348 



NA TURE 



[January 20, 19 10 



The Journal of Physical Cliemisliy for November, 1909, 

 contains a paper, by Mr. B. E. Curry, on the alloys of 

 zinc with antimony, tin, cadmium, bismuth, and lead. 

 Although the metal forms two layers with lead and with 

 bismuth at low temperatures, the mutual solubility in- 

 creases rapidly as the temperature is raised, the lead-zinc 

 alloys becoming completely homogeneous at about 920° 

 and the bismuth-zinc alloys at 820°. The formation of 

 compounds was observed only in the alloys of zinc and 

 antimony, which gave crystals of ZnSb and ZnjSb,, but 

 solid solutions were obtained of zinc in tin (up to 7 per 

 cent. Zn), in bismuth (up to 4 per cent. Zn), and in 

 cadmium (up to 4 per cent. Zn), and of cadmium in zinc 

 (up to 4 per cent. Cd) ; the zinc-antimony alloys also gave 

 three series of solid solutions, resulting in a very complex 

 equilibrium diagram. 



The Journal of the College of Science, Tokyo, of June 

 15, 1909, which has recently come to hand, contains a 

 paper, by Y. Shibata, on the action of the Grignard re- 

 agent on o-phthalic esters. The ^-phthalic esters have been 

 shown bv Ullmann and Schaepfer to resemble the succinic 



/CR„.OH 

 esters in giving glvcols of the type C,H,c , but 



XR0.OH 

 the main product from the o-esters is a phthalide such as 

 .C(CH3U ,C{CM,)„. 



CgH^/ >0, CeHj. >0 or 



CO / \co / 



/C(CrH,).,.,^ 



^CO / 



The action may, however, proceed further, giving rise to 

 the compounds 



,-C(CH.,V,. C(CH„.C„H,V 



CgHj^ " )0 and CfiHj )0. 



^C( : CHoK C( : CH.CgHs)/ 



A remarkable compound of the second group is obtained 

 bv the action of phenvl magnesium bromide. It is formu- 



lated as CbH4x /O, but must be regarded as con- 



\C(:CfiHJ 

 taining a trimethylene or " carone " ring in the group 



C=C|;Hj. 



Mr. p. D. M.alloch, of Perth, is publishing through 

 Messrs. .A. and C. Black a book on the " Life-history and 

 Habits of the Salmon, Sea-trout, Trout, and other Fresh- 

 water Fish." From his connection with the Tay Salmon 

 Fisheries Co., the author has had unusual opportunities 

 of studying the subject, and has been able to clear up many 

 doubtful points by the marking of smolts and their re- 

 capture as grilse and salmon. The study of scales also 

 forms a section of the book. 



M. Cii. Delaorave, of Paris, has sent us a copy of 

 " La Langue Internationale et la Science," which is pub- 

 lished at the price of one franc. This volume is a French 

 translation of a book reviewed in these columns on 

 August 19 last (vol. Ixxxi., p. 218), " Weltsprache und 

 Wissenschaft. Gedanken iiber die Einfiihrung der inter- 

 nationalen Hilfsprache in die Wissenschaft," by Profs. L. 

 Couturat, O. Jespcrsen, R. Lorenz, W. Ostwald, and 

 L. Pfaundler. The translation has been done by M. 

 Boubier, of the University of Geneva. 



The issue of Willing's " Press Guide and Advertiser's 

 Directory and Handbook " for 1910 (price is.) has reached 

 us. It continues to be what its subtitle claims for it — a 

 concise and comprehensive index to the Press of the United 

 Kingdom. It provides information concerning all the news- 

 papers, magazines, reviews, and other periodicals, in- 

 cluding journals, proceedings, reports, and transactions of 

 NO. 2099, "^'OL. 82] 



learned societies. Lists of the principal colonial and foreign 

 journals are also included. 



The 1910 issue of " The Science Year Book," edited by 

 Major B. F. S. Baden-Powell, and published by Messrs. 

 King, Sell and Olding, Ltd., at 5s. net, includes several 

 new features. The volume contains a monthly astro- 

 nomical ephemeris which should be of particular service to 

 astronomers and other observers, many useful tables, star- 

 maps for the four seasons, with key-charts showing the 

 names of constellations visible, a brief summary of matters 

 of scientific interest in 1909, a glossary of recently intro- 

 duced scientific names and terms, a full list of learned 

 societies with particulars of membership, and a short 

 account of various prizes and awards for scientific research. 

 A good portrait of Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., forms a 

 frontispiece to the volume, and there is a chart showing 

 the track of Halley's comet during 1910. The remainder 

 of the volume consists chiefly of a diary, with a page for 

 each day, and having at the head columns for the insertion 

 of maximum and minimum temperatures, barometric 

 height, rainfall, and other results of meteorological observa- 

 tion. The volume provides observers with exactly the 

 kind of tabular information frequently required ; and, with 

 the diary, it constitutes a year-book which merits a place 

 upon the study tables of many men of science and the 

 bookshelves of observatories. 



UUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Discovery of a New Comet. — Telegrams from the Kiel 

 Centralstelle announce the discovery of a new comet at 

 Johannesburg on January 17. In the first it was stated 

 that the comet was discovered by Mr. Drake, and was seen 

 at and after sunrise. Its approximate position was given as 

 five or ten degrees south-south-west of the sun, which it 

 was approaching. 



The second telegram gives the more exact position, at 

 2ih. 2 1-5 m. January ih (Johannesburg M.T.), as 



R..\. = i9h. 50m. 28s., 5 = 25° 9' S., 

 and states that the daily motion is + 16m. 32s. in R.A. 

 and -2° 25' in N.P.D. 



.■\s this object is intensely bright as it was seen in sun- 

 shine, and is travelling northwards, we may expect a fine 

 display after sunset during the present week. 



Halley's Comet. — A telegram from Messrs. Frost and 

 Parkhurst, dated December 31, 1909, and published in 

 No. 4381 of the Astronomische Nachrichten, states that 

 the prismatic camera shows the light of Halley's comet 

 to be now largely due to the third cyanogen band. This 

 suggests that attempts to photograph the comet should 

 now be made with quartz objectives or speculum reflectors. 

 Both glass objectives and silver-on-glass mirrors absorb a 

 large percentage of the ultra-violet radiations, and the 

 dilliculty of obtaining quartz lenses of large aperture may 

 possibly be compensated for by the much greater trans- 

 parency of quartz, as compared with glass, to the more 

 refrangible rays. 



The anomalous apparent brightening of the comet which 

 occurred in November has not been continued, and until 

 about the middle of March the distance between the comet 

 and the earth will continuously increase ; but it is thought 

 that the development of the comet, as it approaches nearer 

 to the sun, should be sufficient to make naked-eye observa- 

 tions possible by about the end of February. 



This anomalous increase of the apparent brightness is 

 described by the Rev. T. E. R. Phillips in a note appear- 

 ing in No. 2, vol. Ixx., of the Monthly Notices. He 

 commenced observing, with a i2j-inch Calver reflector, on 

 November ih, and observed the apparent brightness on ten 

 nights between that date and December 8 ; from these 

 observations he concludes that the apparent brightness of 

 the comet was unquestionably greatest on November 22, 

 when he was able to see it with the aperture stopped down 

 to 35 inches. The next night, under comparable atmo- 



