594 



NATURE 



[December 5, igi. 



tions, Seplember 13 and October 9-10, showed that 

 the north equatorial band, so inconspicuous for the 

 past four years, liad suddenly become one of the 

 darkest and most conspicuous details on the planet, 

 and it suggested that, at the next opposition, the 

 aspect of Jupiter may be found to be considerably 

 transformed. 



The Discovery of Gale's Comet, 1912a. — In No. i, 

 vol. xxiii., of the Journal of the British Astronomical 

 Association Mr. Gale, of Waratah (N.S.W.), tells the 

 story of tlie discovery of his second comet, 1912a. 

 Having to travel considerably, he finds but little time 

 for telescopic worli, but carries with him a field-glass 

 of 2-in. aperture and a x 3 magnification. Examin- 

 ing the northern part of Centaurus on September 8, 

 he saw a strange object of obviously cometary char- 

 acter, and on the next evening, liaving arrived at Mr. 

 Beattie's observatory at Sydney, he was able to confirm 

 the discovery and get a position. At the time of dis- 

 covery the comet's magnitude was about 6, and the 

 discovery emphasises tlie fact that a keen observer 

 under a clear sky may do important work without 

 possessing any considerable instrumental equipment. 



K -Star Calendar. — We have received a copy of the 

 ■'Star Calendar," by Mrs. H. Periam Hawkins, for 

 1913, and can strongly recommend it to all amateur 

 astronomers. With its revolving disc it enables one 

 to find the position in the sky of any constellation, or 

 the time of rising and setting in tliese latitudes, for 

 any hour in the year ; the price is \s. net. Mrs. 

 Hawkins has also prepared, as in previous years, a 

 " Star .'\lmanac," wiiicli contains a great deal of useful 

 information frequently needed. In addition to star 

 charts for the four seasons, various useful tables and 

 notes, the almanac contains a reproduction of Dr. 

 Wolf's photograph of the " Butterfly " nebula of the 

 Pleiades, and quotes Sir Norman Lockyer on the 

 emplovment of the stars as guides to travellers ; the 

 price is 6(J. net, and both calendar and almanac are 

 published bv Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, 

 Kent and Co. 



The Spectroscopic Binary & Scorpionis. — In 190S 

 Dr. Slipher found that the calcium lines in the spec- 

 trum of 3 Scorpionis did not appear to partake of the 

 oscillations of velocity shown by the other lines, and, 

 also, that they were sharply defined instead of being 

 broad and diffuse, as are the other lines. 



The inquiry as to this peculiar behaviour has been 

 taken a step further by Mr. J. C. Duncan, who, in 

 No. 54 of the Lowell Observatory Bulletins, discusses 

 a large number of new measures of the spectrum 

 carried out by him. The elements which best repre- 

 sent the orbit give a period of 6'8284 days, an eccen- 

 tricity of o'27, and a projected semi-major axis of 

 10,990,000 km. for the brighter, and 14,450,000 for the 

 fainter, component ; the semi-amplitude of the velocity 

 curve for the brighter star of the system is 126 km. 

 per sec., and for the fainter star 166 km. per sec. 



While the velocity of the centre of mass of the 

 svstem is — 8'o km. per sec, that given by the calcium 

 radiation, K, is — 16'6 km. per sec, thus showing a 

 difference of more than 8 km. per sec, which seems 

 too great to be attributed to errors of measurement. 

 Thisseems to support Hartmann's suggested explana- 

 tion for a similar phenomenon in the case of 5 Orionis, 

 viz. that the calcium absorption is produced by a mass 

 of calcium vapour, independent of the star, moving 

 with a constant velocity between the earth and the 

 star. Observations of other stars in the Scorpio, 

 Orion, and Perseus regions, made by Dr. Slipher, 

 «ug<rest the presence of such calcium clouds in all 

 those re.t'ions. On the other hand, a suspected 

 shortening of the period of R Scorpionis would sug- 



NO. 2249, VOL. 90] 



gest that the calcium cloud envelops the binary 

 system, and produces the effect of a resisting medium 

 on the revolution of the components, but the suspicion 

 needs much more confirmation than is at present 

 forthcoming. 



MEDICAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC 

 HEALTH. 

 (~\^ November 28, at a meeting of the General 

 '^ Medical Council, Sir Clifford Allbutt raised the 

 question, how the grant for research provided by the 

 National Insurance Act could be used to the best 

 advantage. He looked forward, not to a crusade 

 against tuberculosis alone, but to a crusade against 

 many other endemic diseases, a "general movement 

 all along the line against all these plagues." He 

 pointed out, very truly, that research, diagnosis, and 

 treatment go hand in hand ; that the business of patho- 

 logical and clinical laboratories, in great cities, is 

 to be in touch with men in practice, and to educate 

 them in the methods of science, and in the results of 

 science. He was opposed to the founding of one large 

 institute in London : he was afraid that it would 

 "harden into a bureau"; he desired to see more use 

 made of the many institutions already founded in 

 diverse parts of the country, in our great cities, and 

 in our university cities. Medical research and medical 

 education are inseparable ; the doctor must not regard 

 bacteriological institutes as places where he can put 

 a specimen in the slot and get a diagnosis ; he must 

 take an intelligent part in the work of the institute. 

 This view was approved by the General Medical 

 Council. 



On November 30, at a meeting of the Metropolitan 

 Asylums Board, a recommendation was made by the 

 Hospitals Committee, " that in view of the continued 

 incidence and fatality of zymotic disease, approval be 

 given to the appointment, at a salary of 500L per 

 annum, of a research bacteriologist." Since 1S70, the 

 board's hospitals have received more than 500,000 

 cases of infectious disease, with nearly 40,000 deaths. 

 For one example of the national loss from these 

 diseases, we have the fact that measles alone, in five 

 years, in London, accounts for 10,199 deaths. We 

 want to know more about measles. Probably it would 

 pay the country to appoint more than one bacterio- 

 logist, at more than 500/. per annum, to study measles 

 alone. W"e have looked at measles for ages, but have 

 not found the cause of it. The discovery of the cause 

 of dinhtheria led to the discovery of diphtheria anti- 

 toxin. It is not improbable that some equally valuable 

 discovery is waiting to be made in measles. Dr. 

 Bousfield, at this meeting of the Metropolitan Asylums 

 Board, put the matter in very plain words : — 



"We have simply been warehousing infectious 

 disease for years. We have been treating the 

 .syiTiptoms and knew nothing about the disease itself. 

 We have spent in forty years 15,000,000!., and we now 

 ask that machinery may be set up by which the lives 

 of patients will be saved and the period of their stay in 

 hospital considerably shortened, with a consequent 

 saving of expense to the ratepayers." 



This reconimendation, of course, was agreed to; 

 and, so far, so good. For in all London there is no 

 authority wiser or more beneficent than the Metro- 

 politan .\svlums Board. But what is the good of one 

 bacteriologist? We hope that he will be only the 

 thin end of a wedge of bacteriologists. We are tired 

 of babies dving of measles, tired of our ignorance of 

 the cause of measles. It may be nature's way of 

 killing off the undesirables, but she kills off likewise 

 many desirables, and we want the bacteriologists to 

 take nature in hand. 



