436 



NA TURE 



[August 31, 1905 



We have received the report of the Falmouth Observ- 

 atory for the year 1904, reprinted from the seventy-second 

 annual report of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. 

 This observatory has for many years done excellent work 

 in connection with meteorology and magnetism, as well as 

 by the collection of sea-temperature observations at various 

 places off the coast of Falmouth. The station has for 

 many years been adopted by the Meteorological Office as 

 one of its first-class observatories, and hourly observations 

 or means have been regularly published in the official re- 

 ports of that office. With regard to magnetism, the 

 Falmouth Observatory has become additionally important, 

 in consequence of the recording magnets at Kew and 

 Greenwich being somewhat affected by the electric trams 

 in those neighbourhoods. 



Dr. Alberto Aggazzotti, writing in the Atii dei Lincei, 

 xiv., (i), 12, describes some experiments conducted in the 

 physiological laboratory at Turin on the effects of rare- 

 faction on the respiration of the orang-utan. The animal 

 on which the observations were made was brought from 

 Borneo by Count Mario Peracca, who handed it over 

 to Prof. .Angelo Mosso for the investigation. It is de- 

 scribed as being of good disposition and intelligent ; at 

 first it resisted the attempts to place it in the receiver, 

 and tried to destroy the apparatus, but when it realised 

 what was being done, it not only offered no further resist- 

 ance, but even helped the experimenter in attaching the 

 pneumograph and other necessary apparatus to it. A 

 moderate rarefaction produced no injurious effects pro- 

 vided that the restoration of normal pressure was not 

 effected too rapidly ; at 450 millimetres of pressure the 

 animal became inore tranquil, at 300 millimetres it fell 

 asleep, while at 270 millimetres it became seriously ill 

 and fell down insensible. The respiration altered in 

 character between 450 millimetres and 470 millimetres with 

 an increase of frequency and a decrease of intensity, while 

 at 300 millimetres it became irregular and spasmodic. 

 These changes fairly well agree with those observed in 

 other animals, particularly man. 



Mr. C. Mosley has arranged an edition of White's 

 " Selborne " for students, in which the whole of the letters 

 are classified under subjects, giving the reader all that 

 Gilbert White wrote on one topic under one head. As 

 the subjects will be arranged alphabeticallv, the work will 

 be one of reference as well as for reading consecutively. 

 Mr. Elliot Stock is to publish the book during the coming 

 season. 



We have received a copy of the first fasciculus of vol. 

 XXXV. of the Memoires de la Societi de Physique et 

 d'Histoire tiaturelle de Geneve. This part of the trans- 

 actions contains, with other interesting papers, the 

 president's report for 1904. Dr. Auguste Wartmann- 

 Perrot successively passes in review the administrative 

 events of the year, refers in eulogistic terms to the work 

 of eminent members of the society deceased during the 

 previous year, and recapitulates briefly the scientific 

 subjects discussed in the meetings of the society during 

 1904. The biographical notices contained in the presi- 

 dent's report include those of Charles Soret, renowned 

 for his work in crystallography; of Albert Rilliet, the 

 chemist; and of Wilhelm His, the anatomist. The 

 scientific activity of the society is summarised concisely 

 under subjects, and this part of the report will serve 

 men of science as a full index of the work done by 

 members of the Geneva Society during 1904. The presi- 

 dent's statement is a useful account of a good year's work. 

 NO. 1870, VOL. 72] 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Astronomical Occurrences in September: — 

 Sept. 4. Ceres in opposition to the Sun (Ceres mag. 7-4). 

 )i >. 7h. 33ni. to 8h. 37m. Moon occults 7 Libr.x; 



(mag. 4-1). 

 „ S. I oh. 20m. Minimum of Algol (18 Persei). 

 ,, II. I2h. Moon in conjunction with Saturn (Saturn 



i°56'S.). 

 ,, 14. I2h. 42m. to I4h. iim. Transit of Jupiter's Sat. III. 



(Ganymede). 

 ,, 14. 23h. Mercury at greatest elongation, 17' 54' W. 

 ,, 15. Venus. Illuminated portion of disc = 07S7, o. 



Mars =0-851. 

 ,,17. loh. 35m. to iih. 36111. Moon occults ;U Ceti (mag. 



4'4). 

 ,, 18. 9h. 54ni. to loh. S5m. Moon occults / Tauri 



(mag. 4-3). 

 ,, 19. lOh. 36m. to loh. 59m. Moon occults 7 Tauri 



(mag. 3-9). 

 ,, 19. I3h. 56m. to I4h. 37m. Moon occults 71 Tauri 



(mag. 4-6). 

 ,, 19. 15b. 13m. to l6h. 36m. Moon occults 6' Tauri 



(mag. 39). 

 ,, 19. I5h. iSm. to l6h. 31m. Moon occults 6- Tauri 



(mag. 3-6). 

 ,, 19. 2oh. 24m. to 2lh. im. Moon occults o Tauri 



(mag. I -I). 

 ,, 20. I4h. Ceres 9' N. of 89 Aquarii (mag. 4'9). 

 ,,21. Saturn. Major axis of ring =43"'30, Minor axis 



= 8" 36. 

 ,, 19. I4h. Moon in conjunction with Jupiter (lupiter 



4''l6'N.). 

 „ 28. I2h. 3m. Minimum of Algol {B Persei). 



Observations of Planets. — The results of a number of 

 recent observations of Saturn and Jupiter are recorded by 

 Mr. Denning in the Observatory for August. Using the 

 I2j-inch Calver reflector, some excellent observations of 

 Saturn were obtained during the morning twilight in June 

 and July. The region north of the multiple belt in the 

 northern hemisphere was seen to be the brightest part of 

 the planet — not the equatorial zone, as previously. A 

 small white spot was detected on the N. edge of the 

 great belt on July 6, and estimated to be central at 

 i3h. 40m. A small white spot was seen in the N. 

 temperate zone on the following dates in the positions and 

 at the times stated : — 



Transit time Long. System II. 

 h. m. 

 July 13 

 ,, 16 



Observing the Great Red Spot on Jupiter on June 24 

 and July 6, Mr. Denning found it to be central at 

 iSh. 43m. and i5h. 40m. respectively, the corresponding 

 longitudes being 25°. 1 and 24°.8. Comparing these longi- 

 tudes with those published in the April Observatory, it 

 is seen that during the period that Jupiter has been too 

 near to the sun to be observable, the motion has con- 

 formed precisely with system ii. of the ephemerides based 

 on a rotation period of gh. S5m. 40.63s. An observation 

 made by the Rev. T. E. R. Phillips confirms the above 

 observation of July 6. 



Proper Motions of the Hvades. — A discussion of the 

 proper motions of the Hyades group is the raison d'etre 

 of No. 14 of the Publications of the Astronomical Labor- 

 atory at Groningen. The plates from which the proper 

 motions were derived were obtained by Prof. Donner at 

 Helsingfors and discussed by Profs. Kapteyn and W. 

 de Sitter. 



In the introduction to the volume Prof. Kapteyn gives 

 a most interesting discussion of the results obtained bv 

 his method of determining proper motions, the method 

 employed in the present case, in which a plate is exposed 

 on a certain area and then packed away for a number 

 of years, exposed again on the same area, and then de- 

 veloped and measured. One of the gravest objections to 

 this method was the fear that the plates would deteriorate 

 during the interval between the two exposures, but Prof. 

 Kapteyn disposes of this objection by stating that not a 



