November 21, 191 2J 



NATURE 



341 



reports of the sections, the only two papers are con- 

 cerned with literary subjects. The report of the coun- 

 cil contains an announcement that the society has 

 decided to publish a book on the Trias by Mr. T. O. 

 Boswftrth, a member of the geological section of the 

 society, which should be of great assistance to students 

 of the geology of the county. 



A \\-ELL-ARR.4NGED and excellently illustrated cata- 

 logue of their electrical specialities has been received 

 from Messrs. F. Darton and Co., 142 St. John Street, 

 Clerkenwell, E.C. Special attention may be directed 

 to the large number of designs of small electric motors 

 and dvnamos this firm is able to supply. In addition, 

 the catalogue gives particulars of a great variety of 

 electrical appliances and accessories. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Identity of Schaumasse's and Tuttle's 

 Comets (19126J. — Using new observations made by 

 M. Schaumasse, and extending over the period October 

 iS to November i, MM. Fayet and Schaumasse have 

 derived a set of elements for comet 1912b which, when 

 compared with the elements for Tuttle's comet, taking 

 into account the approximate perturbations of Jupiter 

 during the period 1900-01, show that the comets are 

 undoubtedly identical. The comet is now too low to 

 be observed in these latitudes, its positions for Novem- 

 ber 21 and 23 being a=iih. 43m., S= — 37° i4'7', and 

 n=iih. 50 m., 8= — 39° 6'8', respectively. (Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten, No. 4612.) 



Borrelly's Comet 1912c. — A number of observa- 

 tions of comet 1912c are published in No. 4612 of the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten, where elements and an 

 ephemeris, extending to December 9, are also given. 

 An observation made at the Bergedorf Observatory on 

 November 3 gave the magnitude as 7'$, and showed 

 that the comet was a round nebulous body with a 

 nucleus but no tail ; other observations made between 

 November 3 and 6 gave the magnitude as 9'5, while 

 the calculated magnitude for November 7 was 83. 

 Dr. Kobold's ephemeris gives the following posi- 

 tions : — 



Ephemeris 12/i. Berlin M.T. 



Nov. 21. ..19 302... + 11 50'i 



23.. .19 36-5...+ 9 49-9 



25.. .19 42-4...+ 7 587 



27.. .19 47'9---^ 6 157 



Nov. 29... 19 53-1... +4 402 

 Dec. I. ..19 S7'9... + 3 ii'6 

 3. ..20 2-5... + ! 49-4 

 5. ..20 6-9... +0 33' 



It will be seen that between November 22 and 27 

 the comet apparently travels along a line nearly 

 parallel to, and about 3m. west of, that joining 7, a, 

 and Aquilae ; its calculated magnitude is now g'o, 

 and sinks to 9'5 by December i. 



Observations of Gale's Comet 1912a. — A number 

 of observations, and some excellent photographs, taken 

 bv M. Qu^nisset at Juvisy, of comet 1912a are pub- 

 lished in the November number of L'Astronomie. 

 On October 16 the principal tail (p. a. = 65°) extended 

 beyond the edge of the plate, and was at least 6° in 

 length. The secondary tail (p. a. = 138°) was strongly 

 curved towards the south, having the appearance of 

 a cock's spur, and was 1° long; the successive photo- 

 graphs, October 6 to 16, showed that the angle 

 between these two tails was increasing by nearly 1° 

 per day. A third tail, near to and north of the prin- 

 cipal, was photographed on October 14, and showed 

 a marked dislocation at a distance of 33' from the head. 

 Several good spectra were secured with the Baume- 

 Pluvinel prismatic camera, and will be reduced at 



NO. 2247, VOL. 90] 



M. de la Baume-Pluvinel's laboratory. They show a 

 strong continuous spectrum, in which the usual 

 cometary bands are shown as well-marked condensa- 

 tions, and the spectrum somewhat resembles that of 

 Brooks's comet (1911c) at the end of October, igii. 



On November i the comet was still just visible to 

 the naked eye, and photographs showed the principal 

 tail to be 6° long with extremely undulating borders ; 

 the angle (86°) between the two tails had still further 

 increased to the extent of 13° since October 16. Other 

 observations of this comet are published in No. 4612 

 of the Astronomische Nachrichten. 



Nebula and Clusters Photographed with the 

 Crossley Reflector. — Lick Observatory Bulletin 

 No. 219 contains descriptions of 132 nebulae and star 

 clusters that have been photographed with the Cross- 

 ley reflector. The descriptions in many cases are 

 extremely interesting, and are written by Dr. H. D. 

 Curtis, who states that the modern photographic 

 studies of nebular structure show that the visual 

 observations made in the past are almost valueless, 

 in comparison, even when made with powerful instru- 

 ments by skilful observers. For example, in the case 

 of N.G.C. 83, the catalogue gives thirteen nebulae in 

 this region, while in reality there are at least fifty 

 small nebulte and nebulous stars. 



One or tw'o examples must serve to illustrate the 

 importance of the present publication. N.G.C. 1300 

 shows a two-branched spiral, 6' long, where the whorls 

 start from the extremities of straight extensions on 

 each side of the nucleus. Nova Aurigae on November 

 t6, 1901, Nova Geminorum on April 23, 1903, and 

 Nova Lacertse on September 13, 1912, showed no 

 traces of nebulosity, although long exposures were 

 given in each case. With two hours' exposure the 

 stars of Prassepe show no signs of being nebulous. 

 N.G.C. 5921 is a very interesting spiral, with a strong 

 oval nucleus i'8' long, crossed by a straight lane of 

 matter. N.G.C. 6960 is a wonderful object, more than 

 1° in length, made up of bright filaments like the " Net- 

 work " nebula. N.G.C. 6914 is a very irregular diffuse 

 nebulosity about 4' across. The neighbouring stars, 

 BD.+4i°373i and 3737, are surrounded by bright 

 nebulosity not noted in the N.G.C, although that 

 around the second star is brighter than N.G.C. 6914. 



CAPTAIN AMUNDSEN'S JOURNEY TO 

 THE SOUTH POLE. 



/^APTAIN ROALD AMUNDSEN communicated 

 ^^ the results of his journey to the south pole at 

 a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on 

 November 15, in the Queen's Hall. His expedition 

 "landed" on the ice-barrier in the Bay of Whales, 

 which, he observes, was charted by Ross in 1841 ; it 

 is therefore to be considered, not as a casual forma- 

 tion of the ice, but as a permanent feature, owing its 

 existence to shallow banks or to land beneath the ice 

 but above sea-level. This view was confirmed by the 

 discovery, on landing, of a surface broken by steep 

 hills and ridges, instead of one approximately level 

 and unbroken. The work of the expedition in laying 

 depots for the march to the south pole was completed 

 in April, 1911, and it may be said at once that it was 

 thoroughly successful, for when we follow Captain 

 -Amundsen on the journey itself it would appear (how- 

 ever thickly he glosses its dangers) to have been 

 carried through with less difficulty than any of a 

 similar character preceding it, so far as concerned 

 food sunnlv, the health of the party, and the condition 

 of the sledge-dogs ; there is here no tale of suffering 

 from hunger or exhaustion, and on the return march 

 from 86° S., the party had not even to go on fixed 



