May 17, 1906J 



NA TURE 



59 



boolc which for lack of space must pass unnoticed, 

 but the above are probably the most s'larinjjf examples. 

 After such defects as have been discu-ised it seems 

 almost hvpercritical to mention minor blemishes, but 

 it mav 1)1' pointed out that proper names arc often 

 misspelt, and this is the case even with the names of 

 such well-known New Guinea worthies as the Rev. 

 Dr. Lawes. The frequency with which such slips 

 occur suf^-ffests that the author may apain be travellinff , 

 or at .-mv rate that he has not had the opportunity 

 of revisinji his book. The get-up of the book is 



Xatuke, and references are given to them in the sub- 

 joined summary of the ofTicial catalogue. 



Mr. T. E. Heath : Stereoscopic star charts and s|Kclro- 

 scopic key maps. — Rev. .1. L. Corlie : Photographs of the 

 solar corona, 1005, August 30, taken at VInaroz, Spain, 

 with a 4-inch lens and 20-feet coronagraph. — The Solar 

 Physics Observatory, South Kensington: (i) Photographs 

 illustrating the eclipse camp at Palina, Majorca (.\ugust 

 30, 1005), and some of the results obtained. (2) Examples 

 of stellar spectra taken with the 6-inch two-prism prismatic 

 camera. (3) Some photographs taken with the spectro- 



good, and where the plates are not imaginative they 

 are often interesting, as is the case with those facing 

 pp. 108, 120, 144, 176, 236, and 244. 



C. G. Seligmann. 



THE ROY.\L SOCIETY CONVERS.iZIONE. 



ON Wednesday of last week. May 9, there was a 

 large assembly at the Royal .Society on the occa- 

 sion of the first of the two conversaziones held annu- 

 ally in the society's rooms at Burlington House. 

 The guests were received by the president, Lord 

 Rayleigh, and included, not only leading men of 

 science, but also representatives of other branches of 

 intellectual activity and national interests. There 

 were numerous exhibits of objects and apparatus 

 illustrating recent scientific work, and the following 

 notes will giv'e an indication of their character. De- 

 scriptions relating to exhibits belonging to the same 

 departments of science have so far as possible been 

 brought together. During the evening lantern de- 

 monstrations were given by Mr. G. W. Lamplugh, 

 F.R.S., on the Batoka gorge of the Zambezi river, 

 and by Prof. S. P. Thompson, F.R.S., on the electric 

 production of nitrates from the atmosphere. For an 

 account of the Batoka gorge reference should be 

 made to a paper by Mr. Lamplugh in Nature of 

 November 30, 1905 (vol. Ixxiii., p. 1 1 1) ; and the subject 

 of Prof. Thompson's lecture will be found dealt with 

 in Natike of February 8, 1906 (vol. Ixxiii., p. 355), and 

 p. 65 of the present number. In several other cases 

 descriptions of instruments and other cbjects ex- 

 hibited have already appeared in the columns of 

 NO. 1907, VOL. 74] 



heliograph. These include a " disc " photograph taken on 

 August 31, 1905, the day after the total solar eclipse of 

 that year. (4) Curves to illustrate long-period barometric 

 changes in operation in India, East Indies, .\ustralia, and 

 South America. They show the possible evolution of the 

 nineteen-year variation in Australia from the eleven- 

 year (about) variation in India, and the relation of the 

 .Australian to the South American changes. (5) Photo- 

 graphs and diagrams illustrating recent work done on the 

 orientation of some British stone circles. — The Royal 

 Astronomical Society : .Six photographs of the Milky Way 

 taken in 1905 by Prof. E. E. Barnard at Mount Wilson, 

 California. — The Astronomer Royal : Photographic prints 

 of the total solar eclipse of 1905, August 30, from negatives 

 taken at Sfax, Tunisia. — The Director, Meteorological 

 Office: (i) Antarctic meteorological records with charts and 

 diagrams [.repar 'I in connection with the discussion of the 

 results of the .Antarctic expeditions. (2) Some recent 

 meteorological results. (a) Meteorological charts of the 

 Indian Ocean and Red Sea for the month of May, showing 

 average winds, currents, and other meteorological inform- 

 ation, including a reproduction of the chart for May of the 

 tracks of hurricanes prepared by the late Mr. C. Meldrum, 

 F.R.S. The chart is the first of a monthly series to be 

 issued by the Meteorological Office for the use of seamen. 

 (b) Diagram exhibiting the relation between Admiral Beau- 

 fort's numbers for wind force and the corresponding wind 

 velocity and wind pressure. 



Mr. R. Kerr : .\ torsion spring for transference of energy. 

 (Exhibited on behalf of Prof. L. R. Wilberforce, of Uni- 

 versity College, Liverpool.) — .1/r. Joseph Goold : Vibration 

 experiments. Two distinct systems of vibration in the same 

 steel plate are tuned closely to the same pitch. \\'hen 

 either system is excited the other also becomes active : and 

 their respective intensities go through a variety of fluctu- 

 ations, producing remarkable disturbances of the compound 

 node-lines. — Prof. G. Forbes, F.R.S. : Model of naval gun- 



