442 



NA TURE 



[February lo, 1910 



claiming tlie statement attributed to him by a reporter, as 

 mentioned on p. 410 last week, and states that " there 

 is no truth in this reported unconventionality." 



Spectroscopic observations of the comet, made at Meudon, 

 are described by MM. Deslandres, Bernard, and d'Azambuja 

 in No. 5 of the Comptes rcndus (vol. cl., p. 253). 



Losing the prismatic cameras previously employed on 

 the Morehouse and Halley comets, photographs were 

 obtained on January 22, 24, 25, 27, 29, and 30. Ortho- 

 chromatic, red-sensitive plates were used, and the best 

 negative of January 22 was secured with an exposure 

 of five minutes. This shows a brilliant nucleus giving 

 a continuous spectrum from \ 700 to A 420 and several 

 condensations. 



The brightest condensation is at A. 590, and is recog- 

 nised as due to sodium ; it shows a complete mono- 

 chromatic image of the comet with a well-defined tail, 

 brightest at its edges and e.\tending to a distance of 

 20' of arc from the head. The hydrocarbon bands at 

 X 560 and X 470 are also recognisable. In addition to 

 these, there are two condensations at X 620 and A 700 

 extending some 10 minutes of arc into the tail, and not 

 previously recognised in cometary spectra. 



The later photographs show the progressive differences 

 which have been observed in other comets (e.g. that of 

 1S82) having small perihelion distances ; the sodium lines 

 faded gradually, while the hydrocarbon bands became more 

 intense, and those due to cyanogen made their appearance. 



On January 29 and 30 the sodium bands were absent, 

 the hydrocarbon bands (AA 5(15, 517, 474) stronger than 

 before, the continuous spectrum extended into the ultra- 

 violet, and the cyanogen bands at AA 388, 387, 386 were 

 complete and intense. 



The wave-lengths given now are, necessarily, only 

 approximate, but other photographs, taken at the same 

 time with a slit spectrograph, will give finer values, which 

 are promised in a later publication. 



Ordinary photographs were also secured,, and. those 

 taken on January 22. show a fine, curved tail divided into 

 two " antennae " with a dark line down the centre. On 

 January .29 a supplementary tail was shown, nearly as 

 intense as the first, and making an angle with it of about 

 25' towards the south. 



Observations made with a simple Nicol on January 29 

 indicated that the light from thetail was strongly polarised 

 in the plane containing the sun, the comet, and the earth. 



The Astronomische Nachriclitcn ■ also contains the 

 elements and ephemeris by Dr. Kobold, from • which we 

 gave an extract last week, and the records of a number of 

 observations made ■ at the Continental observatories. • .At 

 the Bothkamp Observ.-itory on January 23, 4h. 50m. (M.T. 

 Bothkamp), Dr. Schiller found the comet to be of the first 

 magnitude, and to have a sharply defined nucleus of 4" 

 diameter. He reports, also, that the head was very similar 

 to that of Donati's comet shown in Fig. 153 of the third 

 edition of Newcomb-Engelmann ; the position-angle of the 

 medial line of the two tails was 40°. On January 23 the 

 comet was fainter, but, to the naked eye, the tail appeared 

 to extend to a distance of 15°. 



Later elements and ephemeris are published in Circular 

 No. no from the Kiel Centralstelle, and are based on 

 observations made on January 20, 23, 26, and 30 ; they 

 are as follows : — • 



Elements. 

 T =igio Janua'v 17-1235 (M.T. Berlin) 



a. =320° 58-64' 1 



3 = 88° 47-id' M910 o 



/ =138° 47-12') 



l"g'/ =9-' 1153. 



Ephemeris (Midnight, Berlin). 



The magnitudes are based on the observation that the 

 magnitude on January 27 was 20, and are independent 

 of any physical changes in the comet itself. 



We notice that the misnomer " Drake's comet " is still 

 being employed. As this is likely to lead to subsequent 

 confusion, it would seem as well to refer to this object as 

 the " Worssell-Innes comet, 1910a," Messrs. Worssell and 

 Innes, of the Johannesburg Observatory, having been the 

 first to make and record any definite observations of it. 



AFINNI.SH ETHNOLOGICAL EXPEDITION 

 TO BRITISH PAPUA. 



A BOUT the middle of this month Dr. Gunar Landtman, 

 •^^ lecturer in sociology at the University of Helsingfors, 

 will leave London for an ethnological expedition to British 

 Papua. In 1904 Dr. Landtman attended the Martin White 

 lectures on sociology that were given in the University of 

 London by Prof. E. Westermarck and those on ethnology 

 by Dr. A. C. Haddon. In 1905 he wrote his doctor's 

 dissertation " On the Origin of Priesthood," and in 1909 

 published a thesis on " "The Primary Causes of .Social 

 Inequality." Dr. Landtman will make the island of Badu, 

 in Torres Straits, his headquarters ; thence he expects to 

 proceed to Saibai, and later to that portion of the main- 

 land of British Papua which faces Torres Straits,' and is 

 known to the natives as Daudai, and, gradually working 

 his way eastwards, he will eventually study the natives 

 of various islands in the delta of the Fly River. Very 

 Httle is known about this district, and it is important that 

 it should be investigated before the natives are further 

 modified by contact with the white man. 



The ethnography of the islanders of Torres Straits has 

 been carefully described by the members of the Cambridge 

 .Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, and it is 

 fortunate that their results will now be linked on to the 

 mainland of New Guinea, for there is no doubt that the 

 western and eastern islands of the Straits were popu- 

 lated by various emigrations from the mainland. Friendly 

 relations have always been maintained between the 

 islanders and the mainlanders, and a good deal of simple 

 trading has taken place between them ; but most interest- 

 ing of all is the culture infiuence that formerly extended 

 from the mainland to the islands. In the island folk-tales 

 we hear of the introduction of ceremonies (in most of 

 which masks' were employed) by men who seem to have 

 been actuated by a missionary spirit, and the most 

 important of the hero-cults of the central and eastern 

 islands appears to have come from New Guinea. It is Dr. 

 Landtman 's intention to endeavour to trace these to their 

 sources. 



Totemism is known to occur in the district about to be 

 investigated, where, for some unexplained reason, plant 

 totems are more abundant than animal totems. We may 

 also expect to learn something about the origin of the 

 hero-cult of the islanders, but we do not in the least know 

 whether these legendary persons are heroes in their own 

 country. To the east, along the shores of the Papuan 

 Gulf, the Rev. J. Holmes has discovered a belief in gods 

 who appear to be apotheoslsed ancestors. It is remark- 

 able that this is the only district of British Papua from 

 which gods have been recorded, but we do not know the 

 western limit of this belief. 



A careful study of the soci.il customs and religious 

 beliefs and practices of the natives of Daudai and of the 

 Fly River delta will reveal to us whether their totemism 

 is in a typical condition or whether it is being modified 

 by superior cults, and it is very desirable that a meta- 

 morphosis of this kind should be accurately recorded. 

 There are many other problems connected with this 

 interestintf region that require elucidation, and we wish 

 Dr. Landtman every success in his undertaking. Dr. 

 Landtman would like to spend at least two years in the 

 field, but is at present uncertain whether he will not have 

 to content himself with one 3'ear. On his return he pro- 

 poses to spend about nine months in Cambridge in order 

 to work out his results, which will be published in English. 



