330 



NA TURE 



[August 3, 1905 



• ' OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



. Observations of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. — In 

 No. 4034 of the Astroiiomische. Nachrichten Mr. Stanley 

 Williams gives the results of the observations of the Great 

 Red Spot on Jupiter made by him during the period June 

 20, 1904-January 21, 1905. 



During this opposition the phenomena proved of ex- 

 ceptional interest on account of the vagaries in the relative 

 motions of (he Red Spot and its immediately surrounding 

 features. 



When the first observation was made, on June 20, it 

 was seen that the immense mass of dark material, known 

 as , the- south tropical disturbance, had, after making a 

 complete circuit of the planet, again overtaken and 

 enveloped the Rod Spot. On July 26 nearly all this dark 

 material had drifted past the Red Spot, which in August 

 was quite separate, but very faint. 



Mr. Williams's observations also afforded further evidence 

 of the variable rate of motion of the Great Red Spot. 



SuN-srOT Spectra. — During the year ended March, 1905, 

 Mr. W. M. Mitchell, of the Princeton Observatory (N.J.), 

 made an exhaustive series of observations of that part of 

 the sun-spot spectrum which is included between F and a. 

 These observations took note of the two separate features 

 of the spot spectrum :—(i) the nearly continuous absorp- 

 tion kriown as the spot-band, and (2) the affected Fraun- 

 hofer lines. A rapid survey of the whole region was first 

 made on each observing day, and was followed by an 

 exhaustive examination of some smaller portion. In 

 regard to the first of the above features, Mr. Mitchell 

 arrived at the conclusion that the band-lines are lines which 

 do not appear in the Fraunhoferic spectrum at all, and he 

 submits facts in favour of this view. 



In observing the affected Fraunhoferic lines, the observer 

 recorded nine different phenomena {e.g. widening, reversal 

 obliteration, &c.), and in his table of the 680 lines which 

 he observed in the spot spectrum, he classifies each line 

 accoi^ding to the manner in which it was affected. The 

 mtensities of the widened lines, their intensities in the 

 normal solar spectrum, the number of times each line was 

 observed, and various other details concerning the affected 

 Imfes are also recorded in the table. 



Each element involved is then considered separately, and 

 a nurnber of valuable conclusions are deduced. Whilst 

 vanadium and titanium are the most important elements 

 concerned in sun-spots, as previously shown by Young 

 Cortie, and Lockyer, Mr. Mitchell finds that manganese 

 plays an important rdle. 45 per cent, of its lines being 

 affected. A striking comparison is drawn between the 

 behaviour of certain manganese lines in the successive 

 observations of the great sun-spot of February last. On 

 February 3 and 4 they were noted as being strongly re- 

 versed, whereas on March 3 thev were no longer reversed 

 but were excessively widened and very hazy. 



The following general conclusions 'were' arrived at by 

 Mr. Mitchell, and agree, in general, with those recently 

 published by Prof. Fowler in the Monthly Notices :— 

 (1) Lines frequently seen in the chromosphere are with 

 two exceptions, but little affected in spots; (2) hi<f'h-level 

 chromospheric lines are not affected in spots ; (3) lines 

 greatly affected in spots are seen but rarely in the chromo- 

 sphere. 



From his observations and conclusions Mr. Mitchell 

 deduces that sun-spots are, at least, below the chromo- 

 sphere, and are probably caused bv the heated vapours 

 from the lower levels oozing through and vaporising the 

 clouds of the photosphere (AstrophvsUal Journal, No. i 

 vol. xxii.). 



An Interesting Asteroid, Occlo [475]. — Owing to its 

 large southerly declination, -62°, at the time of its dis- 

 covery, the minor planet Occlo was looked upon as of 

 special interest, and when the orbit was computed and 

 found to have a greater eccentricity than that of anv 

 other known asteroid the interest in this object was in- 

 creased. This great eccentricity suggested that Occlo 

 might be looked- upon as the connecting link between the 

 asteroids and the periodic comets. In order that the object 

 should not be lost sight of, Prof. Kreutz had an ephemeris 

 for 1905 computed, and this was communicated to Mr. 

