NA TURE 



[July i, 192: 



thus afforded in emphasising the benefits of applied 

 science will be appreciated by readers. Interesting 

 light is shed on two incidents during the war — the 

 Coronel sea-battle and the German advance in 1914 — 

 both illustrating the importance of accurate informa- 

 tion regarding warfare on land and sea. Among other 

 matters that are the subject of editorial comment 

 may be mentioned " The Science of Sailing," " The 

 Bases of Politics," and " The Need for a Scientific 

 Missionary Journal." Much of the issue is naturally 

 devoted to the annual report of the Guild and the 

 annual meeting. Special interest attaches to the 

 address of Sir Richard Gregory explaining the origin 

 of the appeal to be conducted by Commdr. L. C. 

 Bernacchi for funds to consolidate and extend the 

 Guild's activities. Among other important steps may 

 be mentioned the establishment of local branches of 

 the Guild and the completion of the catalogue of 

 scientific books, comprising over 6000 entries — in itself 

 a remarkable piece of work that justifies the Guild's 

 existence. A summary is given of Sir Leslie Mac- 

 kenzie's address at the Edinburgh meeting of the 

 British Association on " Science and Citizenship," 

 and a tribute is paid to the memory of Sir Ernest 

 Shackleton, whose passing away on the Quest at the 

 commencement of this year will be fresh in the minds 

 of readers, and whose achievements in the field of 

 polar exploration will not soon be forgotten. 



A new catalogue (No. 94) of second-hand works 

 on Zoology, Botany, and Agriculture has been 



issued by Messrs. Dulau & Co., Ltd., 34 Margaret 

 Street, W.i. Among the 1400 volumes listed are 

 two of especial interest, namely, a nearly complete set 

 of Curtis' s Botanical Magazine, formerly the property 

 of Sir Joseph Hooker, with MS. corrections in nomen- 

 clature by Sir W. J. and Sir J. D. Hooker, and an 

 unusual French Herbal, entitled " Recueil des plantes 

 les plus usuelles peintes d'apres Nature," in 12 vols, 

 containing nearly 5000 illustrations drawn and 

 coloured by hand, with manuscript descriptions. 



Messrs. W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, 

 have just issued a list (No. 213) of some 600 works 

 in new condition which they offer at greatly reduced 

 prices. Many of the books listed deal with scientific 

 subjects. The catalogue is obtainable from the 

 publishers upon request. 



A report of the address given by Mr. F. W. Sander- 

 son to the National Union of Scientific Workers, just 

 before his death, is to be published shortly. Copies 

 may be obtained from Maj. A. G. Church, General 

 Secretary, 25 Victoria Street, S.W.i. 



The firm of Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd., 1 Adelphi 

 Terrace, London, W.C.2, is arranging for the publica- 

 tion of the memoirs of Sir William Crookes, edited 

 by Dr. Fournier d'Albe. Any letters and information 

 likely to be useful to the editor will be gratefully 

 I received and carefully preserved and returned. 



Our Astronomical Column. 



Skjellerup's Comet, 19226. — This proves to 

 be a short-period comet of the Jupiter comet-family. 

 The following elliptical orbit has been derived from 

 observations on May 20, 31, June 12, the third being 

 by Dr. W. H. Steavenson at Norwood. 



T=ig22, May 15, 0-0325 G.M.T. 



" = 354° 47'--i° 1 



ft=2i 5 43'- 3 il 



*=i 7 ° 23 3 6| I9 " a 



= 43° 9'-oo.' 

 log 3 = 0-44930. 

 log ? = 9-94004. 

 Period = 4-7201 years. 

 These elements indicate a much closer approach to 

 the earth than the parabolic elements did. Prof. 

 Leuschner has pointed out that the comet is probably 

 identical with 1902 II., discovered by Mr. John 

 Grigg in New Zealand, and followed by him for n 

 days. No one else saw it, and the observations were 

 too rough to give a good orbit. If the period of 

 less than 5 years is confirmed it will be the second 

 shortest cometary period known, that of Encke, 

 3-3 years, being the shortest. 



Solar Atmospheric Changes. — In the current 

 number of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society (April) there are three communica- 

 tions relative to solar activity. The first is by 1 >r. 

 William J. S. Lockyer, and deals with the relationship 

 between solar prominences and the corona. In 1903 

 Dr. Lockyer published a paper on the same subject, 

 concluding that the various forms of the corona, 

 as photographed during eclipses, were dependent 

 on the positions and intensities of the zones of 



NO. 2748, VOL. I IO] 



prominence activity. In the present paper, using 

 quite independent prominence and corona data, the 

 former extending over the period 1890-1920 and thus 

 including three sunspot maxima and minima, he 

 points out that the previous conclusion is well 

 endorsed by these new observations. Mr. A. M. 

 Newbegin publishes the results of his solar prominence 

 observations for the year 192 1 and gives curves 

 showing mean areas and mean numbers. He shows 

 that the main zones of prominences were situated in 

 latitudes 40° N. and 55° S., and a much lesser zone 

 of activity in latitudes 20 N. and 25° S. These 

 zones are in conformity with the curves of latitudes 

 of prominences illustrated in Dr. Lockyer's paper 

 referred to above, the higher latitude zones being 

 the commencement of a new zone of activity which 

 will gradually move polewards. 



Mr. C. P. Butler communicates a. first paper on 

 the systematic distribution of solar calcium flocculi, 

 this contribution dealing with inclination of elongated 

 groups. Several observers have previously shown 

 that the mean inclinations of the axes of sunspot 

 groups were found to vary from 0° to 11°, and that 

 the amount of inclination increases with the solar 

 latitude of the group. Mr. Butler has investigated 

 the case of the areas of calcium flocculi as determined 

 from measures taken from photographs secured with 

 the spectroheliograph. He concludes that the in- 

 clinations range in general from 0° to 40 , with a 

 few cases of specially high inclination. The range is 

 therefore much greater than that found for spot- 

 groups. In the above range there are maximum 

 frequencies at certain latitudes, namely, 15°, 21 , 

 and 28°-32°. Other more detailed results are given. 



