December 19, 1912] 



NATURE 



443 



conclusions. The nature of breeching-up of barrel 

 and body, whether abnormally tight or loose, makes 

 a considerable difference ; correct breeching-up must 

 be enforced if regular and consistent shooting is to be 

 maintained. Alterations in the muzzle velocity make 

 but little difference in the general characteristic of the 

 vibration curve for any given rifle. 



With reference to the .American milk depots or 

 stations mentioned in the article on tuberculosis and 

 the milk supply in N.mure of November 7 (p. 281), 

 Mr. Wilfred Buckley writes to point out that the 

 milk supplied is not certified milk in the sense in 

 which the term is here understood, but is an "in- 

 spected " or "controlled" milk, which can be delivered 

 at these stations at a cost of about 5^. per English 

 quart. 



The Cambridge University Press has recently taken 

 over the publication of The Biochemical Journal, 

 which has now become the property and the official 

 organ of the Biochemical Society. The journal, 

 which will be isued from six to eight times a year, 

 will be under the editorship of Prof. W. M. Bayliss, 

 F.R.S., and Dr. A. Harden, F.R.S. 



The Roval Insurance Company, Ltd., of Liverpool, 

 has issued a sixth edition of its handy little publication, 

 " Rules of Golf." The rules as now printed were 

 approved by the Ro}-a! and Ancient Golf Club of St. 

 Andrews at its autumn meeting on September 24 last. 

 The alterations of rules and the new features decided 

 upon at that meeting are clearly set out. The 

 manager of the Royal Insurance Company will, so 

 long as the stock lasts, forward a copy of the book 

 free on application. 



Messrs. E. T. Newton and Son, Ltd., of Cam- 

 borne, Cornwall, have issued a new list of scientific 

 and mathematical instruments manufactured by them. 

 Special attention is devoted to instruments required by 

 the surveyor in the various branches of his work, and 

 the catalogue provides well-illustrated particulars of 

 a variety of patterns of theodolites and accessories. 



Messrs. J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., have added 

 to their series of scientific primers, published at the 

 price of is. net, one on astronomy, by the Astronomer 

 Royal, Dr. F. W. Dyson, F.R.S. This primer is a 

 condensation of Dr. Dyson's "Astronomy: a Handy 

 Manual for Students and Others," which was reviewed 

 in our issue for September 29, igio (vol Ixxxiv., 

 p. 303). It is devoted almost entirely to the bodies 

 in the solar system, the chapter devoted to the stars 

 occupying only six pages. 



Hazell's -Annual for 1913 is the twenty-eighth 

 issue of this useful and handy work of reference, 

 which deals with ever3'day topics and activities. An 

 interesting section of the book is called " The March 

 of Science," and provides a brief account of the 

 Dundee meeting of the British Association, condensed 

 summaries of the work done and progress made in 

 the various branches of science, short descriptions of 

 recent great engineering schemes and of aerial navi- 

 gation in 1912, as well as particulars of the various 

 scientific societies. 



NO. 2251, VOL. 90] 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Sun-spots. — During the past week a large group 

 of sun-spots has been visible on the solar disc. First 

 seen on the eastern limb on December 12, the group 

 was nearly central on December 17, its length being 

 about one-tenth of the solar diameter ; on the latter 

 date a second, smaller group appeared in the N.W. 

 quadrant. 



The International Time Conference. — This im- 

 portant conference, referred to in our issue of October 

 31, duly met at the Paris Observatory, under the 

 presidency of M. Bigourdan, and was divided into 

 four separate commissions, each charged with the 

 discussion of an important group of questions affect- 

 ing the general problem. 



From The Observatory (No. 455) we learn that, 

 among other points, the conference agreed to use 

 Greenwich time universally, to send out signals at 

 exact hours, and to arrange that there shall be no 

 overlapping ; an agreement as to tlie most suitable 

 wave-length to employ in the transmission of the 

 signals bv wireless telegraphy was also arrived at. 



The States represented at the conference were 

 Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, Great Britain, 

 Greece, Holland, Italy, Monaco, Portugal, Russia, 

 Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, 

 and it is to be proposed to them that a "Commission 

 Internationale de I'Heure," with an executive bureau 

 in Paris, shall be established. Among other functions 

 the bureau will endeavour to secure uniformit}' at the 

 different stations, and will compare the various signals 

 received with the object of improving their general 

 accuracy. Nine "sending" stations, distributed round 

 the globe, have been selected, and the times for each 

 to send out its signals have been arranged ; it is 

 proposed to inaugurate the general scheme on July i, 

 1913. The question of the perturbation of radio- 

 telegraphic signals by atmospheric agents is, we learn, 

 to be especially studied at a powerful station now 

 being constructed at Laeken. 



Elements and Ephemeris for Comet i9I2(; (Bor- 

 relly). — From recent observations made by Prof. 

 Stromgren, a corrected set of elements for comet 

 1912c has been calculated by Prof. Kobold, and is 

 published, with a daily ephemeris extending to 

 January 6, 1913, in No. 4616 of the Astronomischc 

 Nachrichteii. According to the ephemeris the comet 

 is now (December 19) some 8' east of |3 Aquarii, and 

 is moving slowly in a direction east of south. Its 

 calculated magnitude is io'4, but Prof. Stromgren's 

 observations show it to be e.xtraordinarily faint ; the 

 following is an extract from the ephemeris : — 



The Influence of Spectrum Analysis on Cosmical 

 Problems. — .A very interesting lecture, by Prof. Max 

 Wolf, on the influence that spectrum analysis has 

 exercised in the solution of cosmical problems is re- 

 printed in an abstract from the Zeitschrift iiir Elek- 

 trochemie, No. 12. ' ■ 



The subjects briefly discussed by Prof. Wolf are far 

 too numerous even to mention here, but they include 

 I the cosmical application of the Doppler and Zeeman 

 I effects, the determination of the gaseous character of 

 j some nebulae by Huggins, the Lockyer-Janssen dav- 

 light observation of prominences in 1S68, the pro- 

 I gressive successes of Hale and Deslandres in the 

 j photography of the sun's upper atmospheric layers 