 NO. 1866, VOL 72] 



R. H. Frost at .'\requipa, who successfully photographed 

 the planet's trail, with the 24-inch Bruce telescope, in 

 .\pril, J904. The plates have now been measured by Mrs. 

 Fleming, and the' positions of both ends of the trail on 

 April 4 and on April 7 determined. The results are given 

 in Circular No. loi of the Harvard College Observatory. 



Observations of Piicebe. — Saturn's ninth satellite, 

 Phcebe, was photographed by Mr. R. H. Frost at Arequipa 

 on four nights during May, and the following positions 

 have been obtained from measurements of the plates : — 



The above quantities all refer to the position of the 

 satellite in regard to Saturn's centre. A comparison of 

 these positions with those computed from Dr. Ross's 

 ephemeris shows that on the mean date. May 1 1 , the com- 

 puted distances should be diminished by o'-3, and the 

 position-angles should be increased by o°-9 (Harvard 

 College Observatory Circular, No. 102). 



Periods of the Variable Stars S Sagitt.e and 

 V Oriiiuciii. — From a discussion of the observations made 

 by himself, combined with those of other observers, M. M. 

 Luizet has deduced the following elements for the light- 

 curve of the variable star S SagittK (Ch. 7149) : — 



Maximum 2409S6V.53 (^-T. P^'-i^'j + 8.382o9d. (E. - 389) ' 

 Minimum 2409860-37 ,, ) ■> ^ ^ J '' 



The light-curve of this star presents a double oscillation, 

 and, according to M. Luizet's scale, the magnitude varies 

 between 5-4 and 6-2. ! ' ' 



For Y Ophiuchi (Ch. 6404), the same observer finds 

 that M. Hisgen's elements. 



Maximum 2408694-25 (G.M.T.)l, g 



Minimum 2408688-03 ,, (^"' '-°'°- '^•' 

 as published in No. 3424 of the Astronomischc Nachrichten, 

 agree very well with his own recent observations. From a 

 comparison of these observations with those made by Mr. 

 Sawyer, it appears that during the last fifteen years the 

 magnitude of Y Ophiuchi has slightly increased, but this 

 apparent increase may be due to the difference of observer 

 and of observing conditions {.istrononiische Nachrichten, 

 No. 4030). 



THE MEETING OF THE BRITISH MEDICAL 



ASSOCIATION. 

 'X'HE seventy-third annual meeting of the British Medical 

 Association was held at Leicester last week under 

 the presidency of Mr. Cooper Franklin, surgeon to the 

 Leicester Infirmary. The proceedings were conducted in 

 twelve sections, and were well attended, nearly 1000 

 members registering their names. 



Mr. Cooper Franklin chose for his presidential address 

 the subject of medical education, past, present, and future. 

 He dealt with the various Acts of Parliament regulating 

 medical education and practice, the condition of medical 

 education in London forty years ago, and insisted on 

 the necessity of a good general education if the medical 

 student were to become a good practitioner, and advocated 

 a study of Latin and Greek. He said : — " I think the 

 advantages of a good classical education early, to a man 

 entering our. profession, cannot be over-rated. Nothing 

 will, or can, make up for it; there would not be so many 

 candidates deficient in ordinary spelling and composition 

 if there had been a good classical education. To my mind 

 there is nothing really superior to the old-fashioned Latin 

 and Greek training, but it seems hopeless to insist nowa- 

 days upon ' the ' retention of Greek. I think it is twenty- 

 five or thirty years ago since, in the matriculation examin- 

 ation of the University of London, students were allowed 

 to take up German instead of Greek. I venture to think 

 that, so far as medical students are concerned, that was a 

 retrograde step. I do not envy the student sitting down to 

 learn his anatomy who has not learnt even a little Latin 



