reference to the absence of trouble from white ants at 

 the Colaba Observatory be noted. 



" L'Astronomie " for May. — The current number 

 of the Bulletin de la Sociiti Astronomique de France 

 contains the address delivered by M. Camille Flam- 

 marion on the occasion of the twenty-seventh year of 

 the existence of the French Astronomical Society. 

 The subject of his discourse was confined to the pro- 

 gress of the society, and the success that the society 

 has achieved is well known this side of the Channel. 

 A very valuable feature in the journal is a series of 

 reproductions of all the past presidents of the society. 

 On the same occasion M. Puiseux summarised the 

 advances made in solar studies during the past year, 

 and this will be found useful to those not closely 

 following the progress of soiar physics. Other con- 

 tents to which attention may be directed are " Les 

 Photographies a poses variees," " Les C£ph£ides con- 

 sidered coimne Etoiles Doubles," " Comparaison d'un 

 Chronometre aux signaux rythm^s," &c. 



The Parallax of the Nebula G.C. ii7 = N.G.C. 221. 

 — Dr. Gustaf Stromberg communicates to Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten, No. 4630, his results of the 

 determination of the parallax of the nebula G.C. 117, 

 or N.G.C. 221, which he secured at the Stockholm 

 Observatory. This nebula lies in the region of the 

 Andromeda nebula, like a satellite to it, and is much 

 easier to measure than the nucleus of the large 

 nebula. The plates which Dr. Stromberg measured 

 were those that were used by Prof. Karl Bohlin for 

 his determination of the parallax of the Andromeda 

 nebula. In his measures Dr. Stromberf employed a 

 comparison star in the neighbourhood of the nebula, 

 the coordinates being Neb. (G.C. 117) — - : Aa = 

 — n-56s., A5= — 183". The investigation embodied 

 fifty determination of differences of R.A. ana forty-six 

 of differences of declination, and the parallax he 

 secured was +0-073" + 0-053". Details of the research 

 will be published later in the publications of the 

 observatory. 



