January 27, 19 10] 



NA TURE 



Zlo 



Aitfononiisclic y'achriclitcn (supp. No. 4.v'^3) it is 

 announced that Dr. W'ris^ht, of the Licli Observatory, 

 has made a daylight observation wliich shows the 

 spectrum of the comet's nucleus to be continuous, with 

 the sodium, D, lines bright. Similar observations 

 are reported in the Daily Telegraph (January 24) from 

 the Glasgow Observatorv, with the addition of a 

 "hydrocarbon " band. This occurrence of the D lines 

 recalls the Wells's, and the Great, comets of 1882, in 

 which Copeland and Lohse observed the same lines 

 intensely bright, due, according to Copeland, to the 

 near approach of the comet to the sun. In the pre- 

 sent case the rapidity with which the comet appears 

 to have travelled when near perihelion further sug- 

 gests a similarity. 



The publication of a set of elements and an 

 ephemeris by the Kiel Centralstelle (Circular No. 117) 

 provides for observations during the ne.xt few days. 

 The elements are based on observations made at 

 .•\lgiers on Januarv 18, 19, and 20, and are as 

 follows :— 



Elements. 



T =1910, Tanuary 17-42 (M.T. Beilin). 



o =«63" '5 71 



R = S' 56-2' -igio-o 



/ = 62° i6i'J 

 log (/ = 8'5i69 



The following is an abstract from the ephemeris : — 

 Ephemeris for oh. (M.T. Berlin). 



1910 R..A. Decl. 



Observations made by Prof. Turner, Dr. Lockyer, 

 and others, indicate that this ephemeris is incorrect 

 in declination, and that on January 25 the observed 

 position was about 2° south of that given by the 

 ephemeris. Prof. Turner reports that the discordance 

 is increasing. 



Observations made on January 24 and 25 indicate 

 that the comet's brightness is decreasing. In the Times 

 of January 25, Sir Robert Ball reported that "Prof. 

 Newall finds a remarkable spectrum," and the Rev. 

 T. E. R. Phillips stated that the double tail was not 

 unlike that of the great comet of 1874, but with the 

 gap in the centre much wider than in that case. 

 Further photographs were secured at Dunsink and 

 Oxford on Tuesday. In the Times of January 26 

 -Sir Robert Ball reports that the comet was again 

 observed, between 5 and 6 p.m. on Tuesday. It was 

 much fainter than on Saturday, but the tail was quite 

 10" long, and was slightly curved towards Venus. 

 The bright yellow light was still present, but fainter. 



Bright, "daylight," comets are not frequent visitors; 

 the tale for the nineteenth century is practically com- 

 pleted by the comets of 1S43, 1847, 1853, 1861, and 

 1882, and it is a curious coincidence that this present 

 visitor should arrive at the time when we had settled 

 down to the carefully ordered study of the re- 

 discovered Halley. But reference to the notes pre- 

 sented to the Royal Astronomical Society by Messrs. 

 Cowell and Crommelin will show that the coincidence 

 is not unique; quite a number of returns of Halley 's 

 comet have been marked by the appearance of excep- 

 tionally bright sporadic visitors. 



The present object has been introduced to us under 

 a misnomer. The Astronomische Nachrichten now 

 tells us that the appellation "Drake" is simply due 

 to a misinterpretation of "great" as the message was 

 being transmitted by telephone ; popularlv it is the 

 " Daylight Comet." W. E. Rolston. 



NO. 2100, VOL. 82] 



NOTES. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, at 

 Marburg, of Prof. F. Kohlrausch, the distinguished 

 physicist, at seventy years of age. 



The death is announced, at sixty-two years of age, of 

 Prof. H. Brunner, professor of to.xicological chemistry in 

 the University of Lausanne since 1876. 



The Friday evening discourse at the Royal Institution 

 on February 4 will be delivered by Prof. W. Bateson, 

 F.R.S., on "The Heredity of Sex." 



Prof. a. Lacroix has been elected president for 1910 

 of the Geological Society of France. M. Oihlert, Mme. 

 Qihlert, Prof. Vidal, and M. Cossmann have been elected 

 vice-presidents. This is the first time a lady has been 

 elected to office in the society. 



To the Field of January 22 Mr. Lydekker contributes 

 an account of an apparently new race of buffalo obtained 

 by Mr. Hilton-Simpson in the extreme south of French 

 Congoland ; the race appears to be allied to the red Congo 

 buffalo, but is of much darker colour. 



AccORDiSG to a statement in the Times of January 17, 

 three skeletons of sauropod dinosaurs have recently been 

 discovered in the Jurassic strata of Utah by a collector 

 from the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg. One of the three 

 is stated to be higher and more massive than that of the 

 type of Diplodocus carnegiei, although its length — 84 feet 

 — is somewhat less. 



The council of the Royal Geographical Society has 

 decided to award a special gold medal to Commander 

 Peary for his journey to the North Pole, and for having 

 undertaken such scientific investigations as his opportuni- 

 ties permitted ; and a silver replica to Captain Bartlett for 

 attaining eighty-eight degrees north latitude. 



.According to the New York correspondent of the Times, 

 the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labour has under 

 consideration the dispatch of the Government steamship 

 Albatross on an expedition to the Antarctic Ocean. The 

 expedition is the suggestion of Dr. H. F. Osborn, of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, New York. The 

 objects of the proposed expedition are stated to be partly 

 commercial and partly scientific. There appears to be 

 reason to believe that some of the remote southern islands 

 are the homes of herds of the southern fur seal, and it is 

 hoped to discover these, as well as to study south polar 

 fauna generally. 



A SERIES of lectures in connection with the Selborne 

 Society has been arranged, and will be held in the theatre 

 of the Civil Service Commission, Burlington Gardens, 

 London, W. The first lecture of the course was delivered 

 by Mr. F. Enoch on January 21, and dealt with insects 

 through the camera. There was a large audience. The 

 lecture, which aroused great enthusiasm, gave the results 

 of many years of patient outdoor research, and was illus- 

 trated by a unique series of three-colour photographs. On 

 February 11 Mr. W. Bickerton will lecture on wild birds 

 and their ways; on March 11, Mr. W. M. Webb on clothes 

 a human nature-study ; and, on .\pril 8, Miss Gertrude 

 Bacon on wind, wave, and cloud. Fuller particulars may 

 be obtained from the honorary general secretary of the 

 society, 42 Bloomsbury Square, London, W.C. 



It is with regret that we see the announcement of the 

 une.xpected death of Dr. W. Page-May, fellow and lecturer 

 of University College, London, which occurred quite 

 suddenly at Brighton on Wednesday, January 19. To 



